To correct a telephone system problem, Information Services needs to disrupt telephone service on campus at 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, June 29, 2023. The disruption should last ten minutes, and service should be restored by 5:10 P.M.
Category: Uncategorized
Help is on the way! Introducing Answer Bot
Hello Hornets!
With the long weekend ahead and finals on the way, Information Services has a friendly new face to help you find what you need when the Help Desk is away…
Introducing Answer Bot, a new interface where K students, faculty, staff, and parents can try to find what they need with suggestions from Answer Bot. Not seeing a solution? Answer Bot also helps you submit a request to the Help Desk much easier.
So, give it a go…
2023-05-11 Scheduled Maintenance
Services to be Interrupted
Planned maintenance from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. on Thursday will interrupt some services on campus. Expect a brief VPN disruption every week.
- Some email delivery will be delayed
The interruptions listed above are expected to require the entire maintenance window. The interruptions above are necessary to improve performance, reliability, and security of the systems in question.
Questions
If you have further questions about this upcoming maintenance/outage please Contact the Help Desk between 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. at :
- Email: helpdesk@kzoo.edu
- Phone: 269.337.5800
Add the K Holiday Schedule to your Outlook Calendar
Did you know…
You can place Kalamazoo College holidays and “weeks of the quarters” (e.g. Fall Week 1) on your Outlook calendar? It’s true!
To do so follow the K College Calendar Holiday Entries instructions. Also note that this is an Outlook holiday file and is compatible with Outlook for Windows only.
Please contact the Help Desk for more information or additional help.
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New Year, New(ish) IS Resources
Happy New Year K Community!
To kick off 2023, here are some new and some not so new IS resources that will come in handy throughout the quarter.
As always, if you need to connect, please feel free to send us an email at HelpDesk@kzoo.edu or stop by the Help Desk in the Upjohn Library Commons (located on the first floor to the right of the grand staircase). We’re open Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with Student Computer Consultants available during some off hours.
Community Member Pages
Looking for resources depending on whether you’re a student, faculty, or staff member? If so, select the page that relates to you:
New Employees
Did you know there are resources for supervisor’s hiring new employees and onboarding tips for new employees? Check them out:
Partner with IS
K faculty and staff are supposed to consult and partner with IS when considering any technology hardware; software; services; and any cloud or externally hosted systems. It’s true!
Learn how to get started:
Scheduled Maintenance
You can count on Information Services regularly performing upgrades and maintenance Thursday evenings from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. During this time you can expect a brief VPN disruption.
Note: IS may not publish a weekly scheduled maintenance post if systems do not directly affect the campus community.
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Cybersecurity Awareness Month – Passwords and Password Manager
This week’s post for Cybersecurity Awareness Month covers habits relating to passwords and password managers. To be cybersecure:
1. Create passwords with these three principles
- Long – All passwords should be at least 12 characters long.
- Unique – Never reuse passwords and create unique passwords for each account.
- Complex – Use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.
Remembering passwords and following these principles may sound hard, but there’s a better way…
2. Use a Password Manager
Password managers make it easy to use passwords that are long, unique, and complex. They save time, work across all your devices and operating systems, and can alert you when a password has become compromised. Visit the National Cybersecurity Alliance password managers page for more information including password manager options you can use to be more secure.
3. Know When to Change your Password
As reported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology it is no longer recommended to change your passwords every few months. For personal accounts we recommend focusing on creating long, unique, and complex passwords. Should you become aware that an unauthorized person is accessing an account or a password was compromised in a data breach, change your password immediately. Please note that as part of our process at Kalamazoo College, we require users to change your KNET password periodically; however, there may be a change to this process in the future.
The information on this page was adapted from the National Cybersecurity Alliance’s passwords and NCSAs password manager page.
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Cybersecurity Awareness Month – Oct 2022
Did you know that October 2022 marks the 19th Annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
To spread cybersecurity awareness, this month IS will be sharing key behaviors we can all adopt to be more secure. Read our posts each Friday for the month of October to learn more.
About Cybersecurity Awareness Month
“The National Cybersecurity Alliance launched Cybersecurity Awareness Month in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2004. The campaign is a strong collaboration between government and private industry to raise awareness about online security” (National Cybersecurity Alliance). You can learn more about the month and other cybersecurity initiatives on the National Cybersecurity Alliance website.
Habits to adopt:
Throughout the month of October we will be sharing more detailed information on the following habits:
- Using strong passwords and a password manager
- Enabling multi-factor authentication
- Recognizing and reporting phishing
- Complete required and offered cybersecurity trainings offered by IS
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Welcome! – Fall 2022
K Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Welcome, welcome, welcome! Whether it is your first or last year at the College, the Information Services (IS) team is here to help you get ready for the new academic year. To start the quarter off right, please review the list of common resources available to you.
If you need to connect, please feel free to send us an email at HelpDesk@kzoo.edu or stop by the Help Desk in the Upjohn Library Commons (located on the first floor to the right of the grand staircase). We’re open Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with Student Computer Consultants available during some off hours.
Student Tools
- Hornet Hive – The Hornet Hive is the campus hub for announcements, event listings, and links to campus web resources.
- Office 365 – Free access to Office 365 which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, Teams, Stream, and online file storage space in OneDrive.
- Moodle – Where you can access instructor course materials, your grades throughout the quarter, and more.
- Printing – Information on standard laser printing, color and large format/poster printing, 3D printing, printer locations, cost, print credits allotments, and how to set up wireless printing.
- Connecting to the Internet – See our instructions for using the eduroam network! Setup takes a few minutes, but it will work all year, all over campus, and at other campuses all over the world.
Visit the Student Tools page for more resources and student IS news throughout the year.
Faculty Tools
- New Employee Tech Onboarding Process – Are you a supervisor with a new team member? Review the process to get your new employee the technology they need.
- New Employee IS Resource List – Are you a new employee and need a starting point on the IS resources available to you? Check out the new employee IS resource list!
- Accounts and Passwords – For information on your K College network accounts
- Moodle Help– Information on requesting a course and getting help with our course management system.
- Classroom Technology – Information on using classroom equipment.
- Office 365 – Links to Office 365 training and documentation by Microsoft.
- Computer Support and Consulting – How to get help, and information about K College computer hardware renewal.
- Phone Services – Quick guides on how to use your office phone along with phone line troubleshooting.
- Campus Events & Announcements – Information and instructions on the Campus announcement system.
Visit the Faculty Tools page for more information on other resources to utilize throughout the year.
Staff Tools
- New Employee Tech Onboarding Process – Are you a supervisor with a new team member? Review the process to get your new employee the technology they need.
- New Employee IS Resource List – Are you a new employee and need a starting point on the IS resources available to you? Check out the new employee IS resource list!
- Office 365 – Links to Office 365 training and documentation by Microsoft.
- Computer Support and Consulting – Who to contact in need and renewal information.
- Department Printers – Learn where to purchase printer cartridges and how to get printer repairs
- Campus Events & Announcements – Information and instructions on the Campus announcement system.
- Phone Services – Quick guides on how to use your office phone along with phone line troubleshooting.
- Accounts and Passwords – For information on your K College network accounts
- Colleague – For users that need information on our campus administrative system.
- Website Management – For assistance using WordPress and Reason, the K College CMS.
View the Staff Tools page for more information on other resources to utilize throughout the year.
Additional Resources Worth Mentioning
- Register an Entertainment Device – Do you have an entertainment device such as a console to use on the Kalamazoo College network? Check out the Register a Device page to follow the required steps and complete the Device Registration form.
- Wi-Fi Issues
- Visit the Wi-Fi troubleshooting page to assist you in resolving your issue. Please attempt all troubleshooting tips that apply to your circumstance before completing a report.
- Due to the complexities of Wi-Fi-related problems, specific details are needed to help resolve Wi-Fi related issues. You must provide the following in order to submit a Wi-Fi Outage Report.
List of Information to Complete the Wi-Fi Outage Report Form
- Name
- The wireless network you were attempting to connect to
- Screenshot of the error you encountered, or the exact error message as displayed on your device
- Note: A full screenshot of the error you are encountering is the most reliable way we can assist in resolving your issue
- Date of occurrence
- Time of occurrence
- Location of occurrence
- If this issue has happened elsewhere on campus. If so, the location(s) it has occurred
- If the device was able to connect successfully in any other locations on campus. If so, the location(s) it has been successful
- Type of device experiencing the issue
- Note: If you are using a device running on Android 10 or iOS 14 you will need to disable MAC randomization on your device first. See the Wi-Fi Troubleshooting section for instructions.
- MAC Address – If you are unsure where to locate your MAC Address please see, How to Find Any Device’s IP Address, MAC Address, and Other Network Connection Details article by How-to-Geek.
- If there were any other apps running on the device while the issue was experienced. If so, which apps.
Information Services Unavailable: Thursday, August 25 from Noon – 4 p.m.
The Information Services Team will be unavailable on Thursday, August 25th from 12 – 4 p.m.
The Upjohn Library Commons building will be closed during this time.
Divisions and services that will be unavailable include:
- Library (online services such as databases and the library catalog will still be available)
- Help Desk
- Media Services
- Center for New Media Design
- Systems and Networking
- Administrative Computing
- Web Services
Congratulations Class of 2022!
Congratulations Class of 2022!
Your graduation is the first of many proud, successful moments for you. To be of assistance to you, we would like to share important information relating your Kalamazoo College network accounts as you transition into an alum.
Your Network Account
Now that you have completed your course of study at K, you may retain your network account for 10 months after the end of your course of study (graduation, completion of a year as a visiting international student, or completion of the engineering 3/2 program).
Information Services will also send reminders in the months and weeks approaching the end of this period. Please note that your accounts and associated electronic files are then permanently deleted after this 10 month period.
Departure Checklist
- Review Emails – Be sure that existing emails are reviewed and addressed appropriately. This may mean forwarding emails to a personal account or exporting emails to an external file.
- Update Subscriptions and Services – If you have services or subscriptions (social media, streaming services, etc.) connected to your kzoo.edu email account, you’ll want to update those services and subscriptions to use a different, personal email address of yours.
- Contacts and Info – Review information in your email contacts and copy any necessary information before the 10 months is up.
Network Files
- M: drive – If you’re still on campus and used your M: drive, review files there and delete, move, or copy them as appropriate.
- Review Files and Folders – Review files in individual OneDrive folders and delete, move, or copy them to others as appropriate.
- Make Succession Plans – Think about any clubs or organizations you might belong to, and make succession plans with next year’s leadership by reviewing files in other personal cloud based storage (e.g. Google Docs, Dropbox). Be sure to delete, move, or copy them to others as appropriate.
- Note – Please note that you will no longer have access to Microsoft Teams through K.
Alumni Email Forwarding
Kalamazoo College offers a lifetime e-mail forwarding option to its alumni. All email forwarding addresses are in the format “firstname.lastname.classyear@alumni.kzoo.edu.” To sign up, please complete the Email Forwarding Signup form.
For additional information, please contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at 269.337.7300 or alumni@kzoo.edu.