The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) is thrilled to announce that Bill Mehrz has been awarded the November DoIT Gritty Award! This recognition celebrates Bill's outstanding contributions to DoIT and the entire UMBC community, embodying the spirit of going above and beyond in his work.

Cybersecurity Awareness: Timely, Relevant, and Fun

Bill earned this well-deserved award through his truly exceptional planning and execution of this year's Cybersecurity Awareness activities. He designed an awareness campaign that was not only timely and relevant but also genuinely fun and engaging.

• He incorporated current, relevant threats into weekly awareness posts (available on the my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/itsecurity/posts group and the doit.umbc.edu/ homepage). Topics covered included Phishing scams, Duo Fraudulent Notifications, ClickFix scams, and banking scams.
• Bill made cyber awareness fun by organizing tabling events near the Commons to directly engage the student population. The in-person efforts included a catching fish game, Swedish fish treats, and cyber plastic cups.
• He also coordinated a Cybersecurity Trivia game for the monthly divisional all-staff meeting, co-hosted with Anna Plass, to test and reinforce the team's knowledge.

His efforts have dramatically increased cybersecurity awareness on campus, engaging his peers to become champions of awareness. A measurable result of this campaign is the dramatic increase in the reporting of phishing emails! DoIT staff will also remember his effective call to action to not enter passwords into Google Forms.

Professionalism Under Pressure

What makes Bill's achievement even more remarkable is that he accomplished all of this while simultaneously transitioning our semi-annual IT Cybersecurity control validations to OnSpring, a substantial effort in itself.

Furthermore, the extensive planning for the October campaign had to be meticulously detailed as Bill was anticipating the birth of his second child right before October began! His professionalism, detailed approach, and understanding of the importance of cybersecurity ensured seamless teamwork in selecting topics, gathering feedback, and coordinating the in-person activities despite the personal demands.

We are proud to present Bill Mehrz with the DoIT Gritty Award. Congratulations, Bill!

About the DoIT Gritty Award

The Gritty Award is in recognition of outstanding work within the Division and beyond. Full-time DoIT employees, DoIT student employees, and teams are eligible to be nominated for going above and beyond! Anyone in DoIT can nominate someone for the Gritty by completing this short Gritty Nomination Form. 

The DoIT Community & The DoIT Gritty Committee

Erica D'Eramo

Ada Crutchfield

Andrew Shebest

Anthony Finneran

Carlos McKinney

Daniel Loftus

Dave Souder

David Toothe

Debbie Michaels

Dondre Hatef

Josh Abrams

Khalil Alston

Matt Baker

Nick Beech

Peter Ariev

Today's 2025 Service Award Celebration is an opportunity to pause and take a moment to thank those award recipients for their service. In doing that, I wanted to thank everyone in DoIT for all you are doing for UMBC. I'm very honored to be the leader of DoIT, everyday I see the dedication, caring, and knowledge that you bring to your work and by extension to UMBC. The work you do in managing complex systems, securing critical data, and advancing digital accessibility is more than technical support; it directly powers higher education by fostering a dynamic, technologically-driven environment that is essential for a leading research university like UMBC. Thank you for your commitment to excellence and for being a vital force in our mission.

Please take a minute to congratulate your coworkers on the list below for their years of service to the USM and UMBC!

5 Years

Peter Ariev, Instructional Technology and Media

Ally Hepp, IT Administration

Melissa Manthorne, OIT Business Systems

10 Years

Helena Dahlen, IT Administration

Michael Fosu, OIT Infrastructure and Support

15 Years

Eric Ludy, OIT Business Systems

Jennifer Moser, OIT Business Systems

William Schneider, IT Administration

20 Years

Carlos E. McKinney, Telecommunications

Andrew Smith, Telecommunications

Ray Soellner, OIT Infrastructure and Support

James Sonnichsen, OIT Infrastructure and Support

25 Years

Vladimir Plotkin, OIT Infrastructure and Support

Christopher Sutherin, OIT Infrastructure and Support

30 Years

John Fritz, Instructional Technology and Media

Kevin D. Joseph, OIT Business Systems

Retirees

Lance Rand, OIT Business Systems

Automate routine tasks and increase efficiency using Microsoft's generative AI tool

If your day is spent navigating the Microsoft 365 suite, Microsoft Copilot is a valuable AI resource built using OpenAI's large language model. Thanks to UMBC's enterprise license, the basic features of Microsoft Copilot Chat are available to all users free of charge, with information you type protected for Level 1 data. Once again, data at level 1 is considered non-public information. 

Common Use: Automating Administrative Tasks Copilot integrates directly into your Microsoft 365 environment, making it a critical tool for boosting productivity and saving time on routine, high-volume tasks.

The Storyline: Productivity Multiplier 

• Email Management: A staff member drowning in emails and reports can instantly turn their day around with Copilot. Instead of reading a lengthy thread, they can ask Copilot in Outlook to: "Summarize this long email thread from the Dean's office and list all the outstanding action items".

• Data Analysis (Staff): In Excel, a staff member can ask Copilot to "Analyze the student performance data in this sheet and create a pivot table showing enrollment trends by department over the last three semesters".

Resources:

• Try Copilot: The free version of Microsoft Copilot Chat is accessible on the web at copilot.microsoft.com on Windows, macOS, and iPadOS, though it has some limits during peak business hours.

• Premium Option: For heavy integration into Word, Excel, Teams, or Outlook, the Microsoft Copilot Pro license is available for purchase (approximately $336 a year).

• Cloud Development: UMBC's cloud computing contract with Microsoft Azure (Open AI) provides advanced options for generative AI development.

• Copilot Success Kit

• UMBC Gen AI FAQ

• UMBC Copilot FAQ

Dear UMBC Community,

As we continue to rely on digital platforms for teaching, learning, and administrative functions, digital accessibility has been a core component of that commitment. UMBC has been dedicated to making our information technology and digital content accessible so that everyone has the opportunity to make use of the university's knowledge, ideas, and resources.

We are updating and expanding our digital accessibility initiatives to meet new federal requirements. On April 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) finalized a new rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), defining clear technical standards for digital accessibility to follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level A (minimum) and Level AA (enhanced) for images, sound, video, documents, and text. As content for courses, research, and the public is constantly created, this will be an ongoing effort requiring everyone to do their part for the benefit of others.

To support this ongoing effort, UMBC has launched the Digital Accessibility Steering Committee (DASC) led by vice presidents Tanyka Barber and Jack Suess. This group is charged with developing, tracking, and evolving our compliance efforts by focusing our resources on the efforts that can achieve the greatest impact.

The DASC has started meeting and will begin reaching out to campus departments and constituencies to communicate and seek feedback on our plans and efforts that are underway. This work affirms our university's deep and ongoing commitment to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community for all our members. Together, we can use this effort to create a more accessible digital environment that truly works for all members of our community.

Additional digital accessibility information and resources are available on both the UMBC Digital Accessibility website and the USM Digital Accessibility website.

Sincerely,

Manfred H. M. van Dulmen
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Tanyka M. Barber
Vice President for Institutional Equity and Chief Diversity Officer

Jack Suess
Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

To view the original post click this link: 
https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/announcements/posts/154649

Dear UMBC Community,

Effective December 12, 2025, you will no longer be able to create new Pre-Approvals in the Legacy Travel System. All new travel pre-approvals must be submitted in SAP Concur starting on this date.

We've seen strong adoption of Concur over the past several weeks, and many travelers are already benefiting from its modern interface, integrated booking tools, and faster, more accurate processing.

Planning Travel After Spring Break?

Please begin using SAP Concur now. We expect to fully retire the Legacy System before the end of the spring semester, and shifting early will help avoid delays.

Support & Training

All resources are available at travel.umbc.edu, including:

• Training for Travelers, Arrangers, and Approvers (in-person, virtual, and recorded sessions)

• Step-by-step How-To Guides

• Updated Interim Travel Policy and procedures

• FAQs and workflow charts

• Information on booking, discounts, and travel partners

Need Help?

SAP Concur provides 24/7 global support, including:

• Live chat

• Phone support

• Help & Learning Center

• In-system guidance

This support is available anytime, anywhere—especially helpful while traveling.

Business Services is also here to assist during normal business hours for UMBC-specific questions. Travel@umbc.edu

Warm regards,
UMBC Business Services

Repost from Travel's original post

Congratulations on making it this far in your academic career! You've put a lot of hard work into getting this far, and it's almost time to graduate, but before you move on to the next chapter of your career, make sure you take the next steps to ensure you keep any important records from UMBC!

Once you become an alumnus of UMBC, there will be changes to what services you can have access to, primarily Google Suite, Microsoft Suite, and Box. With Microsoft Suite and Box, your access to these services expires 30-90 days after graduation. This means any documents or files you had stored in OneDrive, Office 365, and Box will be deleted if they are not copied or moved to another storage device. 

To maintain access to your UMBC Google Suite, which includes your Google Drive and UMBC Gmail, you will need to sign into your myUMBC account at least once every 12 months.

Note: We strongly recommend that you migrate any important data and have your UMBC mail forwarded to a personal account.

• Storage: Your Google storage will be restricted to a total of 5GB os space. Please review the resources below to help cut down on you storage usage and assess what should stay on the UMBC cloud before your account is adjusted to the alumni quota limit

• Migration: For long-term accessibility and data security, please migrate any critical files a personal cloud or storage space

To see how much storage you're using, click here:

Check my Google Storage Usage

Below you will find many resources on how to cut down on cloud storage and manage your files going forward. 

Your Digital Transition: UMBC Alumni Tech Guide

Tips and Best Practices for Managing Your Cloud Storage

Take Control of Your Google Drive: A Guide to Freeing Up Space

Declutter Your Inbox: A Guide to Cleaning Up Your Email

Cloud Storage Quotas & Changes - UMBC FAQs   

Is it Magical Wizardry or is it DoIT?

It can be both! The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) and the Undergraduate Admissions & Orientation (UGAO) team collaborated to understand a problem and a solution. A solution that improved the experience for both staff and future UMBC Retrievers.

Working in university admissions means answering a constant flow of questions from prospective students. For years, UMBC's Undergraduate Admissions & Orientation team managed this tidal wave of calls and emails using a combination of two different systems: Google Sheets for call logs and a separate Request Tracker (RT) queue for emails. This approach created a fragmented picture of each student's journey, leading to frustration for both staff and students.

Imagine a prospective student calls with a question, and a few days later, emails with a follow-up. In the past, the staff member answering the email wouldn't have had any record of the previous phone call. This forced them to piece together the student's story from multiple sources, slowing down the process and creating a disjointed experience. It was clear there had to be a better way.

This is where a collaborative spirit and a little "magical wizardry" came in. A few members of the DoIT and the UGAO team realized that if they could connect these two systems, they could create a single, comprehensive view of every student interaction. They spent an afternoon figuring out how to connect the systems using an API, proving that the idea was possible. This initial proof of concept was followed by a year of hard work, development, and user testing by a dedicated team.

The result is a new, integrated system that automatically creates a Salesforce Case whenever an email or call comes in. This brings all student interactions—calls, emails, campus visits, application status—into one central location. For the student "Grit Guides" who answer calls, this means they can instantly see a student's full history, providing better, more efficient support.

The new system also gives UGAO a powerful new tool for managing their operations. They can now easily see call and email volumes, allowing them to staff their team more effectively and balance workloads. This shift from two separate systems to a single, unified one is more than just a tech upgrade; it's a commitment to a better user experience for both staff and students. It's a testament to the power of partnership, proving that when DoIT and campus partners work together, they can solve seemingly complex problems and make a real difference.