May 2004

Full issue in PDF format

Making That Great New Hire
By Thomas Warger
IT staffing problems — usually not having enough positions or finding good talent hard to attract and retain — figure prominently in most annual “hot issues” lists. When the national economy is in poor condition, academics generally do a little better in recruitment, but the topic never goes away to stay. But not all IT groups are equally staffed for the positions they do have. There is no escaping the fact that a strong staff is the product of strong individual hires — though good management and development are essential, too.

Quotes of the Month
The trouble with long-range planning ...

Newsbriefs
MIT Offers Free Software to Manage Distance Ed; Google to Offer Searches of Academic Papers; Information Security Governance Report Addresses Higher Education

Revisiting Standards: View From the Campus
By Dwight Fischer, Plymouth State University
The prioritizing of individual preferences over organizational standards is an irresponsible practice in this era of rising technology costs.

Edutech Responds
How to provide database compatibility, what to do about e-mail lists and storage.