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Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for September 10, 2001

A meeting of the University Information Technology Advisory Committee was called to order at 3:07 p.m. on September 10, 2001, in the 4th floor conference room of Cabell Library. Dr. David Sarrett, co-chair, presided. Members present were Dr. James Shultz, Mr. Mark Willis, and Dr. Phyllis Self. Members absent were Dr. Timothy Broderick, Dr. Judyth Twigg, Dr. Gary Tepper, Dr. Robert Mattauch, Ms. Veronica Shuford, Ms. Lauren Russell, Ms. Seema Kumar, Mr. John Ulmschneider, and Ms. Cynthia Perry.

I. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 18, 2001 MEETING
Minutes were approved as prepared.

II. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
– ELECTION OF CO-CHAIRS FOR 2001-2002
Drs. David Sarrett and Robert Mattauch were nominated to co-chair UITAC again in 2001-02. The nomination was unanimously adopted. Dr. Sarrett suggested that he chair the Fall meetings and Dr. Mattauch chair the Spring meetings.
_ MEETING DATES AND TIMES
The meeting dates will remain as scheduled for now but may need to be adjusted to meet the schedules of new members who are in the process of being appointed to the committee.
– ADDITIONAL MEMBERS (STUDENTS, FACULTY)
Dr. Gary Tepper and Dr. Judyth Twigg asked to be replaced due to increased commitments and scheduling conflicts. The committee will ask the Provost, Dr. Roderick McDavis, to appoint replacements for them. Dr. Henry Rhone, Vice Provost for Student Affairs, will be asked to appoint six students to the committee (two from the Academic Campus, two from the Health Sciences Campus, and two from the graduate school). Mr. Carl Gattuso, Executive Director, President’s Office MCV Physicians, will be asked to replace Ms. Cynthia Perry, who has left the University.

III. DRAFT STATE IT STRATEGIC PLAN SUBMISSION AND VCU IT STRATEGIC PLAN
On the 19th of July, as part of the State’s planning and budgeting process, agencies and institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia were issued guidelines for the preparation of an IT Strategic Plan. Dr. Self and Mr. Willis prepared a draft IT Strategic Planning Document and shared it with the Committee. They used Phase II of VCU’s Strategic Plan as the basis for the process. Nine IT initiatives, originally listed in VCU’s Institutional Performance Agreement proposal, which support various instructional, research, public service, health care and administrative activities at VCU were identified in the plan.

The IT Strategic Plan was reviewed by Dr. Trani and Mr. Timmreck and will be reviewed by the vice presidents on Wednesday, September 12. The plan will be sent to the State once the President and vice presidents have approved it.

It was suggested that the State plan be used as a foundation for the University IT Strategic Plan that UITAC will develop. Since we don’t have input from University governance groups, Dr. Sarrett thinks this document should be distributed to various groups for feedback. Mr. Willis will take that idea to the vice presidents on Wednesday for their input.

Dr. Schultz asked for a clarification of UITAC’s role in the strategic planning process. Mr. Willis stated that the committee should provide guidance about needs and different approaches to planning rather than specifying detailed technical objectives.

Mr. Willis suggested that we bring in an outside consultant at the next meeting to give a briefing on IT strategic planning and how other universities are approaching it. At a minimum, we need a process to elicit feedback on the existing draft plan.

A general timeframe for the planning process was discussed including publication on the web of the State IT plan submission by the end of October, a review period until end of semester, UITAC evaluating the responses during January/February and drafting a final plan by April.

IV. COMPUTER AND NETWORK RESOURCES USE POLICY AND ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES
The policy has not been acted on by the vice presidents and president. We are awaiting new procedures for handing policy approvals. Cindy Earnhardt expects to have a draft procedure on policy development by the end of September. It will probably be the October/November timeframe before the Use Policy is reviewed by the vice presidents.

The draft enforcement procedures need some additional revisions and should be resent to UITAC for review and comment. The procedures should be included with the proposed Use Policy when reviewed by the vice presidents and president.

V. FOR INFORMATION ONLY
A VCU Student Web Server has been installed and tested but is not operational. An oversight committee has been established and will develop policies and procedures for the server’s use. Lynn Nelson agreed to be the faculty representative on that committee. The server will give the students a place to develop their web pages and to share documents. Two new possible names have been suggested for the server: RAMSITES.net and RAMSIGHTS.net) Mass e-mails will be sent to students and faculty informing them of this new IT offering.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:45 pm.