sozden@unm.edu
Freshmen who don’t return to UNM for their sophomore year often report they felt a lack of connection with the University.
At Technology Days 2012, a two-day annual conference about the technology advancements at UNM, University President Robert Frank said that technology is another way the University will improve retention rates. He said improving technology use on campus will allow students to feel more engaged with the University.
According to the Enrollment Management Division, students reported feelings of isolation and the impersonal attitudes of the University as two of the reasons students do not return for their sophomore year. According to the division, about 26 percent of students didn’t return for a third semester.
“We think that technology is another way that we will create one of those anchors that pulls students into the University that makes them part of us,” he said. “It makes it harder for them to leave the University and makes it more likely for them to graduate in the future.”
He said that part of the UNM 2020 plan will reflect how the University uses technology. He said the University is expected to grow and expand, and will have to determine how to best use technology to better make a connection between students and the University.
“As we reinvent the University, we will face the challenges from legislators and business communities to have more people be educated,” he said. “The challenge that we have rests … in what we can do to create these new education models, enhance the quality of our student experience, and to make sure that we use it as an engagement tool to make students feel part of the University.”
LoboMail
Information Technologies Manager Linda Johansen said LoboMail is part of an IT initiative to provide an effective email system for students, faculty members and staff. She said the current email system, WebMail, is outdated and that the new system will provide users with larger email storage and improve access to UNM email from portable devices, including iPhones and Androids.
Johansen said all folder contents, except for spam and trash folders, will be automatically transferred to the LoboMail system, but that users should check folders to ensure that anything important is transferred over. She said users will still have access to WebMail accounts for a short period of time to ensure that all documents are copied over from WebMail to LoboMail.
Johansen said student accounts will be migrated during the summer, while faculty and staff accounts will be completed during the fall semester. She said UNM will fully convert to the LoboMail system by fall 2012.
Where’s My Bus
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Information Technologies Manager Richard Valdez said Where’s My Bus is a program that allows users to track bus locations throughout Albuquerque. He said the program is a collaborative effort between UNM IT, Parking and Transportation Services and the city of Albuquerque Open Data Project, an initiative to increase public access to public city data.
Valdez said UNM IT created an online application that includes city bus and UNM bus route information and can be used on a computer or portable device such as a smartphone. He said the city and PATS will fit UNM shuttles with GPS tracking units that will allow the application to track bus locations while en route.
