Dear Campus Community,
In a previous message about the incidents of Zoom bombing on campus, we committed to making improvements to our Zoom service in order to strengthen security and privacy settings as mechanisms to mitigate further acts of Zoom bombing. We are writing to provide an update to you about the specifics of those changes, which will be rolled out between now and the start of the fall semester.
Dear One IT colleagues,
As we head into a new school year, we are making significant security and privacy improvements to the campus Zoom service, and wanted to update you prior to announcements being made to the entire campus early next week.
Women first were admitted to the University of California as students just two years after its founding in 1868. That’s notable, when you consider that many elite private universities across the country didn’t admit women until women had won the right to vote in 1920 through the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
This year, UC Berkeley is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the UC Board of Regents’ resolution to open the university’s doors to women — and “on equal terms” with men.
Dear colleagues,
This is a reminder to individuals who are responsible for critical applications on campus using the Chart of Accounts (COA) API to inform you that calls to that API will require authentication beginning in September. Actions outlined below need to be completed by 5 p.m. PDT, Friday, Aug. 28, to avoid authentication errors in your application.
One IT colleagues,
Registration is now open for the Virtual UC Tech Webinar on Aug. 11. The theme and programming for the day is focused on The UC Response to COVID-19. Topics will include remote working, learning and research, and UC Health IT efforts in response to COVID-19.
We’re well past 100 days of the COVID-19 quarantine and still counting. Everything we thought we knew, including how to balance work and life, has required us to change, at least for now. And while we yearn for an end to things like supply shortages and event cancellations, there are some positive work adaptations that we might actually want to keep; that have made things, surprisingly, better.
IT Colleagues and Campus Partners,
As we prepare to ramp up technical support for instruction at the beginning of fall semester, we are implementing our customary IT systems freeze on production changes for UC Berkeley systems. This freeze enables us to provide optimal IT service and systems performance for our campus and minimize potential disruptions during this peak period of activity when our services are in greater demand.
With the fall 2020 semester beginning remotely, a new UC Berkeley program that a campus official calls an example of “Berkeley at its finest,” is providing an extraordinary $4.6 million in support for students who will attend class, do assignments and take tests from home — but who lack reliable laptops, Wi-Fi and other technology.
Colleagues,
At the end of May, we conducted a survey to get your input to better understand the needs of our One IT community and how we can assist in supporting the population(s) you serve as we plan for teaching and research activities in the fall. Survey results are provided below
On June 10, 2020 over 100 Berkeley staff assembled virtually, as campus IT teams received usability feedback on their projects.
Dear Students,
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Student Technology Equity Program (STEP). Aimed to assist students with demonstrated need, this program provides laptops, mobile hotspots, drawing tablets, and noise-canceling headphones that may be required for them to fully engage in remote instruction in Fall 2020.
If you are an undergraduate or graduate student in need of hardware or internet access:
If necessity is the mother of invention, more than a few winners of the campus’s first-ever Berkeley Changemaker Technology Innovation Grants found inspiration in the teaching and learning challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dear campus community,
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Jenn Stringer as UC Berkeley’s Associate Vice Chancellor for IT and Chief Information Officer, effective June 29, 2020. Jenn’s candidacy was the unanimous selection and recommendation of a CIO Search committee leading an internal search to replace current CIO Larry Conrad, who is retiring at the end of the month.
Dear campus community:
It is with mixed emotions that we announce the retirement of Larry Conrad, Associate Vice Chancellor of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, at the end of June. Larry joined UC Berkeley as CIO in 2013 after a distinguished career as CIO at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and, previously, as the CIO at Florida State University. A nationally recognized leader in higher education IT, Larry held several leadership roles in EDUCAUSE and Internet2.
Technology alone can't protect our computers and information. Following best practices is an excellent way to protect yourself, your family, and the UC Berkeley community. The Information Security Office has put together a Ransomware Toolkit to help keep you safe from ransomware attacks. These items are intended to be quick and easy to use for anyone on campus.
Dear campus community,