By Greg Horner, Senior Editor.
Most students probably don’t think about Delta’s Office of Information Technology too often and some students have never even heard of it. But OIT affects both faculty and students every day; from managing Delta’s email support to organizing and maintaining the Wi-Fi, in many ways OIT runs the school.
For faculty: OIT provides computer support, maintains the campus’ printers, and work with professors to get technology working in the classroom.
“From a planning perspective we work closely with [teachers],” says Jason Stahl, Delta’s Chief Information Officer. “They may say they need X, Y and Z but then we’ll say ‘Okay, did you think of A, B and C as well? Because you might need that.’”
For students: OIT provides the MyDelta system which includes registering for classes and processing financial aid, email, and computer lab support. If you’re having trouble with your laptop, OIT might be able to help you out, but Stahl says they hesitate to touch a student’s computer.
“We try to be very careful with that just because we don’t know what they have on the system and we don’t want to mess things up even more,” says Stahl. “If it’s something that we’ve seen before and we can point them in the right direction we will, but if it needs new drivers installed or a new operating system we don’t get into that.”
Avery Willard has been working as a student technician since August and is pursuing a degree in computer science. He and his fellow technicians are the first line of defense when computer trouble arises on campus.
“A lot of people think it’s all just telling people to turn their computer off and back on again,” says Willard. “People think we’re more cynical than we really are — In the same way that a mechanic shouldn’t expect me how to put an engine in — I don’t expect him to do all the things that I can with a computer.”
Miranda Pawlak is a familiar face for faculty and students who’ve used OIT’s services. As the help desk specialist, she often spends her time on the phone troubleshooting with faculty.
Ellucian, the technology company that provides software and services for higher education, since 1996. The department has 17 staff members, all of whom work for Ellucian and not the college. They also employ roughly 15 student employees who work directly for the college.
“We don’t really have the option to not fix something just because we don’t know how,” said Pawlak. “If I can’t fix it or if I can’t give people the services they need I’ll point them in the right direction — sometimes it’s in a different department, but if it involves OIT I’ll write up a ticket and send a technician.”
According to Stahl, Ellucian and OIT have to work smarter, not harder, to provide a growing catalogue of services for the college. “Back in 2005 we had about 50 servers and now we’re at 200 plus servers and we haven’t increased staff at all.”
The programs used by Delta are designed by Ellucian and implemented on campus by OIT; Stahl says OIT works with the school to tailor the software to match Delta’s needs.
“There’s the base package that comes into play that’s very versatile and can be used in different ways,” says Stahl. “We work very closely with the college to figure out what’s the best way to implement this software.”
However OIT does have some program designers on campus who create apps specifically for Delta. Stahl says his programmers have worked on over 100 apps and provide resources like Delta’s online orientation, the employee’s time-clock sheets and an inventory program for the college’s food pantry.
The OIT help desk is located at B119 and can be contacted by phone at 989-686-9575. There’s also the Information Information Technology & Security club located on campus — If OIT isn’t able to help a student with their problem they’ll often point them in the club’s direction. For information about the ITS club call 989-686-9069.
