The MSU IT Council met on January 7. Below are the high-level topic summaries from the meeting.
MSU branding
Heather Swain, Vice President of Communications and Brand Strategy (CABS), explained the value of advancing the MSU brand as a Tier 1 research institution and what it means for attracting talent and funding.
Swain discussed the importance of maintaining a high-quality undergraduate program and the development of alumni as brand ambassadors.
Challenges facing CABS include aligning institutional communications in a decentralized communications environment and gathering, managing, and sorting data to make it understandable.
Proposal template for IT Council
Terri Gustafson, Center for Teaching and Technology Director in the College of Education, reviewed changes to the IT Council’s Proposal Template based on feedback from the last IT Council meeting.
The template guides council members and task forces in creating detailed proposals for submission to the IT Council Board.
Box cloud storage
Cynthia Ghering, Content and Collaboration Director in IT Services, presented a draft of a phased implementation plan for the Internet2 NET+ Box storage and collaboration service at MSU.
Box is a cloud-hosted service offering the ability to access, store, and share content securely anywhere and on any device.
Finalizing contract agreement details, addressing the authentication strategy and identifying early adopters will be key to moving forward.
Central campus email
Mike Walters, IT Director for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, presented a proposal from the Email and Collaboration Tools Recommendation Task Force recommending Microsoft Office 365 for the central campus email system.
Proposed next steps include addressing Campus Active Directory and compliance requirements, licensing, Microsoft consulting, and development of a communications plan.
Technology purchasing
Monique Dozier, Assistant Vice President of University Advancement, led a discussion about IT assets and purchasing.
She proposed that the IT Council proceed with the work begun by Barb Dawson (in her previous position as CIO for the College of Human Medicine) in developing an IT assets procurement strategy for technology that would include strategic contracts. The development of an IT Council task force was recommended.
About the IT Council
The MSU IT Council serves as a primary IT advisory body. Membership is open to the primary IT leader from each of the degree-granting colleges, core academic units, major academic support units, and other major business units.
The MSU community is encouraged to seek out their IT Council representative or visit the IT Council website for more information on topics of interest.
