Information and Technology Services receives $1.2 million grant for portal system

Jan. 6, 2010 -- Arkansas State University’s Information and Technology Services (ITS) has received a $1.2 million dollar grant for a Web 2.0 SaaS Campus Portal.  Todd Reed, assistant director for Web Services, secured the grant from CampusEAI, a consortium founded in 2003 with the mission of helping its members reduce the time, cost and effort associated with implementing IT solutions. Reed says the new portal system will provide features and services not previously offered with the existing portal to campus faculty, staff, and students. 

“The new portal will provide an interactive environment that today’s students expect to see,” said Reed.  “We will not only provide Single Sign-On into existing services such as Banner, Outlook Web Access, G-mail, and Blackboard, but we will have the ability to create online living and learning communities.”

Mark Hoeting, chief information officer of ITS, said the technical implementation of the new portal system will get underway in spring 2010.  He also noted the grant will provide the My Campus Web Portal as well as membership into the CampusEAI consortium, which has more than 260 members.  By joining the consortium, ITS can harness the power and knowledge of consortium members to make both the product and the A-State portal better. 

“We are able to call on other institutions for service enhancements and programming ideas, rather than relying solely on a traditional expensive commercial vendor,” Reed continued.  “This is why the consortium was formed.  This type of collaboration is becoming a strategy for many institutions across the U.S. and the world. 

“With the ever-increasing operating costs and reductions in budgets and traditional funding resources, we have to find alternative funding sources in order to advance and keep a competitive edge.  The CampusEAI grant opportunity is one of those sources. By leveraging the power of cloud computing, we will also be able to lower the operations cost with the new portal, as opposed to our current portal.”

CampusEAI Consortium is a global non-profit information technology services and consulting provider focused on helping its members to implement enterprise IT solutions cost-effectively and in a timely manner. More than 260 members belong to the CampusEAI Consortium, including Albany State University, Curry College, Southwestern Community College, Waynesburg University, Georgian College, and the Australian National University. For more information, visit www.campuseai.org.
 

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