Office of Information Technology Services
HelpDesk
OIT's HelpDesk in 125 Gordon Palmer Hall assists with technology-related problems by phone (348-4357) and by e-mail (Help.Desk@ua.edu) as well as in person. The HelpDesk is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday thru Friday. Additional useful information is on the HelpDesk's website at http://helpdesk.ua.edu.
All University students, faculty, and staff are given accounts on bama.ua.edu ("Bama") for e-mail. Bama accounts are considered the official accounts for University e-mail, and all students, faculty, and staff should ensure they receive mail sent to their Bama address, which can be forwarded to another address. Faculty and staff may also use an e-mail account in their own department. Support for both options is available from the HelpDesk.
ResNet
The Residence Hall Network provides residents with a high-speed connection to the University's network and the Internet. Almost all residence halls have ResNet service, which is included in the room rate. (The Highlands and Bryce Lawn have high-speed Internet service provided by Comcast.)
Faculty Resource Center
The Faculty Resource Center (FRC) mission is to facilitate the integration of instructional technology into teaching. To support this mission, the FRC provides professional development, design assistance, and imaging services to UA faculty. The faculty development staff helps faculty learn about technology available campus-wide through both scheduled workshops and online guides and resources. The design and imaging staff members can help faculty create photographs, diagrams, icons, and other images. Faculty can consult with FRC staff about ways to effectively use instructional technology or emerging technologies such as social networking. Contact the FRC by phone (348-3532) or email (elearning@ua.edu).
Software Licensing and Distribution
The University participates in various licensing programs, including the Microsoft Campus Agreement. OIT administers these licenses and distributes software. A download site allows on-campus access to several programs, including McAfee anti-virus software for personal computers belonging to UA faculty, staff, and students.
Telephone Service
OIT's Telecommunications Department is the University's telephone company, supplying telephone service to all campus offices and residence halls. Telecommunications currently maintains 13,000 voice and data connections. It also offers long distance calling plans and cellular phone service at a discounted rate as part of the University's contract. Information about Telecommunications is available at http://telecom.ua.edu or 348-6300.
Administrative Support
The University's administrative systems run Banner 7 from Sungard Higher Education. This is a Unix-based system with an underlying Oracle 9.2 database. Faculty, staff, and students use myBama, a portal based on Sungard Higher Education's Luminis Platform, to access all administrative services online.
Computer Labs
Information about computer labs across campus is available at http://pclabs.ua.edu.
Fee-Based Departmental Hardware and Software Support
OIT's Customer Service provides a number of fee-based services to University departments for hardware and software support of University-owned computing equipment. Most of the services are provided via annual contracts. More information is available at http://oit.ua.edu/services/support.html.