For quite some time our local community college was years ahead of any computer labs in the state, it had the largest best run lab even against powerhouses like ASU and NAU. Even now they run their own in house department to build/maintain their own systems. No dell contracts around. They save tens of thousands by doing all of this in house instead of ordering cheap new systems from manufacturers. Students as well as the IT staff run the department. Like everthing there are generalizations and exceptions. Perhaps the reason Tom doesn't see well run IT departments is because they have no need of his service.
On Dec 15, 2007 2:33 PM, db <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You are being naive Tom. > > As a past major university computing specialist I can tell you that > isn't so. > > University's for one thing are saddled with the "tenure" system that > originated in the middle ages. A lot of university management is > composed of burned out/ "tought out" tenured professors who have PLENTY > of brains" but no skills or training or relevant experience to manage > anything and particularly not unforgiving 24/7 IT assets and production. > > Secondly, students for various reasons can only be used in minor roles > such as "help desk" or " low responsibility" server admin assistance > roles. > > That is because they are mercurially temporary (as in semester to > semester), they are not allowed to work more than 20 hrs per week, they > don't show up reliably at exam, major assignment and holiday times, they > can't be given access to important passwords for a multitude of legal, > academic and security reasons and as a group they are one of the world > great sources of illicit computer gambits (as in asking the fox to guard > the henhouse!). > > Academic computing is always a joke except for depts. where there are > major money/ profit streams involved.(Computing, research, Physics, > Engineering etc...) In those university areas, IT is staffed and run > along corporate lines. > > db > > Tom Piwowar wrote: > >> I probably have complained before about IT managers, but I am in a > >> special case. I belong to a major university in the DC area, and my > >> school has a small but deficient computer service facility that must > >> cope with a very small budget. After the IT director, there are only > >> inexperienced students to solve problems. > >> > > > > Lacking money and staff can be a problem, but a university should ebe > > able to make up for this by using its best asset: brains. It looks like > > your IT director is not doing that effectively and for that I would > blame > > the IT director for bad management skills. > > > > The things you describe as broken are mostly standard services. The IT > > director should have a few students who specialize in each of these > > narrowly-defined areas. omeone can learn the basics of supporting Office > > in a few hours. Same goes for setting up printers or scanners. The > people > > who do know can teach the ones who don't know. This is not hard. > > > > > > ************************************************************************ > > * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== > > * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== > > * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name > > * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST > > * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L > > * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L > YourNewAddress > > * Need more help? 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