Welcome back to all. I hope the semester has gotten off to a good start.

Over the summer, Chapman University’s Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) has completed some infrastructure projects that, while not highly visible, will hopefully result in improved service to the campus community. One of these projects was replacing the university’s old help desk ticket tracking system with a cloud-based system called “Jira.” Jira integrates better with the tools we already use, allowing IS&T to easily track and resolve issues for the campus community.

In addition, IS&T has also completed various infrastructure projects, such as the migration from Panopto to YuJa video platform and the implementation of a new Identity Management System. These projects will allow us to provide better and more secure technical services across the university.

As the university prepares to enter a new strategic plan, it is a good time for IS&T to take a step back and consider the strategic priorities that we should address in the near future. This coincides with scaling back the efforts needed on pandemic-related challenges, so the timing is excellent. To begin that planning process, Provost Bouchard and I hosted a mini-retreat with leaders from IS&T and our colleagues from across campus to set our priorities based on the strategic plan under development.

As part of the university’s new strategic plan, IS&T will focus on various external-facing projects aimed at improving the services provided to the campus community. These include partnering with the Provost’s office to enhance the student experience through digitally transforming areas such as registration and advising. In addition, the department will be working with the Human Resources department to improve the efficiency of our Human Capital Management system. We have prepared a video to share our digital transformation plans with you; you may watch it here: IS&T Digital Transformation.

IS&T is committed to the university’s DEI initiatives and has started an internal program, partnering with the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We have implemented a voluntary program for our staff to work with local schools and nonprofits and added live-captioning in all Zoom and Teams meetings to ensure accessibility for all. We have partnered with NameCoach to help everyone create and share a recording of their name in Canvas, their email signature, and more. Additionally, we are in the process of adding fields allowing Student Self-Service in Peoplesoft to identify sexual orientation, pronouns, and gender identity. We plan to build on these efforts going forward.

We continue to work with our colleagues in University Advancement and Strategic Marketing to further enhance systems in all areas. As we move ahead, you will see more updates via the working@chapman newsletter.

Thank you