Several individuals are experiencing difficulty in sending emails from our Exchange mailbox to our students who are currently using hotmail accounts. Our students are not receiving any emails being sent from anyone sending from a UTPA email address.

We have determined that we are being blacklisted by Microsoft due to various individuals on campus mass mailing large attachments/large emails. Another cause is that various individuals have sent too many emails to our students who are on Microsoft’s hotmail email system. Microsoft considered these types of emails as spam and have blocked us from sending emails to anyone who has a hotmail account.

We are currently working with Microsoft to get this resolved, but their terms require 3 to 5 business days to resolve blacklisting issues.

Please be patient during this process as we are trying to get this resolved as quickly as possible.

In order to prevent this, please send one test message to yourself or another individual. Go to your sent items folder in outlook and find your test message. Check the size field to determine the size of your email. If the size of your email is over 30kb, please work on making the email smaller by using text instead of images or place the image on a website and have a link on your email to the website.

Another item to consider is to post your announcement on bronc notes and refrain from emailing our list servs for only important events. BroncNotes was created to avoid “spamming” our University students, faculty, and staff by placing all announcements in one email. This was to prevent external email and internet providers considering us “spammers” and blacklisting us.

Having large attachments/emails also causes problems for our UTPA email system by delaying critical emails to arrive to their destination. Most individuals do not delete items nor do they empty out their deleted items folder on their Outlook client.

If you have any questions , please contact our Computer Support Desk at 956.381.2020.

Thank you,

Bob Lim, Vice President for the Division of Information Technology

UTPA is searching for a Chief Information Security Officer, or CISO. The job posting has been advertised in a variety of venues; you can find one such posting at the Educause web site.

The CISO is responsible for the security of all the University’s information systems and computer equipment and has key responsibilities maintaining the institution’s compliance with security-related laws, regulations, and policies. As a member of the Information Technology senior management team, the CISO reports to the VP for Information Technology.

We’re looking for people whose talents and expertise make them great candidates for pursuing a career in information security in higher education. The official job posting is reproduced below.
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Everywhere we look, there’s news about the economic downturn. The tech industry, accustomed to being spared when the economy suffers, hasn’t been so lucky this time. TechCrunch has been tracking layoffs in technology companies and reports that since August 2008, 195,856 employees of companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Seagate, and Google have lost their jobs. This is sobering news for everyone who works in a technology field, as well as those who aspire to, like many of our students.

Nobody knows how long this storm will last. We’re taking steps now to stretch our resources further in order to serve you, the students of UTPA. We’ve worked closely with the Student Government Association to get their advice and feedback on how we can save money without adversely impacting our students. None of what we do is inexpensive, but you’ve shown us how much you value UTPA’s computer laboratories, wireless networks, and high-speed Internet links by how much you use them.

Cutbacks, no matter how well-intentioned, must not hinder students’ educational plans and dreams. So while we’re continuing to look for ways to spend less, we’re ever mindful of the need to maintain the computing and information services students rely on. Using technology to help students graduate is our first priority.

Everyone is being forced to tighten their belts, and this Division is no exception. I’ve asked everyone in Information Technology to look at their operations and find ways to eliminate waste and cut back on expenditures. Some of these measures might be more noticeable than others, such as setting limits on the number of pages you can print in the computer labs.

You might not notice some of the other things we’re doing, like not re-hiring certain positions when an employee quits. We’ve been looking at how technology such as e-books can be used to reduce the cost of education.

We’re also limiting travel. Whenever a business meeting takes place off-campus, we attend it by telephone or over the Internet if possible.

But in the midst of all these cutbacks, we’re not sacrificing the security of your information.

Please leave a comment on this blog with your ideas about how we can be more efficient without sacrificing our mission, or send me an email.

Each day, thousands of sheets of paper are printed on the UTPA Campus. The lack of any page limits or per page fees in the past has led to excessive and abusive printing. The Division of Information Technology has previously implemented countermeasures, which were as non-intrusive to the students as possible, to try and alleviate the amount of abusive printing. Unfortunately, the data collected for the fall 2008 semester showed little or no change to the excessive printing with a total print count of 4,584,637. To upgrade and maintain the high-quality computing services currently enjoyed by UTPA students we have to decrease the current excessive printing costs within the computing labs. This requirement has led to the implementation of a student printing quota system effective February 9, 2009.

We are in a difficult economic period and the institution of the print quota should not be misconstrued as a penalty or punishment. It is simply required if we are to stay within our budget limitations. Without it, we will likely exhaust our funding before the end of the fiscal year. For more information please click on the link below.

http://www.utpa.edu/helpdesk/policies/printpolicies.asp

Computer Support Services (previously Academic Services) will be changing our hours of service for the upcoming month.

Here are the days and hours:

Beginning December 15^th to December 19^th
Mondays thru Fridays
8:00am – 5:00pm
Closed Weekends
Areas of Service include the IT Support Desk, Call Center, and our Academic Computing labs.

Monday, December 22^nd – Tuesday December 23^rd
8:00am – 5:00pm
Note: Limited Services will be available, and the Call Center will be answering phones only.

Wednesday, December 24^th – Sunday, December 28^th
Closed due to official holiday schedule

Monday, December 29^th – Wednesday, December 31^st
8:00am – 5:00pm
Note: Limited Services will be available, and the Call Center will be answering phones only.

Thursday, January 1^st
Closed due to official holiday schedule

Wednesday, January 2^nd
8:00am – 5:00pm
Note: Limited Services will be available, and only the Call Center will be answering phones.

Monday January 5^th – Friday, January 9^th
Mondays thru Fridays
8:00am – 5:00pm
Closed Weekends
Areas of Service include the IT Support Desk, Call Center, and our Academic Computing labs.

Happy Holidays!

Our Systems Team is responsible for supporting the hardware and software
that powers the University. Much of what Systems people do is not visible to
the casual observer, but I promise you, it would be abundantly clear if
their work did not get done!

I want to take a moment to share with you some of the great things Systems
has been doing lately. One of the biggest jobs they’ve been doing behind the
scenes is the renovation of the server machine room in the Old Computer
Center. Their new room design lets us take advantage of improvements in the
cooling and electricity supply, making the computers run more reliably and
efficiently.

To reduce maintenance costs, we’ve retired old data storage equipment and
moved into a more modern version which lets us economize while improving
performance for everybody.

Last weekend we moved the Oracle e-Business application servers that run the
University’s financials, purchasing, and human resources software from
Hewlett-Packard UNIX to Linux. At the same time we went from expensive
PA-RISC CPUs in our servers to equipment that runs on industry-standard
Intel X86 chips. This allowed us to purchase less-expensive equipment and
speed up the Oracle system, so you get your work done faster. Thanks to
everyone who came in over the weekend to work with the Systems Team to test
the new configurations–Business Analysts, Oracle Module Owners, and Project
Management.

Finally, everywhere we can, we’re moving into virtual servers to save money
on hardware, to make our limited machine room space last longer, and to
consume less energy. For instance, migrating the e-Business application
servers to Linux allowed us to move from five physical servers with no
capacity for growth to four physical servers hosting fourteen virtual
guests, plus capacity for more.

Improving performance, saving money on hardware, and using less energy: not
bad for a weekend’s work.

UTPA and the Division of Information Technology is proud to announce its participation in  Microsoft DreamSpark. This program allows any current UTPA student to download many Microsoft software development products for free. These products include Visual Studio 2008 Professional, Expression Studio, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition and XNA game studio. To learn more and download your free DreamSpark products, click on the links below:

Download site:
http://download.utpa.edu/

Helpdesk Website:
http://www.utpa.edu/helpdesk/

Helpdesk Tutorials:
http://www.utpa.edu/helpdesk/tutorials/

On behalf of the 131 full-time professionals working in the UTPA Division of Information Technology (IT), welcome to our home on the web. As we begin this new 2008-2009 year, we would like to inform you about some of the improvements we have made in the past year and give you a preview of what we are working towards.

Information Technology in a university is different from IT in any other setting. Besides providing the technology and infrastructure to carry out the University’s strategic mission, we also participate in that mission ourselves. For example, in the past year we brought a high-speed network connection to UTPA that serves the business, educational, and research needs of the University. Everyone benefits from a major infrastructure improvement like that: researchers using supercomputers, students viewing educational videos, and server administrators protecting our systems from a hurricane.

I’m pleased at the part IT has played working collaboratively with other areas on campus to bring new services to the University and to use technology to simplify life and make things easier. For instance, we worked with Environmental Health and Safety and the UTPA Police Department on an emergency notifications system that will allow students, faculty, and staff to receive text messages and other alerts if there is a dangerous condition on campus.

We’ve installed printing stations on campus to free wireless computer users from having to go to a computer lab just to do a printout. And we’re working on a campus mobile support vehicle that will take computer support to where the students are: the Student Union, the Library, and so on. This year, we’re replacing the oldest computers on campus with new, energy-efficient machines that will let faculty and staff work more efficiently while helping the environment at the same time.

We work with the Student Government Association and have semesterly meetings with our Advisory Councils from the Faculty and Staff. During HESTEC, the SGA and IT co-sponsored a Town Hall that let several hundred students talk with Microsoft about careers and technology. Our Advisory Councils give us critical guidance and feedback on how well we’re serving the University and have made some great suggestions. We know IT can only be effective if it is an active and involved member of the University Community.

In the next year we plan to virtualize the Academic Computing Labs, so students can use Lab software from anywhere on the Internet. Rest assured we’re not closing the real-world Labs, but there will be an online option if you don’t want to come to campus. Fewer cars on campus mean less fuel being consumed, which helps your pocketbook and the planet.

As the University journeys to becoming a top-flight organization, Information Technology will be there every step of the way, leveraging our skills and capabilities to help enable the institution to achieve its strategic mission. By staying abreast of the constantly transforming worlds of academia and technology, we will lead and we will serve UTPA: an institution so vitally important to the history and future of South Texas.

IT’s contributions to HESTEC, collectively called “The Microsoft Experience” were a success. Microsoft provided incredible support and was very generous loaning personnel and equipment, and donating many computer games and pieces of software which were used as giveaway prizes at the climax of the gaming tournament, and as thank-you gifts to the volunteers.

Here’s a summary of The Microsoft Experience:

• Four breakout sessions on HESTEC Educator Day:
  • Total Attendance: 120
• Two breakout sessions on HESTEC Leadership Day:
  • Total Attendance: 200
• Two 1-on-1 meetings between Microsoft and UTPA Faculty:
  • Total Attendance: 2
• Student Town Hall on Tech Trends and Career Exploration sponsored by Information Technology and the UTPA Student Government Organization
  • Attendance: 400
• Four guest lectures by Microsoft to Engineering and CIS classes
  • Total Attendance: 124
• Keynote speech by Microsoft for The Microsoft Experience Game Day at HESTEC
  • Attendance: 150
• Xbox scholarship tournament for HESTEC: 4 $500 UTPA scholarships awarded (funded by IT), as well as Texas Instruments programmable calculators (provided by TI), video games (Microsoft), and programming tools (Microsoft)
  • Total Attendance: 250 (150 Game Day attendees and 100 additional Robotics Competition students who came to the Championship)
• Microsoft meeting with Employer Advisory Committee
  • Attendance: 25
• Microsoft meeting with College Assistance Migrant Program
  • Attendance: 45
• Open gaming in Student Union Commons
  • Total Attendance: 3,400
• Total: 4,716

Today was the highlight of The Microsoft Experience: Game Day. Students from high schools all over the Valley converged on the UTPA campus to learn how technology and video games might figure into their career plans. Brad Jensen started the day off with a keynote address on those subjects, and afterwards it was Go Time for the tournament as the players showed their skills playing a series of mini-games.

From The Microsoft Experience

The event was held in UTPA’s brand-new gaming lounge. With large-screen monitors and special leather gaming chairs, the players had a terrific time playing the Xbox games. After lunch, the students were taken on a special tour of Sue, the Tyrannosaurus Rex on display at the Visitors Center.

From The Microsoft Experience

Then it was time for the championship round: Rock Band. Both teams were very impressive, having the courage to get up on stage in front of a couple hundred people. I was amazed at how much poise they had. The audience really seemed to get into it, singing along, play-drumming, and even waving cell phones like a real rock concert.

From The Microsoft Experience

The champions took home a Texas Instruments graphing calculator courtesy of TI, and a $500 stipend to UTPA, courtesy of The Division of Information Technology at UTPA.

• Thanks go out to Bob Lim, Vice President for Information Technology for funding the scholarships.
• The Student Government Association co-sponsored the Town Hall on Tuesday and lent support and volunteers to Game Day. Thanks to Markos and Raghu.
• Microsoft supplied the Rock Band set for the championship round, as well as lots of prizes including a Zune, and of course the loaner Xboxes and the talents of Brad Jensen and Sam Stokes.
• Texas Instruments supplied many programmable graphing calculators which were awarded as prizes to the champions.
• GEAR-UP was amazing, allowing us to bring The Microsoft Experience to HESTEC. Thank you Martha Cantu!
• HESTEC was super as well, allowing us to be a part of the biggest event at UTPA.

I also need to thank Edna Zambrano and the Student Union staff, who were awesome, every step of the way. Omar Cantu’s staff in Video Resources were fantastic and made the audio-visual presentation of Rock Band great for everyone.

From The Microsoft Experience

A special thank-you to all the volunteers who worked on The Microsoft Experience, and especially to the leaders Danny Salinas, Esteban Padilla, Veronica Solis, and Jay Vela. Also thanks to the UTPA Gaming Club for advice and support.