Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Annual Report
Information Services
& Technology
Pepperdine University, Malibu, California
Brian Aasen Travis Padgett
J.J. Akilu Jackie Paicius
Chiconia Anderson Dennis Papenhausen
Terence Anderson Kevin Phan
Thor Anderson
Dianne Asis Contributors Carter Quinn
John Quinn
James Ballacchino Hector Ramirez
Felix Baronikian INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIVISION EMPLOYEES Alan Regan
Tom Bashara (August 2009 - December 2010) Novita Rogers
Tim Bodden Timothy Rogers
Scott Bolan Erik Rush
Brian Bowen Rita Schnepp
John C. Buckingham Jonathan See
Matthew Bush Brian Fujitani Henry Lai Prakash Sharma
Ross Canning Danna Gianforte Luis Lara Bronson Somerville
Kim Cary Mark Giglione Ernie Lauer Ronn Stinson
Omar Cayasso John Gladwin Tom Layman Vixay Suphasiri
Jennifer Cha Canon Hamlin Toney Lewis Robert Telmar
Lotte Cherin Jose Juan Hernandez Shu Chi Liou Cesar Uribe
Lance Coert Dave Holden David Lockett John Vannoy
Anthony Cortez Dana Hoover Christopher Low Martin Vazquez
Ted de Guzman Jerry Hoover Michael Lucas Micheal Waitley
Ory De La Rosa Thomas Hoover Dustin Luck Ronit Weiss
Rebekah Dillingham John Horton JoAnn McNayr Lisa Welch
Jason Eggleston Joel Howard Rene Mendez Michael Weng
Sara Fernandez Peter Kain Joe Munoz Lynn White
Sean Fife Zorinan Kasilag Ken Noone Karen Whitney
John Figueroa Hong Kha Raphael Norton
Gerard Flynn Ryan Kim Marc Olano
Dr. Timothy M. Chester
Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer
Our faculty, students, and staff continue to be very successful in leveraging our technology services across the
University. In this annual report, we share with you some of their stories.
Through engagement with our faculty and One of the more exciting changes occurring
students, we now have a new Learning in 2010 was an extensive integration of
Management System (LMS) that is better Information Technology and the Office of
suited to the needs of the University Institutional Effectiveness. Combining these
community. Working with our colleagues in resources has delineated key performance
financial aid, we were able to foresee the indicators that are now being proactively
need to change our funding model for disseminated among key decision-makers at
students, and we established a new service Pepperdine University. We are just now
that has greater efficiency and reliability. beginning to scratch the surface of what is
possible in this area. These are just some of
Through a partnership with the Center for the stories covered within this report.
Human Resources, we introduced new
opportunities for training and professional Above all, our staff remains our most
development, available to all employees. valuable resource. The successes outlined in
Lastly, we implemented a new this report would not have been possible
communications platform, replacing our without the professionalism, dedication, and
aging telephone system with a Unified hard work of our partners throughout the
Dr. Timothy Chester Communications infrastructure that more University.
fully supports voice, video, and Web
In 2010, Information Technology continued conferencing.
to deliver both new and innovative services
to the Pepperdine community.
Implementing the Federal Direct Lending Program
Enterprise Information Systems staff member Novita Rogers and Seaver College Associate Director of Loan
Programs Vickee Killian partnered with Pepperdine colleagues to implement the Federal Direct Lending program.
Due to the recent instability in the United Together, Rogers and the financial aid staff
States financial markets, a number of members collaborated to address how
private lenders stopped participating in the these loan data should successfully transmit
Stafford and PLUS federal loan programs between software systems at Pepperdine
that provided Pepperdine University and the Department of Education.
students with financial aid options.
By the time Congress passed the Health
At Pepperdine, this change in the financial Care and Education Reconciliation Act of
loan market did not go unnoticed. Thanks 2010, requiring all schools to use Direct
to active discussions held by the Lending by July 1, 2010, Pepperdine
University’s financial aid offices and University was already successfully awarding
University administration, Pepperdine began students financial aid with this program.
to address this challenge early.
“The University’s transition to Direct
In January 2010, a decision was made to Lending was very smooth,” said Killian, “The
adopt the Federal Direct Lending program other financial aid directors and I worked
at Pepperdine. This program provides low- closely with EIS staff Novita Rogers and
interest educational loans for students and John Horton to address any and all
parents where the lender is the U.S. technical and process challenges associated Novita Rogers and Vickee Killian
Department of Education rather than a with this transition. This level of
private bank or lending institution. collaboration was a critical component in
ensuring the program's successful launch that Pepperdine students who choose to
Due to this change in process, Vickee and implementation at Pepperdine.” use federal education loans as part of their
Killian, associate director of loan programs, financing solution will continue to be able
financial assistance, and enrollment From a student and staff perspective, the to borrow low-cost loans," said Killian.
management at Seaver College, and her financial aid process is more streamlined.
financial aid colleagues worked quickly to Killian noted that students receive their To learn more about the Direct Lending
establish and learn new policies and disbursements much faster than in previous program at Pepperdine, visit the
procedures. As part of the Enterprise years, and because there is only one lender, University's website at http://
Information Systems (EIS) group, Novita the process is the same for every student. www.pepperdine.edu/admission/
Rogers lead the implementation of the financialaid/.
Direct Lending component in PeopleSoft "The most significant value this program
and coordinated training sessions for staff. brings to the University is that it ensures
Researching a new Learning Platform at Pepperdine
The Technology and Learning
group partnered with faculty to
research learning management
systems, pilot test a new platform
called Sakai, and ultimately adopt
Sakai as the University’s official
learning management system.
Based on the results of the LMS study, in July 2010 a decision was made to
adopt Sakai as the University’s official learning management system. A
press release was posted
on the University’s website
“Sakai is better than at http://
www.pepperdine.edu/pr/
Blackboard in the way releases/2010/september/
that it allows students sakai-adopted-by-
pepperdine.htm
to share information.” All faculty and staff were
- A Seaver College Faculty Member
notified of the decision to
adopt Sakai via email.
Faculty members were also
encouraged to attend workshops to learn how to use the new learning
management system, renamed “Courses” at Pepperdine.
“Sakai is better than Blackboard in the way that it allows students to share
information,” said a Seaver College faculty member. “My favorite thing
about Sakai is the ease of grading discussion posts. I can click through the
threads and grade as I go rather than having to read the thread first and
then go to each student to grade them.”
To learn more about Courses, visit the Technology and Learning website at
http://services.pepperdine.edu/techlearn/movetocourses.htm.
Photo Class Rosters for Faculty
Information Technology staff partnered with Seaver faculty to implement a module inside WaveNet and
Courses that allows faculty to put a face with a name when former students reach out.
As the years progress, students come and go The same module also allows faculty to view
from the Pepperdine campuses, however their photographs of new students before their
faces are never forgotten. A recent addition to course begins. Faculty can learn the names of
the WaveNet portal now makes remembering new students quickly and conveniently from
students even easier. their office or home.
"Students who graduated years ago often ask To learn more about photo class rosters, visit
me for letters of recommendation," said a the IT website at: http://
Seaver College faculty member. "Now I can services.pepperdine.edu/it/wavenet/
just look the students up." news.htm#photo
Online Technology Training for University Community
Human Resources and Information Technology teamed up to offer the Lynda.com Online Training Library service
to Pepperdine University faculty and staff.
The Lynda.com Online Training Library offers over 900 online courses
for various software applications ranging from Microsoft Office to
Adobe Photoshop, keeping faculty and staff members proficient in
important software applications.
The Lynda.com service fills a gap in the training services offered by the
University. While classroom training continues to exist for PeopleSoft
applications and technology and learning tools, it was not enough to
meet the general needs of the University community.
"In an economic climate where training budgets are being cut or in some
cases eliminated, I was thrilled with Pepperdine's commitment to adopt
Lynda.com," stated Sheryl Kelo, assistant dean for administration at the
School of Public Policy. "The convenience of anytime and anywhere training
has been crucial for the public policy staff who have varying work and
recruitment travel schedules. In addition, the extensive library of training
modules provided something for every skill level and job function."
Faculty and staff members can now train in applications on their own time
and engage in multiple training sessions for each application to ensure
proficiency.
Since February, 177 unique faculty and staff users signed up for a two-week
license to engage with Lynda.com's offerings. Almost 60 percent of these
177 users requested additional training periods.
Learn more about the Lynda.com Online Training Library by visiting the IT
website at: http://services.pepperdine.edu/it/tools/lynda/default.htm
CommonApp System Implemented for Seaver College
Cindy Morgan and Lauren Broussard, Seaver College Admission staff, reached out to application developer Sean Fife to
integrate CommonApp, an online system that simplifies the undergraduate application process.
Working closely with Cindy Morgan and Lauren Broussard in the Seaver Fife, Morgan, and Broussard collaborated to address the complexities
Admission Office, Enterprise Information Systems’ staff member Sean Fife involved in integrating CommonApp Online with existing University
developed a plan to integrate CommonApp Online, a system that allows systems such as Nolij, the document management system, and PeopleSoft,
applicants to complete and submit a universal application to multiple the data management system.
schools via one environment.
By January 2010, the system was tested and ready and applicants began to
Most colleges and universities have a slightly different undergraduate submit their admission materials to Pepperdine using the CommonApp
application process causing applicants to take time to learn each system Online system.
and submit a variety of required documents.
"Integrating CommonApp
Using CommonApp Online, applicants seeking admission to Pepperdine
are now afforded a more streamlined process that does not require
Online with our current
systems was a challenge, Application files and
additional time spent on a Pepperdine-specific application. but Sean understood our
needs and processes and
supporting documents
worked with us to make it
a success," said Cindy
are now processed
Morgan, associate director twice as fast.”
for admission and - Cindy Morgan
enrollment management
for Seaver College.
Morgan noted that the new system also increased productivity for
Admission staff. “Application files and supporting documents are now
processed twice as fast and students are emailed pertinent information
within two days of submitting their application," said Morgan, "The constant
communication between Admission staff and prospective students helps to
create a favorable impression of Pepperdine.”
"We have all these data, however we didn't have a systematic way
to extract or display these data so that they could be readily
accessed or used by University administration,” said Dr. Timothy
Chester, vice provost and chief information officer. “The work
produced as a result of this relationship is key to facilitating more
evidence-based decision-making at the University."
Utilizing the multi-dimensional database (a.k.a. “Cube”) reporting, the team put their heads
together to address end user data visibility and accessibility. Over 120 key performance
indicators were created, including tables to show graduation and retention data for all schools
annually, dating back to 2003.
Lastly, the team developed a new OIE website to serve the University community. A document
repository with customized permissions was integrated into the website, allowing OIE to share
information with select groups of individuals. In addition, the team created interactive graphs
and tables to show enrollment data for all schools.
Using these new procedures and systems, this team played an important role in producing over
50 data tables for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation reaffirmation Banowsky Boulevard, Malibu Campus
visit in fall 2010.
To learn more about the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, visit their website at http://
services.pepperdine.edu/oie/.