While students were enjoying their summer vacations, Northwestern University Information Technology employees were using the lull in campus activity to make upgrades to Internet services.
The updates included a reboot of the CAESAR online registration program, the introduction of a new WebMail service and the relocation of NUIT’s resource center.
“Summers are always a big time development-wise to get things up and running for the new school year,” said Dennis Sage, NUIT associate director of technical support services.
CAESAR’s new personalized home page includes a schedule, quick links to financial and contact information and a bar on the right side of the page that displays alerts and messages. Weinberg students looking to fulfill distribution requirements can use a new drop-down menu to narrow their search results.
According to NUIT employees, students have been satisfied with the final product.
“I think the general inclination of people is that they like it,” said Matthew Gruhn, NUIT consultant supervisor. “It’s an improvement over the old user interface.”
Gruhn, a Weinberg junior, said the transition to the new system was “fairly smooth” and that the biggest challenge he encountered was that students had trouble finding their weekly schedules on the site.
Communication freshman Rachel Kopilow said her registration time was early, and she didn’t encounter any problems.
“I thought it was too easy, so I kept asking people if I made a mistake,” she said.
In addition to the changes to CAESAR, the NUIT Resource Center moved from Kresge Centennial Hall to NU’s administrative building at 1800 Sherman Ave.
Gruhn said the new location offers a more functional environment for students and administrators alike.
“It’s definitely more pleasant here,” Gruhn said. “That Kresge building has its charm, but it’s a little old and run down.”
According to Sage, NUIT began planning the relocation in fall 2006, and administrators formalized plans with facilities representatives in early 2007.
“For picking up a support center and a call center and 30 employees and not missing a minute of support time, it went really smoothly,” he said.
Sage said NUIT “didn’t miss a beat” when they shut down on July 31 and reopened at the new location the next morning.
“Before, we were split across four or five different rooms (and) there was just a lot of traveling back and forth to see people and collaborate,” Sage said. “Now, everyone’s together in the same place.”
The new resource center is at the corner of Clark Street and Sherman Avenue, on the edge of downtown Evanston. Sage said NUIT’s visibility on campus has helped to spread the word and direct students to the NUIT hub.
“With the sidewalk signs and word of mouth getting around, students seem to be finding it,” Sage said.
In June, NUIT launched the long-awaited Google Gmail-supported u.northwestern.edu. While more than half of NU’s undergrads have switched to the new service, NUIT students stationed in dorms on move-in day wore t-shirts that advertised u.northwestern.edu and encouraged students to “make the switch.”
The service will become the default mail option for students during Winter Quarter, NUIT officials said.
Students and parents have reacted positively to the streamlined WebMail service, he said.
“With the old WebMail system, you have to walk people through it,” Gruhn said. “It’s nice when people are complimenting you on the system rather than just worrying about it, asking questions about it.”
Sage said students should expect future updates that will include enhanced group collaboration tools and increased compatibility with Google Documents.
“I think we’re definitely taking steps to jump ahead of everyone else,” Gruhn said. “(It’s) the incredible positive response that Google gets for everything they do. I think Northwestern is, in that sense, ahead of the curve.”
Reach Matt Spector at [email protected].
