1997 Annual Report Page updated: June 18, 2003
SIGUCCS About Us Awards Competitions Conferences Information of Interest Join SIGUCCS Membership Services Officers & Committees		July 1, 1996 - June 30, 1997    Submitted by John Bucher SIGUCCS, the Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services, enjoyed another successful year in 1996-97, and looks forward to continuing work on new projects and products for our membership. At a special board meeting held in Sacramento, California in late January, 1997, the board members reaffirmed our interest in the development of new programs which could renew interest in our SIG and generate additional value for our membership. Several of these programs are currently underway, but have been slowed down by time constraints of the individual board members and a change in our Program Director position at ACM headquarters. With implicit approval of our membership, the board members extended their terms through June, 1999. Publications: We published 2 newsletters this past year, and a third (dated for the spring, 1997) will be mailed to membership before the end of the summer. Our usual publication of the proceedings of papers presented at the fall user services conference was delayed, due to improper planning and communication problems between the conference committee and the SIGUCCS board. Therefore, we contracted with an individual to do the proceedings this past spring, and they are due to be mailed to the conference participants this summer. Our SIG's web page is has not seen many changes in the past year, but does include links to our conference pages and appears to be adequate. The pages are overseen by our Newsletter editor, Linda Downing. Special Projects: Largely due to the efforts of a board member, Linda Hutchison, we made great progress on a SIGUCCS conference manual this past year. Although it truly needs to be considered as "work in progress", we have collected much good information in this document, and perhaps more importantly, have provided a framework in which to add information as conference organizers have time to provide it. At our January meeting in Sacramento, the board successfully finished a compilation of job descriptions for the various board members, newsletter editor, and conference committee members. We also compiled information to create a "request for proposal" for a compensation survey for IT professionals in higher education. This will be sent to selected survey companies in an attempt to purchase survey services. It is our intention that such a survey would be made part of our membership package, and provide a valuable and much-needed service to our members. The SIGUCCS Peer Review Process has enjoyed renewed success this past year, with three processes completed and a few more in the planning stages. As stated last year, we intend to continue and strengthen this program. Conferences: The twenty-fourth fall User Services Conference, "The Cyclone of Change," was held September 29 - October 2, 1996, at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. Approximately 270 registrants attended. Six pre-conference tutorials were presented on Sunday, September 29. The keynote speaker was Douglas Greenberg of the Chicago Historical Society; over 50 individual sessions were offered, including panel discussions, workshops and papers. Conference proceedings were not available at the conference, but were to be made available to conference participants in the summer of 1997. The spring Computer Services Management Symposium (CSMS) was held March 19 - 21, 1997, at its usual location in the St. Louis Marriott Pavilion Hotel. The theme was "Thriving in New Realities." Approximately 110 people were registered. Future conferences include the fall User Services Conference to be held in Monterey California, November 9 - 12, 1997, and the 1998 CSMS to be held at the usual St. Louis location, March 11-13, 1997. Financial Issues: Our SIG is in a reasonably good financial situation, with our fiscal year fund balance in excess of $120,000. This is more than double what the recommended balance should be for a SIG of our type and size. The fall 1996 User Services Conference ended with a modest surplus and the spring Computing Services management Symposium broke even. Competitions and Awards: Several competitive awards were given at the fall User Services Conference. The awards were given to the following institutions and people. Education and Training Competition Winners Printed Instructional Materials: Web-based First Place Teaching Computer Graphics using the Web Cornell University Bruce Land Second Place World Wide Web Walkabout University & Community College System of Nevada Susanna Dorr Third Place Web Doc Reed College, Williamette University, Northern Illinois University Johanna Colgrove, Bruce Arnold, John McAnally, Kyle Napoli, Laura Wolford Printed Instructional Materials: Classroom First Place "Introduction to Windows 95 Student & Instructor Manual" Massachusetts Institute of Technology Phyllis Galt, Phyllis Crerie Second Place "SPSS for Microsoft Windows (For New Users at NYU)" New York University Melissa A. Whitney, Mary Ann Jones, Frank LoPresti, Zvia Naphtali Third Place "Preparing Documents for the World Wide Web" University of Delaware Ann Amsler Printed Instructional Materials: Self-learning First Place "Getting Started on Athena: A Tutorial" Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sharon Belville Second Place "Resnet -- the Residence Hall Network Service at Cornell University AND Get Connected with Bear Access for Resnet (3 platforms: Macintosh, Windows 3.x, Windows 95" Cornell University Charlotte Kiefer, Ken Stuart, Andrew Agras Third Place "Check IT Out! Four Easy Steps to Connect to UD's Electronic Campus" University of Delaware Susanne Nanis, Susan Allmendinger, Kate Webster Curriculum Catalog: Web-based First Place SCTP Web Site University of Notre Dame Liz Evans, Tim Legge Second Place Short Course Guide, Emory University Emory University Susan Teller Goodman, Tracy Donnell, Michelle Glass Third Place Technology Training @ Cornell.edu Cornell University Amy Smith, Lisa Krakowka, Cynthia Frazier, Sharon Sledge Curriculum Catalog: Printed First Place "Short Course Guide, Emory University" Emory University Susan Teller Goodman, Tracy Donnell, Michelle Glass Second Place "Spring 1996 Computer Training Catalog" Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Jeanne Cavanaugh, Robyn Fizz
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