In September, Simmons College welcomed Marjorie “Honey” Pike as our new Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police. To help the campus community learn more about Honey’s background and plans for her work at Simmons, we sat down to ask her some questions about her approach to policing, community engagement, and more.
All posts by Randolph Pfaff
Academic Technology Corner: Faculty Development
This session will explore strategies for providing feedback in the Online Classroom. Students need much more support and feedback in the online environment than they may need in a traditional course. Using effective feedback strategies will enable the instructor to identify and meet individual student needs as well as encourage students to participate and continue to participate at a high quality level.
This session is open to ALL faculty—whether you teach online or on-campus. Visit the Faculty Fellows Hub to get complete details on all the sessions being offered.
Interested in signing up for this session? RSVP today!
Moving Forward with Computer Replacements
During September and October, the Technology team has continued planning for the FY17 computer replacement program.
We’ve developed a tentative timeline for working with departments to schedule computer replacements. This timeline is based on several factors, including the average age of computers currently used in each department and the total estimated replacement cost.
Our next steps will be to start interviewing department administrators in November and then begin a pilot rollout of new computers to a subset of five departments. Following the pilot period, we will expand the program quickly to other areas of the College during the 3rd and 4th quarters of the fiscal year.
As the project continues, we’ll share up-to-date information oncomputerupgrades.simmons.edu. If you have specific questions about computer replacements, please contact theService Desk.
Getting Connected at Daly Field
One of the most exciting projects at Simmons this summer was the completion of work on Daly Field, a new public-private partnership that provides space for several of the College’s sports teams and a vital outdoor resource for the Allston-Brighton community.
Simmons Technology recently wrapped up our efforts to ensure that Daly Field is a connected space, with the infrastructure necessary for security, digital scoring, and Internet-connected audio-visual equipment.
Best of all, Simmons Athletics is now live streaming games from Daly Field! Whether you’re in the stands, across town, or across the country, visit athletics.simmons.edu to cheer the Sharks on to victory.
Photo courtesy of simmons.edu
Welcoming a New Chief of Public Safety
On September 1, 2016, Simmons welcomed Marjorie “Honey” Pike, our new Chief of Public Safety.
Marjorie brings almost 40 years of experience in law enforcement to the College. Before coming to Simmons, she served as Assistant Chief of Police at Vanderbilt University. Prior to Vanderbilt, she spent 33 years with the Nashville Police Department, rising through the ranks to Deputy Chief.
As Chief, Marjorie will provide leadership and a focus on engagement and communication with the entire Simmons community. She has a long history of promoting campus safety and she will use that experience to partner with students and Student Life to foster an ongoing dialogue about safety on campus.
We also want to thank our Interim Police Chief, Mel Batten-Mickens, for her service during the yearlong search for a new chief. Her work and leadership during this time have made our campus safer for all.
Please join us in thanking Mel and welcoming Marjorie to Simmons, as she takes on this important role at the College.
Academic Technology Corner: Faculty Development
These sessions are open to ALL faculty – whether you teach online or on-ground. Visit the Faculty Fellows Hub to get complete details on the sessions being offered and to RSVP for any session.
Browser Security: The Problem with Add-ons
Whether on our computers, tablets, or phones, most of us have plugins and extensions that make our web browsers more useful. From video player plugins like Adobe Flash, to ad-blocking extensions and tools that help you spell check and edit as you type, there are countless ways to tailor your browser.
When working with financial and student-related data, these tools can present additional security challenges as well. Add-ons can create points of entry to viruses and malware, potentially exposing sensitive information when we use web-based applications for our work (including Google Apps for Education and AARC).
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to stay safe.
Only install necessary add-ons
If a plugin or extension does not serve a business or academic purpose, it should not be used during your work at Simmons.
To disable or remove add-ons:
- Chrome: Type “about:plugins” or “about:extensions” into the address bar
- Firefox: Go to Tools > Add-ons in the menu
- Safari: Go to Preferences in the menu, and look for plug-ins under the Security tab and other add-ons under the Extensions tab
Take advantage of built-in security options
Most browsers can block—or warn you of—insecure plugins and extensions. You can also enable “click-to-play” support in Chrome. This stops plugins from running automatically and gives you the choice of when to run them and on which websites.
Keep your browser and add-ons updated
Installing updates increases the likelihood that you have the most up-to-date security features available.
FY17 Funding for Computer Replacements
This summer, Simmons Technology took the first major steps toward planning and implementing a computer replacement program for FY17. The College’s FY17 budget includes funding for purchasing new faculty and staff computers, which will allow us to start replacing Simmons-owned computers across campus beginning this fall and continuing throughout the fiscal year.
The current funds available will allow us to replace approximately one-third of the computers on campus. We’ll focus our efforts on replacing the oldest computers still in use, many of which are more than five years old and should have been replaced in prior fiscal years.
Our goal is to work with departments and business units to create the greatest value and replace the largest number of computers possible. This will mean working closely with you to determine your needs and to make decisions about what kinds of computers we’ll purchase. In the next few weeks, we’ll begin reaching out to department administrators to discuss options for the purchasing and replacement of computers.
We’ll be sharing additional details and updates about the project with faculty and staff as they become available.
Xfinity On Campus: Streaming TV for Resident Students
Summer may be over, but we’ve added a great new feature to help welcome resident students: Xfinity On Campus. Students living on campus can stream live TV shows and on-demand movies directly to their laptops, phones, and tablets while on the residence or academic campuses.
With Xfinity On Campus, students can watch their favorite shows from anywhere on campus or DVR them for later. Xfinity On Campus offers a range of popular channels, including USA, FX, A&E, Lifetime, and more. Premium channels—like HBO and Showtime—are also available as separate subscription options.
Students can start watching now by visitingxfinityoncampus.com, entering Simmons College in the search box, and logging in with their Simmons username and password. Instructions and support info are available on theTechnology Service Desk site.
Building a Network for the Future
As networking technology continues to evolve, we’re working behind the scenes to improve the performance and security of our wired and wireless networks.
This summer, Simmons Technology engaged in an important project to upgrade on-campus data centers. After a competitive bidding process, we partnered with Extreme Networks—a trusted leader in networking—to replace hardware and upgrade the software that runs the networks on campus.
The network replacement project expands our infrastructure’s current capacity and prepares the campus to accommodate future advances in networking technology. This project is just one part of our work to ensure that you have access to online resources from wherever you are on the Simmons campus.