The Student Tech Fee Oversight Committee has allocated $1 million to cover regular expenses for the University’s Information Technology Services in light of the school’s budget situation.
At a June meeting, Chancellor Michael Martin requested the Committee allocate the funds from the committee’s surplus from the 2010 fiscal year.
The committee approved the allocation to ITS on Tuesday for student services for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 fiscal years.
Student Government President J Hudson, a member of the Committee, said the money is $1 million dollars worth of technology that will help offset budget cuts.
The Student Tech Fee is assessed to all students at $5 per credit hour.
The $1 million will cover Moodle expenses, campus wireless Internet, the IT graduate assistant at the Bo Campbell Auditorium and institutional hardware and software expenses.
Institutional hardware and software expenses will consume $605,247 of the $1 million. These expenses include distributed infrastructure, disaster recovery, security, ITS operating expenditures, institutional utility and applications, central and mainframe infrastructure, teaching software and department, storage resources and campus portal, among other expenses.
The security is vital because the University does not have a fully protective firewall, Hudson said.
The committee also approved $100,000 to purchase Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro. The money came from a surplus from the construction of the collaborative learning stations recently built in Middleton Library. The annual license for the program will cost $50,000 and the University will need a $50,000 infrastructure update.
Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro allows professors to host virtual office hours and students to invite others to study who are outside the confines of the library. Once complete, the program will allow for 2,000 simultaneous users, according the committee’s agenda.
The Committee also approved $180,000 to SMARTHINKING. The money is a one-time allocation to last the program for three years.
SMARTHINKING is an online tutoring program that can be accessed through PAWS. The program tutors in writing, math, business, science and Spanish.
“With the elimination of the writing center, I think this is a main priority,” Hudson said.
The money will provide 2,000 hours worth of tutoring. The program has seen an increase in the number of visitors in the last three years. The program would have been eliminated without the approval of the money.
The committee also allocated $2,000 for maintenance to the Computer Based Testing Lab.
Members of the Committee will attend a student-led forum to answer  questions about the fee Sept. 28. The forum will begin at 5 p.m in the Senate chambers at the Student Union.
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Contact Celeste Ansley at [email protected]