TECH EXPO

By Kevin Fitzsimons Dan Patton, director of Veterinary Medicine Technology Services, left, talks with Brian Wilson, representing the College of Medicine and Public Health Information Systems, at the Oct. 9 Technology Expo about new applications for palm devices. The annual expo, sponsored by University Retail Services and the Office of the Chief Information Officer, was held in the Ohio Union Ballrooms to showcase the latest in technology developments, products and services.

Deputy CIO

New position created to lead OSU's educational technology and distributed education efforts

Susan E. Metros has accepted an offer to become Ohio State's deputy chief information officer and executive director for educational technology and distributed education. The University's Board of Trustees approved the recommendation of Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray and Chief Information Officer Ilee Rhimes on Oct. 5. Metros will also join the College of the Arts as a professor of industrial, interior and visual communication design. The appointments are effective Nov. 13.

"Susan Metros' extensive experience as an administrator, educator and designer combine well to make her an ideal person for this new position," Ray said. Added Rhimes, "Susan's appointment adds a valuable new dimension, not only to our distance education and technology enhanced learning endeavors, but also to the University's efforts in outreach and engagement."

Susan E. Metros will become Ohio State's deputy chief information officer.

In her new role, Metros will be responsible for facilitating the growth of technology-enriched education in classrooms and over networks, and will lead the development of programs, guidelines, policies and strategies related to distributed education technologies. In collaboration with the vice president for University outreach and various academic units, Metros will also help implement a campuswide distributed education strategic plan.

"Susan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will help Ohio State be a leading 21st century land-grant university," said Bobby Moser, vice president for outreach. "I am pleased that she will be joining our efforts to move the University forward in areas of distance education."

"I look forward to working with Ohio State's academic community to advance the use of educational technology -- both inside and beyond the walls of the traditional classroom -- and to participate in crafting a holistic vision of technology that fully supports the University's teaching, learning and research missions," Metros said.

Most recently, Metros has served as assistant vice president of educational technology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and before that was director of the university's Innovative Technology Center. She has held concurrent faculty appointments as professor of art specializing in computer-enhanced design and adjunct professor of instructional technology curriculum and evaluation.

In her most recent administrative role at the University of Tennessee, she consulted and provided expertise on educational technology policies, online courseware and curriculum development and delivery, and information technology planning, and managed a professional staff of 30 employees.

Her initiatives included reorganizing the Innovative Technology Center to support the educational technology needs of the flagship campus in Knoxville and the university's other distributed campuses, institutes and distance education programs; leading the evaluation and implementation of an enterprise-level learning management system that merged administrative and student information system functions into a Web-enabled academic portal; and establishing and directing systemwide faculty development to support curricular innovation.

Metros has served as principal visual designer on several award-winning interactive multimedia and Web-based projects. She is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including the Computerworld 2001 Honors Program Laureate Medal. She has been invited to present papers internationally and is widely published. Her current research is focused on redefining the Web's graphical user interface to promote emotional and intellectual engagement, especially in teaching and learning.

She holds a master of fine arts in graphic design and a bachelor of fine arts in painting and drawing from Michigan State University.

Technology boost

New electronic directory will provide faster e-mail, enhance search capacities

The University will switch over to a new electronic directory Oct. 29 as the Office of Information Technology launches phase 2 of its new Directory Services and E-mail Improvement Project. Phase 3 will include a new, more robust e-mail system to be in place by the start of winter quarter on Jan. 7.

The upgrades are intended to provide faster and more reliable lookup functions and e-mail processing for Ohio State users.

The new electronic directory will replace Whois, which will run in parallel until Oct. 31.

The new directory will provide more up-to-date University information on faculty, staff and students and will no longer include personal data such as a home telephone number, said Cecil Jones, associate director of enterprise networking for OIT. It no longer will resolve e-mail sent to a nonspecific (or fuzzy) address, such as John Smith, because the University database has grown too large over the years to ensure accuracy.

"The current database contains many entries for individuals with the same or similar names, and the possibility is too great that e-mail might be sent to the wrong person," Jones said.

On Oct. 29 the directory will provide similar query capabilities as it does today. With the new high speed Directory Services, the technology to provide advanced queries is installed; however, the availability of these additional queries to users will come later in the school year, Jones said.

E-mail programs and browsers can also be configured to access the directory using the directory's new server address: directory.service.ohio-state.edu. Jones said the new directory requires slightly different search techniques to access, but instructions on configuring the software are available on OIT's Technology Support Center Web site at www.oit.ohio-state.edu/infopages/dirsrvs.html.

Jones said the new services comply with current industry standards and replace an aging Whois system that is so old it is no longer supported by vendors.

"That's one of the major reasons we're migrating to a new system," Jones said. "It's also a convenient time to look at the features of the new system and think of the needs of the University."

Those needs are assessed during Network Working Group (NETWOG) forums held every two months, Jones said, that bring technical experts from across campus together to discuss the enterprise network. Recent discussions have focused on directory services and e-mail.

"There will be ongoing improvements to the Directory System as we get requests for additional services," Jones said. "So it doesn't just stop when we implement the new e-mail system."

Jones suggests that the most effective means of supplying feedback is to e-mail OIT staff at 8help@osu.edu.

Phase 1 of the upgrading process occurred during the summer, when OIT replaced the e-mail forwarding function on Whois with the new one in the Directory Services system. This provided faster delivery of e-mail.

Phase 3 will involve improvements to the hardware and software infrastructure, and the new e-mail system that will improve reliability and increase capacity, and which also is designed to accommodate future growth. Jones said that not only does the number of e-mail users increase each quarter, but the number of e-mails users send increases dramatically each year.

"People are finding more uses for e-mail, and there are more e-mail services such as group forums, mail list services and bulk mail," Jones said. Organizations are increasing their use of e-mail and taking advantage of the savings -- approximately one cent for e-mail vs. 40 cents for a letter (including envelope, stamp, etc.), Jones said.

Later in the school year, the Web-based e-mail system will provide "anywhere" access to e-mail for people using a Web browser.

Those with questions should contact departmental computing support staff or the OIT Technology Support Center/Help Desk at 688-HELP (4357) or 8help@osu.edu.

For updates, visit the Web at www.oit.ohio-state.edu/infopages/dirsrvs.html.

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