University Archives of Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech
Governance Minutes Archive

September 1, 1993

 

                                  MINUTES

                             Computer Committee

                            President's Boardroom

                              September 1, 1993

                                    3 PM

 

 

      PRESENT:     Gregory Brown, John Burton, David Goodyear,

                   George Libey, Tom McAnge, Gerry McLaughlin,

                   Harlan Miller, Bhaba Misra, Terry Rakes,

                   K. B. Rojiani, Frank Schima, Peter Shires, Jay

                   Stoeckel, Ernest Stout, John Tombarge, Mike Williams

 

      ABSENT:      Sean Arthur, Earving Blythe, Scott Johnson,

                   Katherine Johnston, D. B. Taylor

 

 

      VISITOR(S):  Barbara Robinson and Bill Sanders (Computing Center)

 

 

      AGENDA ITEM 1:  COMMITTEE CHAIR (WILLIAMS)

 

      The committee chair of the Computing Committee is normally ap-

      pointed by the President from the academic faculty members.  This

      year appointment was delayed by his illness and  volunteers were

      solicited.  Discussion will continue via electronic mail with the

      expectation that committee members will make a recommendation to

      the President before the next Computing Committee meeting.

 

 

      AGENDA ITEM 2:  MINUTES OF THE APRIL 7 MEETING  (WILLIAMS)

 

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

      April meeting.

 

      A draft of the Computing Committee's annual report for the

      1992/93 year was distributed for comment.  A final version will

      be  offered to the Computing Committee for approval at the next

      meeting and subsequently forwarded to the Commission on Univer-

      sity Support.

 

      Several committee members met last May to discuss the changing

      mission of the Computing Committee and to develop recommendations

      for revamping subcommittees to better meet the needs of a more

      distributed computing environment.  Attendees felt the Computing

      Committee needed to become more proactive.  They suggested the

      End User Subcommittee might focus on quality of computing ser-

      vices while the Capacity and Planning Subcommittee, renamed Com-

      puter Resources Planning Subcommittee, might focus on quantity or

      availability of services.

 

 

      AGENDA ITEM 3:  COMMITTEE LOGISTICS (WILLIAMS)

 

      As in past years, committee members agreed to conduct business

      via electronic mail, eliminating paper distribution of minutes

      and other documents.   Draft minutes will continue to be ex-

      changed with the Communications Resources Committee.  Future Com-

      puting Committee meetings will be held in the Information Systems

      Building, conference room D at 3:30 on the first Wednesday of the

      month, except for January, when it will be held the second Wed-

      nesday.

 

 

      AGENDA ITEM 4:  COMPUTING CENTER ANNOUNCEMENTS (WILLIAMS)

 

      VM2 was shut down early this summer.  Although some individuals

      suffered some inconvenience, the project went well overall, and

      there are no significant outstanding problems.

 

      Many services offered by Information Systems require rigorous

      user identification for various reasons.  Network policies, for

      example, prohibit anonymous use of telnet, modem pool users must

      be identified to allow billing, and electronic mail requires an

      identity for delivery.   In order to reduce the number of ids re-

      quired for use of these facilities, the Computing Center has ini-

      tiated a new PID (Personal userID) system, whereby one id and

      password will permit access to several services.   Announcements

      of this program seem to have engendered numerous incorrect ru-

      mors, which highlight the difficulty Information Systems has en-

      countered in communicating changes to the University community in

      a reliable way.  Early announcements which offer the opportunity

      for users to adjust gracefully to changes may be ignored.

 

      Even as the University moves to a more distributed computing

      model, mainframe services, including electronic mail on VM1, are

      expected to continue to be offered for the next four to five

      years.

 

      A summary report of the pilot Faculty Development Institute was

      distributed.  State budget shortfalls may affect the scope of the

      project, though it is expected to go forward at some level with

      Information Systems funding.  Participants for next summer have

      not been selected and the possibility of offering the institute

      during the school year is being explored.

 

 

      AGENDA ITEM 5:  SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

 

      No subcommittee met this summer.  The Site License Subcommittee

      will be evaluating proposals in about a week.

 

 

      AGENDA ITEM 6:  ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

 

      Some concern was expressed that, although the new governance

      structure is expected to operate as a twelve month system,   the

      Computing Committee does not meet during the summer.  Summer

      meetings are not practical since the committee has many nine-

      month faculty members.

 

 

      The next meeting will be held on October 6 at 3:30 p.m. in con-

      ference room D in the Information Systems Building.

 

      Meeting adjourned at 4:00 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/1993/September+1++1993.html
Last modified on: Tuesday, 25-Sep-2001 13:57:22 EDT