This Is IT!
Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2008
Message from the
CIO/Vice President
As the Fall semester comes to a close and the holiday season
is upon us, it is a time to give thanks for our family, friends, and
our health. It is also an opportunity to look back and celebrate our
accomplishments for the semester. I am very proud of the latest IT
Master Plan that was developed over the last several months. The IT
Leadership Team has been instrumental in helping develop our threeyear Plan with additional help from students, faculty and staff who attended our IT Planning Session
in October 2008. The Plan has been validated and is now available on the web. As with most IT
Master Plans, it is comprehensive, but not all inclusive. We should anticipate that we will modify the
Plan as we move forward and measure our accomplishments through the completion of our Area
Plans. In developing the IT Master Plan we kept our students as our number one priority.
Another highlight for the Division has been our involvement with Digital El Paso. The
collaborative involving several entities including the City of El Paso, the County of El Paso, UTEP,
EPISD, YISD, the Housing Authority, and several others has been very successful as we continue
to support the wireless initiative and distribute refurbished computers to low income families in the
Segundo Barrio community. We also continue to provide refurbished computers to schools, senior
centers and other non-profit agencies. To-date, there are a total of 559 refurbished computers
benefiting many throughout El Paso.
As you read through this newsletter, you’ll learn about other new or updated initiatives within
the Division. These include the opening of the new Student Technology Services Lab that will benefit
our students; the new Records Management Warehouse that
will benefit the entire District; and the EPCC TV Studio and
the different shows they are producing. Information Security
This is IT!
is always a priority and of interest will be the new Tejano Alert
System and other security related articles.
Message from the CIO/VP . . . . . . . . 1
In closing, I hope you enjoy reading on IT “behind the
Opening of New IT Facilities. . . . . . . . 2
scenes”
and I wish you safe and happy holidays!
Faculty Development IT Team Effort . . 3
The
Best
Place
to
Start
Tejano Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Your Personal Library Card is here! . . . 4
What is Data Warehousing? . . . . . . . . 4
ACS Album - 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Welcome Newcomers. . . . . . . . . . . .5
New EPCC-TV Productions. . . . . . .6
Changing Passwords. . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Oct 08 is Cyber Security Awareness Month . . 7
IT Congratulates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fabiola Rubio
CIO/Vice President
El Paso County Community College District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin,
religion, gender, age or disability.
Photo by Fernie Garcia
This is IT Page 1
Opening of New IT Facilities:
STS Open House
Pan Chudabala
On October 16, 2008, Student Technology Services held
an Open House ceremony for a new lab. In honor of Dr. Richard
Rhodes the lab was renamed “Rhodes Student Technology
Services” (R’STS). The purpose of the ceremony was to show
appreciation to all those who have displayed their commitment
to the STS program throughout the years.
The ceremony began with the cutting of the ceremonial
ribbon, initiating the official grand opening of the R’STS Lab. The
open house was accomplished through the joint effort of committed
STS students, along with administrative staff and many college
family members. Beautiful live music was provided by Joseph Hobdy, an STS student, creating a
pleasant environment of fellowship. STS presented special gifts to Fabiola Rubio, Rachel Viramontes,
and Dr. Jenny Girón for their continuous support to the program.
M r. A m a d o P e ñ a
generously donated 12 of
his beautiful paintings to our
lab and in a combined effort,
Lonnie Art & Frames, and
C&M Plaque and Trophy
framed the paintings. They
also made a giant mural
of the STS logo which was
hung in our lab. The Pepsi
Company donated a years’
supply of soda, and Wal-Mart
and Costco donated several
delicious platters for our
open house event.
STS would like to thank everyone who attended the ceremony and Debbie Aguilera, STS
advisor, for her guidance and leadership. Above all, STS would like to thank Dr. Rhodes for starting
the STS program, for his continual support, and for believing in the students of EPCC.
Records Management Warehouse Opens!
Bonnie Prieto
The new Records Management Warehouse located in Building A, room A480 on the ASC
campus is now open for business. Gus Luevano, the Records Clerk, will manage the storage and
retrieval of district records currently in the warehouse and assist with new requests to store records.
With help from the staff most knowledgeable of departmental records, a Records Control
schedule was tailored to the specific functions of their department. Training sessions were conducted
with these records liaisons assigned by their department on the State and Federal government laws,
as well as FERP and HIIPA laws. A Barcode system will: track each record as it enters the warehouse
to assign a storage location; flag the record for the retention period according to the laws; monitor who
has checked out the record, when it was returned, and how long the record is out of the warehouse;
and also provide a history of the departments’ records stored in the warehouse. A log of all original
record destructions will be kept by the Office of Records Management, and a copy will be provided in
the event the user loses their copy.
The warehouse policies and procedures, copies of records schedules, storage form
and the training manual are located in the EPCC web page under Records Management.
* http://www.epcc.edu/Default.aspx?alias=www.epcc.edu/it/recordsmanagement
This is IT Page 2
Faculty Development IT Team Effort
The Information Technology Division sponsored over 20 workshops and participated
in sessions during Fall 2008 Faculty Development Week. Some of the topics covered in
the workshops were:
• Blackboard Tools
• Computer Literacy: Making Sense of IT
• Excel 2007: Demand Excellence From Your Spreadsheet
• Excel For Grades
• Grade Guide Grading Management Software
• How Can We Help You?
• Let’s Be Social! Touring Web 2.0
• Outlook Web Access
• PowerPoint 2007: Pertinent Points
• Say Hello to Office 2007
• Smart Start Network: Clinic
• Smart Start Network: Technology That Helps!
• Student Achievement
• The Power of Presentations
• The Semester Starts Next Week! Does Your Online Course Need a Final
Tweak?
• TRC Open House: Ice Cream Social
• TV or Not TV! (Is that the question or the answer?)
• Word 2007: Basic Training
Presenters came from Academic Computing Services, AVP Instructional
Resources and Technology, EPCC-TV, IT Service Desk, IT Web Team, Student Technology
Services, Technology Resource Center, and Technology Support Services. We appreciate
the team effort that supported our students, faculty, and staff during the Fall 2008 Faculty
Development Week.
Tejano Alert
EPCC is launching a new emergency messaging alert system. Through the system “Tejano
Alert” students, faculty, and staff can be notified of an emergency by voice or text message. In
order to receive the alerts you must sign up and register your cell phone number. Go to the EPCC
homepage, click on “Tejano Alert” and follow the instructions. Your EPCC Exchange or Smart
Start Net e-mail address is only needed during the registration process to identify you as an EPCC
student or employee and to send you a temporary password (later, it is used as your username
to log in to your account to “opt-out” or change cell numbers.)
After you receive a return email with your temporary password, click on “Login” and choose
a new password. The next step will be to change the email address you used to register to your
cell number by “editing” your account, changing “email” to “text” or “voice” and the email address
to your 10-digit cell number; then saving your selections. Please do not use your EPCC or Smart
Start email as the email contact as you will already receive messages from those formats. Please
do not use your office phone number as you may not be at your desk when a crisis occurs. Faculty
please share this message with your students and encourage their participation.
Your information will not be shared with any external party and all announcements will be
sent from the EPCC Police Department.
If you have any further questions please call the IT Service Desk at 831-6440
This is IT Page 3
Your Personal
Library Card is
here!!!!!
Doroteo Franco
In an effort to provide quicker and easier access to hundreds of teaching ideas STARLINK is
providing you with your own Library Card. This card contains the only password needed to access
all sections of their streaming video library for FY2009.
The password for these programs is 2teach (case sensitive). This password gives you
access to the Monthly Streaming Videos, Annual Streaming Videos, and Ideas from their homepage
at www.starlinktraining.org 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Access is as easy as this:
Go to www.starlinktraining.org
Click on the Library tab
Click on one of the three tabs available - Monthly Streaming Videos
Annual Streaming Videos
Ideas
Click on the title you want to watch
With this new password, 2teach, you are on your way to finding great teaching strategies and
information. Please contact the Technology Resource Center for more information or assistance.
The TRC website is: http://www.epcc.edu/Default.aspx?alias=www.epcc.edu/TRC
What is Data Warehousing?
By Ralph Silva
Data warehousing is combining data from multiple and usually varied sources and easily
manipulated databases (such as Banner). Common accessing systems of data warehousing include
queries, analysis and reporting. Because data warehousing creates one database in the end, the
number of sources can be anything you want it to be, provided that the system can handle the
volume, of course. The final result is homogeneous (standardized) data, which can be more easily
manipulated and stored.
Data warehousing is commonly used by companies to analyze trends over time. In other
words, companies may very well use data warehousing to view day-to-day operations, but its
primary function is facilitating strategic planning resulting from long-term data overviews. From
such overviews, business models, forecasts, and other reports projections can be made. In a higher
education environment, student interventions and strategies can be analyzed.
Data warehousing is not the be-all and end-all for storing all of a company’s data. Rather,
data warehousing is used to house the necessary data for specific analysis. More comprehensive
data storage requires different capacities that are more static and less easily manipulated
t h a n t h o s e u s e d f o r d a t a warehousing.
Data warehousing is typically used by larger companies analyzing larger sets of data for
enterprise purposes. Sometimes different (functional) departments within these larger companies
wishing to analyze just one subject, for example, usually access data marts which are much more
specific and targeted in their storage and reporting.
Depending on your future reporting needs within your department at El Paso Community
College, you might want to be on the lookout for a data warehouse or data mart you can access to
begin your first business Intelligence experience.
This is IT Page 4
ACS Album - 2008
KIOSK IS HERE!
Resource Fairs
Welcome Newcomers
IT welcomes the following new employees to our team:
Gus Luevano . . . . . . . . . . . .Records Management Clerk
Bobby Morrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Senior Programmer Analyst
This is IT Page 5
New EPCC-TV Productions
Mark Negrete, Producer
El Paso Community College and
EPCC-TV are pleased to announce a new
educational TV program - Computer Train.
This 30 minute weekly TV show trains a cable
TV audience to use their computers. Russell
H. Myers, associate Professor of Information
Technology Systems at El Paso Community
College is the host of this new series that covers
everything from the fundamentals to hardware
and software. The instruction is geared for
basic newcomers and long time users. It offers
something for everyone. Computer Train
demonstrates how your computer can become
your friend and improve your life. The schedule
of air times and dates is on the flyer that is
pictured and being distributed throughout the
district.
The EPIC Time Warner Cable 14
schedule is on this website:
http://www.epcc.edu/sites/
departments/cit/files/53E88E88AC
CF4EE198B355F8C84BFB15.pdf
Perspectives - El Paso
Marco Lara, Producer
PERSPECTIVES - El Paso is produced by EPCC-TV.
Every week Professor Leon Blevins invites
well known and
formerly undiscovered people to reveal something that you might
not have known and are glad to find out.
Topics covered range
from politics,
government, business and the military, to education
and technology, with occasional forays into the
visual arts and music.
PERSPECTIVES - El Paso aires on
EPIC Channel, Time Warner Cable 14:
Saturday
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Sunday
7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
8:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday
12:30 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
KCOS TV 13, Cable Channel 12:
Sunday
9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
For information about these shows, and to order
DVD copies call (915) 831-6557.
This is IT Page 6
Changing Passwords
Richard Buller
A requirement to change your log-on password at least once every 180 days will be
automatically enforced by the EPCC network. This is the password you use to log-on to a computer
and obtain EPCC network services, including systems and applications serviced by EPCC’s Active
Directory, such as your e-mail via Outlook when on-campus or Outlook Web Access (OWA) from
an off-campus location.
This requirement will be implemented based on the first letter of your last name and
done so in groups of letters by moving from “A” through “Z”. Notice for each letter grouping and
its implementation date will be broadcast via District-wide e-mail on a five, three, and then one
work-day before the requirement date.
Since this implementation affects only those whose password has not been changed in
over 180 days, everyone can perform a Ctrl-Alt-Del key combination; select “Change Password”;
and perform their password change now. This requirement affects those employed prior to 2006,
as everyone beginning employment at EPCC since then has already been changing their computer
and network password on at least a 180 day schedule.
Your new password must meet the following requirements beginning with a length of at
least eight characters and contain three of these four variations:
1. At least one lower case character (a-z).
2. At least one upper case (A-Z) character.
3. Passwords must contain a number (0-9) character.
4. A special (!@#$%&*, etc.) character.
Passwords MUST NOT contain any of the following: Your first name, your last name, or
your username. Do not use the same character repeated more than 3 times consecutively.
Microsoft Windows XP and Active Directory will automatically confirm that your password
meets the EPCC password strength requirements. As we will also implement other protections,
should you fail three times to enter your password correctly, you will be required to wait 30
minutes before trying again. This protects your account from brute force attacks. District-wide
announcements will advise everyone of those passwords scheduled for change based on the first
character of last name.
Always protect your account access information – both username and password!
Change your password if there is any chance it is compromised.
October 2008 was
Cyber Security Awareness
Month!
The National Cyber Security Awareness Month is promoted annually by the
National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). Their aim is to increase awareness
about the risks associated with using Internet technologies and how to help
protect against them. An important source for tips, best practices, and much
information about how to stay safe online can be found at http://www.us-cert.
gov/cas/tips/. This site is sponsored by the United States Computer Emergency
Readiness Team and has both technical and non-technical information. Another
excellent one-stop site is http://www.staysafeonline.info/basics/consumers.
html. Here you will find simple steps, best practices and resources to learn the basics on how to
improve security for your home computer and defeat cyber threats.
This is IT Page 7
IT Congratulates...
Administrator Is Awarded
Javier Sanchez
Fabiola Rubio, El Paso Community College Vice President
of Information Technology/CIO, was honored with an El Paso
Hispanic Chamber BizTech Technology Hall of Fame Award for using
technology to make a difference in the community.
Among her achievements, Ms. Rubio led the Orion collaborative
that uses fiber optics to improve the delivery of education. Through
her efforts, EPCC was the first higher education school in the area
to provide guest internet wireless hotspots. In addition, she was able
to negotiate very low cost student, faculty and staff purchases of
Microsoft Office equipment.
She brought EPCC to the forefront by becoming a Microsoft authorized distribution center
to provide refurbished PCs to underserved members of the community and she led her department
to interface with La Fe PC Literacy Training Program. More recently, she became a board member
of the El Paso Collaborative for Community & Economic Development. In this capacity, she will
provide guidance in making affordable loans to the 80 percent of El Paso community that qualifies
under federal poverty guidelines to purchase appliances and affordable homes.
Employee of the Year
This past May of 2008, Frank Samaniego was chosen to be the
Classified Staff Employee of the Year. He is an Academic Computing Services
Lab Specialist and has been with the college since 1984. After an accident
as a crops field worker which made him unable to walk, he decided to go to
school at EPCC starting as a work-study in the Instructional Service Center,
and later in the Counseling Department. In 1986 he graduated from EPCC
with an Associate of Applied Science Accounting and attained the competitive
appointment of full time Student Services Assistant in the Counseling
Department.
Frank graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science
Management/Computer Information Systems from Park College in 1994, and with a Master of Arts
Computer Resource and Information Management from Webster University in 2002.
The list of his awards and volunteer experience are continuous, reflecting Frank to be a “very
dedicated and intelligent person that is always ready to help and share his knowledge with students
and co-workers”. One would think his wheelchair has rockets because of his involvement with many
charities (Christmas in July Motorcycle Toy Run, etc.), extracurricular activities ((Leadership Academy
Workshops, etc.), and his “outstanding” management of the ACS lab (“extremely helpful and gets the
job done quickly”).
Note: The quotes come from the nomination forms.
Employee of the Month 2008
Ray Aguilar, TV Production Technician for EPCC-TV, was
honored as Employee of the Month for October. He assists with
television productions behind the camera, setting microphones, and
preparing the sets. Ray also is in charge of the TV Video bulletin
board.
His nomination describes him as “very well liked and
recognized by college employees”. In the volunteer program
he “is always ready to provide training to those who request his
services.”
This is IT Page 8