Information Technology Services Restructuring

The Information Technology Services (ITS) department has been restructured.  This article will highlight the major changes that have taken place, and provide information about current staff and their responsibilities.  The intent of the restructuring is to improve communications, accountability, and customer service to our campus community. 

ITS now has three units – Applications Development (Dennis Rowinski, Director), System and Network Operations (David Kaleal, Director), and Learning Support Services (Patricia Dawson, Director).   In addition, ITS is managed by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) (Mike Bestul) who is supported by an Associate CIO (Jim Burke), and two departmental secretaries (Cathy Zehe and Stephanie Herzberger).   (Please see the  org chart link  for a graphic of how the department is organized.)

Applications Development provides support for Banner and other administrative systems at JCU.  They are located on the 1st floor of Rodman Hall, and have the following staff members:

               Dennis Rowinski, Director
               John Reebel, Associate Director & Senior Oracle Developer
               Charlotte Moore, Oracle Database Administrator (DBA)
               Ken Brownlie, Oracle Web Applications Developer
               Tish Michalak, Oracle Applications Developer/Financial Aid
               Alex Klayman, Oracle Applications Developer
               Bob Niemocienski, Oracle Applications Developer
               Nick Marino, Senior Web Technical Specialist / Blackboard Technical Support

System and Network Operations is a new unit whose major focus is support for the information technology infrastructure across the JCU campus.  This includes all servers, networks (wired & wireless), telephony, Internet, cable TV, messaging (email), and security.  They are located primarily on the 4th floor of Rodman Hall, but also have staffing in the Administration Building.  The unit is composed of the following staff members:

               David Kaleal, Director
               LaMarr Parker, Associate Director and Senior Network Engineer
               Jamie Spitznagel, Senior Network Engineer
               John Stankiewicz, Senior Systems Engineer
               Bill Wilhelm, Telecommunications Specialist

Learning Support Services is a new unit assembled from several former ITS and non-ITS units.  The Instructional Media Services (IMS) group, formerly part of the College of Arts & Sciences, has been merged with ITS and is included in the Learning Support Services unit.  In addition, the Help Desk, videography support, instructional media, and classroom/desktop support is included in this area.  The former Faculty Technology Innovation Center (FTIC) has been restructured as the new Center for Digital Media (CDM), and has merged operations with the former Student Media Center.  The new CDM is housed in the Grasselli Library, while major operations of Learning Support Services take place on the 4th floor of Rodman Hall, with additional activities occurring in the Dolan Science Center.  All requests for service, including those that formerly went to the IMS unit, should be routed through ITS’ Help Desk - #3005.  Learning Support Services is composed of the following staff members:

Patricia Dawson, Director
Mike MacDonald, Videographer & Instructional Media Support Specialist
Jay Tarby, Faculty Instructor & BlackBoard Support Specialist
George Alaimo, Associate Director – Classroom Support
Ross Dawson, Instructional Media Support Specialist
Paul Hays, Classroom & Technical Support Assistant / Night HelpDesk Supv.
Vacant/Interviewing, Classroom & Technical Support Assistant / ITS Training Coord.
Lloyd Moreland, Associate Director – Client Support
Je Lem, Client/Server Specialist
Leisa Campbell, Client Systems Specialist / Instructional Media Support
Nick Stoll, Client Systems Specialist

Remember to use the ITS Main Contact Number - #3005 and/or email helpdesk@jcu.edu  for assistance with and reporting of problems or issues with technology on the JCU campus.  In addition, please feel free to contact Mike Bestul, CIO (397-1750, mbestul@jcu.edu) if you have questions about the ITS restructuring or if you wish to discuss any technology topic or idea you may have for improving the use of technology here at John Carroll University.

Residence Hall Room Phone Lines Deactivated 

JCU’s Information Technology Services unit has been tracking call volume in the residence halls for several years, and we have seen a steady and dramatic decline of the use of residence hall land lines now that cell phones and smart phones have become a commodity in the hands of nearly all of our students.  Deactivating these phone lines and the services required to support them has resulted in a $30,000 per year savings to the institution.   For those students who do not have a cell phone, JCU has a limited number of land lines which can be used to reactivate  a student’s residence hall room phone line.  So far this fall, we have seen requests for approximately 45 land lines to be reconnected.  In addition emergency phones have been installed on every floor of every residence hall.  These phones can be used for local calling as well as for emergency use.

Center for Digital Media

The Grasselli Library Student Multimedia Center (SMC) and the Faculty Technology Innovation Center(FTIC) are merging into one new Center for Digital Media (CDM) in Grasselli Library. During construction of the new facility, the CDM is moving to Seminar A on the lower level of Grasselli Library.  This temporary location is now staffed and open limited hours Mon-Fri during the day. The lab currently houses workstations with specialized graphic, photo, and video editing software on both PC and MAC platforms. Workstations are available for scanning documents and graphics.  Color printing is also available, both in the temporary CDM and the library’s Computer Commons.

The new Center for Digital Media will provide instruction and support for faculty to help better integrate technology into John Carroll University’s academic course materials and delivery.  In addition to services where faculty can work closely with technical experts to incorporate content, the CDM also offers a series of new instructional courses in the use of the BlackBoard e-learning platform. 

Eventually the CDM will be housed on the main level of the library once all facilities and renovation work is complete.  In the meantime, please contact our Instructional Technology staff, Jay Tarby at ext. 1703, Michael MacDonald at ext. 4649 or Patricia Dawson at ext. 4617, to assist you in designing and developing instructional materials that utilize technology for your classes.

Retiree Mailing List

This past spring a major change was made to the FSA general mailing list.  The list, which used to include anyone who worked at JCU along with anyone who was interested in daily campus activities, was changed to include only current employees and colleagues who work on campus daily.  This left a void in our ability to communicate with people who have retired but still want to keep in touch with important campus information.  To remedy this situation, a new list has been created.  The new list, ‘Retirees’, includes all retirees and those who have left employment at John Carroll University through any of the early separation programs.  Campus Ministry has added this list to their announcements already.  If you are interested in communicating with this group, please send an e-mail request to helpdesk@jcu.edu and we will be glad to authorize you to send to the list.