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Friends,
As another academic year draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the achievements and support that the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) has provided our vibrant campus community this year. We understand the critical role technology plays in your academic success, and we continuously strive to ensure you have the resources and support you need to thrive. Highlights from the 2024-25 academic year include:
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14M
pageviews on the DoIT website
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248
student workers in DoIT
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3,450
registrants for DoIT workshops
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*Numbers represent this past academic year, August 1, 2024 through May 13, 2025. View last year’s stats on the DoIT website.
Gratitude for our Graduating DoIT Student Workers
Let us extend a huge round of applause for our incredible graduating seniors! As they embark on their exciting next chapters, we at DoIT want to express our sincere gratitude to the 62 graduating seniors who have been instrumental in supporting our department this past year. They've played a vital role in end user support, classroom technology, software development, and their contributions have made a significant difference across DoIT and how we serve the University community. We are incredibly proud of all they’ve accomplished, and we wish them all continued success in their future endeavors. We have no doubt they'll achieve great things! Congratulations, graduates!
Special shout out to our Spring IT Award recipients: Irina Tsagareishvili, Serena Cheng, Eric He, and Nathalia Pappas.
DoIT Plans for the Summer and What to Expect This Fall
Student Experience:
- A digital Storyboarding Studio is under development in the Melville Library on the first floor, adjacent to the Tech Lounge.This includes a high-end multimedia ideation space for students.
- Students who are seeking internships in Information Systems (ISE 488) or general EXP+ credit are encouraged to attend the on-campus job fair this Fall.
Classroom Upgrades:
- 4 mid-tier sized classrooms (over 50 seats) are scheduled to get a full technology refresh, including a new teaching lectern, new control interface, digital infrastructure, and hybrid teaching capabilities
- 1 lecture hall (over 100 seats) will receive the same refresh at larger scale
- 1 lecture hall (over 100 seats) will get partial updates to bring it closer to lecture hall standard, which includes multiple display devices
- The replacement of 50 classroom PCs will begin
- Refreshed, over-the-counter wireless collaboration devices will be deployed into service for daily loan
You can receive more information on these projects later this summer via Classroom Technology updates, and reserve equipment for Fall in our self-service equipment portal.
Building on the Strategic Vision: This year we continued our progression from unveiling DoIT's Strategic Vision, to creating a Digital Governance Framework 1.0, to now establishing cross-campus committees that will work to finalize the way our Digital Governance policies and practices take shape at Stony Brook. We're proud to say that The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) exists to advance the mission of the University by fostering engagement, collaborative innovation, and digital inclusion. We believe this statement encapsulates our commitment to supporting the University's goals through technology. Similarly, we will sunset our previous core values, and going forward, DoIT’s core values will be Partnership, Innovation, Equity (PIE). These values will be reflected through our work in ways that will help amplify our impact on the University.
Important Projects:
- SOLAR Update: A project is underway to modernize and stabilize Campus Solutions (CS) and enhance the SOLAR user experience. This initiative involves upgrading CS and implementing a more accessible, modern interface. Overseeing this two-phase project is a Steering Committee with representation from across the University. Phase One will focus on stabilizing CS through an upgrade to PeopleTools 8.61, with testing already in progress and a launch anticipated at the end of September 2025.
- Digital Backpack Project: We continue to make progress on the project, which in collaboration with the SUNY Digital Transformation Project (DTP), aims to improve student access to digital resources. Our efforts are centered on modernizing the current virtual SINC site environment to make it more efficient and user-friendly, ensuring students can seamlessly engage with the software they need. We are excited about the advancements underway and look forward to sharing more detailed updates on our progress soon.
- Service Catalog Updates: We are continuously working to improve our Service Catalog to provide you with a clear and comprehensive overview of the IT services available to the campus community. This includes new website filters to find services even faster and enhanced Wolfie chat to ensure relevant service information is available for quick answers to any questions you may have.
- AI Tool Updates: The landscape of Artificial Intelligence is rapidly evolving, and we are committed to exploring and leveraging these technologies to benefit the University. In collaboration with our key partners such as CELT and SCEdIT, we have evaluated, piloted and deployed various AI tools, including Google's latest models (Gemini), Microsoft Copilot, and others with select test groups. We will keep you informed of relevant developments and potential opportunities to evaluate for their use in teaching, research, and administrative functions.
- Experience IT: This Spring, we celebrate 12 years of providing internships to students on campus. Every Fall and Spring semester, DoIT sponsors ~30-80 students, providing experiential learning opportunities to develop not only their technical skills but also leadership, communication, customer services and other career competencies. This program helps us develop student leaders that assist in various areas on campus including service desk, field support, networking, systems, and digital literacy workshops.
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In my perspective, the projects and initiatives mentioned above are undoubtedly the result of the partnerships that DoIT has forged with the campus community to enable innovation to support teaching, learning, research, scholarship, creative pursuits and operational efficiencies. My leadership team and I appreciate your ongoing support and look forward to further strengthening our existing partnerships in ways to amplify our culture of digital equity in the upcoming academic year.
Sincerely,
Simeon Ananou, D.Ed.
Vice President for Information Technology & Chief Information Officer
Stony Brook University
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