News Archive

Blackboard Learn Downtime Scheduled, May 16-17

IT Services will perform scheduled Blackboard Learn maintenance from 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 16, to 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 17.

Maintenance to Affect Blackboard, Other Apps, May 13

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance from 6 to 7 a.m., Sunday, May 13.

Student Technology Center Open House, May 4

Students are invited to relax, enjoy refreshments, and check out the new Student Technology Center on Dead Day, May 4, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Brief Interruption to Network During Maintenance, April 29

IT Services will perform an upgrade to the wireless network during scheduled maintenance from 6 to 7 a.m., Sunday, April 29.

Mac Users Vulnerable to Flashback Virus

Several Mac computers on the University of Arkansas campus were affected by malicious software known as Flashback that has infected over 600,000 Macs worldwide.

Brief Interruption to Network During Maintenance, April 22

IT Services will perform an upgrade to the wireless network during scheduled maintenance from midnight to 1 a.m., Sunday, April 22.

Students Can Now Opt Into UARK Gmail

IT Services announces phase-one of the Google email rollout and encourages students to move to UARK Gmail by opting in at http://email.uark.edu/optin.

New Phishing Scam Spoofs UARK Login

The most recent phishing scam to strike University of Arkansas users includes a link impersonating UA Mail.

Student Technology Center Relocation

The Student Technology Center will be temporarily relocated to the Arkansas Union General Access Computing Lab (GACL) beginning Tuesday, April 10.

Maintenance to Affect Blackboard Learn and ISIS, April 7

IT Services will perform planned, emergency maintenance from 8 to 9 a.m., Saturday, April 7.

University Web Presence Affected by Maintenance, April 7

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance on the Cavern web server from 9 to 10 a.m., Saturday, April 7.

Blackboard Learn Show and Tell for Faculty

IT Services is hosting Blackboard Learn Show and Tell demonstrations on alternate days from 2 to 4 p.m., April through May, in the Faculty Technology Center Training Room.

Blackboard Mobile App Now Available

IT Services announces the release of Blackboard Mobile Learn, a free mobile app that gives students full access to course information directly from their smartphone.

Changes to On-Campus Wireless Access

Following a change to the UA Secure wireless network on campus, users may receive a security certificate warning.

Emergency Network Maintenance Planned April 1

IT Services will perform planned, emergency maintenance on the campus network from 8 am to noon, Sunday, April 1.

MATLAB Software Presentations, April 5

IT Services is hosting two MATLAB seminars by MathWorks representatives on Thursday, April 5.

Network Maintenance to Affect Internet Access, March 25

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance on the campus network from 6 to 8 a.m., Sunday, March 25.

Listserv Scheduled Maintenance, March 21

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance on the Listserv mailing list server from 5 to 7 p.m., March 21.

Remote Desktop Users Required to Connect Using VPN

To access Remote Desktop from off campus, users must first establish a VPN connection at http://vpn.uark.edu/.

Microsoft Lync Communication Software for Faculty and Staff

Microsoft Lync, a communication tool that integrates with other Microsoft products, is available to faculty and staff through campus-wide licensing.

Google Mail for Students in 2012

IT Services announces the adoption of Google Gmail as the new official student email. UARK Gmail offers a 25 GB quota, student access to Google Apps, and a familiar interface.

Network Upgrades in Individual Buildings

The IT Services Network Engineering Team is performing scheduled maintenance to expand wireless coverage in several buildings and replace outdated network switches.

Cavern Web Server Maintenance, March 3

IT Services will perform planned, scheduled maintenance on the Cavern web server from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Saturday, March 3.

New Faculty and Staff to Receive Exchange Accounts

Beginning March 1, 2012, a Microsoft Exchange account will be created for each new employee automatically as part of the UARK account activation process.

UARK Jabber Unavailable during Planned Maintenance

IT Services will perform planned maintenance on the UARK Jabber chat server from 8 to 9 a.m., Saturday, February 25.

UARK WordPress Unavailable during Maintenance Wednesday

IT Services will perform planned maintenance on the UARK WordPress server from 1 to 2 p.m., Wednesday, February 22.

Blackboard and Other Apps Affected during Maintenance

IT Services will perform planned maintenance on Saturday, February 11, from 8 to 10 a.m. During the maintenance, Blackboard, Jabber, and Razorvault, will be unavailable.

Email Server Maintenance to Affect UA Mail and XpressMail

IT Services will perform planned maintenance on the email server from 8 to 9 a.m., Saturday, February 11.

Statistical Software Site Licenses Available

IT Services offers statistical software site licenses for faculty, staff, and students.

Maintenance to Affect VLab and VRE Users

IT Services will perform planned maintenance from 5:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 1.

Phishing Scam Advertises Fake University News Forum

Earlier today, several users received an email appearing to come from the university containing a malicious link.

BASIS and webBASIS Unavailable, January 28

BASIS, webBASIS, and related applications will be unavailable during maintenance from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, January 28.

Zimmerman, Leader of IT Services, to Retire

Robert E. Zimmerman, associate vice chancellor for information technology services at the University of Arkansas, will retire June 30, after 25 years with the university.

New Official Email Announced for Faculty and Staff

IT Services announces Microsoft Exchange as the new official university integrated email and calendaring system for faculty and staff.

Tech Partners: New Official Email Announced for Faculty and Staff

IT Services announces Microsoft Exchange as the new official university integrated email and calendaring system for faculty and staff.

Change to Help Desk Hours of Operation

Effective Monday, January 23, the IT Services Help Desk, located in the Administrative Services Building, will close at 5 p.m.

Tech Resolutions for the New Year

IT Services wishes you a Happy New Year with these suggested resolutions to help you secure your year ahead.

Comp Web Server Maintenance, January 14

IT Services will perform planned maintenance to upgrade software on the Comp web server from 9 to 10 a.m., January 14.

Changes to Email Infrastructure May Affect Users

On Wednesday, January 11 at 9 a.m., IT Services will implement a change to simplify and improve the efficiency of UARK email traffic.

Network Maintenance to Affect Campus Buildings, January 15

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance to update software on a network switch on Sunday, January 15, from 8 to 8:30 a.m.

Comp Server Unavailable Today, 5 to 6 p.m.

IT Services will perform critical maintenance, from 5 to 6 p.m. today, to restore Comp to full capacity by replacing a failed system board.

Preview of Blackboard Collaborate 11, January 11

The next preview is Wednesday, January 11, from 3:30 to 4:20 p.m. in the Gibson Annex training room.

Maintenance to Affect UA Mail, Blackboard, and University Websites

IT Services will perform planned maintenance on Saturday, January 7, from 8 a.m. to noon, to install new storage network infrastructure.

Blackboard Learn Maintenance, December 22

Blackboard Learn will be unavailable during planned maintenance from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday, December 22.

IT Services Alert Calendar

The IT Services Alert Calendar provides up-to-date information on scheduled and emergency outages that affect a variety of systems, such as Blackboard, BASIS, campus network, etc.

Echo360 Maintenance, December 19 through 21

Planned maintenance on the Echo360 server will be performed by IT Services from 10 a.m., Monday, December 19, to 6 p.m., Wednesday, December 21.

Listserv Maintenance Tonight at 5 p.m.

Planned maintenance on the Listserv management software will be performed by IT Services tonight at 5 p.m.

BASIS and webBASIS Unavailable, December 18

BASIS, webBASIS, and related applications will be unavailable during maintenance from 8 a.m. to noon, Sunday, December 18.

VLab and Other Apps Affected during Planned Maintenance

VLab, the Virtual Reporting Environment, and ISYS VDI services will be unavailable during scheduled network maintenance Friday, December 9, from 4 to 5 p.m.

Clicker Training for Faculty, December 15

IT Services will host clicker training with Stephen Sheely from Turning Technologies on December 15.

Subscribe to Important Technology News

Subscription options and more information on user-selected topics are available at its.uark.edu/news_subscribe.

One Hour Blackboard Outage Planned, December 2, 3 a.m.

During the scheduled maintenance, Blackboard will be unavailable for about an hour.

MyDocs Unavailable Thursday and Friday

MyDocs will be unavailable from 9 p.m. Thursday, November 24, to 9 p.m., Friday, November 25.

Partial Network Outage Scheduled

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance to a network switch on Sunday, November 20 from 8 to 8:30 a.m.

Phishing Scams Reported Tuesday

A recent phishing attempt targeted hundreds of university users early Tuesday morning.

University Mail Server Unavailable 5:30 to 6 p.m.

IT Services will perform emergency maintenance on the university mail server from 5:30 to 6 p.m., Thursday, November 17.

Employee Photo Submission for Exchange Services

IT Services announces that faculty and staff can now submit photos to appear with their user information.

New Clicker Listserv Announced

IT Services announces a new mailing list featuring news and discussion for faculty and students using clickers.

New Phishing Scam: Protect Your Account Information

This week, UARK users reported two malicious phishing attempts from sources claiming to be from the University of Arkansas posing as technical support.

Preview of Blackboard Collaborate 11, November 7

The next preview is Monday, November 7, from 3:30 to 4:20 p.m. in the Gibson Annex training room.

Real World Safety in the Virtual World

On the last week of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the IT Services Security Team reminds you that today's Internet is big business.

Stay Safe with Software Updates and Backups

Software vulnerabilities can only wreak havoc when users fail to install updates that address such vulnerabilities.

JMP Research Software Workshop, November 9

IT Services will host a free on-campus workshop about JMP and JMP Genomics from noon to 4:30 p.m., November 9, in the Food Sciences building room D2.

Don’t Get Spooked by Phishing Scams

As the third week of National Cyber Security Awareness Month begins, the IT Services Security Team reminds users to be vigilant about recognizing and avoiding phishing scams.

New IP Version 6 Network and Web Presence

The University of Arkansas proudly announces the university's implementation of the latest networking technology.

SharePoint Sites Restored

IT Services has nearly completed the restoration of SharePoint sites affected by a recent failed update.

Securing the Human: Upgrade Your Human OS

During the second week of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the IT Services Security Team reminds users that a computer is only secure as the human who operates it.

Blackboard Learn Solutions Recommended

Some users have reported web browser problems when using Blackboard Learn.

Password Security Tips for National Cyber Security Awareness Month

The IT Services Security Team stresses the importance of using secure passwords.

Preview of Blackboard Collaborate 11, October 5

The next preview is scheduled for Wednesday, October 5, from 3:30 to 4:20 p.m. in the Gibson Annex training room.

IT Services Requests Users Limit SharePoint Activity

As a precaution, users are asked to keep SharePoint site activity, such as uploading, editing, or moving content, to a minimum until further notice.

IT Services Working to Resolve SharePoint Issues

Users reported problems accessing SharePoint sites and content after an update applied to the SharePoint server failed over the weekend.

BASIS Unavailable during Maintenance, October 2

BASIS, webBASIS, and related applications will be unavailable from 8 a.m. to noon, Sunday, October 2.

Clicker Training from Turning Technologies, September 29 and 30

IT Services will host faculty clicker training with Stephen Sheely from Turning Technologies on September 29 and 30.

Talbert Malone Retirement Reception

IT Services invites colleagues to say farewell and enjoy refreshments from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Administrative Services Building room 240.

Gizmo Server Briefly Unavailable Saturday, September 17

The Gizmo file storage server will be unavailable from 12:05 to 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 17.

JMP Research Software Workshop, November 2011

IT Services will host several experts for a free two-day on-campus workshop about JMP and JMP Genomics. JMP and JMP Genomics are analytical software tools from SAS.

Preview of Blackboard Collaborate 11, September 19

During the fall 2011 semester, the Faculty Technology Center is offering free previews of the new Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate).

BASIS and webBASIS Unavailable Saturday, August 27

BASIS, webBASIS, and related applications will be unavailable on Saturday, August 27, from 6 a.m. to noon due to scheduled maintenance to upgrade the Administrative Mainframe.

Faculty Technology Center to Host Echo360 Demo, August 26, 2011

The IT Services Faculty Technology Center (formerly the MultiMedia Resource Center) will host an Echo360 demonstration on Friday, August 26.

IT Services Data Center Infrastructure Nearly in Place for High Performance Computing

The development of infrastructure to support new supercomputers in the IT Services Data Center is nearing completion.

Statistical Software Purchasing for Students, Faculty, Staff

Annual site licenses for statistical software are available to students, faculty, and staff.

SAS Briefly Unavailable Saturday, August 20

Access to SAS analytics software on the Comp server will be unavailable from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 20.

Presentation on Improving Learning Outcomes, September 7

A presentation on the topic "Today's Learner" by Dr. Mark Taylor is scheduled for 3 to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 7, in the Arkansas Union room 503.

New Phishing Scams Requesting Funds Overseas

IT Services has received reports of new phishing email scams appearing to come from a person whose name is familiar to the community.

Blackboard Learn Unavailable, August 18

Blackboard Learn will be unavailable from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on August 18, while IT Services performs maintenance to upgrade the learning management system.

Blackboard Down during Scheduled Power Outage, August 2 and 3

Access to Blackboard Learn will be unavailable from 10 p.m. on Tuesday, August 2, until 6 a.m. on Wednesday, August 3, due to an important and scheduled power outage.

University Websites Down during Planned Maintenance, July 30

Due to maintenance, the university web presence, including departmental websites on www.uark.edu, will be unavailable from 9 to 9:15 a.m.

Scheduled Power Outage to Cause Disruption August 2 and 3

IT Services and Facilities Management announce an upcoming controlled power outage that will interrupt access to a wide range of computer systems and applications.

UA Mail Planned Maintenance, Saturday

IT Services will perform software upgrades on the UA Mail system on Saturday, July 23, from 9:30 to 11 a.m.

Limited Network Outage Scheduled for Sunday

IT Services will perform scheduled hardware maintenance on Sunday, July 24, from 8 a.m. to noon.

Student Response Clicker Training

Workshops to familiarize faculty with the new student response clicker system are scheduled for Tuesday, August 2nd.

Limited Network Outage Scheduled for Sunday, July 17

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance on the campus network on Sunday, July 17, from 8 a.m. to noon to upgrade hardware.

One-on-One Consultation with Instructional Designers

This summer, IT Services and Global Campus instructional designers will offer one-on-one consultation sessions with faculty at the MultiMedia Resource Center in the Gibson Annex.

Free Blackboard Learn Training Ends August 18

Blackboard Learn and related applications workshops are scheduled until August 18 at a variety of times to provide faculty with multiple opportunities to participate.

Wire Transfer Email Warning

In the last few days, university email accounts have received messages referring to wire fund transfers or similar subjects. These messages are spam and should be ignored.

Blackboard Unavailable Morning of July 6 from 1 to 3 a.m.

Blackboard will be unavailable from 1 to 3 a.m. on Wednesday, July 6, for scheduled maintenance.

Dan Puckett Retirement Reception

After 40 years of service to the university, Dan Puckett of Information Technology Services will officially retire on Friday, July 8, 2011.

Faculty Channel Assignments for New Clicker System

In preparation for the fall semester and to prevent interference between classrooms using the clickers, each participating faculty member will be assigned a unique channel.

Potential Network Interruption, June 19

IT Services will perform hardware upgrades to the campus network from 7:30 a.m. to noon, Sunday, June 19, during a scheduled maintenance period.

UA Mail Outage during Maintenance

UA Mail will be unavailable on Saturday, June 11 from 8 to 10 a.m. as IT Services performs planned maintenance on a primary authentication server.

Elluminate Web Conferencing Demonstration Recording Available

Those who were unable to attend can view a recording of the demonstration online.

Systems Maintenance May 21

IT Services will perform scheduled maintenance that will affect several systems on Saturday, May 21, from 8 a.m. to noon.

Elluminate Web Conferencing Demonstration, May 19

IT Services will present "Administrative Uses of Elluminate," on Thursday, May 19, from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Arkansas Union, room 504.

Major Software and Hardware Upgrades to UA Mail

IT Services will perform major upgrades to UA Mail at 5 p.m. on May 16, 2011, in continuing efforts to improve the user email experience.

Intermittent Blackboard Outages

Some users experienced intermittent problems accessing Blackboard over the weekend and early Monday morning.

New Student Technology Center Planned for Arkansas Union

Plans for the new Student Technology Center, scheduled to open next fall, will be presented May 3, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Arkansas Union.

Clicker Buyback Program at the University Bookstore

Turning Technologies is conducting a program for students to trade their used, non-Turning Technologies clickers for a $10 buyback.

Turning Technologies Clicker Training, April 28

Workshops to familiarize faculty with the new Turning Technologies university clicker standard are scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 10 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 5 p.m.

Elluminate Demonstration Recording Available

IT Services presented an Elluminate web conferencing demonstration, "Academic Uses of Elluminate within Blackboard," for faculty.

Free MathWorks Seminar on MATLAB and Simulink

On Thursday, April 14, IT Services will host a two-part MathWorks seminar presented by Will Campbell, a MathWorks Senior Application Engineer.

University of Arkansas Students Compared in National Survey

In 2010, the University of Arkansas participated in the Educause Center for Applied Research Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology.

Mathematica Seminar, April 8

IT Services will host a Mathematica seminar on Friday, April 8, from 10 a.m. to noon in Mullins Library room 104.

Online Services Down during Today's Power Outage

Please review this morning's updated release for minor changes to affected systems.

Equipment Checkouts Unavailable During Mullins Outage

From Friday, March 18 at 4 p.m. to Wednesday, March 23 at 7 a.m., no equipment can be checked out or returned at the STC or the Mullins Library and Arkansas Union GACLs

New Phishing Scam Spoofs System Administrator

The University of Arkansas was recently targeted by a new phishing scam. Several users have reported getting a message with the subject "MESSAGE FROM SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR."

Servers and Systems Online After Power Outage

University employees worked through Friday night and Saturday morning to restore power following a major failure.

TechTalk Brown Bag, March 8, 2011

This month's TechTalk Brown Bag will be held on Tuesday, March 8, in the Arkansas Union room 308, from noon until 1 p.m.

University Continues to Restore Online Services

On Saturday afternoon, the university web presence, BASIS, UA Mail, Xpress Mail, Listservs, and SQL services were restored. Exchange is also available.

AT&T Smartphone User Block Lifted

IT Services lifted a block placed on some AT&T smartphone users. The block was put in place to respond to an attack on university computing resources last week.

Educause West/Southwest Online Conference

The IT Services MultiMedia Resource Center (MMRC) is hosting the Educause West/Southwest Online Conference in the Gibson Annex from February 22 through 24.

Turning Technologies Classroom Clicker Faculty Workshops

Faculty workshops to familiarize faculty with the new university clicker standard are scheduled for Monday, February 21.

XpressMail Restored as E-mail Alternative

In response to reports of UA Mail speed and performance problems, IT Services has restored XpressMail (mail.uark.edu) as an alternative to access UARK e-mail services.

TechTalk Brown Bag, February 8, 2011

To foster campus-wide collaboration and communication about varied technology issues, IT Services hosts a monthly TechTalk Brown Bag.

Union Computer Lab to Close at Midnight

The General Access Computing Lab (GACL) in the Arkansas Union will close at midnight due to inclement weather.

XpressMail Address Book Help Available this Week

IT Services Training is hosting a workshop to help users export XpressMail address books in preparation for the retirement of XpressMail on Thursday.

Campus-wide Classroom Response Clicker System Chosen

Working together and based on feedback from participating faculty, IT Services and the Teaching and Faculty Support Center selected the Turning Technologies classroom response

New E-mail Scam Targets University Users

The most recent phishing scam to hit the university tells users they must provide their usernames, passwords, and phone numbers via e-mail in order to avoid losing their accounts.

New IT Services Websites Released

IT Services announced the launch of two new websites on Monday, January 10.

Cavern Server Maintenance, Saturday, January 8

Services on the Cavern server will be down for maintenance from 8 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 8.

Winter Break Hours for Computer Labs and Student Technology Center

The J.B. Hunt Building and Northwest Quad General Access Computing Labs (GACLs) will be closed starting Thursday, December 16, and will reopen on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

XpressMail will be Retired, Thursday, January 27

Because XpressMail is no longer supported by the vendor, IT Services will retire it effective Thursday, January 27, 2011.

Virtual Lab Gives Users Access to GACL Software

Students, faculty, and staff can now access the General Access Computing Lab (GACL) software directly from their own computer by logging into VLab.

iPads Available for Checkout at Mullins Library

Students, faculty, and staff at the university are now able to check out iPads from Mullins Library.

SAS Day, November 12, 2010

SAS Day, a special event hosted by IT Services and Walton College of Business, is an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to learn about SAS tools

IT TRAINING: Schedule for November 1-4, 2010

Monday, November 1, 2010: Word–Working with Long Documents, 9 a.m., ADSB 154