March 11, 2008

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:   PHILIP TURNER, CHAIR, TIM CHRISTIAN, ELIZABETH HINKLE-TURNER, DOROTHY FLORES (for JOHN HOOPER), GARY MATTHEWS, FRANCES MAY, BEN BIGBY (for JON NELSON), DON GROSE, NOREEN GOGGIN, PATRICK PLUSCHT, JUDITH ADKISON, RAMU MUTHIAH, YUNFEI DU, JIM BYFORD, WIL CLARK (for JOHN PRICE), NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:   JOE ADAMO, PHILIP BACZEWSKI, MAURICE LEATHERBURY, SEAN-MIKEL FLOWERS, SUE ELLEN RICHEY (Recording Secretary) MEMBERS ABSENT: LOU ANN BRADLEY, BRUCE HUNTER,WILL SENN, CENGIZ CAPAN, SCOTT WINDHAM, RAY BANKS, ABRAHAM JOHN, DONNA KEENER GUESTS:  CHARLOTTE RUSSELL, TROY JOHNSON

Judith Adkison moved for approval of the minutes of the February 19, 2008 meeting; Don Grose seconded the motion, and the minutes were approved as distributed.

Distributed Computing Support Management Team**

Philip Baczewski reported for the Distributed Computing Support Management Team that their last scheduled meeting was on March 7, when UNT was closed due to inclement weather, so they did not meet.  The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on March 21, 2008.

Learning Enhancement Planning Group 

Patrick Pluscht reported for the Learning Enhancement Planning Group that the RFP is out for a new Learning Management System as of February 29th, with pre-bid meeting having been held on Thursday March 6th at 1:30 p.m.  Responses to the RFP are due back to Purchasing & Payment Services on March 13^th, with a bid opening on Friday, March 14^th.  The committee will then have March 15^th-30^th to evaluate the responses, after which they will prepare a short list of vendors (by April 2^nd)  and then have from April 7^th through 18^th to schedule demos, if needed, and have meetings with the vendors, with a final decision deadline of April 30^th.  The committee plans to present all information to the IRC after the April 2^nd short-list decision so that the IRC can review everything by the April 15^th meeting.  The following URL is the website where information regarding this review process will be posted:  http://web3.unt.edu/lmseval/

In addition, Patrick announced that an executive briefing from Apple was given for the president and other senior administrators here regarding iTunes U, and was warmly received.

Dr. Turner remarked that the QEP III RFP is out. This will be of interest for faculty teaching large enrollment classes. April 23^rd is the deadline for applying for this, and they are looking for five courses. Also, an RFP is going out for faculty interested in designing 1 week of lessons; it would be a summer release, for experiential learning in an undergraduate class of any size. Twenty of these will be available; it is for 1.5 months salary, equivalent of summer course pay. This information will be shared with the Deans and Department Chairs.

Communications Planning Group

There was no report from the Communications Planning Group, since there had been no meeting.

AIS Planning Group 

There was no report from the AIS Planning Group.

Standards & Policy Planning Group 

Tim Christian reported for the Standards & Policy Planning Group that they are still working on policy revisions.

Student Computing Planning Group 

There was no report from the Student Computing Planning Group.

Draft of the revised IT policy 

Maurice Leatherbury stated that a draft of the revised IT policy was distributed at the February meeting, and it is up for vote today.  He noted an addition to the 2^nd to last paragraph on the last page, regarding whether or not network managers can be members of the ITC.  This revised policy was brought as a motion, seconded by Patrick Pluscht, and discussion followed.  Maurice emphasized that these two committees have more clout than they used to if the Project Management Policy and handbook gets adopted, because the Project Management Policy requires that projects of varying sizes be formally approved by different groups on campus, the IRC and the Planning Groups of the IRC being the staging gate through which projects have to pass before they can begin.  So the membership of the ITC and ITSC is critical.  As a point of clarification, Maurice stated that if this proposed policy is approved, it would then go to V.P. Andrew Harris before going on to the Vice Presidents.  A comment was made by Troy Johnson that the peer review report states that there will be another IT Review done, but Maurice stated that this is not a sure thing.  Troy Johnson suggested that there be an additional representative from Enrollment Services in order to insure that the best decisions get made concerning students.  It was clarified that the Information Resources Council will become the Information Technology Council.  It was noted that Institutional Research is not represented, and Troy Johnson expressed concern about that.  Dr. Turner called for a motion to add one position to the Enrollment Management category; Judith Adkison made the motion; Ramu Muthiah seconded, and after some discussion, the motion passed.  Will Clark suggested that Enrollment Management form a user group which would then have a representative on the ITC.  Maurice explained that Health Science Center representation is not certain because of some changes at HSC, but the Dallas campus will continue to be represented. 

Tim Christian declared that he was not happy about the Information Technology Steering Committee having so many people on it.  He stated that having that many members would impede progress because it should only have people who can make financial decisions, not political decisions.  Tim suggested that the ITSC only have Vice Presidents on it, and drop everyone else.  Tim moved that a vote on this proposal be tabled until the April meeting; Don Grose seconded the motion.  During a short discussion, it was determined that there was no reason to rush this proposal, and that it would be all right to vote on it at the April meeting.  The motion to table was passed.

Desktop Replacement Policy 

Maurice reported that a survey has been sent out to colleges and administrative departments asking them how many old machines are in their units; responses are due back by March 24^th.  Results will then enable his committee to complete the Desktop Replacement Policy.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.