The Office of Information Technology Keeps NYMC Connected
The Office Is Responsible For Tending To The College’s Wide-Ranging Technology-Related Needs
The Office of Information Technology (IT) serves as the heart of all technology related services at New York Medical College (NYMC), from technical support to ensuring the security of the College’s internet-based data. The office also manages audio and visual services on campus, facilitating seamless support when members of the NYMC campus community need it. James Curran, director of IT and services, provided a closer look at the office daily responsibilities.
What are the responsibilities of the Office?
IT encompasses a large spectrum of services that support our students, faculty and staff including help desk services such as setting up wireless connections for laptops, and installation and maintenance of NYMC owned computers; and audio-visual services, facilitated by educational media technicians who assist with live-streaming and recording of campus events, web conference hosting and presentation consultations. We also offer programming services, cloud/software services and we are responsible for maintaining the security of the College’s IT infrastructure. IT has an important role in developing solutions to problems or developing improved processes by using different technologies.
How would you describe the day-to-day functions of the Office?
Working in IT is fast paced, managing many variables throughout the day, from handling login access issues to designing new cloud data storage solutions. Each morning IT starts the day with an all-hands meeting. During these meetings, we discuss what each of us is working on, process improvements, trends and other projects. These meetings start our day focused and aligned with the College's priorities.
What is the most-asked question from faculty or staff about the Office?
One of the most asked questions we identified from our ticketing system was, "how to unsubscribe from Listserv communications?” We have since improved the unsubscribe functionality from Listserv with cloud-driven automation developed within our team; however, there are Listservs that are mandatory and cannot be unsubscribed from. Within our ticketing system, we can leverage data and turn it into information to better serve our community.
What do you find most interesting or most rewarding about working in the Office?
The most rewarding aspect of working within IT is the relationships we build across all departments. Technology plays an integral role among them all, and it’s rewarding working with each department as their advocate when selecting or improving technology services. Building these relationships is based on trust and ingenuity and we’ll continue to strengthen these department-to-department relationships collectively.
What is one useful tip you can give for IT users?
We live in an era of fast-paced communications that has many benefits, but also present potential risks. We all should be on the lookout and alert for fraudulent traps. These IT security concerns could be phishing emails or simple USB drive “gifts” that could have malware embedded. Whenever something doesn’t seem right, please bring it to IT’s attention so we can validate any suspicions. IT is always available to help all our students, faculty and staff. Please contact us at (914) 594-2000 or helpdesk@nymc.edu, and we'll be glad to assist.