Office of Technology Administration Newsletter October 2021

The Office of Technology Administration Xavier University of Louisiana Issue: 4 / Volume 3 / OCTOBER 2021 Technology Strategies and Solutions to meet Institutional Demands Inside this issue:  Major Infrastructure Changes 2  Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) 3  Banner Enterprise System Training 4  Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund 5  Hurricane IDA and Recovery of Infrastructure 6  National Cybersecurity Awareness Month 7 1

From the Office of the Vice President: This October newsletter demonstrates the transformational changes in XULA’s technology and critical systems, including major migrations to a new and improved Hosted External Website and Hosted Internal Website and Portal. This semester we will also migrate to a more secure email system with encryption for personal identifiable information (PII). On August 29th, Mother Nature brought a test of our disaster recovery processes and procedures with hurricane Ida. October is National Cyber Security Awareness month and OTA will launch a new Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign with yard signs, stickers, and online modules to improve our knowledge about Cybersecurity while encouraging everyone to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, be #CyberAware and #CyberSmart. Major Infrastructure changes this semester at XULA XULA will have 3 major migrations this semester, starting with a new and updated hosted external website with new features, followed by a new and updated Internal Website and Portal (MyXULA with Single Sign On), and ending with a more secure email environment with encryption for PII (personal identifiable information). All migrations will happen on a weekend and the systems will be available by 7:00 a.m. on the following Monday. These are major changes that will be staggered, with email changes occurring at the end of the semester. Migration Dates for changes: Migration New Updated External Website – 10/18/2021 Migration New MyXULA Internal Website – 11/22/2021 Migration New Email (Faculty & Staff) – 12/20/2021 2

Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) OTA staff members completed a Cyber Security Assessment (July 19, 2021 – September 16, 2021) led by the Student Freedom Initiative and several technology partners, Cisco and AVC Technologies. The desired outcomes from the NIST Assessment include:  Cybersecurity certification at XULA over the next several months,  Understanding of the Security roles and responsibilities needed to ensure all students’ and employees’ privacy and financial information are appropriately safeguarded along with university data,  Identify security control gaps and provide ‘technical solutions’ that will protect the campus data. An Assessment report will be delivered with recommendations to meet security control gaps using software and hardware as needed. Hardware and software will be ordered to provide cyber security ongoing support as needed at no cost to the university. 3

Banner Enterprise System Training and Enhancements Banner Enterprise System Training and Enhancements HR/Payroll/Benefits and OTA Support Services Worked with Human Resources, Payroll, and Benefits areas to define and review process flow and confirmation for deferred compensation (DCP). Spent several months testing to ensure Xavier’s (DCP) aligns with the limits set by the Department of Revenue. Payroll and Benefits staff were offered professional development with updated documentation and several recommendations were made for process improvements. Financial-Aid and OTA Support Services Worked to provide professional development, updated documentation and made recommendations for process improvements to Financial-Aid staff. The project included a needs analysis and a review of key Financial-Aid areas; tracking, period budgeting, funds management, packaging and disbursement, grant and loan originations, grant and loan reconciliation, and letter generation. DegreeWorks /College of Arts Science (CAS)/ Registrar’s Office and OTA Support Services Worked to provide professional development and, updated documentation to faculty and staff who use DegreeWorks; including functional training for the Registrar’s Office and key users of DegreeWorks in the College of Arts and Sciences. Housing / OTA Support Services Worked with Adirondack Solutions, a housing software vendor, to provide professional development to Housing staff members; four days of virtual training for four hours a day using THD, the Housing system used at Xavier that is interfaced with Banner. 4

HEERF (Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund) Academic Affairs and OIT Projects OTA worked with the Office of Academic Affairs on a number of HEERF projects to increase technology access and provide additional services for students, faculty, and staff on and away from campus. The following projects were funded by HEERF (Cares Act) funding. Projects Costs Provided funding to cover the purchase of Surface Pro 7 Laptop/tablets $135,000 and cases for XULA Loaner program for students, faculty, and staff. Provided funding to cover the costs of Loaner MiFi/Hotspot devices that $60,000 can be checked out by faculty, staff and students to provide anytime, anywhere access to the Internet. Upgraded the Convocation Annex Room 111 $40,000 with digital equipment for multi-media access. 5

Hurricane IDA and Recovery of Infrastructure (Electrical, Hardware, and Critical System Applications) Hurricane IDA was a deadly Category 4 Atlantic Hurricane that made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 2021, sixteen years after Hurricane Katrina. More than a million people in the state lost electrical power, internet, and cell phone services, including New Orleans and eighty-percent of Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes. After four days, electrical power was restored to the sub-stations in New Orleans and XULA was able to restore internet, and VPN (Virtual Private Network) access to users and electrical power access to recover the campus’ Data-Center infrastructure, and critical applications for online access. An assessment of the current Disaster Recovery plan is under review and many of the university’s critical systems will migrate to cloud technologies to improve business continuity and planning. 6

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month October 2021 “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart” October 2021 is National Cybersecurity Awareness month. The Office of Technology Administration (OTA) is encouraging individuals and organizations to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace. If everyone does their part – implementing stronger security practices, raising community awareness, educating vulnerable audiences or training employees – our interconnected world will be safer and more resilient for everyone. In October, the OTA will share helpful cyber tips to make you more #CyberAware and #CyberSmart. Higher Education institutions are becoming high value targets of cyber-attacks. Each week in October a cybersecurity awareness campaign will be sent to faculty and staff. These user awareness campaigns will be sent via email and include our Annual Cybersecurity Awareness Training, industry newsletters, and social engineering red flags about phishing. Phishing is a social engineering attack to acquire sensitive data through fraudulent emails. These campaigns are designed to enhance the cybersecurity awareness of all users. The training will remain available through the end of the year and you will receive reminders to complete the training. Please do not delay completing the training as we are required to report on the training participation and completions. 7

Support the next generation of eXcellence Click Here XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA About Xavier University of Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana, founded in 1925 by Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, is the only Catholic and historically Black higher education institution in North America. The ultimate purpose of the University is to contribute to the promotion of a more just and humane society by preparing its students to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society. Xavier ranks first nationally in the number of African-American undergraduates continuing to complete medical school and is leading the nation in bachelor’s degrees granted to African Americans in the biological and biomedical sciences, the physical sciences, and physics, and in graduation of African- Americans who go on to earn doctorates in the sciences and engineering. OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION [OTA] Xavier University of Louisiana 1 Drexel Drive New Orleans, Louisiana 70125 8