Board of Trustees approves $30M bond issue for SIS and NextGen network upgrade projects

January 23, 2009
By Sean O'Malley

The Board of Trustees has approved the issuance of up to $30 million in bonds to fund the university's implementation of a new Student Information System (SIS) and a next generation network upgrade.

"This is a transformational investment for the university," said trustee C. Daniel DeLawder during Friday's vote.

OIT will use a portion of the funds to replace an aging SIS that pre-dates the Internet.  The replacement system will use Oracle's PeopleSoft application to provide the sorts of self-service interactions that Internet users have come to expect.  The rest of the funding will go toward building a next generation network that will prepare the university to meet the demands of advanced online academic and research services, says chief information officer Brice Bible.  

According to Bible, OIT will keep an eye on project costs while at the same time moving forward quickly.   "We are ready to hit the ground running," says Bible. 

This story was edited on January 24, 2009.