Guest Present: Jim Bostick, Rick Falk, Kari Scott

Members Absent: Richard Constanzo, Pat Dattalo, Harry Lutz, Kathryn Mulholland, Lynn Nelson, Carlton Newton,

Chairperson Judy Richardson convened the meeting at 1:08 p.m. in the Ginter 201 Conference room.

The minutes of the October 10, 2002 meeting were approved as written.

Spam
Jim Bostick passed out a packet of information about fighting email spam. He had several suggestions for dealing with spam:
• Don’t respond unless the email is from a known, reputable source (i.e., Target). Responding just confirms that there’s a live person reading the email and makes your address more valuable to spammers.
• Complain to the sending ISP. This is becoming harder to do as the spammers are getting more sophisticated and there is no longer a single registry for ISPs. Mr. Bostick demonstrated the whois database lookup function (in packet).
• Consider setting up filters in your email program. Most programs have filters (sometimes called “rules”) that let you automatically move mail not from a specific address to a special filter. Mr. Bostick has his filters set up so that anything that does not come from a .edu address, plus other exceptions that he has set up, goes into a junk mail folder. You still have to check that folder, because stuff you might want may end up there, but he believe that is easier than allowing spam though. Instructions are in the packet.

Dr. Lewis reported that many of her colleagues are concerned about the amount offensive spam email. Dr. Richardson pointed out that it is a problem everywhere, and until enough people are mad enough to demand a change, it won’t change.

Threaded Discussions
Dr. Richardson encouraged members to utilize the threaded discussions on the Blackboard site Dr. Self created for the group’s use. Dr. Lewis expressed frustration that Blackboard did not have a “flag” on the opening screen to indicate new messages had been posted. Dr. Falk noted that Dr. Self should mention this at the next Blackboard Product Advisory Board meeting.

Vice Provost’s Report
• Budget Reductions: Dr. Self met with Humanities & Sciences Administrative Council to discuss changes to the Scantron procedures. These must now be processed only by full-time staff, who work during the day. Discussion was held regarding the greater reliance on Scantron tests now that class sizes have increased. Dr. Self noted that AT is aware of this and staff are working with faculty provide efficient turnaround times. She will be presenting the policy to the Humanities & Sciences faculty next week.
• HEETF: Money has been released by the state, so AT will begin adding new servers and upgrading labs, as funded by this initiative.
• Emergency Preparedness Plans: AT has completed its plan, and will share with other units as they are asked to develop their own plans. Dr. Self was asked if the plan could be put on the web for other units to see. She will work on that.
• AT on the Move: Some units of AT will be moving into Sanger B1. Faculty and Instructional Support will be moving out of the Lyons building, as the School of Dentistry needs the additional space, but she is still working on where they will be moving.
• Intersession: The Help Desk and the Cabell computer lab will be open during intersession.
• IP Policy: This has been approved by the Faculty Senate and University Council. Dr. Lewis noted that the Faculty Senate praised how this policy was developed by the committee.
• Computer Use Policy: Dr. Self has talked to a Faculty Senate committee regarding this policy. She will report to the Council when she receives feedback from the committee.

Old Business
• Web Cam Policy: Dr. Self communicated this issue to University Outreach for development, but policy has been created yet.
• Mac Support: There is still one person on each campus to provide support. In light of budget cuts, AT is moving away from desktop support. Discussion was held regarding software support in general.

New Business
• Emerging Technologies Day: This will be held on Thursday, April 24 in the Medical Sciences Building, and showcases innovative technologies and Internet2 at VCU. A call for papers was distributed, and also available on the web at www.at.vcu.edu/etech. An announcement for the call for papers will be sent in early January.
• Innovative Technology Award: Judy Lewis, Mike Tharp and Jim Revere volunteered to be on the awards committee. They will meet after January 26 to discuss criteria before a call for nominations goes out.
• Faculty Mentoring Program: This is almost ready to be announced via broadcast email. It will be slightly smaller than last year. All submissions will be done online via the website.
• Winter Institute: This has been very popular this year—the registrations were full on the first day it was announced, with a waiting list. Dr. Falk is working to find ways to accommodate some of the waiting list.
• Pay for Print: Dr. Lewis noted that Nursing had asked for Student Technology Fee (STF) money to install a pay-for-print solution in the nursing computer lab, and were told to wait as the committee was researching other options. Nursing does use the STF money to pay for toner and paper for the nursing students. It has become clear that other students have discovered this, and are using the nursing lab and trashing the printers. Dr. Self noted that she could initiate an exception to the policy of not using STF money for pay-for-print if Nursing was experiencing an emergency. Discussion was held as to the benefits/options related to pay-for-print. Dr. Richardson asked Dr. Self to create another threaded discussion on Blackboard to continue the discussion.

Meeting was adjourned at 2:48 pm.