From Marc I. Hoit, Chief Information Officer

What a year, what a team, what stellar reactions to support the university! 

We have never faced a year like this, and I hope we never experience such catastrophic disruptions again. The pandemic, social justice and the economy all collided to make this a complicated and harmful experience for us all.

Despite the complexity, adversity and personal disruption, OIT employees and their families continued to step up and support the university, its mission and the Wolfpack community.

Working together remotely

One of the major concerns with work-from-home was the added IT security risk. OIT helped make the campus environment more secure with 2FA, requiring it for all university faculty and staff prior to the pandemic and for all students beginning in the fall of 2020. 

During the pandemic, staff continued to provide the services that support seamless distant work. Most of these — including Jabber for phones, help desk remote tools, ServiceNow and call center systems, remote access to file space, and the virtual private network — were already in place and were supported flawlessly. Staff worked hard to decommission Data Center 1 and move to the Eastern Data Center during the campus closure. And even though Student support and Human Resources leave and payment changes were in constant flux, OIT teams remained agile and implemented changes at a pace and complexity greater than ever before. 

For the most part, all operations and plans continued and kept our technology efforts on track. This was especially critical for research efforts like the network connection to the Lake Wheeler Road Field Labs for the Aerial Experimentation Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW) and the expanded College of Agricultural and Life Sciences operations. 

Not all of these efforts were without a cost. Many worked extra long hours, ensuring systems maintenance and providing needed support. And many have missed the social events and community interaction that are harder to replicate remotely. 

Campus Return

Having made progress in reducing community spread, we are now ready to return to campus, practice the new COVID-19 safety guidelines and regain the best of an in-person workplace. I look forward to seeing all of you and learning about your experiences and ways we can improve.

Enjoy this year’s annual report, which provides a good reflection of the efforts of the extraordinary team in OIT.