This spring, Simmons Technology, Undergraduate Advising, Student Life, and the Registrar’s Office are working to launch a new centralized platform for Student Advising—Starfish. Starfish is an Integrated Planning & Advising System (IPAS) that will make it more convenient for students to access support resources, manage advising appointments, and respond to advising “to-dos.”

Starfish will also enable faculty and student support staff to access records in one consolidated location, direct students to resources, access photo rosters, and communicate more easily between offices. Using a single system means more effective referrals and timelier outreach to students. In addition, it will help the College to continually improve programming centered on advising. This is a long-needed system that will greatly improve our ability to support students in meeting their educational goals.

At first, this software will be available for Undergraduate students and our Online Social Work and Online Nursing programs. Once launched, we will begin to expand into other disciplines. We are hard at work configuring this software and creating the policies and procedures to make its launch possible. To learn more about the project and its goals, please visit our project web site.

Simmons is a frequent target of phishing attacks, in which criminals attempt to obtain personal information, gain access to your email account, or compromise your computer. Links in phishing emails may take you to websites that look very much like services you use, and attachments in phishing emails are a prime source of viruses and malware.

To help protect everyone at the College, Simmons Technology is requiring you to change your password as soon as possible. If you have already changed your password after receiving Information Security Officer David Bruce’s email on Jan 10, you don’t need to take any further action. Instructions for changing your password can be found on the Simmons College Service Desk website by clicking on the red “Change your password” banner at the top of the home page.

We also encourage you to be vigilant when using other web-based services. If you receive suspicious emails or account-related requests, contact the service provider directly for assistance.

If you believe you have fallen prey to a phishing attack, or have any questions about keeping your information secure, please call the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

As we begin the spring semester, we want to share our progress on the computer replacement project.

Before the winter break, we proceeded with our pilot program in Technology, the Library, and the Department of Political Science & International Relations. This successful small-scale rollout helped us to refine our process and improve our prospects for a smooth rollout to the rest of the College.

During November and December, the project team met with each department on campus to determine their academic and business computing needs, and to answer questions about the project. We also used this opportunity to finalize a list of employees with computers that are eligible for replacement and to create a tentative timeline for each department.

From now until June 2017, our team will proceed with computer replacements based on the planning we’ve done with each department. If you have questions about the project or your eligibility to receive a new computer, please contact the Service Desk.