Information Technology

Each academic year, Saint Francis University provides every full-time student with a laptop computer.  Students have access to the Internet, email, as well as printing services, anywhere network connectivity can be accessed. Students may take their laptops home during semester breaks, holidays, and summer vacations as long as they maintain full-time enrollment status. Following this plan, all full-time undergraduate students will have a laptop that is up-to-date for the duration of their academic career at Saint Francis University.  All repairs are handled in-house by our team of IBM Certified Technicians to ensure that no student goes without a laptop for even a single day!

Students seeking technical assistance can visit the Laptop Help Desk located on the Library's first floor. Students may walk-in or call 814-472-2800 for support.

Our laptop distribution schedule will be available prior to the Fall semester.

What Does Getting Your Laptop "RE-IMAGED" Mean?

Re-image means to remove all information from your hard disk and replace with a standard install. Doing this to your laptop is a good way to clean out all the collected garbage that builds up over time causing your laptop to run slowly. With the latest threat of many viruses, a current antiviral solution is important. By receiving the latest image, you automatically bring your laptop up to today's standards and therefore protect against today's viral attacks.

Student will loose the following:

• All personalized settings such as wallpaper, startup sounds, themes, and colors.
• Any data saved to the local hard disk.

NOTE: this can be prevented by backing up your data.

Saint Francis University has established email as a primary vehicle for official communication with students, faculty, and staff. Official email accounts for students are established in a system called GroupWise. This system provides students several powerful and convenient features. All University communications sent via email will be sent to your @mail.francis.edu address upon your matriculation to Saint Francis. You can use only one email package to pick up messages from your GroupWise account. If you choose to redirect this account to another account, such as 
@gmail.com or @yahoo.com, you do so at your own risk.

Protect yourself: Don’t share your password with anybody, including peers, friends, and family members.

IT Services supports Saint Francis University's administrative information system. The core system for all administrative function for the university is Jenzabar CX. Jenzabar CX is an "ERP" system (Enterprise Resource Planning) - an integrated information system which serves all departments within the university. These modules include Admissions, Student records, Course and Class records, Registration and Academic History/Transcripts, Student financial accounts, Student Services, Human Resources, Alumni, Institutional Advancement, and Finance systems.

Jenzabar CX enables university departments to communicate with and to serve the campus community by providing a broad range of functions:

• Enabling administrative offices and faculty to more effectively serve students and other constituents through the use of technology
• Facilitating access to information by various university constituents (students, employees, alumni, etc.) from “anywhere” at “anytime”
• Using technology to improve efficiency and to enhance academic and administrative productivity
• Positioning information technology as a core resource for students, faculty, and administration

Two major examples of systems which provide access to information maintained by Jenzabar CX include

• The "My Francis" Portal - This is an online access point to the university information system for faculty, staff and students, as well as incoming students, alumni and other constituents. The portal provides access to a user's own personal information, as well as allowing them the ability to conduct various aspects of business with the university.
• The Campus Directory - This is a searchable directory of all students, staff and departments with basic contact information.

All smart locations support video projection from a laptop and in most cases stationary in room computers to projectors or LED televisions. Several conference rooms offer various degrees of VTC (Video TelleConferencing) as well as phone conferencing options. These conference rooms allow professors and other university departments the opportunity to enrich classroom lecture by offering industry professional guest speakers, webinars, and other educational programs.

Smart Classroom Features

• Ceiling mounted projector and projection screen
• Wired and/or wireless internet connectivity
• Stationary PC running the latest software
• Connectivity for laptop projection
• Document camera
• VHS/DVD combo unit or Blu-ray player
• Sound system
• Extron push button control system

Smart Conference Room Features

• Ceiling mounted projector and projection screen
• Wired and/or wireless internet connectivity
• Connectivity for laptop projection
• Connectivity for phone conferencing
• Sound system

Saint Francis University's wireless 802.11g data network covers all major academic areas and most communal areas of campus.  This network handles daily traffic for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. We recognize the constantly growing demand for network access by all types of mobile devices. Wherever you go, we've got you covered!

Network Services ensures a reliable, secure and efficient network environment for the University community. 

Network

• Design, installation, management, and expansion of all electronic networking devices (hubs, wireless devices, switches, routers, firewall, bandwidth shaping). 
• Design, maintain, and document cable plant and termination facilities. 
• Monitor, manage, and troubleshoot internal network and Internet connectivity. 
• Upgrade hardware and software on all networking devices. 
• Establish and monitor security for all network devices. 
• Establish standards and policies for responsible and appropriate use of network resources. 
• Manage DNS and DHCP configuration for the campus network. 
• Provide network connectivity assistance for end-user devices. 

Servers

• Design, installation, management, and replacement of server hardware and operating systems. This includes installation and upgrades of hardware, operating systems, databases, and server applications. 
• Monitor vendor and security organization bulletins for any known security vulnerabilities and bug fixes. 
• Routinely apply server operating system service packs, database updates, application updates, and security patches. 
• User Account management. 
• Maintain central file storage and print servers for faculty, staff, and students. 
• Provide backup and restore services. 
• Establish and monitor user and file system security. 
• Monitor servers, operating systems, databases, and applications to minimize failures or degraded performance. 

General

• Research industry trends for future growth in new technologies. 
• Utilize technical resources to troubleshoot day-to-day problems and issues. 
• Collaborate with technical experts on various projects and initiatives. 
• Provide consulting support for campus departments and other ITS teams. 
• Maintain notification systems for planned and unplanned outages. 
• Maintain updated policies, documentation, and logs for all equipment and services. 
• Administer and maintain security, power needs, and environmental conditions in ITS facilities. 
• Investigate and respond to any complaints regarding network or server abuse. 
• Provide second level support for advanced network/server issues and printing issues. 
• Recruit, hire, train, and supervise student interns. 

Printing is free and available at the following locations:

• Laptop Help Desk
• JFK Information Center
• Christian Hall Information Desk
• Café Gubbio
• Scotus Hall

Please be courteous, laser printers are not photocopiers. Discretion should be applied when printing e-mail messages or web page content.

Photocopier for multiple copies are available at the following locations

• Library
• Print Shop located in Scotus 119