April 2007 Archives

That's what Jeff said as we tried to pull off a joint welcome "address" at this year's first-ever joint ITS Event/Computer Expo.

First and foremost, I think we (or at least I) need to be more flexible in how we approach the work day and work week. Technologies exist to enable us to work in different and more flexible - and probably better in the long run IMO - ways, and we need to start pushing it. I've heard VERY mixed reviews of trying to use Adobe Connect Pro/Breeze to pull off such an address but in the end, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'm looking for future opportunities that will help make me more comfortable in using and relying on space shifting technologies like videoconferencing, etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hokiecsgrad/463975249/

I've hesitated to write anything about this here, but it has so dominated my personal and professional landscape over the last 2 days that it would be inconsistent to avoid it.

My first kiss with my wife happened on the outside steps of West AJ, the ones that pointed towards "The Prairie."

I majored in Engineering Science and Mechanics, whose home is in Norris Building. I can't tell you how many classes I took there, office-hours attended there, etc. Class sizes are so small in that department that each graduation class has its picture taken and last time I visited campus, my picture was hanging in Norris Hall.

With 22 years and hundreds of miles between my memories at Virginia Tech and Blacksburg, I didn't think I'd be quite so consumed with the tragedies. Anyone with a heart is saddened to be certain, but I can't think that I'll be getting this out of my head any time soon.

The intensity of the undergraduate experience is not to be underestimated and I'm reminded of that. I feel intense sadness, pride, and even hope for the current faculty, students and staff of Virginia Tech. We've got 83,000 students at Penn State who are right in the middle of falling in love with this time of their lives and we touch each and every one of them in some way during the course of their time here. What a responsibility.

But the strongest feeling of all for me these last two evenings have come when I've been playing with our youngest. The parents of each of the victims played with their kids when they were little, taught them how to read, hoped they would go to college, and get prepared to serve the world ("Ut Prosim"). They sent their children to Blacksburg to learn how to better serve the world. I choose to honor the parents and the students, by recommitting to serving our own students in a way that they will best be prepared to serve the world.

I need some help to get properly prepared for the ITS All-staff meeting, and I'll need help from almost everyone in ITS.

If you are reading this, you work at Penn State and you're not in ITS, I also ask that you not be shy about helping out either.

On January 8th at our last all-staff meeting, we talked about 4 Themes. No one could be sure what the reaction would be and in the days after that meeting, I was anxious to see evidence of how the themes would be received.

A huge majority of the conversations, e-mails, and scuttlebutt I've been a part of or made aware of has been positive. There has been the occasional expression of "same old, same old" but it is clearly in the minority of what I've come across (Note to the cynical: It's not that I think this is a representative ratio but there is enough data to reasonably think that the positive reaction is outstripping the ho-hum one). I've received enough feedback from so many people in fact, that I'd like to try and capture it more completely for our next meeting.

I'd like to ask that you tell me what you have done personally, seen personally; done in your group, unit, or organization or seen in your group, unit, or organization; that has been in support of one of the themes, some of the themes or all of the themes. How have you changed your approach to what you do in light of a theme or themes? How has your group changed its approach?

Don't feel a need to organize or coordinate your comments, and for heavens sakes don't check with anybody first. If you know or believe something, share it.

Please share your stories, sentences, nuggets by commenting to this entry. No one will be graded for doing it or not doing it. No one should worry about the specter of brown-nosing by doing it - this isn't about telling me what you or your group has done but rather it's about people telling each other what they've done.

Your comments will be a big help with a part of the next all-staff meeting. Thanks in advance for your help.

I've been asked quite a bit over the last several months if there is going to be anything like the "ITS Climate Lunches" that were conducted over the last several years. The answer has always been yes - and now I'm happy to announce the resumption of these kinds of conversations, but with a few changes.

First off, I like breakfast more than lunch so we'll be meeting in the morning hours as opposed to over lunch. And as we start, attendees will self-select by going to "Coffee with Kevin" to confidentially register for a date that works for their schedule. Additionally, small groups are encouraged to schedule at the same time - so if you want your work group to have a particular slot all to yourselves, you can make that happen.

The goal of these breakfasts is to reinforce in some places, establish in others, that you can talk directly to me about issues facing you in the workplace. We can talk about customers, Penn State, your work environment - anything you'd like. It's your conversation and I'll be there mostly to listen, and sometimes to help improve understanding about a particular issue or decision, etc. It will be just those who sign up and me - no one else in the room. I'll ask one of the attendees to help jot down major topics that come up so that I'll have data from each breakfast for comparison to help identify trends in the conversations. The dominant ground rule for the breakfasts is: what is spoken in the room, stays in the room. Words will not leave the room, but if we do this right - ideas will.

I'm genuinely looking forward to getting to meet more of you in a more personal way in the coming months.

I attended the Commission for Women Banquet today. I've been to, I think, 4 of these over the years (which were formerly dinners - this was a radical format change for the CFW) and have always taken something away from one of the award recipient's speeches each time I've been. In fact, a comment made by someone at the very first banquet I attended is a driver for Theme 3. Twenty people from ITS attended at our tables, and at least one other ITS-er was there at another table. Here's what I was able to jot down while listening.

Sharon Corl - Technical Service
Sharon sang a song to celebrate her recognition - it was pretty cool. Sounds hokey I know, but it really worked. The crowd loved it. It was clear she just had to sing to celebrate the moment.

Kathryn Lanoue - Faculty (Hershey)
She is a self described "compulsive risk taker" - it was thrilling to see that rewarded in such a setting.

Jennifer Allshouse - Staff Nonexempt (Harrisburg)
Jennifer was gracious in her recognition of others, both in her success as a police officer and their dedication to their work. She used her time wisely to stump for the cause of combating sexual assault, something she obviously pours her life into. The statistics she shared were mind boggling. 1 out of every 3 women is raped, for example. Hits home when I think about the number of women in my house.
It was apparent that it was more important to keep working to the cause than receive the award, and she did so with honor.

Jayashree Sonti - Staff exempt
Jay is the advisor for the Association for India's Development. What I liked most about her words is that she said that she was "given a chance to succeed." Who in ITS needs such a chance to fully realize their potential and maximize their impact at Penn State?

Judith Todd - Administrator
The first woman department chair in the College Of Engineering is proud to be an engineer and proud to be in Engineering Science and Mechanics (I was too!). I've seen a lot of girls enter 9th grade being excited about math and science, only to have some forces take them into other directions. These aren't always bad directions mind you, but in some cases they are. Having role models like this is important to me.

Shereen Abdel Kader - Graduate Student
Shereen honored the recognition by using it as motivator for improved work, a very humble way to approach receiving such an award. Her work is around recognizing and rewarding creativity, sounds like we should invite her to lunch one day soon.

Olivia Hamilton - Undergraduate student
An undergraduate student and single mom at Abington, she has established and runs Third Wave, an organization that supports and promotes women's issues at Abington. Olivia also recognized that the honor represents the works of others and she highlighted the issues of single moms and their challenges in the work place and in education.

Catharina Cunning - Rosemary Schraer Mentoring Award
Catharina is from the University Fellowships office. As a Churchill fan, I liked her reference to: "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." From her nominator's remarks, it is clear that Catharina lives that quote.

The luncheon represented the value of all of Penn State and the strength of the people that make Penn State what it is.

For many years, I've done a goofy easter egg hunt in and around our house. Even as the kids have gotten older it is something they claim to look forward to - so I happily comply. This year is particularly fun because the latest addition is at a perfect age to re-energize the wonder of the hunt.

Geeky but different this year is that instead of printing out the hunt, I've made it a document in google docs and invited the kids as viewers (including the 2.5 year old - wonder if google will still be around when she gets around to being able to read). It was like water rolling off of their backs, even for the "baby." Next year, I think I'm going to get eggs with RFID tags, a reader in each basket, do a personal Google Map to aid in the discovery, after getting CJH to put on of his doo-hickeys in the family car.

There are lots of cool and easy ways to collaborate. Still wrestling with which ones should be provided in-house (PSU) and which ones can be leveraged from the outside.

Last week John Harwood, Rhonda Brown, Jeff Kuhns and myself were invited by Matt Gardner to meet with two people involved in accreditation processes for the Dickinson School of Law. It was a good information exchange, I believe, and served as a reminder about one of the most important, all-consuming, stressful activities a college or program has to deal with - accreditation.

Accreditation processes have been hotly debated and contested in Washington, D.C. recently. These three articles from InsideHigher.com serve as a good primer for understanding the issues at the moment:

Pushback Against Perceived Power Grab
Drawing A Hard Line
Explaining the Accreditation Debate

Improved processes for assessment, regardless of how the legislative and policy winds are blowing, are welcome by Deans and department heads. IT can play a role in facilitating improved processes and there are a couple of activities going on in the IT world at Penn State that touch accreditation. Understanding accreditation, its importance, and possible changes to it will be important in the months and years ahead.

I'm a little angry and disappointed with myself because it has been so long since my last post. I went under with a crush of meetings and issues, so rather than make this a long whining post I thought I'd throw out what has happened since then.

Since March 20:

- I had 45 PSU meetings and phone calls totaling about 55 hours
- sent 996 e-mails
- received 2,361 e-mails
- took a day of vacation
- attended SIGUCCS in Savannah (gave a presentation, Jim Leous and Sarah Jean Selzer did too)
- saw two plays, a live band (2), coached a soccer game and a practice, hosted a cast party

Those Penn State telephone calls and meetings were about or with;

ediscovery, external network provisioning, kicking off the Internet2 search committee, ITS services via a student luncheon, the upcoming efficiency and cost saving conference (I'm on the panel), Faculty Advisory Committee on Academic Computing (FACAC), President Spanier, Jeff (3 times), ITS budget issues with Jeff, Pam, and Wes, CTSA (2 times),
vendor call, workflow show and tell, College of Education Deans meeting, ITLP team meeting, open source software licensing with the PSU Intellection Property Office and University Counsel, telephone call with faculty member in Electrical Engineering,
monthly ITS Senior leadership meeting, Dickinson School of Law accreditation visit, Penn State Forum (Dewayne Wickham), vendor call, University Counsel, Academic Leadership Council (all of the Deans and Chancellors), AIS business systems show and tell, Digital Preservation Steering Committee meeting, SRDP (2), Smeal College of Business Deans meeting, Identity and Access Management kickoff, internal iTunesU call, 1v1 climate breakfast, Penn State User Services Conference, telephone call with Purdue, telephone call with OPP, IPAS and security training meeting, research strategy meeting, and a Departmental ID internal call.

If any of this looks interesting to you or you have questions about any particular meeting or conversation, drop a comment on this blog. I'd greatly prefer that over an e-mail :-) and besides, somebody else might have the same question.