Campus Profile: Southern Methodist University Copyright 1990 CAUSE From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ Volume 13, Number 3, Fall 1990. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its dateappear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission. For further information, contact CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301, 303-449-4430, e-mail info@CAUSE.colorado.edu SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY ************************************************************************ This article is based on a visit to Southern Methodist University by editor Julia Rudy. The Campus Computing Environment department of CAUSE/EFFECT regularly focuses on the information technology environment of a CAUSE member campus, to promote a better understanding of how the information technologies are organized and managed in colleges and universities of various sizes and types. ************************************************************************ Southern Methodist University (SMU), a private coeducational institution founded in 1911 in Dallas, Texas, today counts a full-time student enrollment of approximately 9,000 (of which 5,600 are undergraduates), 540 faculty, assets of $490 million (including an endowment of $335 million), and 87 buildings on 164 acres. The University awards baccalaureate degrees in more than seventy programs through four undergraduate schools and a wide variety of graduate and professional degrees through four graduate and two professional schools. More than half the students come from outside Texas, and the ratio of men to women undergraduates is virtually one to one. Information Technology Strategies Director of Computing and Information Services Barbara Wolfe describes SMU as a "university in transition," both in terms of its overall administration and its information technology environment. Wolfe believes that "information technology services need to reorganize about every three to five years. The technology changes, so the way the services are delivered needs to change as well." An important part of that philosophy is the commitment to continually evaluate the effectiveness of the organization and the personnel who deliver the services. Ensuring that the right people are functioning in the right positions is a major challenge in information technology management on today's campus. SMU's Computing and Information Services (C&IS) organization, which Wolfe has headed for the past twenty-one months, reflects this philosophy, evolving steadily in recent years to accommodate campus computing needs. When Wolfe came on board, the emphasis was on dividing mainframe computing resources between administrative and academic computing users. Wolfe has worked toward shifting that emphasis to combined central support for microcomputing to encourage faculty to rely less on the mainframe and more on smaller departmental computers connected to the network. Much effort has gone into creating the necessary networking infrastructure to allow the heaviest research users to more appropriately access external supercomputers through connections to the NSFNET. In a decentralized academic environment, SMU's management philosophy is one of shared responsibility, with the central organization assuming an appropriate leadership, planning, and service function and colleges undertaking to coordinate their activities with central planning to ensure the best use of the computing resource on campus. According to SMU President A. Kenneth Pye, "The thing that impresses me the most is how few people on a campus see the broad picture. It is especially important to encourage a University-wide view to ensure that information technology investments support the institution by facilitating teaching and research as well as efficient and effective administration." This is one of the most important roles that Wolfe plays as chief information officer on campus. Campus-wide Planning Key Two mechanisms in particular have contributed to balance between centralized and distributed computing at SMU: use of a University-wide computer planning and policy committee, and the creation of the function of "college computing coordinator" to provide liaison between the six colleges and professional schools and the central C&IS organization. The Computer Planning and Policy Committee (CPPC), chaired by Wayne Woodward of the Statistics Department and made up of representatives from academic departments and administrative offices, annually presents to the president a set of recommendations in priority order, which are used in establishing the University's computing strategies and to justify budget allocations. The most recent recommendations set as a top priority completion of the campus network (including a major telecommunications acquisition), followed by recommendations that each college and school establish at least one full-time salaried local technical support position and that a faculty member be appointed on a one-year experimental basis to serve as a campus "microcomputer advocate" to encourage the integration of the micro into teaching and faculty research. Beginning last fall, monthly meetings were instituted between the staff of C&IS and a representative from each college designated by the dean to serve as College Computing Coordinator. According to Wolfe, "The purpose of these meetings is to develop cooperative working arrangements with the schools and colleges, who must assume more responsibility in managing computing when the computing power resides largely within the schools, rather than within a central facility." These meetings are an excellent means for the coordinators to stay abreast not only of C&IS plans but also of computing activities of other SMU colleges and schools. Central Computing Support While colleges and schools increasingly assume responsibility for planning and funding micro and workstation purchases and providing discipline-specific user support, there are many areas where central computing support is vital -- mainframe computing services, campus-wide networks with standards for connectivity, microcomputer hardware and software support and training, administrative systems development, telephone services, software site licenses, and areas where volume provision can provide the University with economies of scale (such as microcomputer purchasing and maintenance agreements). Such services at SMU are delivered through the C&IS organization (see chart facing page). The Applications Development department of C&IS, under the direction of Jay Hogue, has responsibility for all administrative systems development at SMU. Most systems in use have been developed in- house, with an occasional purchased system installed. Current administrative systems include personnel/payroll, billing/receivables, budget, financial accounting, alumni/development, and a wealth of integrated student systems -- degree-audit, transfer credit, online registration, admissions, graduate admissions, and financial aid. The CA-DATACOM/DB relational database management system was acquired in the mid-eighties, with IDEAL the professional application development tool. End users currently use Data Query for ad hoc report generation for systems in CA-DATACOM/DB, and the new SAS Institute product release will add an important piece to the end-user reporting toolkit by giving users the ability to link disparate files for direct access. According to Hogue, "We have ways of accomplishing what users need, but we want to raise the level of user participation, to raise their ability to access data easily and do more sophisticated kinds of reporting than they currently are able to do." Plans for the coming year include articulating an overall information systems strategy to consider migrating toward another database management system with the related new end-user tools, as well as to evaluate some of the University's aging systems, particularly the payroll/personnel system. The User Services department, under the management of Tom Downing, provides extensive user training, as well as support for large and small systems, educational technology, and computer purchases, for both academic and administrative users. According to Downing, "It is our job to explore new computer and information technology as it becomes available, to inform those to whom it might prove useful, to train those who wish to make use of it, and to provide continuing technical support to those who implement it." Downing's unit oversees the "Computer Corner," where Apple Macintoshes, IBM PS/2s, Zenith laptops, and NeXT workstations are offered at specially discounted prices to all SMU faculty, staff, and students. At the University's Bradfield Computing Center, an IBM 3081D supports VM/CMS for academic computing, while an IBM 3081K supports MVS for the administrative areas. More than 500 devices on campus are connected to these systems via twisted-pair wire, Ethernet connections, or the AT&T ISN optical fiber network, with twenty-six dial-up ports also provided. SMUNET, the campus fiber-optic-based network, was extended last fall to the outside world through Sesquinet to NSFNET, thus connecting campus network users to national and international networks. The number of users on the network is expected to increase dramatically after the new phone system implementation, which will include installation of new copper wiring that will make network connections possible for many currently unconnected individual offices. The new voice and data PBX for administrative offices and dormitories is expected to be installed by 1992. Faculty and Student Computing There is much evidence at SMU for the University's commitment to encouraging faculty computer literacy, enhancing teaching through the use of technology in the classroom, and increasing student access to computing -- all among the top priorities articulated by the CPPC. Already on campus are five major microcomputer laboratories for faculty, staff, and student use, and last fall more than $100,000 worth of micro hardware and software was purchased for distribution throughout thirteen residence halls. Some significant developments in classroom use of technology are taking place in such diverse areas as the geological sciences, engineering, art history, music, rhetoric, computer science, and economics. To explore and encourage further creative educational technology uses, a special interest group was established in the spring. Both Downing's C&IS User Services department and the campus Media Services department, under the direction of Travis Jordan, are providing leadership and support for this ad hoc group which now involves more than fifty participants. One of their first actions was to survey campus faculty to determine current uses and future needs related to instructional technology. At about the same time this group was initiated, an educational technology lab was set up in the Computing Center for faculty, staff, and students to become familiar with some of the latest in multi-media computer technology, including a NeXT workstation, Macintosh II connected to a color video camera, digitizer, and slide-maker, and a PS/2 Model 30 with a color MCGA display. Library Information Technology A major campus undertaking came to fruition this year when SMU's PONI (Public ONline Information) system went live in April. PONI is the SMU version of the NOTIS online library automation system that provides access to the database of more than one million bibliographic records of all SMU libraries. That access is presently available through fifty public terminals in the libraries, campus ISN or Ethernet connections, and dial-in through modems. The availability of PONI immediately heightened faculty and student interest in communication to central databases. Leadership for the PONI implementation was provided by Carolyn Kacena, Director of Academic Support Automation, who works out of the Provost's office. According to Kacena, "The library system has been the driving force to complete the network to SMU's academic buildings, and it will continue to be one of the unifying forces in terms of campus communications. Our challenge is going to be giving users equally easy access to other online catalogues and to be able to respond to the changing demands for services on campus. The library profession as a whole has a lot of challenges to look forward to in this new environment." Central University Libraries, under the direction of Maureen Pastine, has worked closely with the Provost's office, Media Services, and C&IS toward the common goal of improving access to campus information resources. According to Pastine, "There has been a lot of sharing and cooperation, and very little bureaucracy. This kind of cooperation is vital to what must happen on campuses in the future. At SMU we have a head start because we have all pulled together for the same things." Southern Methodist University has placed a high priority on information technology investments, with only faculty salaries and the library ranking higher, according to President Pye. The fact that needs identified in planning for the library and in planning for information technology compete for the same institutional resources will require that these processes become more closely linked in the future -- a future that promises continued commitment at SMU to meeting faculty, student, and administrative information needs. ************************************************************************