Jonathan Bull Joins IT Help Desk Team

Jonathan BullThe name Jonathan Bull may sound familiar. Jonathan has been part of the Help Desk student team for the past four years. After his completing his Religious Studies degree in May, Jonathan’s time as a student worker was over. We hated to say goodbye to this wonderful student. Luckily, he felt the same.

Jonathan had once considered attending SMU as Music Performance Major. He had played Bassoon in both middle and high school. Upon his acceptance to SMU, he found Religious Studies to be his path. To prepare for his transition away from SMU, Jonathan spent the winter break working as a server at a local steakhouse. Being a shy introvert, he found the experience a bit strange. Yet, providing great customer service in that high paced environment was very similar to working at the Help Desk.

In August, Jonathan accepted a full time position as part of our Help Desk team. He is excited to continue to provide support to the campus. When asked about the new position, Jonathan commented, “To help so many people in so many different ways – the job is never boring.” With the hundreds of tickets Jonathan processed in the past couple of weeks, he is definitely not in danger of getting bored anytime soon.

In his free time, Jonathan enjoys playing with his Xbox One and spending time with his fiance.

SMU Mobile App: It’s SMU in the palm of your hand

Update: OIT is winding down its SMU Mobile app for iPhone and Android. On February 12, 2018, SMU Mobile will no longer appear in app stores and will stop working after February 28, 2018.

SMU Mobile App

SMU is releasing its first official mobile application, SMU Mobile. This new app puts SMU in the palm of your hand. As a student, you can easily access variety of information about the university, including maps, news, grades, and even the course catalog.

Find what is available for lunch in Dining. In Events, find what is currently going on near you, as all of the events from the SMU Calendar are in the app (and we’re bringing in more SMU Calendar users!). Find an event you are excited about, you can bookmark it for later or even share it to your social media account. With Social, the latest updates from SMU’s Facebook feed are available without leaving the app.

For your academic needs, not only do you have the ability to view the course catalog, but you can even view classes and grades within the app. Once you have logged into the My Courses section with your SMU ID and password, you will have access to your course listing and grades. Look for more features to be added to My Courses in the future.

The SMU Mobile application was developed as a collaboration between the Office of Public Affairs and the Office of Information Technology with assistance from the SMU Student Senate. The team will continue to refine and add new features to SMU Mobile. In the coming months, features such as YouTube and Instagram integration will be added. If you have suggestions or feature requests for the SMU Mobile App, please contact the Student Senate Committee or email mobile@smu.edu.

SMU Mobile App is available as a free download on iOS and Android. For all other devices, visit mobile.smu.edu.

Download on the App Store    Get it on Google Play

Requirements:

  • The iOS version requires iOS 6.0 or later.
  • The Android version requires Android 2.3.3 and up.

Internet Explorer Patch (08/21/2015)

Microsoft has released an out of band update for Internet Explorer to address a vulnerability that could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using IE. As a result, all SMU client Windows workstations will be patched this Friday August 21st at 12pm.

Windows Update: RestartDue to the severity of the vulnerability, the patch will be approved for distribution via WSUS and LanDesk. Once the patch is applied, users will be prompted to reboot (either a LanDesk prompt or a Microsoft Windows prompt). Please reboot following the installation of the patch.

Verizon Customer Connection Issues

We are receiving reports of Verizon ISP (FiOS, DSL) customers having issues connecting to SMU resources (those currently being reported are: Blackboard, webmail.smu.edu, and my.smu.edu).

The OIT Networking Team has worked SMU community members affected by the issue and with our ISP to confirm this is an issue with Verizon. If you are experiencing connection issues, please open a ticket with Verizon Tech Support at 1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966).

We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Tech Agents Available at Move-In

Tech Agents

Students, OIT will have Tech Agents roaming the halls during Move-In to assist with getting you connected. Are you having problems with setting up your email? How about getting connected to the wireless? Need to register your devices, or even setting up the channels on your TV? The Tech Agents will be happy to help.

Look for the OIT staff in the red Tech Agents shirts. If you cannot find one, please feel free to contact the Help Desk at 214-768-HELP and we will get one dispatched to your room.

Tech Agents will be available on Wednesday (08/19) and Saturday (08/22) from 12pm – 6pm.