University Archives of Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech
Governance Minutes Archive

April 5, 1989

                                     MINUTES

                               Computer Committee

                      Fourth Floor Burruss Hall Board Room

                                  April 5, 1989

                                      3 PM

 

 

        PRESENT:     Jim Thomas, Donald Allison, Jeff Birch, Jean Cardamone,

                     Randy Crockett, David Goodyear, Fred Medley,

                     Harlan Miller, J. R. Montgomery, Richard Sorensen,

                     Ernest Stout, Jeff Wilcke, Mike Williams

 

        ABSENT:      John Burton, Bob Heterick, Jim Hicks, Katherine Johnston,

                     Dennis Jones, Harry Kriz, Tom McAnge, Jeff Nelson, Vernon

                     Shanholtz, Patrick Shelor,

 

        VISITOR(S):  C. E. Nunnally, Rosie Higdon, Dennis Catley

 

 

        AGENDA ITEM 1: MINUTES OF THE MARCH 1, 1989 MEETING

 

        Motion made, seconded and passed to approve the minutes of the

        March meeting.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 2:  COMPUTING CENTER REPORT (WILLIAMS)

 

        o   The IBM 3090/300E/3VF upgrade was completed on March 12,

            1989.

 

        o   The Computing Center move to the Corporate Research Center is

            scheduled for July 21, 1989.  The hours that the systems will

            be down are not finalized at this time.

 

            After the move the output will be distributed to local boxes

            on campus.  The night delivery schedule is not yet determined

            but will be approximately once every two hours.

 

        AGENDA ITEM 3:  SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

 

        1.  User Services (Goodyear)

 

            The committee approved the concept of the report at the last

            meeting.

 

            A motion was made, seconded and passed to pass forward the

            report as the committee's recommendations for the self-study

            item 10-9.

 

        2.  Computer Capacity and Planning (Allison)

 

            The subcommittee reviewed the mainframe computer usage.  A

            primary contributing effect on the large increase in computer

            usage has come from large scale numerical projects (research

            usage).  Precise classification of the nature of the work on

            the mainframe systems is not practical.  The committee

            projects that the VM1 service will be saturated by June,

            1990.

 

            Should the Computer Capacity and Planning Subcommittee be a

            permanent assignment?  The consensus was to continue the sub-

            committee.  The subcommittee will act as an advisory and sup-

            port group to the Computing Center.

 

            The subcommittee looked at self-study recommendations 10-1

            and 10-16.  The subcommittee feels that 10-16 is part of

 

            10-1.  These issues can be addressed by the permanent estab-

            lishment of the subcommittee.

 

            The committee approved the response to the self-study recomm-

            endations.

 

            The subcommittee also discussed cost recovery centers at the

            request of the Research Division.  Overly optimistic

            projections of funds availability and income have led many of

            the departmental computing facilities to suffer significant

            financial shortfalls.  Guidelines for establishing a cost

            center are proposed in the subcommittee's report.

 

        3.  Personal Computer Subcommittee

 

            The subcommittee was charged with responding to self-study

            issues 10-13, 10-14 and 10-15.  The recommendation 10-15 is

            subsumed in 10-13 and 10-14.  These recommendations concern

            the establishment of centralized microcomputer laboratories.

            Because of the specific programmtic need of the individual

            units, the subcommittee feels that departments and colleges

            must continue to be primarily responsible for teaching labs.

            The Computing Center should continue to provide facilities in

            the student areas, as is now done.

 

            Recommendation 10-14 on the maintenance of computer equipment

            suggests that centralized maintenance contracts be estab-

            lished to address the University-wide impacts of this issue.

 

            The recommendations from the subcommittee need more specific

            wording about the establishment of a group to look at hard-

            ware maintenance.

 

            Last fall a task force was established by Dr. Heterick to ad-

            dress the issues surrounding the impact digital technology on

            teaching.  The report is now available

 

        AGENDA ITEM 4:  ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

 

        There were no additions to the agenda.

 

 

        The next committee meeting will be September 6, 1989 at 3 p.m. in

        Burruss 400.

 

        The meeting adjourned at 4 p.m.

 

 

Current Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archive

Return to Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archive

VT History | Digital Library and Archives | Special Collections | University Archives

Send questions or comments to:

Tamara Kennelly, University Archivist
University Libraries
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
Blacksburg, VA, 24062-9001

URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu/minutes/cmc/1989/April+5++1989.html
Last modified on: Tuesday, 25-Sep-2001 13:57:20 EDT