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For the last 6 months, the IT infrastructure areas for the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and Information Technology Services (ITS) have been working together to support the entire campus.  The areas of Service Management, Enterprise Systems, Networking, Information Security Operations, and Data Center now report to Jim Livingston, Director of IT Infrastructure Operations. See the organization chart.

These organizational changes have already resulted in better communication, as well as a reduction of duplicated services and significant cost savings. Hospital & Clinics CIO Jim Turnbull and campus CIO Steve Hess have lent their full support to the teamwork approach, which will continue to benefit the U with a robust campus network, excellent metrics, proactive security and superior service for our customers.

On June 2, 2008, data tapes containing the backup billing records of nearly 2.2 million University Health Care patients were stolen from the private vehicle of a courier. One month later, the tapes were recovered thanks to a massive communication campaign that proactively alerted patients, and the public, to the theft. This multifaceted campaign, led by the University Health Care Public Affairs Office, included mailing letters to all patients, providing patients with credit monitoring assistance, providing patients with a 24/7 hotline to get information about the theft, and proactively working with media to raise awareness about the theft. 

The 2008 Golden Spike Public Relations Awards luncheon was held on November 19th at Rice Eccles Stadium. University Health Care Public Affairs won the 2008 Golden Spike Award award for outstanding crisis communication during the billing records' theft.

The Health Care Public Affairs team did an incredible job on behalf of the U. It’s great to see their monumental efforts recognized, and for something positive to have come out of that difficult experience. We applaud them!

A test of the Campus Alert system will take place Monday, November 24 at 1:30 p.m.

Messages will be sent to the entire campus community, including current students, faculty and staff (main campus, hospitals and clinics). All participants should receive an email message, and those who have opted in will receive voice and SMS messages as well. This amounts to approximately 8,000 SMS text messages, 19,500 voice messages and 74,000 email messages.  University telephone systems and UMail will be monitored closely during the test, and Qwest will be on standby from the central office.

By Starlee Holman 

In the past, keeping track of graduate student requirements has been an extensive project. At the request of the Graduate School and Graduation Office staff, Administrative Computing Services (ACS) has created a program that allows graduate students’ requirements and status to be tracked online.

The program makes it possible for requirements to be specified for individual students by their own graduate committee members, as well as graduate office staff and some department staff and faculty.  By doing this, students also have a clearer idea of what they need to accomplish in order to graduate. Students can see what academic program they are in, the degree they are seeking, the term they were admitted and how they are progressing on requirements like thesis, required hours and exam approvals.

Several graduate departments have adopted the new tracking system.  It is hoped that more departments at the University of Utah will begin to use it as they become aware of its availability.  For more information on how to implement the Graduate Tracking System in your graduate program, contact Angela Midgley, Graduate School Dean, for more information.