Agenda and Minutes

First meeting of the Academic Computing Advisory Committee (ACAC) for AY00-01

Date: November 6, 2001 MUB Room 302

Attendees: Victor Benassi, David Berona, Petr Brym, Susan E Campbell, Bob Cape, Kent Chamberlin, Bill Harris for Jeff Diefendorf, Gene Filley, David Foote, Leigh Ann Melanson, Patrick Messer, Bill Murphy, Allen Thompson, Terri Winters

Relevant document: ACAC Primary and Secondary Responsibility Action Plan Issues from the UNH Academic Plan for 2001-2006

1. Overview of the Task Force on Network Security (Chamberlin). President Leitzel convened this task force to develop guidelines to ensure that computer privacy is not jeopardized in the process of better protecting the USNH network against threats (e.g., malicious software and hacking). Once the task force has developed those guidelines, ACAC will be asked to review them and provide any comments the membership might have.

Kent Chamberlin provided an overview of the activities of the Task Force on Network Security. Much of the information that he presented is contained in a letter to task force members, which can be accessed via the ACAC web site. One theme that did arise in this discussion, a theme that has been voiced in other discussions about this issue, relates to who will be "watching the watchers". Few people seem to doubt that CIS will need to be more proactive in patrolling the network, and reservations about granting CIS greater monitoring authority seem to revolve around ensuring that adequate safeguards are in place to discourage abuses.

The task force is to deliver a preliminary report on its findings before the holidays. ACAC members will be kept abreast of the proceedings of that task force so that they can provide any comments or suggestions they might have. ACAC members are encouraged to share information about the task force with their constituencies so that they can alert the task force to concerns that the university community might have.

2. Report on IT initiatives for Academic Technology (Winters): As part of the overall academic planning process, efforts are being made to identify and prioritize academic-related technology needs at UNH. It is likely that ACAC will become involved in categorizing and prioritizing these needs once the colleges have generated lists of their needs.

Terri Winters reported on a process that is now underway to identify and prioritize academic technology needs on campus. Deans and department heads are now submitting proposals for their technology needs via a web site. These proposals contain a brief description of their needs along with an estimated budget. Sometime after the proposal deadline (Dec. 1, 2001), an aggregate report of the preliminary data will be shared with participants as well as ACAC. Analysis of the data will be done to identify common themes, infrastructure issues, potential funding source, etc. A second report will then be issued to participants and ACAC members. Ultimately, a report will be sent to the Provost and the President in order for them to set priorities for support and/or getting additional information.

3. Review and comment upon our responsibility action items in the Academic Plan: ACAC’s action items are pretty well defined by our primary and secondary responsibility issues, although there is a great deal of latitude in how we might wish to address them. One approach that I would like to promote is to partition ACAC into subcommittees to tackle a subset of the action items that are of particular interest to members of a subcommittee.

ACAC's primary responsibility action plan issues were discussed and grouped into categories that could be effectively addressed by subcommittees. The groupings decided upon are listed below along with ACAC members who volunteered to serve on subcommittees dedicated to responding to the strategies listed. ACAC members who were not able to make the meeting are encouraged to volunteer for one or more of the subcommittees. A description of the strategies listed below is given on the ACAC web site along with a description of ACAC's secondary responsibility action plan issues.

Academic Planning Strategies	Subcommittee Members (Chairs Highlighted)
9H	David Berona, Susan Campbell
10A & 11H	Victor Benassi, David Berona, Susan Campbell, Kent Chamberlin, Leigh Ann Melanson, Terri Winters
10C & 10E	David Foote, Kent Chamberlin, Bill Murphy, Terri Winters
10D	Pat Messer, Kent Chamberlin, Jeff Diefendorf
10F	Petr Brym, David Berona, Kent Chamberlin, Gene Filley

Two of the primary responsibility issues, 9G and 10B, appeared to the group to be so broad in scope as to fall within the purview of all of the subcommittees. Consequently, it was decided that goes to issues would be addressed by everyone. The members present also agreed that non ACAC members would be welcomed on the subcommittees.

Return to ACAC home page