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The Strategic Information Technology Committee met on September 19 and the Enterprise Web Advisory Council met on September 22. The Architecture and New Technology Committee (ANTC) did not meet in September.

Imagine you’ve got a piece software on your work computer, and the license for it has recently expired (but the software still works). You haven’t been using the software that much, so you’re hesitant to pay to renew the license. That’s okay, right? Wrong.

For the fourth year in a row, UIT will be participating in National Cyber Security Awareness Month, a nationwide effort sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security to provide education about cyber threats and offer tips and best practices concerning how to stay safe online.

UIT has been hosting the UIT Golf Tournament each year since 2009. Colleagues from UIT and Information Technology Services (ITS) hit the green for nine holes of golf, plus dinner, prizes, and a year of bragging rights.

In the world of IT, unmanaged risk has real-world consequences. Sloppy data handling often precedes a security breach. Getting a comprehensive picture of risks associated with IT products and systems in use at the University is one element of Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) in the Information Security Office (ISO).

UIT's Center for High Performance Computing, along with the universities of Chicago and Michigan, have received a $4 million NSF grant to produce SLATE, a new online platform for stitching together large amounts of data from multiple institutions. The U's participation will be led by Joe Breen, Senior IT architect for CHPC.

Prior to the discovery of four "surprise" conduits, the ACC "east feed" project already included 15,000 to 17,000 connections (phone, fiber, etc.). As Tim Goodale, senior product manager in UIT Pathway Engineering, put it, "Basically, everything that was running through a manhole had to be moved to all new infrastructure."

UIT staff are working hard behind the scenes before, during, and after each home game to ensure everything runs the way it’s supposed to, from ticket scanner and concession stand connectivity, to maintaining Wi-Fi in the press box and cellular coverage for the whole stadium, to facilitating the upload of live statistics to various sports websites.

It's an exciting time to be in IT. There are so many new and innovative technologies available that are transforming how we deliver and consume IT services. Some of these technologies are critical to our ongoing success and must be part of our IT strategy going forward.

Tragedy always strikes when you least expect it – and in the summer of 2016, it happened to Tina Nguyen. First, her uncle-in-law passed away from a sudden heart attack. Then, the family dog was put down. And then, in June, her mother was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma – non-smoker’s lung cancer – stage 4. The doctors gave her six to twelve months to live.