January 2026 VPIT Report

Vice President for Information Technology Status and Activity Report for January 2026 Prepared by Timothy M. Chester, Vice President for Information Technology (VPIT) 1. Key Items for Faculty and Staff Meetings •

EITS Accomplishments for 2025: In 2025, EITS successfully completed more than 300 projects aimed at strengthening student and academic technologies, improving business operations, and supporting UGA’s research mission. Among the key achievements were the launch of the Creative Engagement Wing in collaboration with the Office of Instruction and University Libraries, which provides innovative spaces and resources for teaching and learning. EITS also enhanced the university’s data center by upgrading its core infrastructure to better handle the growing demands of academic and research activities. Additionally, the team worked closely with the University System of Georgia to plan for a new, unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which will streamline administrative processes across campuses. Looking ahead to 2026, EITS will complete the campus-wide transition to Microsoft Teams Phone, replacing traditional phone systems with a modern, integrated communication platform. The team will also support new initiatives for the School of Medicine and School of Nursing, advance the university’s Digital Accessibility Program to meet federal requirements by April 2026, and play a key role in enabling UGA’s artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives to enhance research and innovation.

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State of IT Scheduled for February: Dr. Timothy Chester will deliver his annual State of Technology at UGA address in the spring semester. This event provides important updates and insights about technology at the University of Georgia, including current initiatives and future plans. The exact date and details for attending will be announced soon. For additional information, contact Stacy Boyles.

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New Digital Accessibility Services Hub Launching in Early Spring: The EITS Digital Accessibility Services Team will launch the new Digital Accessibility Hub website in early spring 2026. This site will serve as a central resource for training and support on digital accessibility and will include a feature for reporting accessibility issues across UGA’s websites. The launch is part of a broader effort to comply with the new federal digital accessibility policy, which takes effect on April 24, 2026. For more information about the Digital Accessibility Hub, contact the Digital Accessibility Services team.

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Access to W-2's in OneUSG Connect: UGA will send W-2s for the 2025 calendar year to employees in January 2026. If an employee has previously consented to receive their W2 electronically, they can access their W-2s through the OneUSG Connect Self-Service portal in January. If they are unable to connect to a UGA campus network and need assistance accessing their electronic W-2, contact One USG Support for assistance. A paper W-2 will be sent to the home address in OneUSG Connect for those who did not consent to electronic delivery.

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Google’s Gemini 3 Now Available in UGA’s Google Workspace: UGA students, faculty, and staff now have access to Google’s newest and most advanced AI model, Gemini 3, securely integrated within UGA’s Google Workspace. Gemini 3 is Google’s most powerful tool yet, capable of working with text, images, audio, code, and other types of data.

Building on earlier versions, Gemini 3 offers smarter reasoning, better analysis, and

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enhanced coding features to help users work more efficiently and creatively. For more information about Gemini 3, visit our EITS Knowledge Base or contact Justin Sackett.

2. Services for Students: •

Wireless Upgrades Work Continues on More Than $1M in Campus Wireless Upgrades: EITS continues to work on more than $1 million in wireless upgrades across academic buildings and student housing on the Athens, Buckhead, and Griffin campuses. These improvements are part of an ongoing effort to strengthen wireless connectivity and coverage to support teaching, learning, and student life. The $1.2 million annual project, funded by Student Technology Fees, includes refreshing and redesigning wireless networks in many campus buildings. Recent upgrades have been completed at the Health Sciences Campus, the Lucy Cobb Complex (home to the Carl Vinson Institute of Government), the Rhodes Animal and Dairy Sciences Buildings A, B, and C, River’s Crossing, the Poultry Diagnostic Research Center (PDRC), and locations on the Tifton and Griffin campuses. EITS is also installing wireless access in new emergency call stations as they are deployed, supporting the university’s broader efforts to enhance campus security. For more information, contact David Stewart.

3. Services for Researchers: •

January GACRC Webinar - Research Computing Resources at UGA: The Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center (GACRC) provides UGA researchers with access to high-performance computing, artificial intelligence tools, and large-scale storage resources. To help faculty and staff learn more about these services, GACRC will host a virtual informational webinar on January 9, 2026, at 11:00 a.m., led by Dr. Guy Cormier and Dr. Jessica Kissinger. The session will give an overview of GACRC’s infrastructure and available computing resources, as well as explain how to request a Sapelo2 user account. Participants will also learn how GACRC supports computational needs across a wide range of research disciplines. Register for the Zoom webinar on January 9. For questions, contact Dr. Jessica Kissinger.

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GACRC Buy in Program: The Vice President for Information Technology will continue the GACRC Buy-In Program for Fiscal Year 2026. This program helps faculty expand their use of UGA’s high-performance computing and AI cluster at the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center (GACRC). To support this effort, the Vice President for IT is providing $250,000 in matching funds. These funds will cover part of the cost for faculty or research groups who purchase dedicated computing resources on the GACRC system.

For full program details, including eligibility requirements, matching structure, allowable purchases, and timelines, contact Guy Cormier.

4. Services for Teaching Faculty: •

GACRC Teaching Cluster for Spring: A dedicated high-performance computing cluster for teaching will be available during the Spring 2026 semester, supported by the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center (GACRC). This teaching cluster is designed to help instructors integrate advanced computing into their coursework. Faculty in Franklin College should note that the cluster includes two multi-GPU compute nodes

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reserved exclusively for Franklin College courses, providing enhanced capabilities for classes that require intensive computing power. Faculty members interested in learning more about the teaching cluster and how it can support their courses should contact Guy Cormier.

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5.

New Digital Accessibility Tool for eLC Launched: Ally for eLC launched on October 15, 2025, to help instructors improve the accessibility of their course content. Ally is a tool that scans instructional materials for accessibility issues and provides clear visual indicators and feedback to guide improvements. This launch supports compliance with a new federal rule from the U.S. Department of Justice, which requires all state entities to ensure their websites and mobile apps are accessible to individuals with disabilities by April 24, 2026. Starting with Summer 2026 courses, all instructional materials must comply with the new federal standard. Students will also benefit from alternative file formats offered through Ally, which support diverse learning needs. A Q&A session will be held on January 6, 2025, at 11 a.m., with additional sessions scheduled throughout the semester. To register for the January 6 session and access past Q&A recordings, visit the EITS Major Initiatives Page. For more information, contact the EITS Digital Accessibility Services team.

Other General Services •

FY26 User Access Verification Preparation Begins: In preparation for the financial state audit for FY26, EITS will conduct a verification of all user accounts for several systems.

The FY26 verification will kick off in March and will include Banner systems, the UGA Financial Management System, the UGA Budget Management System, OneUSG Connect, and UGAJobs. This year’s verification process will feature an updated user interface and a more streamlined workflow. More information on this year’s verification will be forthcoming in the spring. For more information, contact Stacy Boyles.

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Spring Network Maintenance Date Announced: The spring 2026 network maintenance will be on Sunday, March 8, 2026, from 4 a.m. to midnight. Students, faculty, and staff should expect intermittent service outages throughout the day. EITS conducts biannual network maintenance each fall and spring to support the university’s infrastructure and ensure sufficient bandwidth and internet capacity. For questions, contact Rayid Tartir.

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Digital Accessibility Tool for Websites Launched: In November, UGA launched Ally for Web, a new digital accessibility tool designed to help identify and address accessibility issues in website content. This initiative supports compliance with a federal rule from the U.S. Department of Justice requiring all state entities to make their websites and mobile apps accessible to individuals with disabilities by April 24, 2026. Ally provides clear visual indicators and actionable feedback to guide improvements in accessibility. As part of the rollout, the Digital Accessibility Services team contacted Digital Accessibility Liaisons (DALs) to collect a list of their unit's website domains. Once accounts are provisioned, DALs will gain access to Ally and can begin updating their sites to meet compliance standards. A Q&A session will be held on January 6, 2025, at 11 a.m., with additional sessions scheduled throughout the semester. To register for the January 6 session and access past Q&A recordings, visit the EITS Major Initiatives Page. For more information, contact the EITS Digital Accessibility Services team.

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Biannual UGA SSO Upgrade Planned for March: UGA’s single sign-on service (UGA SSO) will undergo scheduled maintenance in March 2026. This upgrade is necessary to

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move the service to the latest version and apply important security updates. To prepare for the upgrade, EITS will pause moving any new applications into production UGA SSO after February 20, 2026, until the maintenance is complete in March. UGA SSO upgrades are conducted twice a year, in March and September, to ensure reliability and security. For more information, contact Wes Merrill.

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Verify and Claim Your Departmental MyID Accounts by January 23: Departmental MyID accounts are used by UGA units, colleges, and departments to run automated processes and serve as contact emails for programs. EITS conducts an annual verification to ensure each account has a current owner who is classified by Central Human Resources as a full-time faculty or staff member. This process also confirms that account details remain accurate. The 2025 verification period began December 1, 2025, and ends January 23, 2026. Account owners should have received an email with instructions to complete the verification process through TeamDynamix, and will be sent follow-up reminders sent until the process is complete. Accounts not verified by January 23, 2026, will be disabled. For more information, contact Kristi Wall.

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Unified ERP Update: The Unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Project intends to replace the current institutional systems for human capital management, financials, and student information, improving the experience for students, faculty, and staff; streamlining core business processes; and unifying technology into a single, Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. Project Coordinators have now been identified for each major unit and “change champions” will be identified in January. These individuals will be key in ensuring robust, two-way communication through each unit over the course of this project. A change network is also being established including faculty and staff across UGA in the areas of Faculty Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Reporting, and Sponsored Projects. Over 200 Business, HR, and IT leaders from each school, college, and unit attended the integrations forum on December 5. Updates and information about project activities will be shared on the UGA Project Website. For more information, contact Lynn Wilson or Shawn Hill.

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Teams Phone Available for Campus Units: EITS now offers Teams Phone, a cloudbased, next-generation phone system provided by Microsoft. Teams Phone allows UGA employees to communicate and collaborate anytime, anywhere, on any device. It integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft Teams application on laptops, tablets, or mobile devices, allowing employees to access all calls, chats, calendar invites, and meetings in one place. EITS will transition all phone lines off the legacy PBX and onto Teams Phone

by March 2026. Telephone Services is scheduling departments that have not already scheduled their transition to Teams Phone. DTRs should fill out a Teams Phone Onboarding Request for their unit as soon as possible. Upon receiving the onboarding request, approximately six weeks prior to the port date, Telephone Services will schedule a large group meeting to address any concerns and answer questions. The Teams Phone transition does not affect AT&T Centrex/HVS users or phone lines outside of the Athens area. Users should note that they will lose access to their voicemail if they are not transitioned over to Teams Phone before the March 2026 deadline. As part of this project, Telephone Services has successfully transitioned around 5,000 extensions off the UGA PBX and approximately 6,000 phone extensions now on Microsoft Teams phone with 2,500 remaining. Furthermore, there has been a reduction in PRIs resulting

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in significant cost reductions due to this transition. For more information, contact Steven Duffee.

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Microsoft Office 2021 Reaching End of Life in October: Microsoft has announced that support for Microsoft Office 2021 will end in October 2026. After this date, the software will no longer receive updates or security patches. To prepare, EITS will work with departmental IT teams over the next nine months to ensure all Office suites are upgraded to the latest version. For more information, contact Justin Sackett.

6. Did you Know?

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Spring Help Desk Hours and Knowledge Base: The EITS Help Desk returned to its normal operating hours on January 4, 2026. The hours are as follows: o o o

Sunday: 1:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Monday - Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Saturdays: CLOSED

The EITS Help Desk operates from 101 Cedar Street and can be reached by phone at 706542-3106, by email at helpdesk@uga.edu or via our chat service at hd.support.uga.edu.

For assistance outside of our operating hours, please visit the EITS Knowledge Base at eitshelpdesk.uga.edu to access self-service tech tips.

University of Georgia students, faculty, and staff, as well as interested others, may subscribe to this monthly report by sending an email to listserv@listserv.uga.edu with the phrase subscribe vpit-news as the body of the message.

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