VPIT_October2025

Vice President for Information Technology Status and Activity Report for October 2025 Prepared by Timothy M. Chester, Vice President for Information Technology (VPIT) 1. Key Items for Faculty and Staff Meetings 

New EITS Website is Live as of October 1: On October 1, 2025, EITS launched its redesigned website. The new site is built on a WordPress platform and features a refreshed look and streamlined navigation. The site, available at eits.uga.edu, highlights UGA’s central IT department and its mission to support teaching, learning, research, and outreach through innovative IT solutions. Detailed information about EITS services and systems is now housed in our Knowledge Base at eitshelpdesk.uga.edu. Visitors can search both the website and the Knowledge Base using the homepage search bar. We recommend updating any bookmarked links to point directly to the Knowledge Base for service and system details. For questions or feedback, contact eitscomm@uga.edu.

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Complete Cybersecurity Training by October 31: University System of Georgia employees, including student workers, must complete spring cybersecurity awareness training by October 31, 2025. This required training takes place twice a year in April and October per USG policy and a directive by the executive order of Governor Brian Kemp.

This professionally developed training is conducted online through KnowBe4 and provides a comprehensive education on good cybersecurity practices. To complete the training, log in to the KnowBe4 Portal with your UGA MyID and password. Through October, you may receive several reminders about completing the training to your UGAMail. These automated reminders will come from Ben Myers at bmyers@uga.edu and will have the subject line: USG Mandatory Cybersecurity Awareness Training Due October 31, 2025. Faculty, staff, and student employees who have questions about the training should contact the EITS Help Desk at 706-542-3106 or e-mail at helpdesk@uga.edu.

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Fall Biannual Network Maintenance Scheduled for November 2, 2025: EITS will conduct its fall biannual network maintenance on Sunday, November 2, 2025. EITS conducts biannual network maintenance in the fall and spring each year to support the network and provide ample bandwidth and internet capacity to the university. The maintenance will result in intermittent outages of campus Internet access, telephone services, and various UGA information systems, including UGA Single Sign-On, UGA websites, and wireless networks. For more information, contact Rayid Tartir at rayid@uga.edu. The network maintenance for the 2026 spring semester is tentatively scheduled for March 8th, 2026.

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New Digital Accessibility Tool for eLC Launching October 15: Starting October 15, 2025, instructors using eLC will gain access to Ally, a new digital accessibility tool designed to help identify and fix accessibility issues in course materials. 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 applications are accessible to individuals with disabilities by April 24, 2026. Ally provides visual indicators and feedback to improve content accessibility, and feedback to assist content creators improve accessibility. The preparation period beginning in October is intended to position instructors for full compliance with the federal deadline. Beginning with Summer 2026 courses, all instructional materials must be developed in compliance with

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the new federal rule. Students will also benefit from alternative file formats to support diverse learning needs. Training and support will be available starting later in the fall 2025 semester through the new EITS Digital Accessibility team. For more information, contact dash@uga.edu. 

Cody Bishop Named as Digital Accessibility Specialist: As part of EITS’s ongoing commitment to digital accessibility, a new Digital Accessibility Support team has been established. Cody Bishop will lead this initiative as the Digital Accessibility Specialist.

Cody is a 2024 graduate of the University of Georgia’s Mary Frances Early College of Education, where he earned a degree in Learning Design and Technology. He also holds a Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) certification in Instructional Technology. Cody brings a strong background in both education and military service, along with valuable experience from his previous role as an E-Learning Specialist at Athens Technical College. His leadership will be instrumental in advancing accessibility efforts across campus.

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2025 UGA Technology Survey to be Administered: The Vice President for Information Technology will administer the annual TechQual survey for UGA students, faculty, and staff this month. The survey will be sent to a random sample of students and employees.

They will be asked to gauge the effectiveness of several technology services at the University, such as network connectivity, websites, administrative systems, and wireless services. The results of the TechQual survey are used to guide future IT initiatives at the University. For more information, contact Stacy Boyles at stacy.boyles@uga.edu.

2. Services for Students:

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Wireless Upgrades Work Continues on More Than $1M in Campus Wireless Upgrades: Work is underway on more wireless upgrades in academic buildings and student housing across the Athens, Buckhead, and Griffin campuses. These upgrades are part of EITS’s work to continuously improve wireless connectivity and coverage to support teaching, learning, and student life. The $1.2 million-a-year project, funded by Student Technology Fees, includes wireless refreshments and redesigns in many buildings. Recent upgrades have included facilities on the Health Sciences Campus, the Lucy Cobb complex (CVIOG), 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 also continues to install wireless access in the new emergency call stations as they are deployed. This is part of an effort by the university to increase security efforts. For more information, contact David Stewart at stewart@uga.edu.

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Automated Student MyID Clean-up: In 2024, EITS automated the clean-up process for student MyIDs. This automated process runs once a semester; students who left the university or graduated approximately a year ago will have their MyIDs and UGAMail addresses flagged for disablement and deletion. Alumni and former students who have their accounts flagged will receive two automated emails to their UGAMail address, alerting them that their account will be disabled and deleted soon. Account holders who are currently employed by UGA or are attending UGA for another degree program will not have their accounts deleted. The automated clean-will kick off September 30, 2025, with two notices to impacted users. Accounts will be disabled in late November 2025.

For more information, contact Kristi Wall at kristi.wall@uga.edu.

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Comprehensive Learner Record Implemented for Students: The Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) is live. The CLR is the new digital credential that will combine students’ courses and activities, highlighting their validated achievements and competencies. This platform will be woven into students’ learning journeys from day one, helping all UGA students, from undergraduates to graduates, communicate their stories while advancing their academic and professional careers. For more information about the CLR, visit clr.uga.edu.

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New Services Available in UGA Google Workspace: As of September 2, 2025, EITS has introduced two new tools within the Google Workspace environment: Google Colab and YouTube. Google Colab is a browser-based Jupyter Notebook environment ideal for data sciences, machine learning, and learning to code in Python. It supports collaborative coding and includes GPU acceleration. YouTube access has been enabled for UGA accounts. This update simplifies video access and management by allowing users to stay within their institutional accounts, reducing the need to switch between personal and UGA profiles. These additional Google services are available to all faculty, staff, and students.

3. Services for Teaching Faculty: 

Submit One-Time STF Proposals: Requests for proposals for the FY26 STF one-time funding process were distributed to deans and unit heads August 29, 2025. Units who receive base STF allocations are eligible to submit requests for proposals. This one-time funding is in addition to any support that a college or unit may receive as a part of its base STF allocation and must be of an instructional nature. The proposals must be submitted through the office of the appropriate Vice President, Dean, or Associate Provost by October 10, 2025, to be considered during the current cycle. Please direct comments or questions to Dr. Toby Graham, chair of the Student Technology Fee Advisory Committee at tgraham@uga.edu or (706) 542-0621.

4. Services for Researchers: 

Changes to GACRC Collaborator Account Creation Process: To simplify and standardize account setup, non-UGA collaborators must now be onboarded through the Office of Research’s Visiting Researchers and Scholars (VRS) process. GACRC-affiliated faculty may still sponsor these collaborators for GACRC accounts. Previously, accounts were created via the Affiliate MyID process; this new approach streamlines access while maintaining support for research partnerships. For more information about the Visiting Researchers and Scholars process, visit research.uga.edu/visiting. For questions, contact Dr. Guy Cormier at gcormier@uga.edu.

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Research Data Stewardship Policy and Support Resources: The University of Georgia recently adopted a new Research Data Stewardship policy developed by UGA’s Research Data Management Advisory Council (RDMAC). This policy focuses on issues of ownership, sharing, and retention of research data in response to federal public access and data management requirements. Additionally, the RDMAC is promoting steps to

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improve UGA’s services and infrastructure to support research data management. This includes the UGA Libraries’ new institutional and research data repository, UGA Open Scholar, and research data management planning consultation services offered through Research and Computational Data Management. The UGA Libraries and Office of Research will discuss the new policy and offer guidance and support resources at their “Research Live” Zoom event on November 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The RCDM team is also available to answer questions from individuals or schedule information sessions for UGA units or groups by request.

5. Other General Services 

2026 USG Benefits Open Enrollment: The 2026 Open Enrollment period will take place from October 27 to November 7, 2025. This is the only time each year that UGA employees can enroll in health insurance programs and update their selections.

Employees can learn more at the USG Benefits webpage. This is an active enrollment year, meaning all employees must complete the tobacco use and working spouse certifications. If no action is taken, a $150 monthly surcharge will apply to each item, which USG will not refund. Open Enrollment is also the only opportunity to enroll in or donate to the Shared Sick Leave Pool for 2026. This program allows employees to contribute paid sick leave to a shared pool for colleagues who meet eligibility requirements. To learn how to join, visit the Human Resources webpage on Shared Sick Leave. Additionally, the UGA Benefits Fair will be held on Thursday, October 16, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. All faculty and staff are invited to attend to learn more about USG benefit programs, 2026 plan changes, and available resources. To learn more about the benefits fair, visit UGA Benefits Fair.

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Microsoft Office 2019 Reaching End of Support in October: Microsoft announced in 2024 that Office 2019 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. After this date, no further updates, security fixes, or technical support will be available. EITS is working with departmental IT teams to ensure this Office suite is upgraded to the latest version.

Additionally, Office 2021 will reach the end of support in October 2026, and EITS will continue to share updates about this transition over the next year. For more information, contact Justin Sackett at justin.sackett@uga.edu.

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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. In the near future, the UGA Unified ERP Project team will be requesting that each school/college/unit leader identify a single point of contact for the Finance and HCM portion of the project. Unit leaders will receive specific guidance on submitting their nominations for this role. This role will be called the “Project Coordinator” and will hold responsibility for success of the project internally, including adoption, use, proficiency of users, and integration with unit-level process and policies.

This individual will also be responsible for nominating Change Champions for your unit.

To prepare for the upcoming project activities this semester and to provide additional awareness to the UGA campus community, there are a series of activities occurring in the Fall 2025 Semester. Updates and information about semester activities will be shared on the UGA Project Website: UGA Project Website. For more information, contact Lynn Wilson, llatimer@uga.edu or Shawn Hill, shawnh@uga.edu.

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QuestionPro Survey Research Tool Now Available: QuestionPro is the new enterprise survey research tool available to students, faculty, and staff free of charge. This platform includes tools for the creation, distribution, and analysis of surveys, along with tabletbased mobile research and data visualization. EITS launched QuestionPro for campus use by faculty and staff on March 17, 2025, and it is now available to all students, faculty and staff. There is one remaining migration and training sessions this fall on October 6, 2025. Register for the October 6 Migration and Training Session. All recordings from past migration and training sessions are available in the EITS Knowledge Base article "How do I get training for QuestionPro?". For more information about QuestionPro, visit questionpro.uga.edu or contact surveytools@uga.edu.

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Qualtrics Cost-Sharing Program Planning Underway: To assist departments interested in continued use of Qualtrics after December 2025, EITS has instituted a cost-sharing program. The deadline to opt-in to the cost-sharing program was May 1, 2025, and costsharing program participants have received recommendations for survey clean-ups.

Effective January 2026, Qualtrics access will be limited to cost-sharing program participants only, and UGA Single Sign-On will be required. Current faculty and staff who are not part of the cost-sharing program will retain Qualtrics access through December 2025 and have received information on transitioning to alternative survey tools. Students will have access to Qualtrics until August 1, 2025. After this time, they should use QuestionPro as their primary survey tool. For more information, contact surveytools@uga.edu.

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New Duo Step for Microsoft Services Implemented in September: In September, a new Duo External Authentication Method policy was applied to Microsoft services such as UGAMail, Teams, Office, and OneDrive. The change was rolled out in phases, beginning with retirees and departmental MyIDs on September 9, 2025, followed by students, faculty, and staff on September 23, 2025. As part of this update, off-campus sign-ins now include an additional step—after entering a MyID and password, users must click “Approve with UGA ArchPass Duo” to receive the Duo push notification. This update affects students, faculty, staff, retirees, and departmental MyID users across both web and mobile sign-ins. Users may have been required to reauthenticate on their first login after the change. After that, normal Duo prompt frequency will resume. On-campus signins are not affected, as existing Duo bypass rules remain in place. For more details about the new duo step, visit the EITS website story “New Duo Step Required for Microsoft 365 Logins”. For questions, contact Justin Sackett at justin.sackett@uga.edu.

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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 at 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

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transition does not affect AT&T Centrex/HVS users or phone lines outside of the Athens area. As part of this project, Telephone Services has successfully transitioned around 5,000 extensions off the UGA PBX and approximately 3,200 phone extensions now on Microsoft Teams phone. For more information, contact Steven Duffee at sduffee@uga.edu. 

Transition from Omni CMS to Kaptiv8 WordPress by December 2025: Effective December 2025, Omni CMS (formerly OmniUpdate) will no longer be offered as a content management system for university websites. EITS recommends WordPress provided by Kaptiv8 as an alternative solution for content management and website hosting. All university websites using Omni CMS must migrate to WordPress or another website hosting platform by the end of 2025. The transition from Omni CMS to WordPress was announced in 2023 and began in early 2024. To learn more about options for transitioning to WordPress, visit the EITS Knowledge Base article “Centralized WordPress Hosting”. For more information, contact David Crouch at dave@uga.edu.

6. Did you Know? 

Connect with EITS on LinkedIn: In 2024 Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) launched its LinkedIn. Our LinkedIn page highlights news, updates, job opportunities, and stories about the people and projects shaping technology at UGA. By following us on LinkedIn, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and partners can stay informed about key IT initiatives and engage with our growing professional community. Connect with us today at our Enterprise Information Technology Services LinkedIn page .

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How to Spot a Phishing Scam: Phishing scams are a common tactic used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information by impersonating trusted organizations, such as universities or workplaces. To identify a phishing scam watch for, suspicious tone, poor grammar and unusual requests. Always check the sender’s domain name to verify authenticity. Legitimate university emails will never ask for your login information, financial details, or 811 numbers. If you suspect an email is a phishing attempt don’t click on any links or attachments and forward it to abuse@uga.edu for verification.

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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