Office of Information Technology

Technology Advisory Board (TAB)
Minutes of Meeting of November 17, 2003

Location: University Center, Room 237
Time: 8:30 - 9:30AM

Attendance:

Members: Bill Britten, Steve Dolgner, Jim Gehlhar, Ray Hamilton, James Hughes, Matt Johnson, Sarah Keeton, Julie Little, Faye Muly, Marla Peterson, Stan Pinkleton, and Luther Wilhelm.

Others: Nancy Gnilka

Mr. Matt Johnson, student co-chair, called the meeting to order.

TAB Bylaws Amendment -Proposal to change TAB meeting yearly schedule

The first agenda item was the proposal to amend the bylaws to change the TAB meeting yearly schedule. The recommended change will replace the April meeting with a meeting in January. A January meeting will be more beneficial because of the accelerated annual schedule for Technology Fee funding proposals. In addition, the April meeting is inconvenient because of the rollover in student membership resulting from the SGA election in April. The Board unanimously supported this change in the bylaws.

Communication – SGA taking a lead in keeping the students better informed about the Technology Fee

There was a wide-ranging discussion of goals for improved communication with students about the Technology Fee. As new students come to the university, it is necessary to clarify what the Technology Fee is used for, and also, what technology services are not funded by the Technology Fee. It was agreed that the communication actions should be focused on demonstrating the overall value of the Technology Fee to the community in providing a technological infrastructure and services that support teaching and learning and research. A variety of possible methods of communication were discussed: a new brochure, pop up messages when logging into the network, faculty presentations at the beginning of each semester, a link from the Blackboard web site, a link from the utk.edu web site, and a general email to all students. In addition, the possibility of a series of articles in the Beacon about technology, with an emphasis on the uses of the Technology Fee, was suggested. The action items selected by the TAB members included:

• An online presentation will be developed to communicate how the Technology Fee has been used and goals for the future. The SGA Technical Services committee will take the lead on this, with input from OIT staff. Links will be created to this site from Blackboard, the SGA web site, and the utk.edu home page.
• Ms. Sarah Keeton will contact the Beacon staff to suggest an article be published about the Technology Fee early in the Spring semester. Mr. Johnson, as student co-chair of TAB will write this article.
• Mr. James Hughes, chair of the SGA Technical Services Committee, will develop a Tech Talk forum to present information about the Technology Fee.
• The OIT student computing labs will be asked to develop means to provide further information about the Technology Fee. Possibilities are using stickers with a reference to the online Technology Fee web page or posting a notice at logon with the URL.

Request for expanded wireless services

Mr. Hughes suggested additional areas on campus be considered for wireless network access. The group recommended four locations:

• New greenway between Hodges Library and the HSS building
• Presidential courtyard
• University Center Plaza
• Commons areas in the dorms.

An engineering analysis and budget projection will be performed.

Meeting Schedule

The next TAB meeting will be held on January 21, 2004, 2:00 – 3:00 PM, in the 4th Floor Conference Room of Andy Holt Tower. Beginning with January 2004, the meetings will resume on the third Wednesdays of the month at 2:00PM, in the 4th Floor Conference Room of Andy Holt Tower.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.