IT News

Have you heard about a technology at the university, but aren’t sure where to find it or how to use it? Maybe someone has mentioned that you can get a faculty website. Or you want to ensure you are up to date in your Faculty Portfolio before your annual review.

Students, faculty and staff will find a lot of updates to tech services as the new school year starts. Make sure you’re up to date with all these changes!

Make sure you are ready for the start of the semester by running this top 7 checklist on your mobile device! Do you have a lock on your phone? Use a password, fingerprint, face recognition or other means to make sure other people can’t get your private data.

Technology support for instruction at the University of Arizona has evolved. Classroom Technology Services (CTS) now consists of five interconnected support teams along with a classroom design and build team. This department now offers support for academic areas across the state. Originally responsible for about 250 centrally scheduled classrooms on the main campus, CTS now supports approximately 800 rooms in Tucson, the Colleges of Medicine in Tucson and Phoenix, and satellite locations from Sierra Vista to Yuma—including unique environments like a classroom at the College of Engineering’s San Xavier mine.

For most teams across UITS, the back-to-school rush kicks into high gear in late summer. For Karina McCune, IT Support Manager for Tech Zones, the work begins months earlier. By late April, while many students were still wrapping up finals, Karina was already looking ahead to fall. This year’s preparations came with an added twist: 85% of her student workforce graduated in May, a testament to their long-term commitment and growth in the role, but also a challenge in rebuilding the team.

What does it take to power one of the most advanced astronomical observatories in the world? For Kiriaki Xiluri-Lauria, head of IT at Steward Observatory, the answer lies in teamwork, trust, and a centuries-old symbol of collaboration. With support centers and server rooms located on campus, in the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab beneath Arizona Stadium, at Tech Parks Arizona at Rita Ranch, the Drake Building and in remote locations like Mount Graham and Mount Bigelow, Mount Lemmon, Kitt Peak, Mount Hopkins, Steward Observatory’s IT landscape is nothing short of extraordinary.

On Monday, August 4, University Information Technology Services (UITS) reached a significant milestone in delivering a more unified, user-centered support experience across the university. This achievement was made possible by our streamlined organizational structure. With this change, the community we serve gets a more intuitive and efficient workflow for managing support requests.

At the IT Summit last year, Julie Suess and Cecilia Esguerra Gunn used their experience with the complex Zoom Phone migration—spanning 25,000 lines and 400+ departments—to spotlight the value of embedding “lessons learned” into every stage of a project. Instead of waiting until the end, they encouraged teams to reflect continuously, adapting in real time to improve collaboration and outcomes. Their session reframed lessons learned as a proactive strategy for team growth, not just a post-project formality.

On June 10, 24 high school students teamed up with a blended crew of six library professionals and six University Information Technology Services (UITS) staff to build fully functional desktop computers. The hands-on event, hosted annually by the University of Arizona Libraries (UAL) and UITS staff, is part of the Native American Science and Engineering Program (NASEP) summer institute.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, the University of Arizona is taking proactive steps to ensure its IT professionals are prepared for the rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape. Across campus, AI is becoming an increasingly important tool in modern cybersecurity strategies, supporting threat detection, streamlining processes, and enhancing decision-making.