President Kaler gets new conference room

In March, CTS installed a new video conference room for President Kaler's office in 238 Morrill Hall. The room will be used by many other offices as well, and it will help the system campuses connect to meetings.



Kudos to the CTS staff for engineering the design and installing the equipment. And a shout out to Justin Myers in OIT who provided staff training for the faculty senate support area of the conferencing equipment. (Thanks to Jeremy Todd in OCM for sharing this news!)

Hangout from afar

Google came out with a new feature called Hangouts Remote Desktop. It lets you help others by controlling their computer remotely (with their permission, of course). And because you're both in a hangout, you can talk with and see each other during the session. To get started, just start a hangout, and click "View More Apps" and then "Add Apps" and "Hangouts Remote Desktop." (Thanks again to Jeremy Todd for letting us know about this cool new feature.)

Food for thought

Wise words: "Happiness is mostly a byproduct of doing what makes us feel fulfilled." -- Benjamin Spock

Spring loan exit counseling

On April 18 and 19, FA-IT sent more than 3,400 emails inviting soon-to-be graduates to complete online loan exit counseling. This is the largest batch of loan exit counseling invitations sent to date. The loan exit team worked hard the past several months to ensure students are able to navigate the new online system, and their hard work paid off. Student Account Assistance has received fewer questions regarding loan exit counseling than in the past, despite the fact that more students have been asked to complete the process.

Classroom upgrades

The folks in OCM were busy over spring break. Ruttan B36 and CSOM L114 & L118 received a technology equipment update, including replacing the video projector with a widescreen model. They're also gearing up for a busy summer of upgrades, too. Nice!

Workspace ways

Whether your work space is a wide open cube, or you leave your office door open 24/7, it's important to keep in mind that others are working around you. After all, we don't all need to know your latest news. Though it's great to catch up with co-workers, it's important to be respectful of other around you. Try to keep conversations--both professional and personal--relatively quiet.

'eduroam' WiFi now available

eduroam (education roaming) is a secure, worldwide wireless network service created for the international research and education community. The cool part is that it's now available for all University faculty, staff, and students on the Twin Cities, Morris, and Rochester campuses. (Coverage for Duluth and Crookston is being discussed.) eduroam allows people from participating institutions to access secured WiFi service when visiting other participating institutions. All you'll need is your U of M login credentials. More info and setup instructions are available on OIT's website. If you have any questions, contact the IT service desk at help@umn.edu or (612) 301-34357 (1-HELP on campus).