This year\u2019s SIGUCCS conference showcases a dynamic and diverse group of presenters whose work reflects the evolving landscape of higher education IT. Their sessions span innovative uses of AI, leadership and team development, IT service transformation, data-informed decision-making, and accessible, student-centered learning environments. Collectively, these presentations highlight both the practical strategies and forward-looking ideas shaping our campuses today. Whether exploring statewide AI platforms, inclusive hiring practices, modernized service operations, or creative approaches to teaching and accessibility, this year\u2019s presenters demonstrate a shared commitment to strengthening technology, supporting people, and building more resilient institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Student employees are essential to IT in higher education, yet their full potential\n often remains untapped. Tapping this potential feels like an insurmountable burden\n to your already full schedule. This two-part SIGUCCS Academy workshop is designed\n to provide you with a strategic, low-effort approach to maximizing the return on investment\n (ROI) for both student employees and your department. We\u2019ll explore how a small upfront\n investment of time leads to significantly more engaged, productive, and fulfilled\n student workers.<\/p>\n Part 1 introduces the \u201captitude and ambition\u201d meeting\u2014a brief, structured conversation\n that helps uncover a student worker\u2019s skills, interests, and career goals. This isn\u2019t\n about adding another task to your plate; it\u2019s about shifting your approach to better\n understand their skills, interests, and career aspirations beyond their immediate\n job description and introduce practical, low-effort strategies for crafting specific\n projects and opportunities tailored to these individual insights.<\/p>\n In Part 2, we\u2019ll focus on how to align this insight with your team\u2019s real-world needs.\n You\u2019ll learn how to delegate tasks that genuinely contribute to student development\n while simultaneously freeing up your time and increasing departmental output.<\/p>\n By the end of this workshop, you\u2019ll have actionable techniques to transform your student\n employee program into a powerful engine for talent development and departmental success,\n all without significantly increasing your supervisory workload.<\/p>\n SIGUCCS 2026 invites us to rethink and revolutionize IT\u2014why not start with how we\n grow our next generation of IT professionals?<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Tired of scrolling through spreadsheets? In this two-part SIGUCCS Academy workshop,\n you\u2019ll learn how to turn those raw data files into clean, interactive dashboards that\n give your team the answers they need\u2014fast. Bring your own dataset (from helpdesk systems,\n surveys, inventory\u2014anything you use) and learn hands-on how to import, clean, and\n transform it using Excel and Power Query. Throughout the workshop, you\u2019ll work directly\n with your own data to build something your team can actually use. The example data\n the presenter is using will be available if you don\u2019t have your own data available.<\/p>\n In Part 1, you\u2019ll learn how to import, clean, and transform data using Excel and Power\n Query. We\u2019ll walk through practical, repeatable techniques that will help you make\n messy data manageable\u2014without needing advanced Excel skills.<\/p>\n In Part 2, you\u2019ll turn that cleaned data into a functional dashboard. You\u2019ll use Excel\n Tables and Slicers to create interactive filters, giving your team the ability to\n explore the data on their own. Then, you\u2019ll use Pivot Tables to build summary views\n that quickly answer common questions.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll leave with a working file you can take back to your team and repeatable skills\n that help you do more with the data you already have.<\/p>\n This workshop is all about developing skills to change your contribution from \u201cjust\n reporting\u201d to surfacing stories your data tells\u2014a perfect fit for professionals and\n organizations moving from quills to quantum.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Our college is transitioning from on-premises Configuration Manager to cloud-based\n Intune for Windows device endpoint management. At the SIGUCCS 2025 conference, we\n were in the early stages of exploring and gathering information on how to approach\n this migration. While we learned a great deal from other attendees, a presentation\n from MSU Denver provided a key insight that reshaped our strategy.<\/p>\n We faced a challenge where many team members needed to configure computers, yet few\n had the necessary access or training for our endpoint management systems. The MSU\n Denver model involved leveraging an inventory management system to set device properties\n and syncing that data to Intune. Intune then used this asset data to dynamically dictate\n device management policies. This approach offered a solution where the entire team\n gained enhanced visibility and simplified device configuration directly through the\n inventory system, eliminating the need for specialized access or training.<\/p>\n After attending their session, I was determined to implement this solution in our\n environment. In this presentation, I will cover the challenges we faced, from transitioning\n our endpoint management system while simultaneously moving to a new inventory management\n platform to handling staffing changes throughout the process. I will discuss how we\n kept our approach adaptable to ensure a seamless transition in all these areas.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Generative AI has accelerated change across higher education, placing IT professionals\n at a revolutionary crossroads at the intersection of service innovation and traditional\n higher education IT support roles. The rise of generative AI has created a shifting\n landscape where the usefulness of tools varies widely by person and task\u2014and changes\n rapidly over time. At Lewis & Clark College, we\u2019ve embraced the idea of the \u201cjagged\n frontier\u201d[1<\/a>] where the pace of change and uneven applicability make traditional support models,\n such as the break-fix approach, insufficient. To thrive in this new era, we as IT\n professionals must do more than reactively troubleshoot; we must declare our relevance\n as strategic partners.<\/p>\n This presentation explores how IT staff can stay professionally relevant amid this\n rapid change, while also serving as trusted guides for faculty and staff navigating\n AI\u2019s implications in ways that serve our institutional values and goals. We\u2019ll share\n lessons learned, practical approaches to institutional engagement, and strategies\n for fostering curiosity, resilience, and ethical decision-making around GenAI adoption\n using a grassroots approach with the flexibility to adapt to resource challenges and\n the absence of high-priority institutional mandates. Attendees will leave having identified\n specific opportunities for leadership around GenAI, as well as insights to put forth\n their own learning journey, followed by time for open discussion and Q&A.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Supporting accessibility doesn\u2019t always require expensive upgrades or complex installations.\n This poster shares how separate classroom support teams at Lewis & Clark have been\n collaborating to leverage Windows 11\u2019s built-in Live Captions[1<\/a>] feature to support real-time captioning across diverse campus spaces particularly\n in spaces where current solutions like CART or Zoom captions may be impractical, unavailable,\n or limited to individual accommodations. While traditional accommodations like CART\n are essential for some, one of our goals was to explore how built-in tools could provide\n a consistent baseline of access for a wider audience and potentially meet individual\n accommodation needs. We piloted Live Captions in various settings\u2014including large\n classrooms, event venues, and seminar rooms\u2014using a dedicated Windows 11 computer\n connected to an external display. We piloted both integrating our set-up into existing\n space classroom control systems as well as making it available as fully standalone\n system. The standalone configuration enabled rapid deployment and broader visibility.\n Integration with classroom-dedicated systems and computers presented hurdles, revealing\n limits in our existing infrastructure. Through this pilot, we developed a clearer\n understanding of the technical challenges involved in using Live Captions beyond high-touch,\n one-off support scenarios. While the setup works well with dedicated assistance, scaling\n to more turnkey solutions in lower-support spaces presents challenges. We also identified\n infrastructure improvements that could support broader deployment, help to inform\n capital planning and justification in a resource constrained environment. We are also\n developing guides and training to support do-it-yourself (DIY) use by employees and\n students. We look forward to sharing what we\u2019ve learned, discussing our next steps,\n and hearing from colleagues about what is and isn\u2019t working on their campuses as we\n work together to support accessible, inclusive learning environments.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Maintaining cybersecurity is a major challenge everywhere, including for families,\n companies, and universities in Japan. However, the number of cybersecurity specialists\n is too small to address the current problem effectively. In 2022, the Japanese government\n confirmed the establishment of a fund to train experts in digital transformation and\n carbon neutrality. In 2023, it launched the project for promoting higher education\n enhancement. Fukuyama City University is a small public university. To address the\n changes in the global industrial structure and meet the demands of manufacturing companies\n and high school students in Fukuyama City, the university applied for the project,\n and its application was approved. To address the changes in the global industrial\n structure, Fukuyama City University plans to establish a new department with a specialized\n course in cybersecurity and IT infrastructure operation.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> At Osaka Kyoiku University (OKU), we renovated a classroom that had previously functioned\n as a PC laboratory and transformed it into a \u201cPC-less ICT (Information Communication\n and Technology) laboratory\u201d designed for BYOD and VDI. In this room, large displays\n were installed at each table, creating an environment that supports group discussions\n and wireless screen sharing for classroom-wide idea exchange. In its first year of\n operation, the room was used on a trial basis in teacher-training courses for information\n education, where undergraduate students utilized the space to conduct practice lessons\n designed for high school students. Feedback from students indicated that screen sharing\n made discussions easier, sparked interest in new experiences, and highlighted the\n potential for deeper learning through differences in the quality of presentations.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> On the 23rd of July 2025, Instructure, the founder of Canvas Learning Management System\n (LMS) announced a global partnership with OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company,\n to embed large language model technology into the Canvas LMS platform. This partnership\n is the \u201cfirst-of-its kind\u201d in the learning management system space. This integration\n will enable educators design learning activities and allow student to interact with\n AI within the Canvas environment using OpenAI enabled LLM capabilities. This paper\n presents a targeted review of studies from the Scopus database, exploring how AI has\n been used in Canvas prior to this partnership. According to [1<\/a>], there is a need to investigate emerging trends in the use of AI in learning management\n systems as technology and education practices evolves. This study examines various\n emerging use cases of AI in the Canvas environment and serves the purpose of a baseline\n study for future research specifically exploring the evolving use of AI in the Canvas\n LMS.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Today\u2019s information systems are becoming increasingly advanced and diverse, and help\n desk inquiries have become broader and more complex, making the streamlining of inquiry\n handling an urgent issue. However, users tend to contact help desks expecting human\n support, so it is necessary to encourage them to accept automated assistance. This\n study focuses on the finding that user resistance decreases when human support is\n guaranteed. Based on this, we propose a semi-automated user support system that attaches\n relevant FAQs to automated response emails. Furthermore, when operated as an actual\n service, the system must reduce workload while satisfying the requirements of both\n users and help desk staff. This study analyzes these requirements considering real-world\n operations and describes the system\u2019s design and implementation. The paper reports\n on a trial operation and performance evaluation using actual inquiry emails at our\n university, demonstrating the proposed system\u2019s potential to reduce workload. It also\n provides insights into effectively integrating automation with human support.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> In today’s rapidly evolving higher education IT landscape, the demand for authentic\n leadership is essential to foster trust, engagement, and innovation amid constant\n technological and organizational change. Recognizing this need, an in-house IT Leadership\n Development Cohort was designed to strengthen leadership capacity, improve employee\n retention, and cultivate high-performing, values-driven teams. Without intentional\n leadership development, institutions risk stagnation, disengagement, and decreased\n morale in a field that depends on adaptability, collaboration, and innovation. The\n program empowers individuals to lead with purpose, integrity, and self-awareness while\n embracing vulnerability and continuous personal and professional growth. The cohort\n was structured around key leadership modules\u2014Self-awareness, Well-being, Purpose\/Mission\/Values,\n Talent Management, Communication, Team Development, Decision-making, Strategic Planning,\n and Mentorship. Each session integrated self-reflection exercises, peer collaboration,\n and experiential learning designed to help participants identify personal strengths,\n uncover growth opportunities, and align leadership practices with the institution’s\n mission and values. Participants reported significant increases in self-awareness,\n confidence, relational effectiveness, and collaboration\u2014resulting in improved communication,\n decision-making, and stronger, more trusting teams. These outcomes highlight the importance\n of fostering leaders who model authenticity, empathy, and ethical decision-making,\n which in turn strengthens organizational trust, engagement, and retention. Ultimately,\n the IT Leadership Development Cohort serves as a transformative framework for building\n authentic leaders in a tech-driven world. By developing self-aware, resilient, and\n purpose-driven leaders, higher education IT organizations can inspire innovation,\n adaptability, and integrity\u2014qualities essential for navigating the complexities of\n modern technology environments. This initiative reinforces that true innovation begins\n with empowering the leaders of tomorrow.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Earlier in my IT support career, I emphasized the importance of employee reviews and\n did whatever I could to obtain highest marks throughout the review period. I chased\n meeting Service Level Agreements, First Contact Resolutions rates, high marks on customer\n satisfaction surveys, and other criteria that was set forth by management. Chasing\n those tiers of excellence led to burnout, resentment, and eventually job dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n In the past decade, I shifted my focus from meeting competency marks to exploring\n curiosity about the daily work. I began to ask, “What can I do to add more value to\n my everyday work?” I stopped asking for permissions, ran experiments, embraced boring\n (but important) tasks that no one wanted to do, and pursued new opportunities that\n I would have missed out on otherwise.<\/p>\n This lightning talk will discuss why it is important to seek curiosity in IT work,\n and how to find opportunities to elevate job satisfaction.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Authors:<\/strong><\/p> SUNY Empire, like many colleges and universities, has been faced with an ever-increasing\n number of cyber attacks. While the addition of multi-factor authentication to the\n login process has helped, it hasn’t been enough to fully stem the tide of attacks.\n While SUNY Empire met the 8-character minimum password requirement set by the SUNY\n system, we decided to go even further and move to a 14-character requirement. Implementing\n a campus-wide password change to a 14-character minimum required a strategic, phased\n approach to ensure security, compliance, and user adoption. SUNY Empire is also unique\n in that student accounts are never deleted \u2013 even after a student has graduated or\n stopped attending the university. This presents a unique challenge with respect to\n the password reset process while also maintaining account security moving forward.\n This session will outline the step-by-step process by which we deployed this new 14-character\n policy, from initial planning to full implementation. It will also cover the additional\n ways we protect and restrict student user accounts after they have left the university,\n with the hopes of balancing the needs of the campus community with the need to keep\n our systems secure from attack. Key topics include stakeholder engagement, technical\n enforcement, user communication, and phased rollout strategies. By sharing best practices\n and lessons learned, this session will provide a practical roadmap for institutions\n planning similar security enhancements.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> This paper presents a case study of DNS security implementation at Fukuoka University\n in Japan, where a multi-layered defense strategy has been adopted to enhance campus\n network resilience. The deployed measures include DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security\n Extensions), OP53B (Outbound Port 53 Blocking to prevent unauthorized name resolution\n paths), and DNS Firewall technology.<\/p>\n Among these, the DNS Firewall has demonstrated particularly significant practical\n effectiveness. By filtering DNS queries using threat intelligence feeds, it blocks\n access to known malicious and policy-violating domains before attacks progress further\n in the cyber kill chain. Multi-year operational statistics \u2013 including overall DNS\n query volume, block rates, and the number of unique source IP addresses associated\n with blocked traffic \u2013 provide a quantitative overview of DNS-related threats affecting\n a large academic network.<\/p>\n The results show that DNS-layer protection can substantially reduce exposure to external\n threats while maintaining usability, especially in environments with diverse unmanaged\n devices such as BYOD endpoints. This case study offers practical insights for higher\n education institutions seeking to enhance cybersecurity through DNS-based controls,\n demonstrating a replicable model for strengthening network defense with manageable\n operational overhead.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> What could a tabletop role-playing game like Dungeons & Dragons possibly have in common\n with IT in higher education? As it turns out, quite a lot! Both rely on strategic\n thinking, collaboration, adaptability, and a willingness to navigate the unknown.\n In both worlds, plans are made, risks are taken, and outcomes are shaped as much by\n teamwork as by chance. The roll of a die in D&D can determine whether a player achieves\n a \u201cnatural 20\u201d success or faces a \u201ccritical failure\u201d and in IT the same spectrum of\n outcomes plays out daily through system roll-outs, infrastructure challenges, and\n unexpected victories. What matters most isn\u2019t the roll itself, but how teams respond,\n adapt, and carry the story forward.<\/p>\n This interactive panel blends the storytelling spirit of D&D with the realities of\n higher education IT work, using shared language and game mechanics as metaphors for\n leadership, risk management, and resilience. Panelists will explore parallels such\n as Rolling for Initiative (setting team priorities), Nat 1s and Nat 20s (learning\n from both failures and successes), The Dungeon\/Game Master and IT Leadership (balancing\n structure with flexibility), and The Tavern Trope (how diverse teams come together\n to solve shared challenges).<\/p>\n Audience members will be invited to \u201croll for perspective\u201d on common IT scenarios,\n contributing their insights and experiences as part of the collective narrative. The\n session aims to spark meaningful reflection on how creativity, communication, and\n flexibility can strengthen IT culture and collaboration; reminding us that even when\n the dice don\u2019t roll our way, the story continues, and we have the power to shape what\n comes next.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> As higher education institutions increasingly integrate artificial intelligence (AI)-based\n solutions into teaching, learning, student services, and campus infrastructure, it\n is crucial to develop and integrate secure and trustworthy AI frameworks not only\n within each campus but also across multiple campuses for efficient and secure information\n sharing. We present our ongoing research at the Security, Optimization, and Learning\n for InterDependent Networks Laboratory (solid lab) on distributed and trustworthy\n machine learning algorithms tailored for cyber-physical environments. We explore three\n key advances based on our prior research: (1) a federated learning framework tailored\n towards resource-constrained edge devices to preserve local data privacy by eliminating\n raw data sharing1<\/sup><\/a>; (2) a secure blockchain layer that embeds adversarial-resilience into federated\n model updates2<\/sup><\/a>; and (3) an overview of our work on quantized homomorphic encryption with pruning\n for secure federated learning3<\/sup><\/a>. The advantages of these methods include, but are not limited to: reducing the computational\n burden of large-scale decision-making, protecting student and institutional data while\n facilitating collaborations, and enabling scalable deployment across campus devices\n and services. We will also share a framework to demonstrate how secure distributed\n learning can contribute to AI infrastructures within a university setting. We plan\n to provide the audience with actionable insights into how secure AI methods can be\n synergistically integrated into institutional IT operations to support evolving teaching,\n learning, and operational needs.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> We work in an industry that is highly routine and extremely cyclical. Along with this,\n our student employees come and go, sometimes too quickly. If we are lucky, we get\n them for all four years of their undergraduate experience but for some that may not\n be the case. For many, their work with us is their first job ever and their first\n taste at professional experience but do we ever know if we have done enough and provided\n them that necessary experience to propel them into the working world? Are we making\n an impact? Is there more we can do? Let\u2019s find out together. This presentation will\n be a virtual panel discussion with former student employees that worked for Technology\n Services at Whitman College from years past. The panel will discuss hard and soft\n skills that were learned on the job and how those skills and their work at the college\n has influenced and helped their current career paths. The panel would consist of 3-5\n virtual attendees and 1 in-person facilitator to keep the conversation going. The\n panel will be open to questions from audience members as well.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Access to reliable technology is essential across the entire campus community. Whether\n it\u2019s a student without a laptop, a faculty member facing a hardware failure before\n class, or a staff member awaiting a replacement device, loaner programs have become\n vital to sustaining continuity in teaching, research, and administrative work. This\n panel explores how institutions have built and evolved their loaner device programs\n to meet diverse needs, balancing short-term support with long-term sustainability.\n Panelists will discuss funding models, device lifecycle management, software provisioning,\n and accessibility considerations. They will also talk about inventory tracking, data\n security, and user experience. The conversation will highlight lessons learned from\n scaling during the pandemic, and how these programs now serve as essential components\n of digital equity and institutional resiliency. Attendees will leave with practical\n insights, creative approaches, and shared strategies for managing programs that ensure\n every member of the campus community has the tools they need to stay connected and\n productive.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n Authors:<\/strong><\/p> Success in higher education IT depends on far more than technical skill. It is equally\n shaped by the professional habits, expectations, and shared values that guide how\n individuals participate in the academic technology ecosystem. This lightning talk\n presents a concise yet meaningful framework for developing these habits through three\n simple principles, originally articulated by actor Tom Hanks which was bluntly given\n to him by his mentor, and director at the time, Dan Sullivan: \n \n \n
Turn Your Data into Dashboards<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Abstracts<\/h2>\n \n
A Configuration Manager to Intune Migration Journey: Taking learnings from SIGUCCS\n and putting them into action<\/a><\/h3>\n
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A Declaration of Relevance: Redefining the IT Role for the Age of AI<\/a><\/h3>\n
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A Grassroots Approach to Scaling Live Captions Across Campus<\/a><\/h3>\n
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A plan for the establishment of a new university department with a specialized course\n in cybersecurity and IT infrastructure operation.<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Building a Practice Classroom for Information Education to Foster New-Wave Talent\n -Providing Seamless Discussion Spaces-<\/a><\/h3>\n
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How are Institutions Using AI in Canvas LMS? A Targeted Review of Emerging Use Cases<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Design and Evaluation of an Automated Email-Based Inquiry Response System with Related\n FAQs to Promote User Self-Resolution<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Evolving Leadership: Cultivating Teams in a Tech-Driven World – Because true innovation\n begins with empowering the leaders of tomorrow.<\/a><\/h3>\n
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From Competency to Curiosity: Revolutionalizing IT Work<\/a><\/h3>\n
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OZONE-EDU and OZONE-PLUS: Educational Platforms Adapted to Diverse Missions and User\n Environments in Universities<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Password 101: Schooling Your Campus on 14-Character Passwords and Account Security<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Practical DNS Security for Higher Education: Lessons from DNS Firewall Deployment\n at Fukuoka University<\/a><\/h3>\n
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ROLL FOR INITIATIVE: Discussing the Parallels and Lessons Learned between IT and Tabletop\n Role-Playing Games<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Secure Distributed AI: Trustworthy Intelligence for Collaborative Campus Systems<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Student Employers: Your Work Matters.<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Supporting Students, Faculty, and Staff Through Loaner Device Programs – Bridging\n the Technology Gap<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Three Rules for Success: Simple Ideas with Surprising Impact<\/a><\/h3>\n
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