The Future is Virtual: DoIT Departmental Updates

Southern University’s Information Technology department are always developing new ways to stay up to date with these new technologies. This is with a goal of bettering teachers, students, administrative personnel, and security personnel’s daily lives.
In an effort to highlight all the recent and upcoming Information Technology updates, the Digest conducted an interview with a few admins from the IT department. They are described as Ms. Rachel Carriere, who was the university’s first webmaster and has been the director of Web Application Services since 1998. Mr. Lloyd Allen, who is the director of Network Services, has served as the director of Network Services for more than ten years here at Southern University. As well as Dr. Gabriel Fagbeyiro, who has served as associate vice president, and chief information officer since 2015.
The first upcoming IT project that was discussed was Virtual ID. Dr. Fagbeyiro saw the idea at a conference and immediately put the idea into motion here at S.U.
Ms. Carriere explains, “It would be connecting the current ID that you guys have with the [student] portal, so if anyone loses their ID, you don’t have to spend money to get a new one.” With this new virtual ID students can now use their phones to scan it anywhere such as at the union, football games, and more! Despite the fact that physical IDs are not going out of style, the virtual ID aims to make students’ lives easier on campus. The IT department is working with student affairs to introduce the virtual ID very soon. Hopefully it will be put in motion as soon as the next fall semester.
The next upcoming IT update is the upgrading of Southern University’s wireless networks. Southern has already replaced several of their main core switches which service banner, wi-fi, and other network services. Between this semester and this summer there is going to be a massive increase in the internet connection going from 20 gigabits to 100 gigabits.
The IT department has the objective of adding 50 additional outdoor access points to the 1,090 already spread throughout campus. The goal is to serve more Wi-Fi in those outdoor areas where most students hang out.
With an upgrade in the network is the distribution and core switches. “ One of our highest traffic areas is our distribution switch in Totty Hall, which feeds everything back there,” Allen states. The distribution and core switches are both being upgraded from 10 gig connections to 100 gigs. Lloyd Allen mentions they have been working with the Louisiana Optimal Networking Initiative to upgrade the connection.
Another upcoming IT project is called CampusESP. Campus ESP is essentially a parent portal that is being unveiled sometime this summer. It’s essential for students who wish to keep their parents in the loop about things moving on with them on campus. This will be completely up to the student if they wish to share with their parents, and the student has full control over what the parents will see.
The last upcoming IT update will be the upgrading of campus security. Mr. Lloyd states, “We are replacing/installing 530 updated cameras throughout campus. These updated cameras are significant upgrades from the old cameras that were bought some time ago.”
What will these updated cameras allow one to do? They have built-in analytics that allow for a person search and facial recognition. This greatly improves the safety of Southern’s campus as if something were to happen wrong, the system can notify the police by using a picture of them in the system and be able to quickly locate someone. This information of course will be exclusively available to campus security, protecting the privacy of students, faculty, and administrative. Information technology is working on numerous projects to keep the campus safe and secure.
Southern University’s Information Technology department is constantly working to evolve and push out new things for the campus. They have already created great features such as the Student Portal, MySU mobile app, Banner9, and Degreeworks which allows students to see their degree plan.
Since Dr. Fagbeyiro, Mr. Allen, and Ms. Carriere have been serving Southern University for years, they emphasizes hearing more from the students, getting their feedback on these updates, as well as voicing any problems students may have regarding technology. Students can email their feedback to: [email protected] and call or email the IT helpdesk if they need assistance. Be on the lookout for a plethora of changes coming to Southern University very soon Jags!