The University of Virginia's Computing Survival Skills program, begun in 1997, addresses the ongoing technology training needs of departmental staff. An overview is provided of the program's first year, including background, content, materials, certification, benefits, results, success, and future plans. Tips for designing a training program are…

Beset by institutional cost pressures, and by a thriving market for computer-related talent, institutions are finding special challenges to the productivity of their computer services. The circumstances and problems of personnel turnover are outlined. Some practical responses available to institutional administrations are illustrated.

In moving Syracuse University (New York) administrative computing applications from mainframe to a client/server environment, challenges have come not from technological transition but from changes in the ways both information systems are organized and clients work. Cultural initiatives were necessary, including organizational restructuring,…

Maricopa Community College District (Arizona) connects multiple facilities with a digital voice, data, and video wide area network. The network has been achieved through a conscious strategy of managing change and leveraging vendor partnerships. Organizational structure has also evolved, creating new job functions and need for retraining and staff…

The challenge of recruiting, retaining, and retraining information technology (IT) staff in colleges and universities affects the entire institution, not just the IT organization. Some of the issues surrounding the projected IT staffing crisis are outlined, and steps campus IT leaders can take to minimize the effect of staff turnover on…

Current and developing issues and trends in college and university information resources management are outlined, including retention/retraining/recruitment of information technology staff; policy and technical issues; growing complexity and cost of enterprise systems; student expectations for technology support and services; distributed learning…