CLAS IT

Computer lab

OUR SERVICES

CLAS IT provides technical assistance and computer support to faculty and staff members in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The team can be reached at clas-it-group@pdx.edu

For requests for service, please email:

WHAT WE DO

  • Provide general information about the PSU computing environment
  • New computer/printer specification and configuration of supported hardware
  • Coordinate computer replacement for CLAS computer assets
  • Computer lab and instrument integration and consultation
  • Functional software assessment, procurement, and implementation
  • Escalated and complex system troubleshooting
  • Department computer lab hardware/software management
  • Hardware warranty replacement/repair logistics for supported hardware
  • Liaison for research share quota and access
  • Liaison with outside IT vendors
  • Windows share access group management
  • G-Suite consultation and issue resolution
  • Provide security expertise to departments
  • Provide secure machines that have been properly prepared and then air-gapped for storing highly sensitive data securely
  • Provide support for older instrument machines that cannot be replaced by the vendor
  • Supply desktop computer power cords, keyboards, mice

WHAT WE DON'T DO

  • Purchase computer hardware or software
  • Password resets
  • Quota increases for H, I drive departmental shares
  • Custom programming
  • Student hiring and staffing for departmental computer labs
  • Discipline-specific in-application support
  • Server procurement, implementation or maintenance
  • Network (wired or wireless) or telephone installation or maintenance
  • Supply ethernet cables
    Professor sitting at desk

    IT Checklist for New Employees

    Use our checklist to make sure you have your accounts, phone and computer set up.


    Jump to:

    FREE VS. FEE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES

    IT services that may have associated fees generally meet one or more of these criteria:

    • A resource is consumed in providing the activity or service (Example: Printing uses paper and ink or toner)
    • There is scarcity and high demand for the item being used (Example: Loaner laptop computers and projectors)
    • Outside labor or high-level expertise is required to provide the service (Example: Installing new network ports uses outside contractors).

    Some of the services and products that departments should expect to pay for include:

    • Computing Services: Server maintenance for private servers, new network or phone installation
    • Information Systems: Custom classes, workshops, and programming on IS systems
    • A/V Services: Loaner equipment, custom A/V services, workshops, technology classroom use
    • User Services: Maintenance of private computing labs, license fees for software and media

    Classrooms and equipment used for credit-bearing courses have no associated fees.

    PERSONAL WEB SPACE

    PSU offers space on its web servers to students, faculty, and staff. The default space allotment for your personal web space is 500MB. Personal web space is most often used by faculty to host a curriculum vitae (CV) or course information that is inappropriate for Canvas.

    You can view your personal web space on the internet at web.pdx.edu/~username (where "username" is replaced by your Odin username). Your homepage must be called "index.html" and be inside the folder called "public_html" in your UNIX/web folder. This is the page that visitors to your site will arrive at first.

    MAPPING PERSONAL WEB SPACE AS A DRIVE LETTER

    The name of the network file share for the Unix server that hosts personal web pages is: "smb.oit.pdx.edu" and the share path name is that followed by the separator for whichever operating system you're using.

    • Mac: smb://smb.oit.pdx.edu/~username
    • PC: \\smb.oit.pdx.edu\~username

    SHARED GRADUATE COMPUTING WORKSPACES

    For shared graduate lab spaces that span multiple PI groups in a department, CLAS IT can set them up as spaces where they manage the computers collectively and update their software as a unit. Some examples include the Speech Lab in UCB 435, the Chemistry Tutor Room in SB1 221, and the Geography Graduate Lab in CH 435. They have specialized, discipline-specific licensed software, and either CLAS IT or OIT manage them.

    To get a lab like this set up, departments should contact CLAS IT for a consultation to find the best way to meet their needs.

    COMPUTER REPLACEMENT PRACTICE

    Supported equipment used as the primary computer by faculty or staff may be eligible for replacement by the College when that equipment is five or more years old. The process is as follows:

    • User completes the replacement form selecting Affiliation: Academic Affairs -> CLAS
    • CLAS IT determines if the old computer is eligible for replacement
    • If a standard desktop or laptop (Mac or Windows) is requested, the College will provide it
    • If an enhanced system is determined to be necessary, the department purchases a supported machine using G01 index and ship it to the Chemistry stockroom attn CLAS IT
    • When the computer arrives, CLAS IT images it for PSU use, transfers data, etc
    • The user returns the old computer to CLAS IT (never to OIT)
    • The department JV's the standard unit equivalent from the CLAS index fund we provide

    If the department decides to keep the old computer, then it is not considered a desktop replacement and no funds are transferred from the Dean's Office to the department.