The SANS security organization distributes a monthly security awareness newsletter, called "OUCH!". The May issue (PDF) explores how to create strong passwords using passphrases and the best ways to protect them. In short: Avoid using simple passwords, like the name of your pet, or your birthday or anniversary date. Instead, create a long password that's very, very difficult to guess by using a passphrase.

A passphrase is just a string of words, such as time for my coffee. At the U of M, we recommend a few tips to choose a strong password, such as:

• At least 8 characters in length
• Contain both upper and lowercase alphabetic characters (e.g. A-Z, a-z)
• Have at least one numerical characters (e.g. 0-9)
• Have at least one special character (e.g. ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) - _ + =)

Using those guidelines, a stronger passphrase might be Time f0r my coffee!.

SANS shares 7 recommendations for good password management:

1. Use different passwords for different accounts.
2. Never share your password with anyone else.
3. Don't use public computers to login to sensitive accounts (like your bank).
4. Be careful of websites that ask you to answer personal questions. These are used to help you recover your password if you forget it, but often the answers can be found on your Facebook page or via Google, so others can probably guess the answers too.
5. If you have the option of 2-factor authentication (such as M-Key), use it.
6. Close or disable accounts when you no longer need them.

Others recommend that your passphrase be a series of unrelated words. A passphrase like correct horse battery staple is extremely hard to guess, but fairly easy to memorize.

From the article:

Yes, the RIO does vary based on several factors. One variable is location. Fortunately, Morris is in a great "zone" for both wind and biomass. If you go much further West into the Dakotas, you get better wind but less bio. To the East, you find more bio at the tradeoff of less wind. Here in Morris, we have the best of both: good wind, and good bio. You may know that our biomass plant is fueled by local sources (for example, corn).

The Campus Technology article recommends a few other cost-effective energy projects that may not generate green energy, but certainly can help save energy:

Retrofitting buildings

Replacing lightbulbs, repairs on HVAC systems, etc. The ROI can be less than a year in some cases, but generally within three or four years.

Watch your data center

With its racks of juice-sucking computer servers, it's a prime candidate for conservation measures. While new university data centers are usually energy efficient, the same cannot be said for their predecessors. Where possible, install energy monitors to understand where you are consuming the most energy. Any talk of a data center upgrade, though, should also contemplate outsourcing the entire operation to the cloud.

Look to green power

Many utilities nationwide offer one or more green power options, allowing customers to specify where their electricity comes from. The biggest benefit of renewables like solar and wind is that universities can enter into long-term deals that hedge against future price hikes.

Green Revolving Funds

An innovative way for colleges and universities to finance green infrastructure projects is through green revolving funds. As the name implies, a GRF is a pot of money set aside to finance energy-saving initiatives. The savings replenish the fund, enabling it to finance more projects.

Plan for the future

To those people who aren't doing anything, it's time to do it. We may see some sort of carbon tax within five years. "When the carbon tax comes, you'll be really sorry you didn't do energy-conservation measures years ago."

From the article, Gleeson's four leadership values are:

1. Never throw anyone under the bus. As a leader, redirect praise to your team members and protect them from criticism. If you need to talk to a team member about a misstep, do it behind closed doors.
2. Never leave anyone behind. Instill in your team the belief that every person on the team is as important as the next. Include everyone in the celebration of success. And don't blame any one person for a failure. The next time you have a business success, publicly thank people in lower-level support roles for their contributions to the team.
3. Try to be as candid as possible with your employees, and never lie to them. Loyalty is built on trust. If your people don't believe you're being forthcoming with them, they won't trust you to have their backs. Schedule a meeting to discuss the big picture of the business. Let any member of your team ask any question, and answer honestly.
4. Give employees your unconditional support. Don't turn your back on them if they mess up. Help them figure it out, and be as loyal during the bad times as during the good. Pull aside someone who has had a bad day and give that person ten minutes of your time. Make it clear that he or she still fits into the future of your company.

We are pleased to announce that a more robust and user-friendly survey tool, Qualtrics, is now available enterprise-wide to University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff. The University has licensed Qualtrics, a web-based survey tool, to replace UMSurvey, which--near its end-of-life--will be decommissioned August 2, 2013.

Some of the features Qualtrics provides include:

• Secure authentication using a UMN Internet ID
• Ease of use with point-and-click survey building
• Advanced capabilities, including unique survey questions, branching, piping, and trigger-based responses
• A collaboration feature which enables multiple users to work synchronously on shared surveys and data
• Ability to download data into Excel or SPSS with the full syntax retained
• Help and support provided by Qualtrics, including live training

To learn more, set up an account, and get access to training, visit the Survey Connection website.

Note to Current UMSurvey Users - In order to retain previous survey questions and/or data collected in UMSurvey, you must export and save your data as a CSV file before August 2, 2013. Instructions for how to export your data are available on the UMSurvey website.

Note to Current Qualtrics Account Holders - We are aware that some University affiliates have existing Qualtrics accounts that were not purchased through a University license. In order to avoid complications and retain access to existing surveys, please contact Qualtrics directly and ask to have your accounts migrated. Email support@qualtrics.com or call 800-340-9194.

For those with existing Qualtrics accounts purchased through a University license, no action is required at this time. Your account will be migrated at a later date.

We are excited to make Qualtrics available to the University! If you have questions related to the transition, email survey@umn.edu. All requests for help can be directed to Qualtrics support.

Note: Nancy Helsper is creating a UMM Qualtrics user group as a Google group for the Morris campus to share knowledge about this new tool. If you want to sign up for this group, you can search for "umm-qualtrics-users" in Google Groups and "join", or contact Nancy and she will have you placed in the group.

Let's start with the "future" timeline mentioned earlier this week:

2013
The student loan industry collapses. Across the country, students revolt against the high cost of education, looking for online education for free, paying only for the assessment. (We are seeing this today.)

Apple buys Amazon, merging Kindle ebooks and iTunesU that becomes a new online education platform. In response, Google buys Khan Academy and Udacity to become a huge presence in international online training and education.

2018
Badges replace degrees as the preferred method to represent skill and mastery of concepts.

2019
Residential colleges and universities become a destination only for the super-rich.

2020
People have access to a huge breadth and depth of education, available online.

The trends here suggest a larger emphasis on online education (ebooks & iTunesU, and Khan & Udacity) and a shift in focus towards demonstration of mastery in specific subject areas (badges) vs the traditional degree.

Compare that to the predictions suggested in the "future" view that I shared a year ago. The general trends from that article:

• Online education becomes more prevalent.
• Economies of scale compress the number of schools to a few within each specialty. Higher education will be dominated by a few huge incumbents.
• Professors become course developers, selected for teaching instead of research. The decline of tenure.
• The end of universities as research centers. The economics of graduate school change substantially.
• Shift to a "credential" system. As credentials become valuable, cheating will be a problem. Test-taking may shift to proctored test centers.

By looking at the trends predicted in both sources, you can see where they overlap: as online education becomes the new norm, the higher ed model changes. The traditional institutional model shifts, but remains. Students demonstrate mastery in specific subject areas, rather than completing a degree.

Maybe we won't see this by 2020 … but possibly 2030, when today's university students become hiring managers. Today's generation may not place the same value on degrees if they expect to find classes online, either through straight-up "distance education" or via MOOCs. By 2030, future hiring managers may accept "badges" and certificates in place of traditional degrees. In a way, industry already looks for demonstrated mastery in specific subject areas—for example, when hiring consultants. How long until this is extended to new staff? And that's when the "badge" system might become a viable new reality.

2009
The invention of the Khan Academy begins to educate the world through low-tech educational tutorials that de-emphasizes administration. Videos are available through YouTube for free. Students demonstrate mastery to move on to the next phase.

2011
Mozilla's "open badges" project recognizes skills and achievements, where students can express mastery in different skills through badges instead of degrees. Also, 2011 sees the introduction of a massively open online course ("MOOC"), in Artificial Intelligence, which turns the classroom system upside down. The instructor teaches via prerecorded content, but outside this "classroom," students learn from other students. 23,000 students pass the course, many with perfect scores.

2012
The year everything "began." Udacity is formed to offer online computer science courses, all for free. Udacity's model is to use world class talent from world class companies, with an inverted funding model. Also, MITx begins to offer online courses, and TED announces TEDed. The era of the MOOCs begins.

2013
The student loan industry collapses. Across the country, students revolt against the high cost of education, looking for online education for free, paying only for the assessment. (We are seeing this today.)

Apple buys Amazon, merging Kindle ebooks and iTunesU that becomes a new online education platform. In response, Google buys Khan Academy and Udacity to become a huge presence in international online training and education.

2018
Badges replace degrees as the preferred method to represent skill and mastery of concepts.

2019
Residential colleges and universities become a destination only for the super-rich.

2020
People have access to a huge breadth and depth of education, available online.

Is this likely? I don't know. I foresee many of the same trends, but I don't share the same conviction of some of their conclusions. And I doubt this will occur by 2020. Maybe by 2030, when today's university students become hiring managers ... today's generation may not place the same value on degrees if they expect to find classes online, either through straight-up "distance education" or via MOOCs. By that time, future hiring managers may accept "badges" and certificates in place of traditional degrees. But we'll have to wait to see.

The article, by Jerome P. DeSanto, says interviews and focus groups with female CIOs reveal that the answer to this question is not obvious:

Some posit that, in the early days of the CIO in the 1980s, the information technology field was dominated by engineer-types, many of whom were graduates of computing science or electrical engineering programs. These individuals were largely males who were banded together in common professional and personal interests making it difficult for females to participate.

Others would argue this phenomenon is merely reflective of the low proportion of female senior executives in higher education. On most campuses, the CIO role has risen in prominence as a senior administrator due to its perceived strategic importance. So, it is logical that the proportion of female CIOs would track with other senior management positions where males have dominated.

Finally, some have suggested, many females are simply not interested in the role, due to the work's nature and content. The function may fundamentally not appeal to many females who may see the level of politics and diplomacy at senior levels of the administration as undesirable.

So I interpret this to mean there are three possible reasons women may be discouraged from becoming CIOs:

1. Cultural - IT organizations were initially dominated by men, and established a culture that made it difficult for women to be successful.
2. Statistics - The article suggests that there just aren't very many women at the executive level in higher ed, so it would follow that there aren't many women entering the CIO role.
3. Interest - The role of CIO may not be appealing to women, who may see the politics required at senior levels as undesirable.

I am not familiar with the research, so I can't make a strong case for any of these three. However, my personal opinion is that Cultural plays a very strong role here. What are your thoughts?

Our campus website lists several noteworthy "upcoming events," but this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. Instead, you could visit the events calendar and click through each event type to find something that interests you. But let's be honest; no one is going to do that.

To answer the question of "What can I do on campus?" we created a new Morris mobile events "web app." Visit the Morris mobile events site on your smartphone or other mobile device to see what's happening now and what's coming up over the next day or so. The events are displayed in a timeline similar to a Twitter feed. You can think of it as "tweets from the future."

Morris mobile events: m.morris.umn.edu

The Morris mobile events web app currently shows the weather, events, sports, and news. Over time, we expect to add more information about what's happening on campus.

• 3D + Animation
• Audio
• Business
• Design
• Developer
• Photography
• Video
• Web

To access the online courses, just log in to lynda.umn.edu using your University username and password.

Lynda.com's online library is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and contains thousands of video tutorials. Organized by subject software and instructor, Lynda.com's content is constantly growing, and is updated weekly—and sometimes daily. You can attend just the training you want and need, when and where you want it.

There's even a free iPhone/iPad app to enable users to learn on-the-go. Simply click on the Web Portal Access and type umn.edu. You will be directed to log in with your University username and password.

More information about Lynda.com, and other University online and in-person training opportunities, is available on the University technology training website.

Current faculty, staff, and students should continue to use the "UofM" and "UofM Secure" wireless networks.

eduroam (education roaming) is a secure, worldwide roaming wireless network partnership developed for the international research and education community. Through our partnership with the Office of Information Technology, eduroam is now available for University faculty, researchers, staff and students on the Morris, Twin Cities, and Rochester campuses. Coverage for the Duluth and Crookston is still being researched.

eduroam allows members from participating institutions to obtain Internet connectivity when visiting other participating institutions. For example, if you visit another university that also supports eduroam, you can connect to that institution's wireless network using your U of M login credentials. Secure network access at participating institutions worldwide is as easy as configuring your computer to use eduroam for wireless network access when traveling.

Once configured, eduroam securely connects your computer to the campus wireless network automatically using advanced wireless technology and security. Once your computer or mobile device is set up, you won't have to login to the wireless each day, and your system will log you into the network automatically, based on those secure configurations. Look for "eduroam" in your list of available wireless networks on your computer or mobile device when you visit other universities.

You can log in to eduroam using your Internet ID and domain (your full email address, such as ___@umn.edu, or ___@morris.umn.edu) and password. Any device that supports 802.1X wireless capabilities can connect.

When connecting to eduroam at a participating university, your access will be treated as a member of the institution are visiting, and you should expect to receive the level of service offered by that institution. Be aware that when you log in with your U of M credentials at another institution, that you are not accessing the U of M network, and you may not be able to access some applications as you would when using our local network. You may need to use the VPN (Virtual Private Network) to access all of the U of M network and applications.

eduroam partners include hundreds of universities, including a majority of the CIC universities, and research institutions worldwide. Click the links below to view maps of eduroam locations worldwide:

• Eduroam-Asia-Pacific
• Eduroam-CA
• Eduroam-Europe
• Eduroam-US

If you plan to travel to another university that uses eduroam, we encourage you to set up eduroam before leaving our campus to verify that you have everything set up correctly. You also are encouraged to use the eduroam network for all wireless needs, both on the U of M home campus, as well as other eduroam locations. You should contact the service desk of your home campus for support with problems or other issues when using eduroam at another institution.

You can find additional information, including setup information, at OIT's wireless setup guide.

For more information on eduroam including coverage maps, visit https://www.eduroam.org/ or https://www.eduroam.us/

I won't comment on Dartmouth's move, but I will draw a parallel to a discussion from a CIC TechForum from years ago, probably around 2000 or 2001. In that TechForum, a presenter addressed the issue of "owning" the interface between student and university. Speaking to the then-new trend to "outsource" development of web systems such as registration and admissions, the presenter highlighted his disapproval for outsourcing by asking, "Can you imagine what it would be like if we outsourced our bookstores to Amazon?"

I thought that would be great!

Not all outsourcing is bad. And in the hypothetical case of Amazon, I thought that would be a huge improvement for university bookstores. Remember that circa 2000, most university bookstores were in-person only. If you wanted to buy course materials, you visited in person, picked out your textbooks, notebooks, pens, … whatever. You didn't have the option of buying online. Only a few had experimented with online ordering (although this is common today).

I imagined an online "Amazon-U" bookstore where students could buy their course textbooks online, and have them delivered directly to their dorm room or campus apartment. And next to each textbook, you might have a list of other, related resources. "Students who bought this text book also bought…" might show study guides, Cliffs Notes, or textbooks from related courses. For example, a physics textbook might link to a statistics textbook. Or a novel (such as for a literature class) might link to the movie adaptation on DVD.

Just like Amazon's regular online bookstore, students could rate the textbooks and leave comments. "This textbook was good, but also buy the study guide that goes with it" or similar comments could help other students make the best decisions in buying their course materials.

I still think outsourcing to Amazon or a similar private reseller would have been a good idea. But 2000 was too early for privatization. Higher ed just wasn't ready for outsourcing. As the Dartmouth article mentions, in 2013, campus bookstores are one of the few in public higher education still run by universities. In recent years, higher ed has slowly begun to outsource "commodity" services such as email, areas where a university cannot really add new "value" to the service. How can we improve on the email experience, when Google and other provides already do it so well, and at lower cost?

The bookstore is one area that I believe will see increased privatization over the next decade. I don't believe it will move quickly, however. But eventually, I predict this will become much more common.