January 2026
Good morning, my name is Dan Friedman-Shedlov and I am the newest member of the Data Services and Institutional Analytics team. Welcome to the first week of the semester. The start of each semester brings a flurry of activity, and our IT department has been hard at work addressing our usual requests, including StarID password resets, Office 365 and D2L sign-ins, and navigating new technology. To ensure a smooth semester start, we've instituted a daily check-in with our entire department to quickly identify and resolve any issues. I'm pleased to report that we encountered only a few minor outliers, none of which significantly impacted classroom instruction. This success is a direct result of our team's diligence in documenting semester break readiness tasks, maintaining open communication with deans, faculty, and administrators, and ensuring that everything was completed on time for the semester.
Yesterday, we experienced an Internet outage caused by a hardware issue from the System Office. Thanks to our quick response, we were able to post timely updates on the Service Portal, email campus leadership, and keep the college community informed through both the service portal and the college website.
We posted our Winter Break tasks on our service portal, and consistently updated our article when tasks were completed. I am proud to announce a major accomplishment: the completion and delivery of our classroom computer carts.
As mentioned, we also experienced a staffing change in our Data Services and Institutional Analytics team. Apurva Desai’s last day was Tuesday, January 13, and I started January 5. I've been working closely with Apurva over the past week and a half to ensure a smooth transition. We are actively realigning workloads and will repost two open positions on the team. I'm based in office 4415C and am on campus every day.
Overall, IT has enjoyed a successful start to the semester. Looking ahead, our next priorities include reposting open positions, preparing for next year’s computer replacements, planning our budget, and continuing to refine and improve our processes.
Thank you all for your support, and here’s to a great semester together!