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University of Windsor
Grant a boost to university's portal development
The University of Windsor has what it takes to become a Canadian leader in the development of institutional portal solutions, the representative of an international consortium said Friday in announcing an in-kind grant equivalent to $1 million US to build a Web portal for the campus community.~
"The project is going to be very exciting and very important, because it is going to touch everybody. Ultimately, it is about empowerment," said Prashant Chopra, chief architect for Campus EAI, a non-profit consortium of 200 members in seven countries.
Roger Lauzon, executive director of the university's Information Technology Services, described the campus portal as "a personalized Web-view of the university." It is intended to provide members of the campus community with a single point of access to online information on their integrated teaching and learning interests, student services, and extracurricular activities. Read more about the project here.
Through the Campus EAI consortium, the university will gain access to tools and services already developed, programmed and tested by other institutions, obviating the need to duplicate work. Chopra said he hopes Windsor will provide an example to other Canadian universities of the benefits of cooperating with the consortium.
"The University of Windsor has a very, very strong IT department," he said. "That's the other part of the equation—the university's commitment to making this project a success."
Pritz Bristow and Sanjay Chitte, both of information systems services in IT Services, are the local project manager and the portal architect, respectively. Bristow told attendees at Friday's event that the campus community will ultimately determine the content of the portal.
"It is only with your innovations as to what this means to you that this will be a success for the university," she said.
The first phase of the campus portal, which will concentrate on student needs, will be launched by the beginning of June, Lauzon said. This initial launch will feature basic functions not specific to Windsor; through the summer, the developers will add functions derived from the Student Information System. More features for faculty, staff and other users will be rolled out over time.
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University of Windsor president Ross Paul and Campus EAI chief architect Prashant Chopra celebrate an in-kind grant worth $1 million US for the development of the university's Web portal. |