Category Archives: Top Stories

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Tech innovation redefines Medical School curriculum

The U-M Medical School is undergoing a curriculum transformation to develop future physician leaders in health care. In the previous model, students spent the first two years of their education focusing on science and the second two years in the clinic working with patients. In the new curriculum, students are exposed to the clinical aspects of medicine in… Read More »

“Father of the Internet” retires from U-M

Douglas Van Houweling, UMSI professor of information, also known as the “Father of the Internet,” retired in April after a long, remarkable career at UMSI and U-M. During his time at U-M, Van Houweling has served as UMSI associate dean for research and innovation; U-M dean for academic outreach and vice provost for information and technology; and U-M… Read More »

Register for Enriching Scholarship 2018

Registration for the 21st Annual Enriching Scholarship Conference opens April 2. Sessions will be held May 7-11. During Enriching Scholarship, U-M faculty and staff can participate in over 100 sessions about how to effectively integrate teaching and technology. All sessions are FREE, but require registration. Keynote address & workshop This year’s keynote speaker is Katie Linder of Oregon State… Read More »

Helping you to find the phish

Following successful pilots within the departments of Pathology and Family Medicine to identify and report simulated phishing emails, Information Assurance (IA) and Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) are gearing up to conduct a phased, anti-phishing educational awareness campaign throughout all of Michigan Medicine. HITS staff will be the initial target group to receive a series of simulated… Read More »

Michigan Medicine keeps smartphones smart… and secure

For nearly a year, Michigan Medicine has used AirWatch to provide the required encryption and information assurance necessary to safely access secure internal resources on smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The organization’s policy requires staff to enroll personally owned devices in AirWatch if they are used to access the internal wireless network or share sensitive healthcare information. Health Information Technology & Services… Read More »

Workshop offers IT tips for research travel

The flight is booked, the reservations made. You’re about to embark on your research trip to another country, time zone, continent…maybe all of the above. Understandably, you’ve focused on the logistics, and now you’re focused on the research fun. But, if you want to ensure a crisis-free experience, there’s another travel plan you need to make: the IT… Read More »

Dearborn ITS improves identity management

By | February 28, 2018

Dearborn ITS recently launched new processes for improving student identity management. Robert Ward (Enterprise Application manager) partnered with the Account Lifecycle Optimization (ALO) project team, UM-Dearborn Registrar and Admissions to develop new solutions with his team for improving student identity management. Uniqname student self-service UM-Dearborn leveraged the work of the ALO project to improve the uniqname account creation for… Read More »

ITS retires its oldest legacy system, the Uniqname Service

In early February, ITS retired its oldest running production system—the Uniqname Service (UNS). Implemented in 1992, UNS was running on outdated hardware with an old homegrown “UMCE Linux” operating system. Due to high risk, the system had not been shut down or upgraded since 2012. “We were concerned about the fragility and technical debt associated with the homegrown… Read More »

UCAN platform connects students and alumni

U-M has one of the largest alumni networks that spans the state and the globe. Until recently, accessing this robust network often relied upon Excel spread sheets, paper lists, making LinkedIn connections, or through serendipitous meetings—not exactly a convenient or reliable system. Frequently, students asked staff at the University Career Center (UCC): “Is there an easy way to… Read More »

First Privacy@Michigan symposium draws over 200 participants

On January 30, the university held its first Privacy@Michigan symposium. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of International Data Privacy Day, the event featured an interdisciplinary group of U-M faculty and researchers who addressed top privacy-related—and threatening—issues in an era when the very notion has gotten complicated. The event was sponsored jointly by the U-M School of Information (UMSI), and… Read More »

Barcode scanning eliminates breast milk misadministration

Thanks in part to a barcoding system developed by Health Information Technology & Services, C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital (C&W) virtually eliminated the misadministration of breast milk to infants in their care. C&W is home to the first 24/7 formula and breast milk preparation room in a pediatric hospital nationwide. Opened in 2011, the Milk… Read More »

2017 Michigan IT Symposium wrap-up

Over 560 IT staff from U-M’s four campuses filled the Michigan League this past November to develop skills, form and strengthen working relationships, and showcase how their work contributes to moving U-M forward as part of the 2017 Michigan IT Symposium.   After the event, 216 attendees provided their feedback on what worked well and what they’d like to… Read More »

New social login service supports guest access

A new Identity and Access Management (IAM) service is a gamechanger in helping the Alumni Association fulfill its mission to connect alumni with services that nurture an ongoing relationship with the university. “Using social login allows the Alumni Association to overcome the single biggest barrier for providing alumni access to our online services and alumni benefits,” says Andre… Read More »

ITS offers new cloud vendor choices

For several years, Information and Technology Services (ITS) offered Amazon Web Services (AWS) at U-M as its sole cloud computing IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) offering. That is changing. U-M recently signed enterprise agreements to offer Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The addition of these industry leading vendors provides a strong foundation of cloud computing solutions, and will enable… Read More »

EHR prompts improve chronic disease management and preventive care

Something exciting is happening at Michigan Medicine. And U-M patients are benefiting. In recent months, the screening rate for depression symptoms in patients who had diagnosis of depression in last 12 months rose from 10 percent to nearly 70 percent. The rate of lung cancer screenings in smokers doubled. And the hepatitis C screening rate improved fivefold among… Read More »

Digital Wolverines: The LSA Summer Reads experience

During the summer of 2017, in lieu of a more traditional “summer reads” program, the College of Literature, Science and the Arts launched an experiment in online, interactive, and collaborative explorations of citizenship and diversity in a digital age. Because issues of free speech, safe spaces, inclusion, intellectual diversity, and identity-based marginalization continue to create divisions and challenges… Read More »

Collaboration creates new digital signage that engages, informs Michigan Medicine community

As one of the largest health care systems in the world, communication to the more than 26,000 Michigan Medicine employees is not always easy. “As an organization, we are continuously looking for new channels to communicate important news and updates to employees,” said Kathleen McCool, employee communications manager with the Michigan Medicine Department of Communication. “Email is not… Read More »