UTS to expand notification process for future system interruptions

As University Technology Services staff busily worked to repair an overwhelmed Postbox e-mail system in the days following the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, officials also sought to expand on the way UTS notifies users about interruptions to the system.

Notices did go out to Ohio State newsgroups and to three mailing lists reaching computer support personnel across the University that UTS would be increasing the system's capacity over the holiday weekend.

For future repairs, those electronic notices also will be printed and posted in all UTS public-computing sites. In addition, UTS is seriously considering using bulk e-mail to inform all campus users about system interruptions -- as long as the bulk e-mails themselves don't threaten performance by overloading the system. And when the onCampus production schedule allows, notices also will be printed in the newspaper.

"We recognize the significance of an e-mail system being unavailable, and we realize this event has had a major impact on the University," said Jim Davis, interim chief information officer. "We apologize not only for the inconvenience but with great awareness of the adverse impact on users' productivity. We want to assure students, faculty and staff that we are working to ensure that these kinds of problems are not repeated the next time a downtime is required."

After Postbox e-mail was severely interrupted on Jan. 18, UTS officials said a second reconfiguration of the system on Jan. 19 produced positive results. That fine-tuning resulted in a net gain of 50 percent more disk storage capacity for Postbox and returned performance to what it was before the first reconfiguration on the Martin Luther King holiday.

The reconfiguration on Jan. 17 was meant to optimize the e-mail system by increasing capacity. Before then, the system's capacity was 32 gigabytes for storing and processing e-mail. The Jan. 17 reconfiguration increased capacity to 72 gigabytes.

"It's important to note that capacity and performance are on opposite ends of a continuum," said Chuck Morrow-Jones, director of networking for UTS. "We need to be careful that we do not affect one when tuning to improve the other. It became clear that the first adjustment on Monday was over-tuned; we gained capacity, but with the result that performance suffered."

UTS pursued the initial reconfiguration to try to prevent the system from becoming overloaded. The increased capacity is needed because UTS has recorded massive growth in the quantity and size of e-mail messages sent through Postbox -- in the past year, the number of e-mail messages processed has grown to about 1 million per day, and many of the messages also include large attachment files.

Staff quality of work/life survey planned

The quality of the work/life experience of Ohio State staff will be systematically studied this spring under a proposed plan by the University Staff Advisory Committee and the Office of Human Resources.

USAC and Human Resources are working together, with the support of the Office of Academic Affairs, to form a Commission on Staff Development and Work/Life. The group will facilitate a comprehensive study of the opinions, attitudes and concerns of Ohio State's nonbargaining staff. The study will seek data on staff similar to the information collected for the recent Commission on Faculty Development and Careers, and the CUE, G-QUE and I-QUE studies of students.

"We believe conducting a study of staff now would be timely, since we are early in the tenure of President Kirwan and Provost Ray, and also timely in terms of studies recently done of other constituencies," said Jamie Mathews-Mead, USAC chair and co-chair of the new commission.

"We've established a goal to become one of the top 10 public universities in the nation," President Kirwan said. "The attainment of this goal is not possible without a strong and supportive staff. This survey should give us valuable information to help us develop policies and support mechanisms that will be responsive to our staff's needs."

Mathews-Mead said USAC always has worked to learn what issues are foremost on the minds of staff by hosting listen sessions, outreach sessions and town meetings with the president, "but this will be an enhanced, systematic way to gather information on what is important to staff," she said. "Our hope is that it will effectively guide University improvement efforts regarding staff using real data."

The commission will work with the Center for Survey Research to develop the study, which will most likely take the form of a phone poll.

"They will help us to develop relevant questions and to conduct the survey," Mathews-Mead said. "We're looking at possibly replicating studies done previously or creating a new one."

The last comprehensive study of staff opinion was collected for a January 1995 Faculty/Staff Attitude Survey, sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Human Resources. Mathews-Mead said many of the topics covered, including benefits, satisfaction with work environment and diversity, are still important issues today.

Mathews-Mead stressed that a key aspect of the study will be what occurs after it is completed.

"One thing we're really hoping to do is make specific recommendations and hold the University accountable for the findings," she said. "Our hope is that it will be embraced as a Universitywide initiative."

Cathy Cooper, director of labor relations for human resources and co-chair of the commission, said the findings of the survey should be very valuable to the Office of Human Resources.

"We anticipate a lot of good information that we'll be able to utilize to enhance the experience of staff at Ohio State," she said. "We are delighted about the partnership between USAC and our office and hope we get the same kind of substantive results that came from the surveys for faculty and students."

Other members of the commission will be selected during winter quarter. The commission's proposal calls for the survey to be implemented during spring quarter, with analysis of the data beginning this summer. Monitoring of action steps and recommendations could take place through winter of 2001.

"I can't be more enthusiastic about the possibilities this has," Mathews-Mead said. "Whatever happens will be reflective of staff comment and that's what we advocate for."

Department of Chemistry honors astronaut alumnus

The Department of Chemistry dedicated the main lecture hall in the newly renovated McPherson Laboratory on Jan. 21 to Robert H. Lawrence Jr., the nation's first African-American astronaut.

Lawrence earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Ohio State in 1965 and went on to join the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory, a U.S. military space program independent of NASA. Lawrence died in a training accident at Edwards Air Force Base on Dec. 8, 1967.

During the dedication ceremony, Lawrence's family unveiled a plaque naming the Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. Lecture Hall.

By Kevin Fitzsimons

Department of Chemistry Chair Bruce Bursten, left, leads a ceremony Jan. 21 in which a McPherson Laboratory lecture hall was dedicated in memory of Robert H. Lawrence Jr., an Ohio State graduate and the nation's first African-American astronaut. Also attending the ceremony (left to right) were Lawrence's widow, Barbara Cress Lawrence; his mother, Gwendolyn Duncan; and his sister, Barbara E. Lawrence.

President Kirwan, Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray, Board of Trustees Chair Michael Colley, and Trustee Robert Duncan spoke of Lawrence's achievements. They were joined by U.S. Air Force Col. Ben McCarter; Professor Emeritus Richard Firestone, who was Lawrence's dissertation adviser; and chemistry Ph.D. candidate Sibrina Collins.

In 1997, NASA acknowledged Lawrence's status as an astronaut and placed his name on the Space Mirror memorial of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. The current chemistry faculty then donated funds for the lecture hall dedication. The department also plans to create a $250,000 endowed fund in Lawrence's honor.

"By naming a facility in Major Lawrence's honor, we are signaling to the entire University community and beyond that he is a leader of whom we are most proud," Kirwan said. "Generation after generation of students who come into this magnificent lecture hall will read about Major Lawrence and be inspired that a man of his stature and accomplishments once studied here."