Category Archives: Top Stories

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Social, networking events added to the 2021 Michigan Symposium line up

In the words of the noted philosopher John “Hannible” Smith (the A-Team) “I love it when a plan comes together!” The 2021 Michigan IT Symposium is six weeks away, and the pieces are falling into place. After an impressive response to the call for proposals, the planning committee selected a total of 16 breakout sessions, 2 spotlight sessions,… Read More »

Profiles in IT Interview: Amy Peters—Connection-focused communicator

Amy Peters, director of Research Computing and Infrastructure at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, is passionate about the supportive and connection-driven cultures shared by the four different teams she works with. Outside of work, she is an avid reader with a love of writing, having earned her Masters of Business Administration and Bachelors in English, both from the University of Iowa.

Four Michigan IT CIOs were finalists for the 2021 ORBIE® Awards

Since 1998, the CIO ORBIE Awards have recognized technology executives for leadership, innovation and excellence in this rapidly growing, CIO-led national professional association. The Michigan CIO of the Year® ORBIE® Awards honors chief information officers who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership. CIOs are typically recognized in multiple categories, based on the size and scope of their organization… Read More »

NameCoach pronunciation tool API now available to developers

NameCoach is a web-based tool that allows users to record, listen to, and learn names. It promotes inclusivity across all campuses (Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Flint, and Michigan Medicine) for all current students, faculty, and staff. NameCoach enables units to promote organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion, foster employee retention, and forge better customer relationships. Now, the NameCoach Participants APIs are… Read More »

Michigan Medicine CIO named Michigan Healthcare CIO of the Year

Andrew Rosenberg, MD was named the Healthcare CIO of the Year by MichiganCIO.   The CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards honor chief information officers who demonstrate excellence in technology leadership. Winners are selected by an independent peer-review process based on leadership effectiveness, the business value created by technology innovation, and engagement in industry and community endeavors.  “Given that I was nominated by my peers, I am particularly honored to receive this award,” Rosenberg said.… Read More »

Deadline extended for Michigan IT Symposium proposals

The deadline to submit poster and presentation proposals for the 2021 Michigan IT Symposium has been extended to Friday, October 8. Consider the projects and topics you or your team could share with the greater U-M IT community. Take advantage of this opportunity to showcase the accomplishments and the IT solutions to the challenges faced during the pandemic. … Read More »

School of Dentistry uses 3D CAD/CAM technology to better serve patients, students

In the past, having a tooth crowned meant visiting the dentist twice: once to bite into thick, pink, not-so-great-tasting putty to create molds of your teeth, followed by having the tooth drilled to make room for a temporary cap; and again, weeks later, to have the newly-made crown put in place.  Luckily for current and future U-M patients… Read More »

Closure of Box-to-Dropbox migration window quickly approaches

U-M’s move from Box to Dropbox has gone amazingly well, as the window for scheduling migrations is coming to a close on October 31. The faculty, staff, and students on top of their game have scheduled over 345 terabytes of data to be migrated since last spring, when the process officially began. By comparison, that amounts to more… Read More »

UM-Dearborn’s College of Engineering and Computer Science is a technology showcase

March first was a significant and eventful day for UM-Dearborn. The new Engineering Lab Building (ELB) opened its doors for classes for the first time since it closed for renovations two years ago. As with everything, COVID-19 delayed the opening by nine months. With the re-opening of ELB, Dearborn ITS worked diligently to improve and innovate the classroom… Read More »

Tech Shop Student Account Billing now available to UM-Dearborn

By | September 8, 2021

Like so many plans during early 2020, the new physical Tech Shop on the UM-Dearborn campus was put on hold due in part to the COVID-19 global pandemic; however, Director of Campus Tech Rich Wong quickly identified this pause as a new opportunity. Rich connected with UM-Dearborn Senior Manager for Business Affairs Marc Brigolin to inquire about a… Read More »

Message from the VPIT-CIO

By | September 3, 2021

When I first started at U-M, I asked this community to envision what it would look like for U-M to be a leader in the appropriate use of technology among our peers and beyond. Today, I renew my challenge to you: Envision again what it would take to be the leader in the appropriate use of technology over the next one, three, or even five years.

Profiles in IT: Lauren Atkins Budde—Delightful director

Lauren Atkins Budde is the director of Open Learning Initiatives with the Center for Academic Innovation (CAI). In her role, she oversees the strategy, support, evolution, and delivery for multiple online learning opportunities, including non-credit massive open online courses (MOOCs), free and open online learning events called Teach-Outs, short-form video content, and educational podcasts.

New no-cost research computing allocations are now available

The University of Michigan Research Computing Package (UMRCP), provided by Information and Technology Services, is an investment into the U-M research community via simple, dependable access to several ITS-provided high-performance computing clusters and data storage resources.  University researchers now have access to a base allocation for 80,000 CPU hours of high-performance computing and research storage services (including 10… Read More »

Call for Proposals for the 2021 Michigan IT Symposium

The 2021 Michigan IT Symposium will be held virtually December 14–16. The planning committee is accepting proposals for breakout and poster sessions through October 1.  The success of the 2020 symposium demonstrated a virtual event works. The response to last year’s event was overwhelming. Attendance numbers were higher than they have ever been and participants responded positively to… Read More »

NameCoach pronunciation tool now available in Canvas

NameCoach is a tool that allows students and faculty to create an audio recording to help peers better pronounce their names within officially-provisioned Canvas courses. Provided by Information and Technology Services (ITS), NameCoach is now available on all campuses (Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Flint, and Michigan Medicine) to support inclusive teaching and learning.  The tool has two parts: NameCoach… Read More »

Adolescent Health Initiative uses IT to train health care providers

The Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI), a program of Community Health Services at Michigan Medicine, works to transform the health care landscape to optimize adolescent and young adult health and well-being. AHI provides customer-focused, youth-driven, and innovative approaches to improving adolescent care through coaching and technical assistance including engaging webinars, virtual clinic tours, implementing an assessment tool, and more.… Read More »

U-M receives Esri’s 2021 award for Geographic Information System

By | August 11, 2021

At this past July’s annual Esri User Conference, the University of Michigan was recognized with the prestigious President’s Award for being a model for the higher education community in how to become a true geospatial university. Receiving the award on behalf of the university, in front of a virtual audience of over 60,000, Peter Knoop, a senior programmer/analyst… Read More »

Simplified placement exams save time by going digital

An innovation born out of necessity during the pandemic has led Information and Technology Services, the LSA Language Resource Center and the Registrar’s Office to address an ongoing challenge with language placement exams: time. The teams partnered to move four placement exams — German, Chinese, Italian and Latin — to an online format in Canvas. This sped up… Read More »