2009-11-13 ITS Staff Meeting

I found that our ITS staff meeting was very productive. Pam lead a discussion of IS Values that we could agree and take forth as a common platform through our organizational changes. Mark also attended and pointed out our necessity to change, as has been referenced by consultants and other peer institutions. Unfortunately I did not capture our board comments. I look forward to minutes posted. Final thoughts, while we have our smaller (ITS meetings) I feel that it be highly important that these values be commonplace that pervade the organizational culture.

On another note, Gary Caster sent out a synopsis of our ‘effective meetings’ effort that has occurred over the last 6 months or so, though I was a bit confused as to how to read the charts. In a sense I think generally they state that IS as a whole is in consensus that meetings are important, though agendas need to be established and the topics need to be addressed specifically without a lot of straying. One final thought is that while most IS employees felt that the right people were at the table, action items were lacking at the conclusion of the meeting. I personally would like to thank Gary for his efforts and I for one found the process and data valuable.

Effective Meeting Survey

UPDATE: Pam subsequently sent out a note mentioning that the directors are going to work with HR and map job descriptions with roles. Members of the organization will then be asked for feedback as an overlay on how accurate the descriptions are to the actual job duties being performed.

ITS Council – 2009-Feb04

Evaluation information will be distributed starting February 16. There will be a supervisor evaluation to be distributed at a separate time. The response will be anonymously distributed to the next level supervisor for use in the person’s current evaluation. Final deadline for all to be completed is May 4.

Asset list has been distributed, a review of items on the list will be established shortly. Electronic feedback will be requested. Instructions to be included.

Multiple responses to Pam’s request regrading Budget scenarios were received. Many good ideas were gleaned and very helpful.

Pam passed around a document describing 2008 top articles from Educause as well as Business week. If there is more interest, she requested that you contact the office for additional information.

• Greg described server maintenance engagement regarding food allergy program.
• Claudette mentioned  potential of savings regarding FedEx versus UPS.
• Tom Hansen requested Interior Design students as a project to determine a redesign of the computer shop. He will be moving forward to take action and develop a potential budget.
• Todd has interest in recording the IS staff meeting as a proof of concept using Camtasia Relay.
• Bruce reported that Kevin Borgeson has accepted a position with BlackBoard Inc. Clickers will be used at the IS meeting to gather feedback.
• Norm reported that Jason L. in the labs will be deploying sub-notebooks for check-out. Students have requested that laptops be checked out in Harper residence hall. Jeff is working on a large spreadsheet to break down per room expenses, maintenance, etc. Instructional Facilities Design is beginning a large installation of cameras and additional equipment in the Barkley center. Primary use is mostly capture, but some live observation will take place. Another project mentioned was an overhaul of Facilities conference areas.
• Patrick reported that the Sophos installer for mac is currently being worked on to resolve some issues.

ITG Staff – 2009-Feb20

The Vision

Integrate complex technologies in simple ways to improve the learning environment for our customers.

The Values

To foster a work environment that will promote and support a meaningful and successful experience of our vision, we adhere to the following values:

Practice Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership is consistently listening, speaking and acting from a place of honest self awareness. The more this is practiced, the deeper the awareness becomes and the more authentic our actions. This encourages us to act with integrity, which the dictionary defines as “An unreduced or unbroken completeness or totality”, and “Moral soundness”. Authentic leadership calls us to consider our actions within the context of our vision and the mission of the University of Nebraska, and the best interests of our customers.

Be Innovative
Being innovative allows us to come up with creative solutions to challenges we are presented with. It fosters the creative process and reinforces a “can do” attitude.

Have Courage
It takes courage for anyone to step out of their familiar comfort zone to try something new, or to challenge the status quo with a better alternative. This quality of spirit is encouraged in our work environment and encourages risk taking.

Share
If we share what we do with one another, with our customers and with anyone else who may be interested, then we quickly break down the illusion of separation and foster a “we’re all in this together” attitude and quickly realize that helping one another is helping ourselves as well.

We recognize that living these values will bring about a culture in our workplace that will foster:

• Being responsible and taking on responsibility
• A safe environment for taking risks to try new things
• A “can do” attitude
• Finding joy in what we do
• Giving customer service a priority in all we do
• Recognizing the value of everything we do within the context
  of our vision