Student Technology Fee Plan FY 2019

FY 2019
By

Dr. Tony Liss, Interim Provost and Leonard Zinnanti, SVP and COO - Chairs
Ken Ihrer, AVP and CIO of Information Technology - Co Chair

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Introduction
FY 2019 Proposed Activities and Corresponding  Budgets
List of Accomplishments for the End of FY 2018
University Wide Initiatives (CUNY-UWI)
Library Services- Database and Digital Subscriptions
Office of Information Technology (OIT) Maintenance  and Licenses Cost
Kiosk
School of Education Smartboards Upgrade
(CWE) Smart Classrooms Obsolete Computer Replacement
Titanium Schedule for the Psychological Center
Laptop Loaner Program Expansion
Transforming Presentation and Seminar Pedagogy in the Dept. of chemistry & Biochemistry
Library Accessibility Through Assistive Technology
Upgrade of the Cadlab- Open Computer Student Lab
CCNY Language Laboratory – NAC 6/205 Upgrade
3D Modeling/Animation Smart-Classroom Equipment Upgrade
Student Technology Internship Program (STIP)
Student Technology Fee Advisory Committee Members

Background

In the fall of 2001, CCNY established a Technology Task Force which included representatives from the administration, faculty, student body and technology support offices. The goal of the Technology Task Force is to formulate a set of recommendations to improve technology throughout the college. Their recommendations for educational applications of technology provide the basis for discussions between the members of the Technology Fee Committee – the group charged with responsibility for drafting the annual plans for the investment of the Student Technology Fee (Tech Fee). View the 2018-2019 Technology Fee Plan  and all TECH Fee documentation.

Introduction

The Technology Fee Committee has agreed on two planning principles:

1. The funds should be invested in ways that directly and positively impact the experience of students at the college
2. In the initial years, at least, the funds should be concentrated on a limited number of projects that are large enough to have significant visibility and effect.

With this agreement in place, the committee identified four goals:

Goal 1: Increase the number of students who are able to use new technology tools competently and creatively

Goal 2: Significantly expand faculty use of new technology tools within the College’s classrooms and curricula

Goal 3: Enhance student access to new technology tools

Goal 4: Extend the learning and research resources that the City College libraries make available electronically.

FY 2019 Proposed Activities and Corresponding Budgets

For the coming year, the Technology Fee Committee identified fourteen activities to be implemented with a total cost of $3,492,739.  The selection of this fiscal year’s technology projects is guided by funding initiatives which:

• Impact the broadest number of students across schools/divisions
• Advance e-learning and improve access to higher education
• Promote post-graduate readiness
• Reduce CCNY’s carbon footprint.

The projects are as follows:

Project Title                                                                                                                                               Cost      

Grand Total                                                                                                                                        $3,492,739

List of Accomplishments for the end of FY 2018

Since its founding in 2001, the City College Technology Fee Committee has been successful in continuing to systematically upgrade student computer labs, licenses, and wireless access points, as well as secure funding for electronic media resources and publications in libraries and University Wide Initiatives (UWI) while targeting specific new initiatives to meet student needs.
Enhancing the experience of our students and properly distributing the Technology Fee funds on campus are the committee’s priorities. Using last year’s Tech Fee funding, we were able to accomplish the following for FY 2018:

1. Office of Information Technology (OIT)

The OIT division was able to continue maintaining essential technology services for students, as well as complete several key projects to help ensure students continue to achieve their objectives.  The Committee selected projects are listed below:

• Continue Wi-Fi Expansion and Upgrades
• New Active Learning Classrooms (ALC)
• 3M Library Detection (Book Scanner) System – Tech Center Main Entrance
• Biology laboratory instruction laptops and other technology upgrades
• CWE computer lab printers upgrade and Student Loan Pilot Program
• Upgrading and expanding the Science and Cohen Library Computers
• Multimedia and Learning and Technology Resource Center computer upgrade – School of Education, etc.

All the general student labs license agreements including Deep Freeze, wireless, Paper Cut, LabStats, Jamf Casper Suite, Citrix Xen Desktop, WebCheckout, Nemo-Q, Bomgar, TutorTrack, Symplicity Career Services Management, and NextBus for students, were renewed.  Projectors and projector screens have been ordered to upgrade and extend our complement of smart classrooms.

• Library Subscriptions

This gives the college libraries the ability to renew their digital subscriptions – such as Thomson Reuters Sci, SciFinder, Thieme Package, etc. (online databases) – to thousands of academic journals, patents, images, books and conference proceedings. With the renewals in place, students can access these abundant resources to substantiate their academic papers and research, furthering the college’s mission to graduate informed citizens who can excel in our global society.

• University Wide Initiatives (UWI)

The Office of Information Technology division allocated 26 percent of the Technology Fee revenue to CUNY-wide University Initiatives. This allocation of funds is guided by CUNY policy and City College has complied with the request.

• Student Technology Internship Program (STIP)

The Student Technology Internship Program is currently being implemented. This internship program placed 55 of our students in one of the following divisions of OIT:

• Service Desk
• OIT and Divisional Client Services Support
• General OIT and divisional computer labs.

Through this program, students are trained to address the daily technology needs of the students, faculty and staff on campus. Over the years, STIP has proved to be essential in helping the Information Technology division deliver essential services to students, faculty and staff, both inside and outside the classroom setting, while providing participating students with robust, 21st century job skills.

Thanks to the support of the Tech Fee Advisory Committee members at CCNY and the Tech fee funding this fiscal year (FY 2018), OIT has completed 12 key projects which have improved student life on campus:

• Wi-Fi Expansion and Upgrades 

In the last several months we have deployed an additional 92 Wi-Fi access points (APs), bringing the total number to 580 APs. To accommodate the rapid increase in the use of the CCNY Wi-Fi, we have acquired an additional 60 access points (waiting to be installed) to increase our Wi-Fi footprint.  Once all the newly purchased access points are installed, it will expand our current wireless infrastructure to a total of 640 APs (a 31 percent increase). This will dramatically increase the bandwidth and coverage across the entire campus, focusing particularly on open areas such as the libraries, as well as lecture halls and classrooms. We will continue adding to our Wi-Fi deployment each year.  In addition, we are in the process of upgrading most of our firewalls to increase the Wi-Fi throughput from 2GB to 10GB per second – giving students a significant bandwidth increase.

2. 3M Library Detection (Book Scanner) System – Tech Center Main Entrance

A 3M Model 3912 library detection system (body book scanner) has been installed at the main first floor entrance of the Tech Center, NAC 1/301.   This is in addition to the one on the second floor of the Cohen Library entrance.   Students now can exit the Cohen library from the first floor of the Tech Center

3. Biology Laboratory Instruction Laptop and Other Technology Upgrades

The following equipment was purchased to upgrade the obsolete laptop computers in the Biology lab used by hundreds of students every semester.

•  50 new Windows laptops plus two charging laptop carts
• Two MacBook Pros, which will be used by faculty to teach in these laboratories
• Two ADInstruments PowerLab 26T data acquisition teaching systems - these PowerLab systems provide a free downloadable data reader and analyzer which enables students to work with their data outside of class to produce reports and prepare for assessment, expanding the usefulness of this company’s pedagogic products
• One Epson Power Lite Short-Throw LCD Projector.

4. 2-in-1 Laptops for Active Learning Classroom (ALC)

In collaboration with DASNY and the Facilities office, OIT built two new state-of-the-art Active Learning Classrooms (ACLs) inside the Tech Center. These brand new enhanced-technology classrooms house seven interactive smart boards, which students can connect to wirelessly using provided laptops/tablets.  Via Connect Pro allows users to connect wirelessly to the AV system and play video content and display material directly to the class from anywhere in the room. The instructor can share content to all the smartboards from a central location and view what’s on the students’ computers.  72 Dell 2-in-1 tablets/laptops were purchased using Tech Fee funding to be used in these two new classrooms (ALC).  These tablets/laptops also enable faculty and students to annotate (using your finger or a stylus) on top of any content being displayed – even video. To encourage the new collaborative teaching-learning paradigm, the rooms are also outfitted with Steelcase Node desks that roll on casters so that they can be configured effortlessly in multiple ways according to individual needs.

5. CWE Computer Lab Printers Upgrade and New Student Loan Pilot Program

OIT replaced the 12-year-old obsolete printers in CWE’s main general student’s labs with the same models that we use in the Tech Center on the main campus.  This upgrade saves money on printer maintenance since these devices are college maintained.
In addition, OIT replicated the main campus student laptop loaner program to include CWE students. The loaner program grants CWE students who have limited finances more opportunities to excel by providing them with access to the latest up‐to‐date computers and resources required to do their academic work.  This new loaner pilot program offers 10 laptops – five Dell Latitude and five MacBook Pro – equipped with the latest technology. All laptops are loaded with MS Office, Wi-Fi, Adobe Acrobat, as well as other CCNY-approved software such as Adobe Cloud, etc.

6. Upgrading and Expanding the Science and Cohen Library Computers

The Science Library only has 20 workstation computers which were at least 10 years old. OIT was able to upgrade these 20 workstations with the latest technology and faster processors.  We also added a new Printer which gives students the ability to print any print job from any device.  This printer was also added to our Tech Center print manager “Paper-Cut”.  In the next two months, we will be adding an additional 70 new desktops and computer carrels as well.  New switches and cabling will be also added.

The Cohen Library received an additional 50 desktops and new computer furniture to accommodate the computer needs in the library.  New Access Points (APs), and network infrastructure improvements throughout the library (2nd to 4th floors) have been installed.  We are only waiting to install the new switches to complete the project. 

7. Multimedia and Learning and Technology Resource Center Computer Upgrade – School of Education

Both the Multimedia and Learning and Technology Resource Center in the School of Education were upgraded with the latest iMacs – a total of 12, six in each center.  In order to become state certified, student teachers need to prepare an online portfolio called edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment).  Part of that portfolio requires a recording of their teaching in an actual classroom.  These computers are used to download, cut and compress footage which our student teachers record while teaching in a classroom.

8. School of Education – Continuing Smartboards Upgrades

In collaboration with OIT, an additional two more smart-classrooms have been upgraded (a total eight of the current 11 smart classrooms are completed) and the accompanying faster desktop computers and latest software version of Notebook.

9. Rapid and Modest Upgrade for the CCNY Planetarium AV System

The current CCNY Planetarium-Classroom projection system was installed in 1973.  It is currently (95 percent completed) being upgraded with a new high-quality projection system.   This upgrade will allow the room to be used for teaching classes once again starting this summer.

10. Upgrading the Division of Science Test Scoring Center

The nine-year-old, Insight 4ES Scanner system used to score exams was replaced with the latest model Insight 4ES IN4/2308.  This new version is not only faster and more reliable, it also allows faculty to stamp the number of correct answers on the exam sheet, which saves time, especially when grading large lectures classes such as general Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.

11. Psychotherapy and Counseling DVD’s Enhancement of Professional Training and Education

12 Psychotherapy and Counseling DVD education training materials and two DVD Panasonic players will be purchased to train students enrolling in the Psychotherapy and Counseling program, including special issues involved in: alcohol and substance abuse, child, adolescent, family, couples, and LGBT counseling and evaluation. Students served include all Mental Health Counseling students (40), all doctoral students in Clinical Psychology (60), all students in the CASAC program and many students in the undergraduate program and general Master’s Program (100).  
While the DVDs will be used primarily in class, they can also be used by graduate students individually as well as in study groups, greatly extending their utility.  Students will also be able to acquire the skills and understanding required for successful employment as counselors and therapists.

12. VIA Connect Pro - Wireless Collaboration Solution Implementation Shepard Hall Smart Classrooms

OIT is constantly looking into rolling out new technology in our 146 smart classrooms.  In the next several weeks, we will be deploying 27 new VIA Connect Pro systems in most of the smart classrooms in Shepard Hall.   This new technology allows both faculty and students to wirelessly connect to the AV system, play video content or display presentation material from a laptop, smartphone, or tablet in real time.  The solution can show on up to four screens on the main display, allowing a faculty member and up to three students to edit and discuss documents in real time.   This solution works with Macintosh, Windows, iOS, and Android devices. 

Proposed Activities and Corresponding Budgets

CCNY Student Technology Fee Plan

1. University Wide Initiatives (CUNY-UWI) Projects

  College Department(s) Affected: Entire College

Project Description: CCNY has reserved 26 percent of the total Technology Fee revenue to pay for University Wide Initiative projects (CUNY-UWI). I am requesting a total of $929,092 to continue funding the software listed below.   

FY 2019 Fiscal Year Budget: 

2. Library Services–Database and Digital Subscriptions

College Department(s) Affected: Entire College

Impact on Students:  Digital subscriptions are used by students for study and research, both on campus and by internet web proxy. This content is vital to City College’s mission to graduate IT-literate citizens able to function in a global society. Students learn how to effectively use these databases through the information literacy program in our classrooms, and they require access to these databases from outside the campus as they do their research.   

The law requires that assistive technology be made available to students with disabilities who need it to successfully complete required coursework for classes.

Project Description: The Library is requesting funding from the Technology Fee funds to cover continuing subscription costs for online resources that were funded in the previous years from the Technology Fee funds. Below, please find a brief description of each database/digital subscription:

1. Thieme e-Journals

 Thieme publishes over 100 scientific and medical journals, of which almost 40 are in English. Full text is available for four of these journals; tables of contents and abstracts are available for the others. All of the Thieme journals are scholarly, peer-reviewed publications oriented toward senior or higher level researchers.

1. Emerald Engineering and Management

The Emerald Engineering e-Journal collection comprises online access to the abstracts and full text of all the journals within Emerald’s engineering, materials science and technology portfolio.  It also features 120 Business and Management journals, all of which are peer-reviewed and full text journals, plus reviews from the world's top 300 management journals in computer science, marketing, information sciences and management.

1. SciFinder Scholar   

SciFinder Scholar is a comprehensive database indexing the chemistry and related sciences literature. It is useful for locating articles concerned with specific chemical substances and reactions. This is a cooperative purchasing arrangement between seven CUNY schools.

1. American Chemical Society Online, 2016 subscription

The American Chemical Society (ACS) publishes 38 journals and magazines covering all aspects of the science of chemistry. Index and abstract information is available for all of these publications. Full text is available for 33 of them. All of these ACS journals are scholarly, peer-reviewed publications oriented toward senior or higher level readers. We use the CUNY-negotiated pricing arranged through NYSHEI.

1. e-Books

We have access to 80,000+ ebooks.  Almost all of these publications are scholarly and oriented toward seniors or higher level students and researchers.  These databases cover all areas of study primarily in the sciences and engineering

FY 2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

3. Office of Information Technology (OIT) Maintenance and Licenses Cost

College Department(s) Affected:  Entire College

Impact on Students: The Office of Information Technology is responsible for maintaining and supporting the operations of the City College networking infrastructure and campus-wide student resources, which include:

• General Students Computer Labs, i.e., Tech Center and Fishbowl, Undergraduate and Graduate Student labs, as well as the Science and Music Libraries
• Service Desk, Client Services, and Instructional Technology and Media Support Services and campus-wide licenses and hardware for students use.

Project Description: The OIT department is requesting $473,800 from the college’s Technology Fee Budget to cover recurring costs to pay for campus-wide licenses, hardware, audio/video for all general smart rooms at the college and general computer labs equipment and supplies.
Some of the essential services, which benefit the entire student population include: 
1. Hardware and peripheral support and maintenance agreements for student-centric devices and annual maintenance for AV equipment/accessories in classrooms,   charging stations, etc.
2. Campus-wide license agreement extensions and maintenance for student use. This includes annual maintenance updates, software releases and security software encryption:
Deep Freeze, Paper Cut Manager Plus, LabStats, Digital Signage, Nemo- Q, LabStats,
Wireless Licenses renewal, Citrix Xen Desktop, Comodo SSL Certificate, Jamf Casper, Bomgar,  WebCheck-out, SysAid, NextBus for Students, etc.
3. General Student Computer Labs supplies (such as toner, paper, printer maintenance kits, etc.), computer lab replacement parts (such as keyboards, mice, printers, etc.) which are located in:

• Tech Center, Fishbowl, Undergraduate and Graduate General Computer Labs
• Service Desk (Student Support Center)
• Kiosks in the Administration and North Academic Center (NAC) buildings
• Music and Science Libraries Printers for students.

FY 2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

4. Project Title: Kiosk

Person Responsible for Project:    Undergraduate Student Government
Telephone Number:                        212 650- 5426
Email:                                                 wthornton@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected: All enrolled students at CCNY

Impact on Students: 

The Kiosk will be an effective tool for students to navigate around the CCNY Campus.   A directory for the campus will be available to map the different locations of the campus. Additionally, events and opportunities will be at the student’s disposal with just a touch of the screen.

Project Description: 

We seek to place the Kiosk in the NAC Rotunda, which is highly populated with students throughout the day. The kiosk will be a great addition to our community since it will more efficiently expose our students to what is taking place on campus. We want to increase our community’s awareness and this is one step towards doing so. In addition, it also will be a resource to generate revenue for the college, since this unit has the capability to display ads.  Our inspiration for incorporating kiosks in our school environment derives from our neighboring CUNY campuses such as John Jay, MBCC, and Hunter College which have several of these devices deployed across their campuses. The kiosk has been proven to be beneficial to student life by providing an updated directory and map outline for the buildings across campus, which is essential to our incoming new students. Additionally, it is a reliable outlet for events and college news for the college community.

Kiosk

2019 -2020 Fiscal Year Budget:

5. School of Education- Smart Board Upgrade

Department(s) of College Affected: School of Education

Impact on Students: 
As a center for teacher preparation, New York State is uniquely progressive and rigorous in the requirements new teachers must meet in order to achieve licensure as K-12 teachers. These include the demands that new teachers be prepared to use technology effectively in the classroom.  Since 2014, for example, the NYS Regents have aggressively pursued an agenda which demands that all teacher certification applicants demonstrate proficiency in using mobile technology to document and analyze their own performance in the classroom (edTPA). Teacher preparation candidates must demonstrate, through computer-based assessment, their content knowledge (in revised Content examinations specific to their subject area) and their general pedagogical knowledge about student needs.

The cost for all the required teacher certification tests is significant and not covered by financial aid. Accreditation standards (through the Council for the Accreditation of Educational Preparation, or CAEP) also demand that candidates use classroom technology effectively to stimulate students and accommodate the different learning styles of the K-12 students they will encounter. The School of Education has a proud history of leading the way on using technology in the classroom and preparing our students to use these tools effectively, and we were an early adopter of SmartBoard technology.  In the past few years, we have been occupied with ensuring students have the mobile technology and tools they need to complete the edTPA. In addition, we have upgraded labs to make sure that students have multiple preparation and review sites for the computerized assessments in which they must demonstrate proficiency prior to graduation.

It is imperative that we continue to refresh the SmartBoard technology that is used by all of our 1,800 (1/3 undergraduate, 2/3 graduate) students preparing for teacher certification. SmartBoards are used not only for interactive presentations in classes but to provide the hands-on experience candidates need to understand how these tools can best be used in the K-12 classrooms they are already encountering in their field experiences and student teaching. Using outdated technology actively disadvantages our students and the hundreds of urban schoolchildren they are already instructing and will educate in the years to come. At this point, knowing how to effectively use a SmartBoard and other technologies (e.g. PCs, MACs, iPads) in the classroom is a hiring criteria for schools. Like other divisions, we are required to respond immediately to Regents regulations that often give us no more than six months notice on a change in teacher certification.  That responsiveness is required because Schools of Education are clearly linked to a profession that is in the public service, but it puts us on a much more aggressive timeframe with respect to meeting these demands than it is the case in other divisions that are largely governed only by faculty dictates. 

Project Description: 
We ask for funds to refresh and update two (2) of the nine (9) remaining classrooms where we have SmartBoards in place, understanding that we will need to seek additional funding to complete the project.  Those boards will be placed in key pedagogical classrooms so that all 1,800 students will share access to this resource for at least five years.

2018-2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

6. Project Title: Smart Classrooms Obsolete Computer Replacement

Person Responsible for Project:   Robert H. Hernandez
Telephone Number:                       212 295-6625
Email:                                              robert@ccny.cuny.edu

Department Affect:  All enrolled students at CWE

Impact on Students:

Each classroom supports the entire population of over 600 CWE undergraduate and graduate students. The CWE computer lab serves the entire student population.

Project(s) Description:

All CWE Classrooms are Smart Classrooms.  Students carry out their individual, group presentations and other findings to faculty and classmates from the podiums.  The computers inside the podiums are over nine years old, currently have poor performance and lately have been breaking down more often.  Replacement of the podium computers is long overdue. The existing physical housing for the computer in the podium requires a fixed size computer which is discontinued by most manufacturers.  The only business grade computer replacement that would fit into the podium that is on the market today is the Lenovo Tiny plus DVD.  To keep installation in good working order, small computer parts like keyboards and batteries are needed. With the increase of the use of technology in classrooms, projectors are used during all classes creating typical wear and tear thus creating the need to replace projector lamps.

In addition, headphones are needed for audio material and learning accessibility support. Students come often to CWE Lab computer labs to do their academic work and require headphones to watch movies, small documentaries videos and online videos as part of their courses.  They all carry sound and the only way to hear them without disturbing fellow students is with the use of headphones.

2018 -2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

7. Project Title: Titanium Schedule for the Psychological Center

Person Responsible for Project:   Prof. Bob Melara
Telephone Number:                       212 295-5716
Email:                                                 rmelara@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected: All students enrolled in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program CCNY, Master and Undergraduate students in Psychology

Impact on Students:

Each year, The Psychological Center at City College (“The Clinic”) serves as the primary training site for 50 to 60 clinical psychology students enrolled in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program at The City College of New York. Degree granting authority of this program from the CUNY Graduate Center to The City College is imminent and will have taken place by the time this project is implemented. The mission of the Clinic is to provide affordable mental healthcare in a community setting, especially to those students from under-served, poor and disenfranchised populations from the New York Metropolitan area. While in residence at The Clinic, doctoral students provide individual and group psychotherapy and neuropsychological assessment services to children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. They accrue a minimum of 500 hours of direct service provision over the course of their doctoral studies and residency at The Clinic. At any one time, approximately 160-180 community members are under of the care of The Clinic.  The Clinical Psychology PhD students who serve as the primary therapists in The Psychological Center are doctoral candidates in Years One through Five of the PhD program. Of the community members that receive treatment at The Clinic, more than 50 percent are CCNY matriculated students and graduates. Therefore 50 to 60 CCNY PhD students and 80 to 90 CCNY undergraduate and master’s students per year will benefit from this investment.

Project Description: 

As psychologists in training, the Clinical Psychology PhD students are trained to practice according to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct developed by the American Psychological Association, which stipulates that psychologists create, control, maintain, disseminate, store, retain, and dispose of records of their work, all while maintaining privacy, ensuring accuracy, ensuring compliance with the law, and meeting institutional requirements. In the settings where students will practice after receiving their  PhDs — academic medical centers, college counseling centers, schools, etc. — this will require familiarity with electronic medical records (EMRs) and compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

With more and more institutions nationwide shifting to electronic record keeping, the overwhelming majority of Psychology Training Clinics and Counseling Centers have shifted away from paper records to using electronic versions. The Titanium Schedule is the most popular electronic record keeping software used by over 1,200 facilities worldwide. It provides a complete electronic medical record system that was specifically developed for college counseling centers and Psychology Training Clinics and is now routinely used at other training centers, disability services, etc. One of the most salient features of this system is that is has strong HIPAA-complaint security and can be highly customized to fit the individual needs of the particular site. It is easy to learn and use and allows for restricted access to confidential data. Titanium also has the capability to export filtered data to Excel, SPSS and other such programs. Furthermore, it can also link with Exchange, Office 365 and Google Calendar. Another unique feature of the software is that is allows for ICD-10 and DSM-5 diagnostics which is critical for Psychology Training Clinics.
Since the inception of the Psychological Center (aka The Clinic) in 1966, it has used paper records to document the clinical treatment of patients who receive services. This practice has now become not only outdated but cumbersome and space-consuming with the archiving of patient records. Additionally, given the fact that the doctoral students complete clinical fellowships, externships and internships at sites that utilize electronic record keeping, our students are at a disadvantage as a result of not having access to this system of documentation while in residence at the Psychological Center. The Psychological Center at The City College of New York is one of the very few such clinics left that employs paper records which is now considered an outdated and outmoded method of maintaining records on patients that receive treatment. Furthermore, by not having access to electronic record keeping, the doctoral students do not have the same opportunities to train with the standard practice of care that other students have.
Having an electronic record keeping system at the Psychological Center would allow:

1. Competitive training of the doctoral students at The City College of New York
2. Moving to a more environmentally responsive system for patient record keeping of private and confidential information regarding psychological services
3. Maintenance of greater integrity and confidentiality with private and confidential information
4. Positioning of the Clinical Psychology PhD Program and The Psychological Center at CCNY on a par with the overwhelming majority of Psychology Training Clinics at this point in time with respect to record keeping and standard practices of care.

Due to lack of funds, however, doctoral students at The Clinic continue to produce paper records that limit our ability to:

• Efficiently communicate within The Psychological Center
• Track patients’ progress
• Collaborate with other professionals involved in patients’ care seamlessly while upholding privacy and confidentiality

Funding to purchase Titanium Schedule (“Titanium”), an electronic medical record (EMR) system will be instrumental to the functioning of The Psychological Center and will allow The Clinic to continue providing state-of-the-art training to its doctoral students and in the provision of psychological services to the college community.

Major Project Objectives

• HIPAA-compliant electronic charting for all doctoral student therapists and their patients at The Psychological Center
• The ability for clinic directors and administrators to monitor student’s caseloads and performance; to sign paperwork and therapist notes electronically
• Readily available data regarding treatment hours and missed sessions to support The Clinic’s ongoing program evaluation
• The opportunity for students to gain experience with digital charting, in preparation for careers in hospitals, clinics and counseling centers
• This software will do away with printing costs as well as the cost for manual storage of paper files.

Conclusion:
This request for funding of computers and the Titanium Schedule would allow:

• The Psychological Center at CCNY to best continue to train highly competitive Clinical Psychology PhD students
• The Clinical Psychology PhD students at CCNY would have sound and concrete opportunities to learn and master the use of electronic record keeping in the provision of care to patients
• Electronic record keeping is considered state of the art and would be available for the more than 50 percent of patients that are served in The Psychological Center who are actual matriculated students and graduates of CCNY

The overwhelming majority of psychology training clinics and counseling centers across the USA use an electronic record keeping system.  It would be a great opportunity for our CCNY clinical psychology doctoral students and their patients to be able to actively engage in electronic record keeping.  Note: The Psychology Department will continue paying for the yearly maintenance cost of Titanium Schedule approximately $1,735.

2018 -2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

8. Project Title: Laptop Loaner Program Expansion

Person Responsible for Project:    Undergraduate Student Government
Telephone Number:                        212 650- 5426
Email:                                                 wthornton@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected: All enrolled students at CCNY

Impact on Students: 

This will provide students with adequate computers in order to further their studies in an efficient manner.

Project Description:

In September of 2016, the Laptop Loaner program for students was initiated with 111 Laptops, 76 Dell and 35 Apple MacBook Pro.  Since September 2017, to January 2018, approximately, 6,500 laptops have been loaned to students.  We have received a large number of complaints from students that after 11 am, there are no more laptops available.  This is the cause of many students not being able to complete their work on time.  We are requesting $33,000 to add an additional 20 Apple laptops, a charging cart and laptop carrying bags.  These additional 20 laptops will help alleviate some of the shortage of laptops.  
2019 -2020 Fiscal Year Budget:

9. Project Title: Transforming Presentation and Seminar Pedagogy in the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Person Responsible for Project:    Prof. Stephen O’Brien, and Prof. Ruth Stark, Chair
Telephone Number:                        212 650- 8371
Email:                                                 sobrien@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected: Any student who needs to take chemistry or Biochemistry classes

Project Description: 

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is proposing to renovate two rooms with state-of-the-art AV systems for two major purposes: First, the Department is calling for a greater recognition of presentation skills, as a constituent part of training toward a degree in the chemical sciences. Second, upgraded AV systems will aid greatly in the lecture/discussion-based teaching and technical presentation of high resolution graphical representations of molecules, crystals, models, and dynamical processes. We are requesting $40,000 for a major renovation of the audio-visual presentation capabilities in three of our classrooms. Two rooms on the 10th floor of Marshak adjacent to the department office – MR 1025 and MR 1027 (a large teaching/seminar room for up to 60) – are targeted, with a substantial impact annually on >300 undergraduate, and graduate students. Currently, one of the rooms has no permanent AV and the other has over 10-year-old AV equipment that is malfunctioning. We are seeking to develop more defined paths to helping our students become proficient in presentation skills. In addition to seeking to grow the existing training programs at the senior/graduate level, we wish to introduce new elements into the undergraduate curriculum that will allow for students majoring in chemistry/biochemistry to have greater exposure to, and participation in, forums that require the acquisition of presentation skills. We predict that more than 250 undergraduate and 50 graduate students will be directly impacted annually.

Introduction:

It is well established that presentation skills are considered an essential component of a well-rounded College education and this is certainly no exception in the chemical sciences. It can now be observed in some metropolitan area public schools that students will begin to use PowerPoint in Grades 4 and up, slowly learning to master the skills required to prepare slides, and, in time, give oral presentations. Equally true: there are schools that lack the resources to provide students with this focus. It is our goal in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to be able to (i) provide a continuance of this important educational track, and (ii) make up for the absence of this training by building on the range of presentation skills attained by our students prior to matriculation, and pushing them to a higher level of ability, aiding them in their transition to the workplace following graduation.

Many science graduates enter the workplace deficient in presenter skills. This is usually through a lack of practice at the college level. In the humanities, it is usually the case that a professional presentation at a conference, often called a paper, is delivered by reading the paper. This is because the language chosen is precise and needs to be conveyed accordingly. A lecture on transcendentalism, Thoreau and Emerson, may have some moments of digression and free discussion, but will otherwise adhere to a strictly narrated form. In the sciences, it is somewhat different: scientists refer their audience to an information/data slidedeck they create themselves and show on a projector screen. They have some reasonably rehearsed version of what they want to say (introduction, results, conclusion), but the oral delivery is free form. As you can imagine, the quality varies tremendously (!). Nevertheless, this form of scientific presentation is now pretty much universal.

Justification:

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is calling for a greater recognition of presentation skills, as a constituent part of training prior to obtaining a degree in the chemical sciences. Presentation skills can be defined as the set of abilities that go into giving and attending presentations at meetings. Good presentation skills are desired or even expected by employers, and would-be employees anticipate being able to advertise this skill on their resume and in interview. The skillset includes creating a presentation from scratch, mounting it using an audio-visual (AV) system, standing in front of an audience and presenting orally, plus being able to handle a question-and-answer session that follows. In addition to having presentation skills, a lesser acknowledged, but equally important skill is learning how to conduct oneself in such class meetings (a segue for how to conduct oneself in a professional meeting). Knowing how to listen, take notes, to formulate a response, and knowing how to share the room and airtime – to become an effective participant and valued contributor during meetings – these things are learned through practice.

In chemistry and biochemistry, virtually all experimental, laboratory and research talks are given in PowerPoint (abbr. PPT) or some equivalent presentation software, such as Keynote. Research meetings at which scientists present, discuss and defend their findings, are invariably the same format.   Professional scientists learn and practice presentation skills regularly. The faculty of our department are routinely familiar with compiling slidedecks that introduce the scientific topic, present data, discuss the meaning and implications of the data, present the results, make analysis and draw conclusions. While the details are not explicitly cited in a graduate handbook, graduate students are expected to learn how to give presentations and are required to regularly give group meetings to their peers, colleagues and mentors.

The ability to use PPT, to compile all the slides, represent the data appropriately is essential. Second is the oral presentation itself. Practice in public speaking is key to managing and learning the art. In our department, we are seeking to more regularly expose undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry students to this process.

Example of data appropriately represented.

Data Presentation:

Chemistry and biochemistry are visual disciplines. Examples include thinking about how a drug molecule docks and binds into a complex large enzyme - showing how the conformational changes or spatial restrictions cause the desirable or undesirable effect. Or the physical and molecular steps engaged during Forster energy transfer within a photosynthetic organism. These are problems best described through graphical visualization. Chemists are constantly using graphics to describe their work. This is across the board, from theoretical representations of Monte-Carlo simulations of CO2 absorption, to analyzing the crystal lattice in battery materials. It is therefore essential to our department that we have the facilities to present/teach these visualizations using a high-quality system. Any number of courses, tutorials, small group research meetings, or even one-on-one discussions would benefit from having this resource to rely on.

Implementation Plan:

We are seeking to develop more defined paths to helping our students become proficient in presentation skills. Obviously, impacting a large number of students will not happen overnight, and it is not realistic for the large classes. However, certain smaller classes, classes for majors and, in particular, laboratory classes are potentially ideal scenarios. For implementation, four simple steps are listed: Step 1 is the identification of courses that can involve student presentations; Step 2 is the identification of rooms that can be used for student presentations. Step 3 is the renovation of these rooms to make them available for state-of-the art AV presentation systems that would serve as the training instrument for the students. The fourth, final and open-ended step is the engagement of faculty in curriculum design and practical exploration to incorporate presentations as a part of specific courses. In some cases, such as the Salzberg Seminar series, students attend rather than give presentations, and will benefit alongside the faculty from an augmented AV experience which we will be proud to invite outside speakers to for presentations. We have completed Steps 1 and 2, and we are requesting the Student Technology Fee committee to approve Step 3, so that we can move into the exciting scenario of Step 4.

Step 1. Identification of courses. A range of courses have been identified as ones that already have a presentation component, or candidates for introducing presentations as part of the curriculum. They span undergraduate, masters and PhD courses. The list of courses is presented in a table below. The enrolments from these courses give a guideline as to the numbers of students that we can potentially impact per year. (~250 undergraduates, ~50 graduates)

Step 2. Identification of rooms. We have identified the rooms to target for renovation. There is conference room MR1025 (~10 people) and seminar room MR1027 (~60 people).

Step 3. Renovation will include, painting and furniture, cost-share funds provided by the Department. MR1025 currently does not have a permanent AV system – a portable projector can be used but the design of the room prohibits good projection, leading to a subpar experience. MR1027 has an outdated, malfunctioning projector and screen (> 10 years old) that is (as of 2017) partially blocked by the installation of a new HVAC system. The plan is to remove and replace it with state-of-the-art screens and a Wi-Fi AV station. Two screens are planned for MR1027 for a configuration in which the room is reorganized to the north or south wall, which will allow all audience members to be able to view clearly one of the two screens.

Current state of rooms slated for renovation. these images present the rooms as they are today.

Carbon Footprint reduction

Older projector/screen technologies require high lumens output bulb up to 800W per hour. LED screens consume 90-100W – two screens proposed. This corresponds to a reduction in energy consumption by 400 percent. Estimated annual is 2080*0.6kW = 1,248 kWh. Reduction in paper printed paper handouts. Paper production: 1 ton of paper consumes between 4,000-11,134 kWh. Estimated energy savings due to reduction in paper copies (100*302 copies, 11134/200000) = 1,681 kWh. Total energy saving is 2929 kWh equivalent to 2.2 metric tons CO2.
(See https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator)

List of courses identified

(i) already have a component of AV presentations; (ii) have potential to include presentation pedagogy; (iii) would benefit from high resolution technical presentation of chemical information in graphical, animated formats.

2018 -2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

10. Project Title: Library Accessibility through Assistive Technology

Person Responsible for Project:    Joseph A. LoGiudice, Director of AccessAbility
Telephone Number:                        212 650- 7552
Email:                                                 jlogiudice wthornton@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected:  Library, IT, and the AccessAbility Center

Impact on Students: 

Students with disabilities (e.g., learning, psychological, cognitive, intellectual, neurological, deaf/hard of hearing, blind/visually impaired) require assistive technology programs, devices, and equipment (see the items below in the table), in order to give them full and equal access to their academic content, library information, and to all types of communications at CCNY.  Due to the vast increase of technology utilization for pedagogy, learning, student services, and co-curricular, it is necessary to expand the use of assistive technology in pivotal locations like the Library.  With a designated area in the Cohen Library with integrated and equal access, this will permit students with all types of abilities to be included in the college in place of “separate-but-equal” practices. 

Project Description:

There is a section in the Cohen Library that is designated for equal access and is ideal in terms of hours and the mission of the library to serve students with various disabilities. This project will expand initiatives devoted to increasing assistive technology on campus for inclusive purposes, reduce the carbon print, allow these students to utilize technology that gives them the access they need to succeed at college and beyond, and advance e-learning in the Library on the 2nd floor.  Furthermore, students will have the experience of being welcomed at CCNY and having “Access to Excellence.”  Finally, it will preclude unnecessary legal complaints due to a lack of access in various areas of the College.  

2018 - 2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

11. Project Title: Upgrade of the Cadlab – Open Computer Student Lab 

Person Responsible for Project:    Interim Dean, Gordon A. Gebert, Architecture
Telephone Number:                        212 650- 7284
Email:                                                 ggebert wthornton@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected:  Students in the Architecture School

Impact on Students: 

The six degree programs in the Architecture School enroll approximately 470 students - 330 undergraduates and 140 graduates – most of whom are full-time and all enrolled in required design courses, except those pursuing the “architecture” track in the sustainability program. With the exception of a few students with their own “work-station” level lap tops or desktop machines in their studio workspaces, all 470 students rely on the school’s open computing lab (the “CadLab”) to carry-out demanding computer-related work including parametric design, building information modeling, 3D modeling, rendering, simulations, large-scale plotting and large-scale sheet scanning. 

Only by upgrading this lab, can we offer the latest software and the level of computing students are required to utilize when they are employed in their respective fields. Without this upgrade, our students are slowly losing their competitive position as they seek employment, either as advanced students or after they graduate. Having full access to the proposed latest professional-level computing resources will return the labs to their professional status and allow our students carry out their work in the school, assuring they will remain competitive in the workforce, and significantly enhancing  their prospects for moving into the positions of responsibility they fully deserve.

Project Description: 

There are three areas in the school equipped with multiple computers:

1. 1. 1. Instructional Space 127 – 18 student stations, 1 instructor station, projector
      2. Instructional Space 101c - 22 student stations, 1 instructor station, projector
      3. Student Open Lab (“CadLab”) – 25 student stations, large format plotter, printers, scanner.

The equipment in these spaces is intended to support the applications typically used by architects in practice. Students are expected, from the very first day of class – as freshman or 1st year grads all the way through to graduation– to utilize software in each required design studio to conceptualize, design, present and document their work. And, the software is exactly the same as that used by professionals, requiring equipment of very high capability – fast multi- core processors, large amounts of cache and main memory, and high-end graphics processors and monitors. A few students are able to purchase workstation-level laptop machines and a very few set-up desktop machines in their dedicated studio work spaces. But the vast majority of students have low- and mid-range laptops and a significant number are unable to afford any equipment of their own. Therefore, the Open Lab is the main computing resource for many students and is the only facility where powerful and capable computers are available and where large-format printing of projects and scanning can be accomplished in the school.
The three labs were fully equipped with high-level machines in 2009 using capital construction funds available with the new Architecture building.  A special allocation in early 2014 allowed an upgrade of some machines in the open lab.  Several years ago, the instructional lab workstations were replaced to allow the use of the latest software and to support key transdisciplinary courses in building performance simulation. Those machines which were still serviceable were moved to the open student lab and the open lab equipment was moved to the lower-capability instructional space – 101c. In effect, we have implemented a multi-level re-cycling policy which optimizes the scarce resources available for replacement – a less-expensive method of implementing a “replacement plan”.
However, the aging open student lab equipment no longer supports current, or even recent, versions of the professional software that students are required to use.  In fact, the software versions which the equipment supports will soon be withdrawn from vendor support and will no longer receive such things as security patches. We propose to replace the equipment in the open lab with 22 high-performance workstations which will fully support current software versions as well as vendor software likely to be released over the next three to five years. In turn, we propose to move the existing machines in the open lab to the lower-capability instructional space Room 102. And we propose that the machines displaced, would be offered, through OIT, for distribution to other areas on campus for which these still very serviceable and relatively powerful machines would be adequate for software which is less computer demanding. In this way these machines, which have remaining useful life, can be used to upgrade, or perhaps expand a lab or classroom. They may even allow for an additional lab or classroom to be added in another area of the college.

2018 -2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

12. Project Title: CCNY Language Laboratory- NAC 6/205 Upgrade

Person Responsible for Project:    Prof. Carlos Riobo
Telephone Number:                        212 650- 8271
Email:                                                 criobo wthornton@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected:  Nominally Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, but we serve students from every department, every division, and every school at CCNY.

Impact on Students: 
The CCNY Language Laboratory serves between 725-750 students per week, every semester, from every school and every division (and about 45 students per week over the summer and about 15 students per week over some winter sessions), in nine different languages. Learning a world language in a place where the target language is not spoken on a daily basis or is learned out of context is a difficult task. Second-language acquisition requires a lot of discipline, memorization, extensive homework, and creativity.  It is crucial to have technological support that provides e-learning: contextual learning and interactive opportunities for an immersive, authentic environment. Regarding technology, the CCNY lab provides a vital environment for real-world input and practice. Its goals are to review the materials that were learned in the classroom that week, but by using realia through audio-video support and direct contact with the target language through audio-visual (Skype, etc.) interactions with other students, cultural institutions, and programs around the world.
We currently experience all sort of interruptions, delays, and malfunctions when we use our lab since our current computers are at least nine years old. Often programs will freeze or not be able to run at all because of the need to update our infrastructure. We also need to update our hardware and software. We have spent many hours with IT and other departments responsible for infrastructure and facilities at CCNY. Our requests, in the project description section, here are based on their input, recommendations, and data. We need to be able to have a functioning lab in order to provide students with an adequate learning environment, where they may hear a variety of authentic accents, watch TV and film clips, listen to music, and read magazines on line, in addition to participating in the interactive activities we have described above. Weekly immersion in a changing foreign culture is necessary to learn another language and to enhance post-graduate readiness by becoming a global citizen.

Project Description: 
We would like to submit a proposal to request funding for fiscal year 2019 to upgrade/repair our Language Lab located in NAC 6/205. The lab was opened around 20 years ago and it needs major updating in terms of technology, infrastructure and wiring, hardware, and software.
Regarding the infrastructure and wiring, a major renovation of the Data cabling has to be implemented by IT to have the 30 computers functioning at their highest capability.  We will also need all the electrical outlets on the floor to be changed by the electrical division.
Regarding hardware and software, we would like to purchase a smart board; one large smart TV, four new PC computers; a 27” iMAC computer for video editing purposes; 30 new headphones; an editing program “AVID”; and the recordings and DVDs for the new edition of the Chinese textbook series, Integrated Chinese.
As far as miscellaneous, a budget is needed for expanding our international film collection, to subscribe to cable international programs, and to obtain a DVR for TV program recordings.

2018 -2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

13. Project Title: 3D Modeling/Animation Smart-classroom Equipment Upgrade

Person Responsible for Project:    Prof. Annette Weintraub
Telephone Number:                        212 650- 7410
Email:                                                 weintraub wthornton@ccny.cuny.edu

Department(s) of College Affected:  Art has about 600 majors. Of these, 375 are either in the BFA in Electronic Design and Multimedia or the BA/Digital Design Concentration + CUNY BA + 132 Minors in Art.  In additional to EDM students, many Studio Art majors, Art minors, MCA students, CUNY BA students, Macaulay College students and students from Computer Science and Architecture take our courses.  This resolves to about 630 seats per semester.

Impact on Students: 
It is essential that students working in 3D modeling and animation and interactive design and motion graphics for video, work on fast computers that can handle very large files and complex operations. Our computers are six years old and run Cinema4D, FinalCut, Premiere and AfterEffects software very slowly. This makes it difficult for students to complete their projects. To meet industry standards, we need to provide a reasonably up-to-date work environment that replicates what students will find in a work environment. This program is totally focused on helping students find employment in media design. Students from this program are working at Google, Facebook, Rolling Stone magazine, NBC Sports, NBC Universal Media, Conde Nast, MakerBot, Discovery Channel, USA/Today, Sotheby’s, Brennan Center for Justice, Pearson Publishing, Chase, Shutterstock, IDEO, Western Union, PayPal, McGraw-Hill, Uber, and many new media startups. They were hired based on their portfolios and future students will not be able to build competitive portfolios if working on outdated equipment. We were just informed that an EDM student was chosen for a prestigious summer 2018 Pixar Animation internship. This student took 3D Modeling/Animation and 2D Animation Principles classes in CG 121. The ability of students to compete for this kind of competitive internship in the future will be severely diminished if the lab isn’t upgraded. 

Project Description
Replacement of 18 Macs in CG121: computers in the primary classroom and lab for computationally intensive courses have not been replaced since 2012 and have major issues running Cinema4D 3D modeling software and handling the extremely large files generated in motion graphics and image processing. This room is also scheduled for Programming for Artists, Game Design, and other courses that require up-to-date computers. We cannot continue teaching this major part of the curriculum in the current lab. Our other classrooms have equally old and less powerful machines, so switching rooms is not a possibility. This directly impacts students’ ability to do their work and prepare their portfolios.  EDM runs 3-hour classes in 14 time slots, Monday - Saturday, 9:00am to 9:00 pm in CG-121. Time slots not allotted to courses host open labs so students can work on their projects.

Replacement of four Macs in the EDM Digital Output Center. This center provides large and medium-format printing (that also includes limited 3D printing). We print archival, professionally color-calibrated inkjet prints up to 44” wide (no max length) and provide printing to Art students (undergrad and grad) at subsidized prices either through materials fees print credits or direct purchase by credit card. This print center is also open to the rest of the college. Students and faculty in Sonic Arts, Architecture and MCA have printed with us. The four Macs are stations for medium-format archival printing and file prep.

Replacement of Network Storage Server. This sever was last updated in 2010. EDM runs eight servers: student and instructor files (individual accounts), an equipment checkout database, a print server, a license server for Cinema4D, a web server (for EDM, Art History, DIAP and other department web sites), web server for web development classes,  a JAMPF server for administration and a backup server. Failure of an old server will result in lost data, website and web equipment checkout being unavailable and will affect classes, since many classes (web, motion graphics, programming, animation) directly use the servers to store files and run programs. We actively teach off these servers for the 40 classes run in a typical semester.

Replacement of four scanners for classrooms and the Digital Output Center.  High resolution/large format scanners are available for students in each classroom lab and in the DOC. All courses use them.

2018 -2019 Fiscal Year Budget:

14. Student Technology Internship Program (STIP)

College Departments Affected: Entire College

I am requesting funds to continue the implementation of the FY 2019 Student Technology Internship Program. Total funding requested is $1,552,475 which includes, 13 percent for fringe benefits and the last Phased-In Minimum Wage increase in accordance with an agreement between the University and its classified union.  Below is a brief description of the program.

Project Description: The Student Technology Internship Program (STIP) was created in the summer of 2002 to provide Service Desk, CUNYfirst support, and other technical assistance to faculty, and students. This program creates opportunities for a selected group of undergraduate and graduate students to gain advanced skills in the use of computer hardware and software as well as learn effective teaching and client support skills. 
STIP supports and advances the technological needs of the college, both in and out of the classroom. By bringing the interns and technology users together as a team, we provide diverse skills and services to create a better teaching and learning environment at the college. 

Below are the four major components of the Student Technology Internship Program (STIP) and the requested funding:

1.  Mid-Term/Final Exams Extended Hours

The extended hours will provide a safe after-hours facility for our students during midterms and final examinations week. 

2. Service Desk Operation 

The OIT Service Desk was revamped in the summer of 2011. This one-stop shop solution has given the OIT staff a much more efficient way of addressing the diverse needs of students, faculty and staff, as well as a more efficient way of addressing the college’s technology needs, particularly for students.  It serves as the primary point of contact for students, faculty, and staff seeking help in IT services and equipment (e.g., laptops, mobile devices, software, hardware, and operating systems) provided by CCNY’s Office of Information Technology.  It also acts as the central distribution point for campus-wide site-licensed software to the college community.

The Service Desk also provides Level 1 technical support in the following areas: 

• Student email (CityMail)
• CUNYfirst support for students
• Mobile devices for Students
• Active Directory login 
• Student training requests.

3. OIT and School/Division Student Computer Labs Support

The OIT and School/Division student computer labs facilitate the printing and computing needs of our students. OIT has two main general computer labs, (1) The North Academic Center Fishbowl General Student Lab (NAC 1/501), which provides 102 PCs computers, and (2) The CITY Tech Center (NAC 1/301), City College’s new state-of-the-art computing, learning and training resource center, located on the ground floor of the Cohen Library. Re-designed to accommodate student learning in a variety of stimulating configurations, it provides the following services:

• Over 300 workstations
• Two new state-of-the-art Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs)
• 10 media study rooms with flat-panel displays that accommodate up to six students each
• 16 two-person study rooms equipped with Windows and Macintosh desktop workstations
• Three smart classrooms with dozens of workstations, high definition projectors and, in the largest classroom, a podium with AV controls and mobile device connections
• Dozens of single-use desktop and wireless workstations in the open bays
• Laptop loans for students to use while using or taking classes in the (ALCs).

Each workstation is configured with the college’s full range of campus-wide, site-licensed software, including Adobe Creative Suite, MathWorks, Matlab, Microsoft Office Suite, SAS, and SPSS. The spatial configurations are as important as the technological enhancements because they accommodate students who choose to work individually, as well as provide incentives for student collaboration. 

At any given moment, the three training rooms are filled to capacity with students engaged in technology-enhanced learning with professors of Economics, Engineering, Psychology, and English. This highly successful facility has become the premier hub for student computing needs, as well as a general-purpose learning resource center for the entire City College population. Hundreds of students occupy every available workstation and study space, engrossed in everything from coursework to research to recreational breaks.

The computing and printing needs of special programs are provided by divisional Student Computer labs, including the Education lab (NAC 4/226), Engineering CAD lab (ST-216), Electrical Engineering lab (ST-269), Science Student lab, (MR-829), Accessibility Student lab (NAC 1/216), Architecture CAD lab, (SSA- 3rd floor), both Science and Music Libraries labs, and both graduate and undergraduate Student Government labs. These labs are open during the college hours of operation. 

4. OIT and School/Division Client Services Support

In addition to servicing all the general student computer labs on campus, the OIT and School/Division Client Services Support teams also provide Tier 2 and 3 hardware and software technical support and other technical assistance to college administrators, faculty, staff and students. This student group works continuously to ensure that the services they offer are of high quality and are customer-friendly. The program gives student interns the opportunity to gain advanced skills in the use of computer hardware, software, audio-visual equipment, presentation resources, and client support skills. These students are assigned to the main OIT Client Services department as well as to various school/division IT offices. They also receive on-going training from the college to support the advancing technology and audio-visual needs of the school. The training concentrates on software and hardware installations, troubleshooting, customer service, faculty, staff and student support and maintenance.  Below is the Student Technology Interns Program budget breakdown for FY 2019.

Student Technology Fee Advisory Committee Members

The Technology Fee Committee is composed of 31 members, chaired by the Acting Provost, SVP and COO, and co-chaired by the AVP & CIO of the Office of Information Technology (OIT). It includes 16 students recommended by the Office of the Interim Vice-President of Student Affairs (14 undergraduates and two graduates), eight faculty, six academic representatives, and one ex-official member. The Technology Fee Committee will be the standing college committee that will advise the Office of the President on the expenditure of the Tech Fee revenue.

Committee Chairs – Tony Liss, Interim Provost and Leonard Zinnanti, SVP & COO (2)
Co-Chair – Ken Ihrer, APV & CIO Office of Information Technology (1)   

Student Representatives (16) 
Taimoor Arif, President Undergraduate Student Government
Quintin Price, Executive Vice President of Student Affairs
Gustavo Cepeda, VP of Student Affairs
Airagha J. Aldefri, Vice President of Finance Student Affairs
Dina Elhadidy, VP of Campus Affairs
Mahmud Ashik, VP of Academics Affairs
Abdoul Kone, AVP of Campus Affairs
Merna Hanna, VP of Public Relation
Mohammad Tahmid, Secretary
Karis Khan, Undergraduate Student Senator 
Rania Tamimi, Undergraduate Student Speaker
Sarah Liu, Undergraduate Student Senator 
Saad Ahmed, Undergraduate Student Senator
Masum Ahmed, Undergraduate Student Senator
Cyprin Kodjo, President Graduate Student Government
Cyrille Njikeng, Vice President Graduate Student Government

Faculty Representatives (8)
Prof. Annette Weintraub, Humanities and Arts
Prof. Ilona Kretzschmar, Grove School of Engineering
Dean Gordon Gebert, School of Architecture
Prof. Laurent Mars, Division of Science
Prof. Elizabeth Matthews, Center for Worker Education
Ms. Leslie Galman, Colin Powell School
Ms. Doris Grasserbauer, School of Education 
Mr. Omar Kabir, CUNY Medical School

Administrative Representatives (3)      
Felix Lam, VP of Finance and Administration
Wendy J. Thornton, Interim VP of Student Affairs
John Carrero, Library  

Ex-officio Member (1)
Otto Marte, Project Administrator and Director of OIT Business Services

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