Draft 1/17/2008
Technology Policy Advisory Committee
Tuesday January 15
Library Room 326
3:15 to 4:30 PM
Minutes
Members present: Jennifer Boettger, RJ Holmes, Dee Ann Rexroat, Mike Cerveny, Paul Miller,
Jean Donham
Absent: Lyle Lichty, Ellen Whale, Todd White, Mike Kragenbrink.
1. Update on communication regarding mass e-mail policy—Dee Ann
The announcement regarding mass e-mail policy is scheduled for distribution on January 16.
The IT website provides a list of those persons who may send mass e-mail. Division heads
were alerted to the policy. (Note: Since the meeting a concern was raised by a faculty
member who chairs a committee and expressed the need to be able to send mass email to all
faculty; one proposed solution is for Nancy Rawson to send the e-mail in such instances.)
2. Web Policy Subcommittee—Dee Ann
Dee Ann will re-convene this subcommittee.
The current membership of the Subcommittee is
Director of College Communications (Dee Ann Rexroat)
IT Director (Mike Cerveny) [may sometimes designate Brian Steere]
Director of Admissions or designee (Todd White)
Student Affairs member (Megan Comer)
Faculty members (Leon Tabak and Jim Freeman)
Library member (Greg Cotton)
Student member (Mark Doom)
College Webmaster (Mike Plagge)
Web Content Editor (Jeff Walberg)
Charge:
In recent years the web has become a primary mechanism at Cornell College for providing access
to many kinds of information, both internal and external to the college. Improvements in
acquiring, maintaining, and displaying information have made simple browser use a central
strategy for distributing access to information, policies, procedures, discussions, requests, etc. for
academic, administrative, cultural, and marketing purposes. Cornell’s web site is critical not only
for the day-to-day operations of the college but also for its image and activities related to offcampus constituencies.
In order to better coordinate the College’s multiple uses of its web site, the Web Policy
Subcommittee shall investigate, discuss, and make recommendations to its parent Technology
Policy Advisory Committee on matters related to
• the establishment and oversight of policies governing Cornell’s web site
• use of the web for academic purposes
• use of the web for administrative purposes
• use of the web for marketing purposes
• use of the web as a general communications medium
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priorities for site development and improvement
analysis of site technology and support
forecasting future needs of and roles for the site.
Update on Administrative Software—Mike
The College has signed an agreement with Sunguard for the full suite. Shannon
Amundson will serve as project manager; Mark Zinkula will manage financial aspects;
Mike Cerveny will manage technical aspects; Jim Brown will manage user-related
components.
4.
Update on Website Migration—Dee Ann
The process of migration is proceeding more slowly than anticipated, and this may
require the College to re-assess the timeline. Current focus is on Academic Departments
with an attempt to complete one department per week. The intention is to work with 15
offices in the spring and have the Webteam migrate them in the summer. To accomplish
this, the College is contracting with Melinda Pradarelli to meet with offices and to work
on content. Donham indicated that the library has two people working on the library
website—Greg Cotton and Holly Huffman—both of whom are finding it slow-going.
Boettger also indicated that it is slow-going and requested additional training on galleries
and tables and Donham agreed that her staff members would benefit from that training as
well. Cerveny accepted this request.
5.
Report from Instructional Technology Subcommittee—Ellen
The committee has submitted to the Dean a letter of support for requests from the
Academic Media Studio, indicating that the faculty wants this facility to be the College’s
best equipped facility for technologies relevant to academic projects. Cerveny suggested
that the letter might have been appropriately shared with TPAC before submission in
alignment with the committee’s charge..
6. Communication update regarding password change policy—Mike
Cerveny indicated that this topic is under consideration at the Council level. The
committee members present revisited the discussion of a differentiation between staff
password change timeframe and that of faculty/students. Boettger proposed that there is
really no difference in the potential security risk, regardless of user type. Cerveny agreed.
The committee will await perspective from the Council. Members present also revisited
the topic of automated screen savers as a security measure when a computer is idle for a
set amount of time. Cerveny again asserted the opinion that an education of users is not
likely to result in change of behavior and that an automated screen saver is a more secure
method. Given the low attendance at the meeting, no committee recommendation was
made; the Council is considering the options at this time as well.
7. Changing the way we deal with users accounts after employees leave the college.
Cerveny submitted the following proposal: (Note, the underlined text was changes as a result
of input from Committee members):
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Currently, when users leave the College policy states that they can keep their Cornell
network account and email access for up to 3 months. In addition, users can request an
extension of 3 months; making the possibility of retaining access to their account for up to 6
months. This increases the chances of security breaches and also allows users who are no
longer employed by the college to pose as a college employee by using their old Cornell
email address. In order to address these issues, I propose the following:
1. Users no longer employed by the college will have access to their account for 1 week
following their last day. After 1 week their account will be closed. Where
appropriate, users can choose to have their email forwarded to an external email
account for 3 months following their last day at Cornell. If at the end of the 3 month
forwarding period, a user with sufficient reason may extend email forwarding for 3
additional months. IT will assist user in acquiring a third party account where
necessary.
2. Emeriti may choose to retain their Cornell College email access for lifetime although
allotted server space will be less than current faculty.
3. Adjunct professors classified as “Regular/Continuing Part-time” by the Academic
Dean’s Office may choose to retain their Cornell College email account.
Pros:
1. Help reduce the risk of security breaches
2. Help meet the recommended standards specified by our auditors and other
organizations dealing with privacy and data protection issues.
Cons:
1. Some users who are no longer employed by the college may consider this an
inconvenience.
8. Question regarding remote access for faculty—Jean
Cerveny stated that IT is hopeful that some sort of remote access capability be available
to faculty and staff during the summer of 08. The timing and capability will depend on
the release dates and functionality of Windows 2008 Server.
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