Staff and faculty can save some money on personal computer costs thanks to a new licence for Office 365 negotiated by Queen’s Information Technology Services (ITS).

University employees are now licensed to install Office 365 ProPlus for free on up to five personal computers, plus additional installs on mobile devices.

“We recognize that many staff and faculty, through their work at Queen’s, become familiar with Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook and they would like to use those applications at home,” says Bo Wandschneider, Associate Vice-Principal (ITS) and Chief Information Officer. “We are pleased to work with Microsoft and reduce the financial hurdle often associated with installing this software on personal devices.”

The Office 365 ProPlus suite for Windows, Mac and mobile devices includes familiar applications such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook. The availability of specific applications will vary based on the device and operating system.

“We recognize that many staff and faculty, through their work at Queen’s, become familiar with Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook and they would like to use those applications at home."
Bo Wandschneider, Associate Vice-Principal (ITS) and Chief Information Officer. 

Office 365 ProPlus also offers benefits for staff and faculty who prefer Mac computers for personal use. They can now download and install Outlook 2015 for Mac.

ITS has posted a service page as well as detailed tutorials for downloading Office 365 ProPlus. Queen’s-owned computers and devices should continue to use the software available through MyQueensU portal.

Skype for Business replaces Lync

ITS has also started rolling out Skype for Business to replace Microsoft Lync, an instant messaging and collaboration platform. This change will automatically occur through regular Microsoft updates. (Users must accept the update for the change to occur).  

Staff and faculty will not lose any features or functionality they were accustomed to following the transition to Skype for Business.

“The update to Skype for Business incorporates the strengths of both programs,” Mr. Wandschneider says. “Skype for Business offers instant messaging, audio and video calling, as well as easy sharing and collaboration tools.”

ITS has created a Skype for Business service page that includes more information and tutorials about the platform.

If you have questions about Office 365 ProPlus or Skype for Business, please contact the IT Support Centre at 613-533-6666 during regular business hours or fill out an online help form.

Queen’s University has initiated the final phase of the Tools for Research at Queen’s (TRAQ) project.

The TRAQ project is providing suitable research administration tools to handle an annual average of 5,100 individual projects and provide timely information for more than 4,500 research community users. The university has already introduced new modules for managing awards, biohazard permit applications, human ethics certificates, and financial reporting.

As part of the final phase of the TRAQ project, a new system for managing research and academic CVs and annual reviews will be developed and implemented over the next two years.

“The new research, CV, and reporting system should save a lot of work for both the faculty and administration,” says Kayll Lake (Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy), the Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) representative on the CV and annual reporting steering committee. “Researchers associated with Tri-Council support should find very useful tools for dealing with the Canadian Common CV.”

The new tool will allow faculty members, librarians and archivists to maintain and update their CV and annual report information in one location. The tool will also eliminate the duplicate entry of research and academic data, such as courses, grants and other activities that are already available on other systems.

"The new research, CV, and reporting system should save a lot of work for both the faculty and administration."
Kayll Lake, Professor, Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy

The tool also has the capability to securely manage the workflow related to annual reviews as well as renewal, tenure and promotion processes.

“The new tool has the potential to make the Queen’s University Quality Assurance Processes (QUQAP) more efficient,” says Laeeque Daneshmend, Deputy Provost. “Because of the single repository, members of the Queen’s community will find it easier to obtain the CV information they need and generate it in the appropriate format for the evaluation of academic programs under QUQAP.”

An evaluation committee – which included faculty members from across the university – selected Data180 to implement the new system after seeing demonstrations from the top three responses to Queen’s University’s request for proposals.

“Data180 understands the university environment given the academic background of the company’s leadership and its wealth of experience developing easy to use reporting and evaluation solutions for colleges and universities,” says Steven Liss, Vice-Principal (Research). “We look forward to introducing a new and modern CV and annual reporting tool that will improve the user experience for Queen’s faculty members and administrative staff.”

The final phase of the TRAQ project is currently in the planning stages. The project team is actively seeking participation from faculty members and their delegates for the testing, training and roll-out planning for the new tool.

Contact allent@queensu.ca, complete this questionnaire or call 613-533-6000 ext. 77315 if you are interested.

Training resources will be available for users before the different parts of the tool go live. Updates on the new tool will be posted on the TRAQ website as they become available. 

Flags on campus currently lowered for student Madison Crich, Professor Emeritus Howard A. Smith and Professor Emeritus Robert Gilbert will remain lowered in honour of Dr. Ronald Seegobin. 
 
Dr. Seegobin began his career with Queen’s University in 1989 in the School of Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology, where he inspired students and residents for the next 26 years. 

Dr. Seegobin’s clinical and academic interests included cardiac anesthesia, 3D computer models of myocardial ischemia from precordial mapping, ECG analysis in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, and the use of extradural opiates for pain relief. He received a number of grants from the British Heart Foundation, IBM, various pharmaceutical companies, and the Clinical Teachers’ Association of Queen’s University to pursue his research.

Dr. Seegobin passed away peacefully in his sleep. Visitation will be held at James Reid Funeral Home on May 1 from 6 pm-8 pm. Funeral service will be held in the chapel on May 2 at 11. As expressions of sympathy, memorial contributions may be made to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.