Category Archives: Top Stories

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Home for Dinner: HITS aims to reduce physician burnout

By | December 6, 2019

Last year, HITS instituted a program called Home for Dinner, to help physicians use MiChart more efficiently. Provider exhaustion is a significant issue across the medical community. While MiChart, the electronic health record (EHR) at Michigan Medicine, can enhance coordination and quality of care, it can also have unintended negative consequences. Michigan Medicine providers are spending significant time… Read More »

GradeCraft team realizes benefits by migrating to ITS Container Service

It takes many people to ensure software applications run correctly, and the Software Development team at the Center for Academic Innovation knows that all too well. The latest improvement for GradeCraft — an online learning management system for faculty and students — is its migration to the Information and Technology Services (ITS) Container Service. Since its inception, Gradecraft… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Andrew Staley—DEI warrior

Andrew Staley was recently interviewed about his work on the Platform Services team with Health Information Technology and Services (HITS). He also opened up about what it’s like working at Michigan Medicine while dealing with ADHD, ASD, OCD, and a wheelchair.  What is your role at HITS? I’m a web server administrator on the HITS Platform Services team.… Read More »

Building research IT services and partnerships

By | November 7, 2019

The relationship between research and IT is complex. Erin Dietrich, HITS senior director, and her team team are on a mission to strengthen the relationship between researchers and HITS, improve the customer experience, and raise awareness of IT services. “In developing a strategy and vision for research IT, we have focused on defining the services needed to support… Read More »

Sisterhood, empowerment, and tech: U-M hosts inaugural GET-IT event

Three hundred high school girls from southeast Michigan visited the University of Michigan for the inaugural Get-IT summit on Tuesday, October 1, at the Michigan League. The event gave female students the opportunity to connect with other women and girls who have an interest in the tech industry.

App connects Michigan providers with U-M mental health experts

Michigan, like most of the country, is in desperate need of more child psychiatrists.  More than 100,000 Michigan children have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or ADHD. Yet, fewer than 250 psychiatrists are trained to treat children in the state. The shortage means pediatricians and other primary care providers often end up treating adolescent mental health issues. “Primary… Read More »

U-M takes top prize in cloud leadership award at Educause

At this year’s annual Educause conference in Chicago Oct. 14-17, the University of Michigan was honored with the E&I National Cloud Leadership Award for its lead role in the development and strategic guidance of the Unizin Data Platform (UDP). John Johnston, ITS program manager for analytics & data services, accepted the award on behalf of the university. Johnston… Read More »

U-M and OSU find common ground…off the football field

While the famous football rivalry gets all the press, it’s easy to forget that U-M and Ohio State University are partners in a variety of ways off the field. The two schools are partnering in identity and access management (IAM) to identify short-term problems to solve together, and to develop shared future IAM approaches and solutions. “In today’s… Read More »

UM-Dearborn talent is in the cloud!

The University of Michigan-Dearborn is at the cutting edge of talent management — the strategic approach to ensuring that the university has the right people, in the right positions, with the right skills to have high performance. Technology to support talent management ensures employees are engaged with the university through clear job descriptions, aligned with key goals through… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Mike Douglas—Customer experience leader

Mike Douglas has a new role as a customer experience team manager for LSA Technology Services. He was recently interviewed about his work by Teri Horton, senior instructional consultant at LSA. Michigan IT News also caught up with Mike to learn more about his approach to customer service. Empowerment, empathy, and active listening are key ingredients to his… Read More »

Welcome Technology Solutions: New Student Life unit streamlines tech

By | September 27, 2019

Student Life recently launched Technology Solutions—a new unit that aims to streamline day-to-day technology help requests as well as to make consultations for developing new solutions more tailored and user-friendly via Technology Ambassadors. The unit reorganized in January and officially launched its website in early August 2019.

NSF awards almost $3 million in grants to MIDAS, ITS

The National Science Foundation recently recognized the Michigan Institute for Data Science and Information and Technology Services with grants totaling almost $3 million to support research in data equity, security, and privacy. Data science is an important tool that can help researchers tackle important societal challenges ranging from mobility and health to public safety and education. But data… Read More »

RideAlongs offer insights into ITS’s laser focus on service excellence

The Service Center (SC) RideAlong program started May 2018 and has since hosted almost 40 ITS staff members. Each four-hour ride along shift pairs a SC staff member with an ITS staffer who works outside of the center. The program builds awareness and appreciation among ITS staff members for the quality of the Service Center’s work. These experiences… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Emily Ravenwood—Teaching tools expert

Emily Ravenwood has come back to her literal and intellectual hometown of Ann Arbor. She recently granted an interview to Teri Horton, senior instructional consultant, about her work with LSA Technology Services as the manager of the Learning and Teaching Consultants team. Michigan IT News also caught up with Ravenwood to learn even more about learning tech tools. … Read More »

Data mapping helps inform decision-making for Student Life

Sometimes timing is everything! This was the case when Student Life partnered with Information and Technology Services (ITS) on a data mapping proof-of-concept for its “Where is our Data?” initiative.  Back in April, a story in Michigan IT News updated the U-M community about the effort to better understand where our institutional data lives within ITS systems, how… Read More »