Category Archives: Top Stories

Have an idea for a story? Let us know! (You must be logged in with your UMICH Level-1 password to access the form.) Subscribe to the Features RSS feed.

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 »

New research computing package supports data-intensive research

Information and Technology Services has launched a new package of supercomputing resources for researchers and PhD students on all U-M campuses: the U-M Research Computing Package, provided by ITS. The U-M Research Computing Package reduces the current rates for high performance computing and research storage services provided by ITS by an estimated 35-40 percent. The reduction in rates… Read More »

2021 Hacks with Friends — a completely different experience

The pandemic kept many events from happening over the past year, but the 2021 Hacks with Friends (HWF) was not one of them. The first-ever virtual Hacks with Friends kicked off on May 7 with the first of three Friday sessions thanks to the organization and resourcefulness of the planning committee, led by co-chairs Joe Lubomirski (Dearborn ITS)… Read More »

The Box to Dropbox migrations begin in June

The U-M Box to U-M Dropbox migrations are beginning in June and will continue throughout the spring and summer on a rolling basis. Faculty and staff will be notified by the Unit Ambassador associated with their school, college, or unit as to when they can begin using the self-service migration tool, which has been designed to make the… Read More »