Information Technology

In support of the academic program and congruous to the overall mission of Baldwin Wallace University, it is the objective of the IT Department to maintain a reliable and secure information technology network infrastructure, coordinate a dependable system of administrative databases, provide comprehensive and responsive service to the campus computing community, offer educational technology training resources, monitor and utilize forward-thinking practices in planning for the future, and establish a ubiquitous system of effective electronic communication among all constituencies.

 To fulfill this mission, the IT Department strives to achieve the following goals:

 Academic Goals:

• To maintain a facility for faculty that is housed with up-to-date equipment and a highly-qualified staff capable of providing a wide-range of training options in both established and progressive technologies that can be utilized in the classroom to enhance the teaching/learning process.
• To provide numerous computer lab facilities for students that are generously equipped with current hardware and software options and have 24-hour access to accommodate various scheduling needs.
• To remain abreast of current and emerging trends in educational technologies as well as perform environmental scanning to assess our status with regard to competing institutions.
• To support a college-wide intranet (portal) system that utilizes features such as the development of online course content for faculty, information sharing between faculty and students, and an area to create and maintain a personal web space and e-portfolios for students.

 Administrative Goals:

• To provide information technology systems that efficiently automate the recording, processing, reporting, and storage of institutional data.
• To coordinate, through networking and programming efforts, the integration of information sharing between numerous offices to better ensure the accuracy and consistency of reports generated from multiple databases.
• To support the administrative activity on campus with desktop computers, software, and peripherals that are up-to-date and appropriately meet the needs of each user.
• To act as the resource center for official institutional research, thereby fulfilling data requests and providing statistical information to external constituencies.

Service & Support Goals:

• To operate a reliable network of servers and global access that adequately meets the needs of the campus.
• To provide the highest level of security for data storage, data transmission, threats of intrusion, and virus attacks in order to protect the integrity of the network.
• To offer campus-wide access to the network through extensive computing options, both wired and wireless.
• To operate a HelpDesk assistance service to all areas of the campus that provides both telephone support and onsite repair capabilities.

Communication Goals:

• To make IT policies and publications readily available and electronically accessible in order to provide the most current information to the campus community.
• To facilitate internal and external electronic e-mail communication.
• To maintain a reliable telephone system capable of adequately processing the telecommunications needs of the campus including local, long-distance, and emergency 911 services, with necessary accessibility for optimal benefit.
• To supervise the accounts of numerous campus cellular phone users in order to achieve consistency and cost with various vendors.

Planning Goals:

• To consistently monitor the ever-changing hardware and software requirements of the College, assisting faculty and administrative staff in the selection and purchase of appropriate equipment and packages.
• To monitor the release of new technologies, thereby researching their appropriateness for implementation in this institution.
• To ask as the technical liaison between the President and Officers of the College, making recommendations for appropriate changes to what is provided.
• To establish and maintain legal and ethical guidelines and standards with regard to licensing, distribution, and data sharing issues.
• To provide professional development opportunities to the IT staff in order to achieve a greater knowledge base and more comprehensive talent pool.
• To develop annual computer capital and operational budgets that work within the parameters of the funds received by the institution.
• To regularly monitor and update the Strategic Plan for Information Technology in order for it to remain a current and effective document, guiding the decisions made, and keeping in line with the overall mission of Baldwin Wallace University.