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The Olin Expo will be held from December 21-22. Expo will be a fun and enlightening chance for the entire Olin Community to see what Olin students have been doing this semester. The planning committee hopes that everyone will take advantage of this opportunity. The tentative schedule for presentations and poster sessions is as follows:
Tuesday (12/21)
10 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Poster and Presentation Sessions
2:00 – 5:00 p.m.: Poster and Presentation Sessions
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.: Performance by Olin Conductorless Orchestra; Reception
8:00 – ??? p.m.: Super top-secret activity (TBA)
Wednesday (12/22)
9:00 a.m. – noon: Poster and Presentation Sessions
Noon – 1:00 p.m.: Wrap-up and Awards Ceremony
Make your opinion count! Tell us what you think about the Olin website by completing the brief survey at: http://it.olin.edu/survey_web.cfm. Next semester a committee will make changes to the site based on these survey results.
Have you been to training on budget review or purchasing requisitions lately? If so, please review your email for a notice sent on December 13. The email contains an attached pdf document detailing the steps to download software required to run the new system. If you have questions regarding the documentation or have misplaced the email please contact helpdesk@olin.edu.
As we approach intersession, the IT Department would like to announce several exciting new services available to the general community and a few scheduled system maintenance and upgrades. The new service offerings include installation of Linux web servers, student mailbox quota upgrades, new campus SSH gateway, and an Outlook pilot program. The system upgrades, which will impact selective service offerings during intersession, will be performed on the voice system and network.
As always, please contact the IT Help Desk with any questions. Off hours and intersession emergency contact information will be posted on the IT web site. In the event that there is an unexpected system or service outage, please refer to that information, which will be posted shortly to http://it.olin.edu/.
On January 4, the Information Technology Staff will be involved in an off campus planning retreat for the entire day and will be unavailable except for emergencies. Emergency contact information will be distributed over the holiday break. Please contact Joanne Kossuth with any concerns.
If you're still searching for that perfect holiday gift you might consider Olin Gear. The Olin Gear website has been updated with several new items that make perfect gifts for friends and family members.
The College is currently seeking qualified candidates for several positions. Employees are reminded that HR is always happy to accept referrals.
The Weather Announcement document for 2004-05 provides information on College closing or delayed opening due to winter weather. Should it be necessary to close the College or delay the opening of the College, an announcement will be made on WBZ-TV channel 4, WCVB-TV channel 5, WHDH-TV channel 7, WBZ 1030 AM, WRKO 680 AM, and WBUR 90.9 FM. An announcement on cancellations or delays will be posted on the info line (781-292-2699) and an email will be sent to the entire community. If the College is closed, only essential employees will be available on campus. This includes Public Safety, Facilities Services, and Dining Services. The weather announcement document is located in the Human Resource folder on Blackboard.
A representative from TIAA-CREF will be here at Olin to conduct individual counseling sessions for all staff and faculty on Friday, January 28, 2005 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Please contact Susan Geist (1-800-842-2004) at TIAA-CREF to set up an appointment. The appointments, which will be held in Olin Center, room 321 are in 45 minute intervals.
Habitat for Humanity at Olin College would like to bring your attention to a holiday craft fair happening December 20-22 during lunchtime in the lobby of the dining hall. Habitat will be selling mainly student donated, matted, photographs as well as cards with photographs mounted on them. The proceeds will be going to support East Polk Co., FL Habitat affiliate and our Collegiate Challenge team on their way to a week long building event in Florida over spring break. The group is also selling t-shirts for $14 that can purchased at the craft fair or ordered through Lara Clark.
Dining Services has released their reduced hours of operation for the 2004-05 final exam period and intersession. The document listing all of this information can be found on Blackboard in the Dining Hall Services folder under the Olin In General button.
November 29-December 17, Public Safety will be sponsoring their annual Toys for Tots drive at Babson and Olin Colleges. Through the years the Office of Public Safety has been pleased with the response to this program and invites everyone to make the holidays special for a deserving child by dropping off a new, unwrapped toy in one of the collection bins located in the Olin Center or Campus Center.
Once again, Chief Jackson invites you to trade a ticket for a toy. If you received a parking ticket for a violation other than parking in a handicap space or a fire lane, between November 17 and December 17, the ticket will be voided when you present a new, unwrapped toy with a value of at least half of the parking fine. Please note that during this period, only one ticket per person, will be invalidated upon the donation of a toy.
Is there some question about the college you'd like answered? There are two ways you can send your questions about Olin College, or suggestions for improvement. You can e-mail questionbox@olin.edu, or write a note on forms provided and place them in the Question Box on the mezzanine level of the Olin Center. Someone will research the answer to your question, and a response will be e-mailed, or posted on the Question Box, within two weeks.
The Olin and Babson College students in Professor Bourne and Schiffman's Real-Time Case Study course recently took second place in an international pricing competition. This semester the students have been following the high-tech start-up company, DAFCA, to examine the challenges and opportunities facing the new company. Each week the class is given a case study about DAFCA and asked to evaluate the real-time problem and present potential solutions. DAFCA recently asked all of the participating colleges to determine a pricing structure for their product – a software tool that enables rapid debug and faster time-to-volume of complex System on a Chip (SoCs) circuits. In all there are 12 colleges in three countries participating in the real-time case study program, including many top-notch MBA programs. The Olin and Babson undergrad students placed second in the competition and earned a $500 prize, which they used to reward themselves with an end-of-semester dinner. The winning team was from Penn State's MBA program.
Olin's CIO, Joanne Kossuth, recently presented two sessions at the ACUTA (Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education) Forum on Strategic Leadership in Communications and Technology. The two sessions – Wireless LANs: Policy and Security Issues, and Wireless Data Issues – were part of an intense two-day program that brought together Presidents, Provosts, CIOs and other senior campus leaders to discuss strategies and solutions for planning and financing wireless technology on campus.
In the past several days Olin's own VP of Innovation and Research, Sherra Kerns, has traveled to Taganrog State University of Radio Engineering in Russia, University of Vermont's School of Engineering and Mathematics, and Arizona State University's East Campus.
Sherra recently returned from providing an accreditation recommendation on Taganrog State Univeristy, the first university in Russia to seek ABET “Substantial Equivalency” status. The school, which is in a remote section of Russia, graduates more than 7,000 students each year in electrical and computer engineering. Sherra was in Vermont speaking and co-leading a retreat on optimization of administrative structures for excellence in engineering education. Lastly, she delivered a commencement address at Arizona State University's East Campus. The University just announced plans to transform to a school of more than 8,000 students and focus campus initiatives on integration with technological education.
On December 13, Emily Tisei joined Olin College as the new coordinator of Campus Services for the Campus Services Group. Most recently she was the office manager for Community Service Care in Jamaica Plain. Emily is a graduate of UMASS Amherst and is currently completing her Masters Degree program in Dispute Resolution. At Olin she will be the liaison for Campus Services with the Olin and Babson College service groups, community members, and business associates. Emily's office is located in the Campus Center, suite 332. She can be reached at ext. 2313 or emily.tisei@olin.edu. Please join in welcoming Emily to the Olin Community.
Last week we asked
the occupation of F.W. Olin's father. Alex Epstein ('07) was the first to correctly answer that F.W. Olin's father was a builder of waterwheels, mills, and dams. Alex will be receiving Olin Gear for his correct response. Olin trivia buffs...
Q: Can you name another famous Olin?
A: First person to correctly respond to Jennifer Thomas receives a prize.
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