Information Technology

May 2016

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Division of Information Technology
P.O. Box 6888
Radford, VA 24142
Phone: (540) 831-5173
Fax: (540) 831-6217
Email: cio@radford.edu


IT Tip
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Back up your phone before you depart, and remove any shortcuts or apps that could allow thieves to access your bank account or personal information. See the State Department's guide on mobile devices and travel at their website.



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Division of Information Technology
Radford University

Technology Assistance Center moving to Walker 153 on May 9

The Technology Assistance Center (also known as the Help Desk) will be moving to Walker 153 on May 9. The new location will provide an enhanced walk-in support area for the campus community and allow the staff to better meet your technology support needs.

On May 9, users are encouraged to submit support requests online via www.radford.edu/onestop. Telephone support will be available via 540-831-7500, and walk-in users will need to visit the computer lab area on the second floor of Walker Hall, 215, for assistance.


WiFi changes take effect May 12

To enhance wireless network access, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) will update the list of wireless networks on Thursday, May 12.

New WiFi Network List Description
eduroam (Coming Soon) Wireless access for users from other universities participating in eduroam
Radford_Guest New guest network allowing 7 day self-registration by guests
Radford_Wireless New faculty/staff/student default
rusecure Decommissioned once users transitioned to Radford_Wireless

Radford_Wireless will become the standard wireless network for faculty, staff and students. This will replace rusecure. When you have the opportunity, disconnect from rusecure and reconnect all of your devices to Radford_Wireless. Rusecure will remain in place until users have had an opportunity to transition to the new Radford_Wireless network.

Radford_Guest is a new guest network allowing self-registration by guests to campus. Once users connect to this network and register, they will be sent a text message and an email with a username and password to access the guest network for seven days.

eduroam is a new network allowing users from other universities participating in eduroam to easily access the Radford Wi-Fi network. Although this network may not appear on May 12, we hope to be able to add it soon.
The eduroam membership will also allow Radford faculty, staff and students to connect to Wi-Fi networks at other schools that participate in eduroam. This means that Radford University faculty, staff and students will be able to visit GMU, JMU, ODU, Virginia Tech, UVa, VCU and a number of other institutions around the world and easily connect to their eduroam network.

eduroam NOTE: Once implemented, Radford University faculty, staff and students will be able to connect to the eduroam network while on the Radford campus, but this will not provide access to all Radford network resources such as network drives, printing and other more secure systems. Radford University faculty, staff and students will be encouraged to connect to Radford_Wireless when on campus and not use eduroam.


Adobe Connect (Breeze) upgrade May 9

Voice and Video Technologies will be upgrading Adobe Connect (https://breeze.radford.edu ) from version 9.0.2 to 9.5 on Monday, May 9.

Faculty who are planning to use Adobe Connect during the summer are encouraged to check their meetings and content on May 10 after the upgrade is completed to ensure availability for the next academic session. If you experience any problems after the upgrade, please contact the Technology Assistance Center via www.radford.edu/onestop or via 540-831-7500.

When requesting assistance, be sure to include your username, the meeting name or url and details about the specific problem you are having.


DoIT announces system maintenance May 7-13

From May 7-13, DoIT will be performing updates and patches to several campus systems. We scheduled these updates to minimize impact to the campus community, but there will be some brief outages as noted below.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Technology Assistance Center at 831-7500.

  • Saturday, May 7, 8-11 p.m. Campus wireless management system update.
  • Sunday, May 8, 8-11 p.m. Campus wireless management system update.
  • Monday May 9, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Adobe Connect and Cisco Telepresence (Video conferencing) systems unavailable.
  • Tuesday, May 10, 6 – 10 p.m. Border firewall and router upgrades. There will be outages to all campus systems and the Internet during this change.
  • Wednesday, May 11, 8 p.m. – 11 p.m. New wireless networks implemented. There will be intermittent wireless outages while new wireless networks are added to campus buildings.
  • Thursday, May 12, 5-6 a.m. Switch updates for campus data centers. There will be minimal outages to all campus systems.
  • Friday, May 13, 5-6 a.m. Switch and router updates for Peters Hall. Network and phone connections will be down for a short time.

New search for Radford.edu

Web & Mobile Technologies is collaborating with University Relations to implement a new search platform for Radford.edu.

This platform is a Google product that will replace Google Mini, which has been in place for several years. The new search will allow us to more easily monitor and tune search results that appear on the Radford University website. The new search will be put in place the week of May 9.

Look for an upcoming class at Fall Our Turn to learn what new features that might help search results for your department.


Latest classroom upgrades feature: laser projectors

Several classrooms on campus have been upgraded with a new laser projector. These projectors provide a bright high-quality image, reduce maintenance and energy costs, and pose no more risk than a lamp-based projector.

The laser projector addresses a major problem of previous projectors: bulb/lamp life. Lamps in most of the prior projectors cost close to $350 to replace and may require one or two changes per year.

How many hours of life do we get for $350?

Generally, we can expect 3,000 to 4,000 hours per bulb, but by the time the lamp reaches 4,000 hours of use, the projector is generally making pretty dim pictures. We call this "graceful degradation." The lamp starts out strong and bright and gets dimmer over time.

Laser projectors only create the colors needed, which uses less power. Here's one way to think about it: if a typical projector lamp draws 300 watts to create white light, only a portion of that is used to create red, green and blue. The rest is wasted on yellow, purple, etc. With a laser projector, there could be three 100-watt lasers which could, in theory, each create much more light for their respective colors, given the same overall power draw. It's not quite this simple, but that's the basic advantage.

These new laser projectors have an expected life of 20,000 hours, which should take us to a normal replacement cycle for the projector. During the life span of this projector we can expect brighter and higher quality pictures.

We need your help. Projectors left on when classes are not in session add useless hours to the life of projection lamps (and lasers). Please turn off the electronic systems in each classroom at the end of your class. Turning off the system not only extends the life of the projector, but saves energy in the process. We want to get the best and most productive life out of our projection systems, which will benefit everyone.


Our Turn workshops May 9-12

Our Turn provides faculty and staff an opportunity to participate in workshops and become a student for a week. DoIT will be offering a number of workshops during the May 9-12 period. A few examples of this year's offerings are:

  • Desire 2 Learn (D2L)
    • Diving Deeper (learn more about conditional release, working with multiple sections, creating attendance schedules and grading with a tablet)
    • Utilizing Quizzes
    • Gradebook
    • Using Groups
    • Using Rubrics
    • Grading with iPad
  • Microsoft Office
    • Outlook
    • Excel (basic worksheet skills and locating and analyzing data)
    • Introduction to Office 365/OneDrive o Windows 10
  • Learn about technology resources, tools and tips for administrative assistance
  • Balancing your budget with Cognos Reports

A forthcoming email from the Faculty Development Center will include a complete May 2016 Our Turn schedule.


Meet the DoIT Staff

Amy MarcusAmy Marcus –
Applications Analyst



How long have you been employed in the Division of Information Technology at Radford University? I started March 10, 2016.

Family: Husband, Jeff; son, Jeremy; and daughter, Jenna.

Hometown: Dublin, Virginia

Education: Pulaski County High School and Radford University, 1995 B.B.A. information technology.

Interests/Hobbies: Reading and any activity my children are involved in. Currently, the band program at Pulaski County High School.

Favorite vacation destination: The Caribbean. We like to cruise, so it's really hard to pick one favorite.

Favorite part of your job: Learning new technology and the people I work with.