Information Technology Services Plan

Mission

We are strategic leaders and collaborators who empower the Macalester community to leverage technology for learning, teaching and college operations.

Values

• We are forward-thinking, diversity and equity-centered, and innovative, bringing enthusiasm and an open mind to new ideas.
• We are outcome-oriented, using process mapping and technology selection to help improve the experience at Macalester.
• We are designers of the Macalester technology environment, focused on stability and security, guided by best practice.
• We are service-oriented stewards of Macalester’s technology resources.
• We align with and support the Imagine, Macalester strategic plan.

Major Initiatives for Fiscal Year 2025/26

• Strengthen Teaching and Learning

  • Reimagine and Modernize Classroom and Event Spaces: Update A/V and presentation technology in classrooms and event spaces to improve teaching, learning, and event experiences. This includes replacing event space technology in areas like Davis Court and evolving equipment in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall.
  • HPC Face Grant: Work with Carleton and St. Olaf to provide access to High Performance Computing to Macalester faculty and students.
  • Apporto Virtual Lab Pilot: Roll out a virtual lab pilot in the fall of 2025, which will provide 24/7 access to software from any device with a Wi-Fi connection.
  • LMS Review & Moodle Improvements: Continue surveying and interviewing faculty and students about Moodle pages. An Academic Technology Advisory Team is also being instituted for the fall.

• Transform the Student, Faculty, and Staff Experience

  • Expand and Enhance the IT Service Catalog and Portal: Rebuild and implement a comprehensive digital IT Service Catalog integrated with the Help Desk system.
  • Build an expanded Student Worker training program: Develop a training and mentoring program for student workers to increase technical skills and improve response times for customers of the ITS Help Desk.
  • Move the rest of the MFDs to uniFLOW Online: This will provide a consistent user experience on MFDs across campus and allow for the decommissioning of old on-prem servers.
  • Find Replacement for Odyssey (CBORD): A replacement needs to be found before Odyssey reaches its end of life in August 2027.
  • MacNav releases: A new “Extra Eats” module is planned for Fall 2025.
  • Redesigning/improving www.macalester.edu: This includes forming a Web Advisory Group, deploying a redesigned college homepage, and building new WordPress blocks.

• Enhance Cybersecurity and Protect Macalester’s Data

  • Internal and external security testing: Test is scheduled August with remediation to follow from September through December.
  • Endpoint Protection replacement and consolidation: Evaluate products for consolidating endpoint protection for both macOS and Windows.
  • Evaluate security awareness program – This initiative will assess the effectiveness of the current security awareness program.

• Improve the Institution’s Access to Data and Business Intelligence

  • Explore Box Functionality: Investigate using Box as a possible replacement for OnBase, specifically for signature and workflow capabilities.
  • Student 360 Slate: This project includes advising (already live), Give to Macalester Day (March 2026), and Student Organization Management (go-live in Spring semester)
  • Migrating web apps to a more modern tech stack: Replace the aging Python/Django server and rebuild existing web applications.

In the next 5 years we will…

Strengthen Teaching and Learning by:

• Reimagining computer labs: Through use of Lab Stats and community conversations, reconceptualize the public computer labs to maximize student access. Changes could include anytime/anyplace access to software, collaborative student computing spaces, and transforming the traditional lab space to meet student needs and use. We will also ensure current dedicated teaching labs have the tools and flexibility to increase access for marginalized communities and that all students have access to the tools they need for their coursework.
• Transforming classroom technology: Integrate Universal Design for Learning guidelines to create inclusive and easy to use technology that enables flexible teaching and accessibility for all.
• Promoting Digital Liberal Arts (DLA): Highlight student and faculty DLA work in order to recognize its importance as scholarship and amplify opportunities for experiential learning. Streamline processes to build capacity and make DLA more approachable. Engage the full DLA team to foster innovation, access, equity and inclusion, connection across campus, and support for community-based projects.
• Reviewing Macalester’s Learning Management system and determine a direction and plan for the future. 
• Maximizing the Digital Resource Center (DRC): Highlight the DRC’s role as a resource for discovery, experimentation, and innovation. Continue to increase access to digital tools and knowledge on campus. Promote the DRC as a hub for experiential learning.

Transform the Student/Faculty/Staff Experience by:

• Improving manual processes through process mapping, digitization, tool development and automation.
• Enhancing access to campus services, tools and information through a revamped portal and continued development of the MacNav app so students, faculty, and staff feel confident accessing services and using campus technology.
• Streamlining and maximizing use of campus software and systems, improving system navigation, processes, and reporting.
• Evaluating enterprise-level systems and applications, including our ERP, document management system to develop a plan for continued sustainable use.

Enhance Cybersecurity and Protect Macalester’s Data by:

• Strategically moving services to the cloud and creating resilient, reliable and secure information technology resources for all members of the Macalester community.  
• Developing policies and safeguards that are constructed in accordance with laws and regulations that govern the Institution to provide definition and instruction for sensitive information and how it should be handled.
• Educating the Macalester community on information security.

Improve the Institutions Access to Data and Business Intelligence by:

• Implementing a data lake that aggregates data from diverse systems into a single repository
• Establishing formal Data Governance at Macalester to further inform the use of our data
• Redefining data ownership, working with campus partners to understand who maintains data and who is in charge of its accuracy. This includes defining which personal data can be maintained in a self service framework.   
• Increasing ease of access to data needed for evidence based decision-making
• Implementing role-based data access, granting access to data based on position without relying on request procedures.  
• Implementing Business Intelligence software that enables the college to retrieve, analyze, and transform data into actionable insights
• Breaking down business process silos to increase visibility to data flow across the campus
• Exposing lists of data based on search criteria made available in a self service framework based on campus role. 
• Standardizing data integration across disparate systems with a goal towards real-time (or near-real time) synchronization.