text: January | 2016 | CSUSB Division of Information Technology Services (ITS)
  Employee Spotlight: Hector Gamon
  Hector Gamon is an Equipment System Specialist in the ITS Technical Support department and is one of the administrators of One Card and Go Print providing technical services all over the campus. Hector assists students, faculty, and staff by answering questions, walk-throughs for downloading, makes sure One Cards are functioning properly and checks the functionality of the printers on campus. He believes in providing "fast, friendly, and efficient service to everyone" to strive for the best customer service.
  Hector and the Technical Support team provide immediate service the minute they are reached for assistance. One of their most important aspects is the One Stop Shop, which offers a place for everyone to get direct help or ask any pending questions in mind. In the two and a half years he has been working for CSUSB, the most rewarding aspect of his position is the customer service he delivers to students, faculty and staff when they come to the office for assistance. Hector enjoys working with wonderful people who support him and who encourage him to continue with his studies.
  Hector is handier than you think; he's a multidimensional character with so much to offer as a CSUSB worker. He is a One Card and Go Print administrator helping students with their IDs, especially during the SOAR experience. As a Go Print administrator, he works all over campus providing paper, toners, or fixing the components of a printer.
  On a personal aspect, he is a humorist, a kid at heart, and a supporting father. Hector loves basketball, baseball, soccer and MMA. His favorite teams are the Clippers and the Angels. He also enjoys watching from the sidelines as his son now participates in the sports he used to play as a child. While growing up he played video games; his top runner games were Legend of Zelda. He enjoys watching a variety of movies, although, two of his top favorite movies are Ace Ventura and The Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles, giving us a glimpse of the kid Hector still is.
  He considers eating as one of his favorite hobbies and having to choose one specific food is a challenge in itself. Although, he does have a preference for pizza and crab legs. He isn't much of a traveling person but hopes to one-day visit the Big Apple, Atlanta and Disney World. Even though he isn't much of a traveler, he is true to his roots by returning to his native country and city, Guadalajara, Mexico. Most of his family resides in Guadalajara receiving him with open arms and love.
  Hector will hopefully be joining our ranks this coming year after transferring from Mt. San Jacinto College, making CSUSB the new home for his studies. "I am very proud to say I work at CSUSB," Hector said. "CSUSB has felt like Home from the first day that I started working here."
  This entry was posted in Employee Spotlight, Faculty and tagged Employee Spotlight, ITS on January 29, 2016 by Camille Deloney.
  Specialty Software for Students
  Students have access to Specialty Center software programs using campus-owned machines in CSUSB's computer labs that provide aid and resources to various courses. The specialty software available to students include:
  SPSS: SPSS is an application that supports statistical analysis of data. It allows for in-depth data access, preparation, reporting, graphics and modeling.
  Currently, specialty software programs are available on campus-owned machines only, but some software can be purchased at a discounted rate. If you would like personal access, contact the Technology Support Center (909) 537-7677 or support@csusb.edu about purchasing software for use on your own computer.
  This entry was posted in Software, Students and tagged Compustat, CRSP, GIS, SAS, SPSS, SSRIC on January 27, 2016 by Camille Deloney.
  The ITS Strategic Planning Process is proceeding well in the new year. Staff and Student Surveys are scheduled to go out by the end of the month. In addition, a follow up faculty forum and student forums are being planned. ITS Leaders will be forming working groups to focus on objectives that come out of the strategic planning sessions and strategies to accomplish the objectives. The goal is to have the ITS Strategic Plan completed by the end of the winter quarter. We appreciate the feedback we received so far from the Campus Community.
  This entry was posted in Faculty, IT Initiatives, IT Projects, Staff, Students on January 20, 2016 by Ginger Hartman.
  Employee Spotlight: Russell Jackson
  Russell Jackson is an Operating Systems Analyst in the ITS Security & Emerging Technologies Department — which promotes the privacy, availability, and integrity of information resources. Russell believes in treating systems administration as a craft. He says, "One of the most important aspects of the craft is the ability to maintain systems in a reproducible manner and changes to the system can be made with confidence of their correctness because they have been tested before being integrated." It is for bringing this aspect to CSUSB that he is most proud of.
  As an Operating Systems Analyst, Russell believes the most important reason his department is so important to CSUSB is twofold. First, he believes that IT should be invisible or at least minimally intrusive. "The purpose of IT, in my eyes," he says, "is to improve efficiency of the organization it serves by automating away mundane or otherwise error prone tasks and allow the human component focus on the remaining parts that require human intelligence."
  Secondly in terms of his own area –Security, Identity and Access Management—he says, "Our goal is somewhat at odds with the ideal of being invisible. Our job is to prevent access to information unless it is authorized. This typically requires some action from those requesting access to prove –to the system– that they are who they say they are (authentication) in a way that is not easily forged by those with malicious intent." Furthermore he states, "There is a delicate balancing act where there is a need to keep information secure while not being overly onerous to those that require access. As systems become more distributed and exposed on the Internet, keeping information secure becomes all the more important to the campus."
  On a personal level, Russell has many hobbies. One of his oldest is electronics. He originally went to school with the intention of becoming an electrical engineer; however, CSU Bakersfield did not offer an engineering program at the time, so his freshman adviser, who happened to be the current chair of the Computer Science department, successfully "misguided" him into computer science. Little did he know that computer science was neither about computers, nor was it about science. However, he says, "It was probably for the best–never let your hobbies become your day job."
  In addition to electronics, Russell is a woodworker and a Cyclist. Before moving to San Bernardino from Bakersfield, Russell spent most of his free time in the garage as a woodshop rat. Since moving and waiting for a pending house sale, he has not had access to a proper shop, as most of his tools are in storage. This has prompted him to focus on traditional hand tool methods of woodworking which he practices out on the apartment patio in the evenings. Is that just cool or what? I know I'm not alone in hoping I get him for my Secret Santa next year!
  Of all his many hobbies, cycling (as in bicycles) is perhaps his favorite (specifically road cycling). Russell has been a long time recreational rider. More recently, he has become involved in amateur racing and has focused much more on the performance and fitness aspects of the sport. Although he loves it, he has found it very difficult to find the time to maintain his fitness as he's become older, but he tries to fit it in when he can. He has found the Cycle Fit class at our own Student Recreation and Fitness Center here at CSUSB to be of great benefit to that aim. He attends the class three times a week for an hour. He says, "It's a great workout. I would encourage everyone to come try the class." Sounds like a great idea to me. Especially those of us still trying to shed those holiday pounds from last year. Ok who are we kidding, from every year since 2009.
  As far as other interests, Russell is a fan of the Walking Dead, Loves Mexican tacos with tons of pico de gallo and is also fond of Chinese ha gow (shrimp dumplings). Russell says he has traditionally been allergic to travel and always feels like the experience is a blur as one is rushed from attraction to attraction listed on a canned itinerary. Instead, he says his ideal place to go is usually into the wilderness with the only preconceived notion being the destination. On his future bucket list, is to one day ride his bicycle up the French Alpe d'Huez.
  Russell has only been with the CSUSB IT Department for nine months, but already the college means a great deal to him and he feels CSUSB represents an "Opportunity to grow in both a personal and professional capacity."
  This entry was posted in Employee Spotlight on January 15, 2016 by Ginger Hartman.
  IT Governance Digest: January 2016
  Email and SPAM Protection: The ITS team researched and evaluated new solutions for email and spam protection to replace our current Barracuda filter. ProofPoint is an alternate solution that can disinfect emails containing viruses and also can sanitize emails with suspicious links. ITS has negotiated a three-year contract with ProofPoint and will be putting the new solution in place in the first quarter of 2016.
  ITS Strategic Planning: ITS is still in the process of developing their strategic plan. Two ITS staff sessions and a faculty forum have taken place and a faculty survey has been sent out. Staff and student surveys are also being created. Thus far, valuable information and feedback has been collected and the division hopes to have the strategic plan completed by March 2016.
  Food Alert System: The Executive Committee was informed of a new food alert system currently in the works. The concept would be to alert students when excess food from campus events is available. Students would need to sign-up with their cell phone numbers and this information would be used exclusively for the food alert system. Sodexo would send out information about the type of food available and the location. The food would only be available for twenty minutes which is the maximum amount of time the food would be safe to consume. The Blackboard Connect system will be used for this system and the hope is to have the program ready in January 2016.
  This entry was posted in IT Governance, IT Initiatives, IT Projects on January 13, 2016 by Ginger Hartman.