CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE/ ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE
0
MINUTES OF MEETING 11/09/2010 APPROVED BY COMMITTEE_______________
U
Sub. To Exec. Comm. _________________ Approved by Exec. Comm.______________
Sub. To Acad. Senate _________________Approved by Acad. Senate ______________
POLICY ITEMS ___________
ERC Members Present: Michael Barrett (Chair), Sandra Chong, Barry Cleveland, Robert Kladifko,
Jerry Schutte, Diane Stephens
ATC Members Present: Hilary Baker, Shan Barkataki, Helen Heinrich, Mary Schaffer, Ashley Skylar
(Chair), Wayne Smith, Holli Tonyan, Jeff Wiegley
Minutes: T. Everroad.
Guests: Jennifer De Iuliis, Harry Hellenbrand, David Levin, Chris Olsen, Ben Quillian, Carol Shubin
1. Announcements
At 2:07 pm, Barrett and Skylar called the meeting to order. Introductions were made around the
room.
Barrett encouraged all ERC and ATC members to attend the UPBG meeting on Friday,
November 12th at 12:00 noon in UN 277. Vice Presidents Hellenbrand and McCarron will
provide budget updates. The deans have also been invited.
Stephens noted ERC’s paperless policy as the reason the agenda and all meeting materials will be
displayed on the projection screen throughout the meeting.
2. ATC Chair’s Report
Skylar mentioned that the latest ACAT meeting included discussion on IT Vision@2015 and the
new Hybrid and Online Policy.
3. ERC Chair’s Report
Barrett provided a recap of the October 22nd UPBG meeting. Provost Hellenbrand and Vice
President McCarron provided an update on the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC). The
2011 season is filled as much as was anticipated for the inaugural season. The house is already
80% sold for the duration of the season, and they expect to pay off the construction debt in ten
years instead of the projected thirty years.
Barrett also noted from the latest Faculty Senate Meeting that the Doctorate in Physical Therapy
has been approved.
4. IT Vision@2015 Discussion (Provost Harry Hellenbrand- 2:15 time certain)
Baker and Hellenbrand introduced IT Vision@2015, a five-year strategic plan for on-campus
technology. Hellenbrand emphasized that the plan is borne of the growing need for tactical
deployment of technological resources to ensure that current technology projects augment longterm institutional objectives.
Hellenbrand noted that part of the plan will be to use current technology projects, such as Thin
Client and Virtual Computing Lab (VCL), to bring uniformity to labs and smart classrooms
across departments. He asked attendees to inform Stephens of any labs which need upgrades and
may be good candidates for technology pilots.
(NB: Notes from the IT Vision@2015 discussion were taken separately by DeIuliis as part of the
planning process.)
5. Provost’s Report
Provost Hellenbrand urged ERC and ATC members to attend the upcoming UPBG meeting. He
and Tom McCarron will be providing a summary of the current budget picture.
Hellenbrand stated that because of all the enrollment target adjustments from the Chancellor’s
Office during fall, CSUN ended up starting the Fall 2010 term two percent under-enrolled, after
anticipating being five percent over-enrolled.
CSUN is running a budget surplus in excess of the Chancellor’s allowance, and plans to spend
down the surplus by June 30, 2011. Much of the one-time funds will go to hiring new faculty.
Some funding will also be restored to small cap improvement projects, which have been
underfunded in recent years.
Hellenbrand added that student fees are currently covering 47% of the education costs, and the
Chancellor maintains the position asserted in the CSU master plan, that CSU education is tuitionfree. He also noted the overall amount of grants awarded to students is roughly equivalent to the
total of student fees charged to the student body.
6. Technology Pilot Updates
Stephens discussed the ongoing thin client pilot, in which traditional desktops are replaced with a
much smaller machine which may not have a hard drive and streams its desktop image from a
central provisioning server. The thin client machines are much less expensive, use less power,
and software licensing can be purchased based on concurrent usage rather than number of
stations, presenting a significant cost savings. The thin clients are being installed in classrooms
which are not already equipped with computers.
Wiegley provided an overview of thin client labs. The math lab construction in Shoshone Hall
was cancelled, leaving a large inventory of thin clients to be redeployed. The Business Gateway
lab and the Physics lab were deployed with only minor issues typical of any new deployment.
The machines were not powerful enough to run the software needed for the Journalism Lab, so
replacement machines were required. A replacement Math lab in Live Oak Hall is in the
planning phase. Faculty involved in a blind pilot could not tell that the machines in classrooms
were not standard desktops. The thin clients are showing extensive technical support savings
potential, because all maintenance and service can be performed remotely.
Olsen discussed the VCL project which was piloted during the spring and fall semesters.
Throughout the fall pilot, they successfully used VCL to stream Adobe CS5, which is a
notoriously robust program. They are composing a list of software which can be streamed for a
slightly different virtual computing lab pilot in the upcoming spring semester, as well as seeking
additional faculty members to participate.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.