DAILY LOBO new mexico
Breaking the bank
friday
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April 29, 2011
Provost hopefuls lay out plans
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
RUNS IN UNDIES
Applicants talk academics, advisement, retention by Kallie Red-Horse kallie69@unm.edu
The University held a series of public forums this week at the SUB Theater, allowing students, faculty and staff to meet interim provost candidates. Candidates Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Chaouki Abdallah and James Linnell fielded questions about the interim provost’s relationship with the Board of Regents, improving retention and increasing communication. Faculty Senate President Richard Wood said it was difficult to pare down the applicants to three. “It has been a challenging process,” he said. “We thought we were going to have three months to pull this off, and we ended up having one month, so we have had to
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Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo Student Zach Gold raises his fists triumphantly after finishing the 2011 Undie Run that began on Johnson Field on Thursday night. More than 200 people took part in the run, where students donated clothing and canned foods for Joy Junction, a homeless shelter.
IT focuses on improving email
PERSISTING TORNADOES
by Kevin Forte kforte@unm.edu
Rogelio V. Solis / AP Photo Steven King surveys the damage in Phil Campbell, Ala., on Thursday after helping remove salvageable items from a friend’s home. A tornado touched down Wednesday afternoon and destroyed much of the small community, causing several deaths.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 115
issue 147
Question of the week
Sudoku
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Sick of Webmail? IT might have the solution. The IT department sent out requests for proposals this week and hopes to have an executive-level decision on a new email system in August, said Deputy Chief Information Officer Moira Gerety. She said the University’s email system is outdated and not user-friendly. Gerety said the University uses about 25 different email systems, and that she and her team hope to bring this number down to one. She said students should have a new email system within a year. “UNM staff and employees, in particular, were really sort of working around multiple email systems,” she said. “It’s just a pain. They want to be able to bring everybody up, schedule messages and schedule meetings on one email system.” Gerety is co-chairing a committee with Mike Campbell, the director of PC Systems and Support for UNMH. Gerety said this is a collaborative effort, in which departments from across UNM are giving feedback. “Main campus will for sure be going to one,” she said. “Whether health sciences joins in on that or
goes a separate direction is something that they have said they will decide when they see the responses to the proposal.” Gerety said the “worst-case-scenario” is that UNM will have two systems, one for Health Sciences and the other for main campus. She also said that some systems dealing with teaching and research would be left alone. “The purpose is to reduce our ongoing cost structure, increase functionality and have a platform that can better integrate with our other enterprise systems,” she said. “What (students) are used to is more like a Gmail system — where you’ve got chat, mail, video-chat and all kinds of social features built into one product.” Student Josh Chavez said he is disappointed with Webmail. “The current system is not user-friendly,” he said. “Everything seems like it’s a code. Everything looks the same, and it’s got that Windows 95 look to it. The first time I used it, it took me 10 minutes to find the send button.” IT’s budget was recently cut about $2 million, but IT won’t cut jobs, CIO Gil Gonzales told the Daily Lobo on April 19. IT will instead prioritize its budget, he said.
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TODAY
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