Coffee and Conversation with Michael
As Michael Kubit, our new vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer, gets to know our organization, he's welcoming OVPIT staff members to join the conversation. In the coming months, Michael will be meeting with small groups of employees to hear your thoughts on what's working well, opportunities for improvement, and any advice you have for him.
Spots are filling up, but wait lists are available if a session is full. You should have received an email last week with details on how to register, but if you didn't, please contact itcomm-web@psu.edu.
Subtitle:
Register for an upcoming session
IT Achieves
While identifying opportunities for improvement is important, so is recognizing and celebrating success. A new initiative is hoping to keep track of all the good things happening in OVPIT—whether it's a successful project that was months in the making or a staff member's personal achievement. Submitted accomplishments will be shared and published in this newsletter.
If you have an achievement to share, please fill out the IT Achieves form.
Project achievements
The University Enterprise Network (UEN) is the central part of the telecommunications network that provides communication services to the Penn State community, including Internet services, data centers, wireless, residence hall student networks, Voice over IP, and Video Conferencing over IP. Currently, Enterprise Networking and Communication Services (ENCS) is celebrating the end of a recent core refresh project.
The project, which relied on contributions from all colleagues in ENCS and ran from May 2013 to December 2016, increased network core capacity in the UEN by 2,000 percent and upgraded the core and campus circuits from “active/standby” to “active/active.” The project also doubled (and tripled in some places) inter-campus network capacity and increased 10Gbps port capacity by 1,500 percent. The upgraded UEN provides a resilient underpinning infrastructure that will support the growth of world-class IT services at Penn State for many years to come.
Employee success
In other news, Michael Geida—an IT support specialist from Penn State Outreach—recently won Desktop Support Technician of the Year within HDI Steel City chapter. Great job!
Subtitle:
Share your good news with us!
OVPIT Climate & Diversity
Although integrity is one of Penn State’s core values, staff members may sometimes fall into unintentional ethical pitfalls. Two integrity workshops presented by OVPIT Climate and Diversity, taking place March 2 and 14, will help employees understand how lapses in judgment can happen and the importance of distinguishing values from priorities. Attendees will also learn about ethical challenges that may arise during a reorganization.
The sessions—titled "Values vs. Priorities in the Workplace: How do you decide the right thing to do?"—are being offered in person and online via Zoom. For more information and to register, visit the registration page.
Subtitle:
Register for an integrity workshop session today!
IT Impact Awards
Do you know an exceptional colleague or team whose hard work deserves to be recognized? If so, consider nominating them for a 2016–17 IT Impact Award. The annual awards program recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of IT staff across the University in the areas of collaboration, innovation, and resource responsibility. The deadline for submitting nominations is April 7, and award recipients will be recognized this spring.
For more information about each award and to submit a nomination, visit the IT Recognizes website.
Subtitle:
Nominate a colleague or team for an IT Impact Award
HR Updates
Please welcome these new hires!
Brittany Morton, IT manager in Services and Solutions (EI&O)
Jennifer McCauley, IT project manager in Engineering and Project Support (EI&O)
Five things to know about WorkLion
All colleges, units, and departments will use Workday, with the exception of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Pennsylvania College of Technology.
You'll be able to access Workday and other features through a new employee portal called WorkLion.
You'll access Workday with Penn State’s single sign-on when it goes live in June.
Access to information and tasks in Workday will be protected by strict security safeguards.
Time and attendance will be linked in the new system, making it critical that time worked must be submitted and approved prior to payroll deadlines.
Professional development opportunities
Workplace Learning and Performance has a new lineup of programs taking place this spring. Topics include communication, project management, conflict management, creative thinking, leadership, team building, and more. The programs are offered at no cost to employees, and spaces fill quickly! Visit the full schedule for more information and to register.
Registration is open for levels one and two of the Supervision Series taking place this spring! Level one is for both new and experienced supervisors looking to refresh and update their skills, while level two is for experienced supervisors and builds on concepts from level one. For more information and to register, visit the Supervision Series website.
Don't forget to check out the online courses on the Learning Resource Network! You'll find more than 800 free courses available to Penn State faculty and staff. Learn at your pace—you can start a program and pick it up later right where you left off. Create a personal learning plan, track your progress, and earn certificates for the courses you complete. Visit the Learning Resource Network to learn more.
OVPIT You Rock! Award
OVPIT is filled with people who work hard everyday to make OVPIT and Penn State a better place to work. If you know of a special colleague or team that deserves recognition for a job well done, nominate them for the You Rock! Award—a special way to let someone know their hard work has been noticed and appreciated.
February’s recipients are:
Kris Benefield, OVPIT Training Services
Phil Swanzy, OVPIT EI&O
Congratulations and thanks for a job well done! Learn more about why they rock on the OVPIT Awards page. Nominations are always being accepted via the You Rock! Award nomination form and will be announced monthly.
Subtitle:
Recognize a coworker for a job well done
Collab
Registration is still open to attend the March 16 Collab meeting as a guest! Sessions begin with networking from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m., followed by updates, discussions, and small-group activities from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Meetings take place in TSB room 22 unless otherwise noted on the registration form.
Register to be a Collab guest.
Collab is a group of OVPIT staff members that meet monthly to help identify areas of opportunity, recommend action items, and move OVPIT and Penn State IT toward trust, cooperation, and collaboration.
Subtitle:
Attend a Collab meeting
Connect with Us!
There are several ways you can stay up to date with what’s going on in OVPIT!
Follow the Penn State IT Twitter account for the latest news and information about IT-related research, events, and services.
Visit the Plan-Build-Run website for the latest information about the transition to the Plan-Build-Run concept of IT operations.
Join the OVPIT Yammer group for announcements, updates, training opportunities, and more.
Visit the OVPIT staff site for information about upcoming events, staff awards, and the archives of this newsletter.
Subtitle:
Keep up with what’s happening in OVPIT