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1998 Annual Report |
Page updated: June 18, 2003 |
SIGUCCS
About
Us
Awards
Competitions
Conferences
Information
of Interest
July 1, 1997 - June 30, 1998
Submitted by John Bucher
SIGUCCS, the Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services, continued to enhance our products and services in 1997-98 and we have set the stage for additional services in the coming year. At an extended board meeting held in conjunction with our annual spring Computing Services Management Symposium, the board members tackled the problems with conference leadership and the future direction of our Peer Review Process.
We also laid plans to implement some changes in the 1999 Computing Services Management Symposium. As in previous years, we regret the time constraints of the individual board members and a lack of strong volunteer assistance.
Publications:
We published 2 physical newsletters this past year, which included a total of four issues: Vol 27 Issues #1 and #2, and Vol 27 Issues #3 and #4.
Our SIG's web page did not expand much in this past year. However, we have determined that we will spend some of our "special projects" budget on staff support for web enhancement in the 1998-1999 academic year, so we expect to grow this resource in the near term.
Special Projects:
In the spring of 1998, we initiated the second of our "information exchange" program, compiling a set of IT job descriptions from 22 higher education institutions. A binder of the collected job descriptions was distributed to the participants on April, 1998.
Also in the spring of 1998, and at long last, we completed the "request for proposal" for a compensation survey for IT professionals in higher education. We sent it to selected survey companies in an attempt to purchase survey services. However, after receiving only one response, and at a quoted price of over $20,000 we determined that we will not proceed with this survey in the near future.
The SIGUCCS Peer Review Process has enjoyed renewed success in the past year, with five processes completed. After many years of volunteer service as our chair of the Peer Review committee, Denny Kramer turned over this responsibility to Carl Malstrom in March, 1998. As of this writing, the SIGUCCS executive committee, Carl Malstrom, and a few other SIGUCCS volunteers are in the process of revitalizing Peer Review, and we expect to produce new guidelines and a new process in the coming months. We all feel that this process continues to be a valuable service to the higher education IT community.
Conferences:
The twenty-fifth fall User Services Conference, "Are You Ready," was held November 9 - 12, 1997 at the Double Tree Hotel in Monterey, California. Approximately 370 registrants attended. Eight pre-conference tutorials were presented on Sunday, November 9. The keynote speaker was Richard P. West, of the California State University; over 60 individual sessions were offered, including panel discussions, workshops and papers. Conference proceedings were available at the conference, totaling 370 pages.
(Note: the Proceedings from the previous fall's User Services Conference, held in Chicago September 29 - October 2, 1996, was finally finished and delivered to conference participants in late summer, 1997.)
The spring Computer Services Management Symposium (CSMS) was held March 11-13, 1998, at its usual location in the St. Louis Marriott Pavilion Hotel. The theme was "Environments". Approximately 100 people were registered.
Future conferences include the fall User Services Conference to be held in Bloomington, Indiana, October 25 - 28, 1998, and the 1999 CSMS to be held at the usual St. Louis location, in March, 1999. We are making preliminary arrangements for the 1999 User Services Conference to be held in Denver, Colorado.
Financial and Membership Issues:
(Note: see SIG Services section in the annual report for SIGUCCS financial and membership data.)
Our SIG is in a reasonably good financial situation, with our fiscal year fund balance well over twice the recommended amount by ACM Headquarters. Our fall conferences continue to earn a profit, while our spring symposium continues to break even. Our fund balance on June 30, 1998, was over $185,000.
We continue to me concerned about our membership totals, but the great decline in membership witnessed in the early and mid-90's appears to have slowed down. In the past few months, we have sent letters to resigning members, asking why they have left SIGUCCS. In most cases, responses have indicated a change in career as the reason for not renewing the membership. We have also sent letters to renewing members, asking for input about how we can better serve the membership.
Competitions and Awards:
Several competitive awards were given at the fall User Services Conference. The awards were given to the following institutions and people.
CATEGORY 1: THE COMPUTING ORGANIZATION/PRINTED
FIRST PLACE
"Academic Computing"
University of Southern California Diane Krieger, Kim Jaynes, Louise MarksSECOND PLACE
"Quick Reference Guide to Services"
University of California, Davis I.T. Information & Events OfficeTHIRD PLACE
"Welcome to Athena"
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kevin Cunningham
FIRST PLACE
"University of Idaho Computer Services' Homepage"
University of Idaho Jennifer Dickinson, Ken Carroll, Chad Yates, Pam HilliardSECOND PLACE
"Mississippi Center for Supercomputing Research Web Site"
Mississippi Center for Supercomputing Research James F. Ball , Kathy GatesTHIRD PLACE
"Academic Information Services"
Northern Michigan University Beth McGee, Bruce Hanninen
FIRST PLACE
"Faculty Services Guide (1996/97 academic year)"
University of California, Davis I.T. Information & Events OfficeSECOND PLACE
"A Guide to Digital Tools for Teaching, Learning and Research"
University of Washington Kathryn Sharpe, Sandra Moy, AllenWoodard, Marsha IversonTHIRD PLACE
"ITC Communication Packet"
University of Virginia Teresa W. Lockard, Richard Findlay, Candace Graves, Janet Sakell
FIRST PLACE
"i/s NewsLink"
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Robyn FizzSECOND PLACE
"Penn Computing Supported Products"
University of Pennsylvania Anthony Olejnik, Teresa Leo, John Mulhern III, Judy SmithTHIRD PLACE
"CU People: Cornell's Personal Web Page Service"
Cornell University Chris Manly, Ken Stuart
FIRST PLACE
"A Publication on Information Technology"
Emory University Laura J. Moriarty, Linda Erhard , Marianne Stapinski, Peter Day, Stacey CarpenterSECOND PLACE
"Byteline"
University of Notre Dame Kathy Sexton, Susan Antonovitz, Tim LeggeTHIRD PLACE
***There was no third place winner***
FIRST PLACE
"virginia.edu"
University of Virginia Polley Ann McClure, Virginia Bergland, Chip German, Teresa W. Lockard, Chuck MoranSECOND PLACE
"i/s Newslink"
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Robyn FizzTHIRD PLACE
"A Publication on Information Technology"
Emory University Laura J. Moriarty, Linda Erhard, Marianne Stapinski, Peter Day
FIRST PLACE
"WiscWorld User Manual"
University of Wisconsin-Madison Joe Rossmeissl, Pam AllenSECOND PLACE
"Duke's Internet Survival Guide"
Duke University Laura H. White, Debrah Suggs, Jeff Gilliam, Rani GillTHIRD PLACE
"Styles in Word 5.1"
Reed College Johanna Colgrove, Catherine Lynn Carter
FIRST PLACE
"Resnet Guide"
University of Pennsylvania Celeste Stewart, Robert Barron, Anthony Olejnik, Judy SmithSECOND PLACE
Duke's Internet Survival Guide"
Duke University Laura H. White, Debrah Suggs, Jeff Gilliam, Rani GillTHIRD PLACE
***There was no third place winner***
FIRST PLACE
"Microcomputer Getting Started Guidebook - USNA Class of 2001"
United States Naval Academy Debbie James, Sandra SpeaksSECOND PLACE
"DaFIS User's Guide"
University of California, Davis Carolyn A. Nelson, Gary McGlinn, Lia Scott, Brooks WrightTHIRD PLACE
"Pine E-mail on Cord"
Indiana University Purdue University - Indianapolis Patricia Nun, Dennis Henderson
Comments and contributions may be sent to the Information Director at infodir_SIGUCCS@acm.org