IT Briefs
IT Tech Summer Camp Series
In the past, IT offered its tech training courses mainly during fall and spring semesters. When John Mazzarella, manager of training, communication, and marketing, arrived on the scene, he looked at the 2014 numbers —112 registrations for IT-related trainings over that summer. Truth is, he thought, that while faculty and students are not on campus in the summer, staff are. And, perhaps, with the absence of the faculty and students, staff would have more time to give to attending IT trainings.
That said, it seemed worth a shot. Summer 2015, registrations leaped to 720. “Since then,” says Mazzarella, “we’ve run the series every year. We expanded the idea and offer trainings during winter break and a third series every October called “TechToberFest.”
StarRez
Two years ago, UMass Boston broke with a 33-year tradition and built two dormitories. And while housing was a welcome addition, it proved to be a challenge in an unexpected way.
The challenge was how to tie students’ housing information, critical to the university tracking its residents, with subsequent financial transactions, which, by contract, are handled by a private company.
Fast-forward to StarRez, a software solution identified by Terence Phalen, director of IT Project Management. “We built the front end so the student journey begins with UMass Boston and ends with the private company,” says Phalen. This separating of the application and financial processes resulted in the university controlling the application process, while the private company continued to handle the financials.
Here4U
No doubt about it. Frustration levels are high when students can’t find the answers to their questions without the rigmarole of a time-consuming search. Well, thanks to an idea put forth by student Chloe Belt during a Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs advisory board meeting, there’s now “an app for that.”
Here4U is an electronic resource, inspired by municipal 311 systems that provide a single point of entry for a multitude of issues. At UMass Boston, IT developed the app thanks to collaborations with Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, the Chancellor’s Office, and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Available 24/7, Here4U organizes information by topic. In the first two months, more than 200 students received assistance with bills, reported facilities concerns, looked up campus events and on-campus employment, received help with academic advising and registration, and more.