Campus Profile: Marquette University


Copyright 1991 CAUSE From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 
1991. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is 
granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for 
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is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for 
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                          MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY

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This article is based on a visit to Marquette University by editor Julia
Rudy. The Campus Computing Environment department of CAUSE/EFFECT
regularly focuses on the information technology environment of a CAUSE
member institution, to promote a better understanding of how the
information technologies are organized and managed in colleges and
universities of various sizes and types.

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Chartered in 1864 and opened in 1881, Marquette University is an
independent, Jesuit, co-educational university located in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, with a student enrollment of 11,300. Marquette has twelve
colleges, schools, and programs, and offers credit courses in thirty-
nine academic departments, master's degrees in thirty, and doctorates in
twelve. Marquette is committed "unreservedly to open and free inquiry
and to the development of the student as a total human person." One of
the University's priorities for the future is academic program
development, with special emphasis on enhancing the campus library
system and computing resources.

Planning for Information Technology

With the unfolding of a new campus-wide strategic planning process
at Marquette, much attention has been focused on library and computing
services. This planning process, called MU 2000, was initiated by the
University's new president, Father Albert DiUlio, in conjunction with
activities related to preparing for reaccreditation next year. Fourteen
task forces have been charged with first completing a self-study, and
then looking to the future to identify strategic directions in their
areas.

As part of this process, a task force on Library and Information
Services will focus on the development and use of computing and
information technology at MU. Under the direction of Virginia Scheschy,
assistant director for technical services in the University Libraries,
the group is meeting bi-weekly, aiming to complete their self-study by
January of 1992. According to C. Edward Mathay, director of computer and
telephone services and a member of the task force, the campus community
is embracing the planning process with great enthusiasm, fully
appreciating the opportunity to be involved and vested in the future of
the University.

The Library and Information Services task force will build on the
work already begun by the Committee for Computing and Communications
Planning (CCCP) created three years ago by Vice President for Business
and Finance Carl Singer at the request of the Computing Services Board,
a group comprising the University vice presidents which makes decisions
about major computing policy at Marquette. The committee identified
three major areas where efforts should be focused: (1) developing a plan
for an integrated communications network; (2) developing a plan for a
University-wide database for student, faculty, staff, and alumni
records, with distributed databases for specific local area needs; and
(3) determining the appropriate role for the central Computer Services
Division (CSD) in Marquette's highly decentralized computing
environment.

To help with the latter the committee conducted a survey of sixty-
six campus units to identify current and anticipated needs and wants.
Sixty-one surveys were returned, indicating significant interest on
campus; the majority expressed the desire to have CSD establish
standards, set protocols, and manage future networks.

Networking Plans and Progress

As a result of a CCCP recommendation, an ad hoc Network Committee
was formed to address the technical considerations of planning for a
campus-wide network. The committee concluded in a Spring 1991 report
that Marquette can "satisfy its data networking needs without a large
upfront cash commitment" and defined a network "with the necessary
flexibility and ability to expand based on need and/or available funds."
Essentially the plan calls for the network to grow using existing campus
cable, and for fiber optic cable to be installed in conjunction with new
construction and renovation. The strategy includes setting standards of
10MB Ethernet over twisted-pair or fiber optic cable, TCP/IP protocols,
and Ethernet cards with simple network management protocol (SNMP)
support.

Because of the predominantly decentralized approach to computing at
MU, TCP/IP networking has only recently become a University-wide
initiative. With nineteen local area networks on campus, there is much
local management of computer/communications systems. CSD established a
BITNET connection for the University in 1987, and MU's first connection
to the Internet was enabled through the networking activity of the
Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (MSCS) department. MSCS's
Ethernet has also served as the foundation of the campus-wide net which
currently connects five major campus locations, with plans for campus-
wide connectivity.

MU's current connection to the Internet is through the statewide
network, WiscNet, which has allowed the University to became an
affiliate member of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
at the University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign with access to the
NCSA's three supercomputers.

With the expansion of the backbone network, CSD expects soon to
demonstrate the beginnings of a campus-wide information system (CWIS).
Public safety information and career services will likely be the first
areas at MU to take advantage of this bulletin-board style service.
According to Mathay, a CWIS is an excellent use of the network because
"it doesn't take a lot of resources but provides a lot of service."

Computer Services Division

The mission of MU's Computer Services Division is to provide the
students, faculty, and staff with voice and data communications,
computer-based services, and information necessary to achieve the
essential purpose of the institution in instruction, research, community
service, and cultural development. CSD works to fulfill this mission
through delivering user services, technical services, administrative
systems support, PC support, telephone services, and data
processing/operations support.

The division operates an open-access DEC VAX cluster consisting of
six CPUs and two MicroVAXes, utilizing "load balancing" for the most
efficient use of resources. The library system (see below) runs on a DEC
VAX 6310 under UNIX (ULTRIX). Phone services are provided through a
seven-year Centrex contract with Wisconsin Bell. Even though voice and
data are separate services, phone services were brought into the CSD
organization in recognition of the importance of coordinating wiring and
network line installations as the campus gradually moves toward campus-
wide connectivity and, at some point, integrated communications
services.

CSD staff conduct training classes in the form of non-credit
seminars and introductory sessions; provide consultation for programming
languages and applications; and manage a microcomputer purchase program,
which offers IBM PS/2s and Apple Macintosh models at special price
reductions to full time faculty, staff, and registered students.

According to Mathay, the role of a central computing organization
in a decentralized computing environment can be frustrating at times.
CSD does not play a strong central coordinative role for computing and
information technology campus-wide, and although the Computer Services
Advisory Committee is made up of representatives from each area of the
MU community, it is advisory only with respect to central services;
departments autonomously plan for and acquire their own computing and
communications systems. This has been both a bane and a blessing. While
it can result in a "have and have not" environment among departments and
less general public access to computing facilities, it also means that
strong departments can truly excel in providing computing facilities,
applications, and access that would have been less likely if central
resources or direction were relied upon. And as was the case with the
MSCS department, for example, the University has been able to leverage
those departmental facilities to advance the network for the benefit of
the entire campus.

In the planning stages, with a projected December 1993 completion
date, is a new technology center to house both the CSD and MSCS
computing resources. According to Douglas Harris, MSCS Chair, the new
center is envisioned as a focal point for the use of technologies, not
the technologies themselves--"a place where people realize the potential
applications of technology and how it relates to what they do." Plans
call for the center to house eight computing laboratories, a medical
modeling and biological systems lab, math education lab, and a
"classroom of the future."

Departmental Computing

MSCS is not the only department at MU to have developed strong
computing facilities and integrally incorporated computing and
information technology into the curriculum. The Engineering College
offers its faculty and students multiple PC and terminal laboratories as
well as a sophisticated presentation classroom. These facilities have
largely been developed and funded through the efforts of the Engineering
College Computer Committee, which has successfully garnered grants from
such sources as the Keck Foundation to establish or upgrade computing
facilities. The College recently received a grant from the National
Science Foundation to equip two freshman labs as multimedia rooms,
providing the ability for the instructor to interact with students
electronically. The software used in this classroom has been developed
by the engineering faculty or purchased from commercial sources.

The College of Nursing also employs information technology for
teaching and learning. Five years ago, when the University asked each
college to define computer literacy for students, Nursing articulated a
college goal and systematically set about acquiring the hardware and
software needed to meet it. In addition to their 16-station Novell-
networked micro laboratory (established with financial awards from the
Helene Fuld Health Trust), the college offers two interactive-video
stations with touch-screen technology for use with the many excellent
health-science multimedia programs being developed for curriculum
incorporation. Nursing faculty are continuously on the lookout for and
evaluating such programs.

Computing is gradually being incorporated throughout the curriculum
of many colleges on campus. For example, the College of Communication,
Journalism, and Performing Arts, in addition to the obvious uses of
information technology for writing and desktop publishing, emphasizes
quantitative analysis skills and computing use in social science
research to ensure that College graduates do not suffer from "math
phobia" as is too often the case with humanities students. And in the
College of Business Administration, freshmen begin with a computing
skills course to develop basic skills, then use computer applications in
their second year (statistics course, accounting course, and so forth),
and are exposed to more specialized uses of information technology in
upper division courses depending on their majors.

Administrative Systems

Two years ago MU purchased DECVoice, a touch-tone registration
system which runs on two MicroVAXIIs. The system has been very well
received, and plans include enhancing student access to the system for
inquiry about grades, financial aid status, and fee accounting. Ready
for implementation is a mechanism that will allow students to change
their personal information in the student database. The registrar's
office is getting ready to implement online transcripts, has expressed
interest in using electronic data interchange for inter-campus
transcript exchange, and is in the process of testing an imaging system
as an alternative to paper processes.

The fact that administrative information systems at MU are a
mixture of purchased and homegrown applications, running under different
central databases with restricted access, represents a great challenge
to meeting the CCCP's recommendation for the development of a
University-wide integrated database. CSD is looking at relational
database technology to provide quasi-integration. A new Enrollment
Management group, facilitated by having the financial aid, admissions,
and registrar's offices report to the same executive, should also
encourage more data sharing and coordination in the interest of
generating more information from the current databases.

Information Technology in the Library

According to Virginia Scheschy, "Both the library and computer
services organization have a very user-oriented philosophy: we are here
to serve. That has formed the foundation for our good relationship."
That relationship began in the mid-eighties when the library was
formulating a plan for automation, and Mathay offered the services of
CSD to help develop and support the plan. When the University found
itself with a good surplus a year later and made the library a special
funding offer, the library was able to respond immediately by
implementing their in-place plan.

That automation project resulted in 95 percent of the holdings of
the three Marquette libraries being listed in MARQCAT, an online catalog
running under INNOPAC, a product of Innovative Interfaces. The system,
which includes acquisitions, serials, and circulation modules, is
available to anyone with access to the campus VAX network--through the
more than 100 library terminals hard-wired to the VAX cluster, terminals
in offices and residence halls on campus, or dial-in through a modem.
MARQCAT is also available over the Internet through a telnet command.

According to Father Richard McGarrity, Associate Vice President for
Academic Affairs, to whom the library reports, the University has had a
tradition of meeting needs as demonstrated by individual faculty and by
the colleges: "With the changes that take place, if you lead you can
find that you have wasted resources." The new administration, however,
appears to be adopting a more active stance, with respect to the area
of information resources on the network. In his inaugural address,
Father DiUlio declared the technological advancement of Marquette
University's library to be a priority during his tenure as president.
The library has since articulated a plan to make available on the
Internet the full text of selected library holdings--most likely MU's
unique Catholic Indian missions and Dorothy Day collections--a cutting-
edge IT project called "The Library of the Future."

According to Vice President Singer, "The future of the University and
the quality of education provided are inextricably tied to where we are
going with information technology. We don't want to be the leader of the
pack, but want to be positioned to take advantage of emerging
technologies that we see as fulfilling needs here and that can be useful
to us. We want to be sure that we allocate sufficient resources to do
that." Since MU doesn't have a large debt, and in times of great growth
has remained fiscally conservative, there are funds to fall back on in
more constrained times. As major computing acquisitions are deemed
necessary, says Singer, the funds will be there.

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