Morning announcements:
Suzie Johannes

Welcome:
KU CIO Mary Walsh

Keynote:

The Power to Choose: Our Power Over Our Decisions
Dr. Cheryl Cooper

Dr Cheryl Cooper’s keynote on the “The Power to Choose: Our Power Over Our Decisions” is a memorable talk that explores the unjust racial and gender bias in corporate America. It fills the growing desire for education and awareness that has sparked an increase in sales of books addressing these discriminatory issues in the United States.

Although Dr. Cheryl Cooper uses a moving memoir to speak to her journey, its message is not much unlike the work of the historian Robert H. Zieger, whose work charted the struggle of Black workers to gain employment rights in both the workplace and through labor movements. Dr. Cooper openly addresses the barriers to opportunities faced by African Americans…barriers that surfaced following the Civil War and continue now in a globalized nation. The story opens with the heart-wrenching recognition of a 5-year-old Black child who looks and feels different and, as such, begins to think differently. Her passion grows in the recognition that the fight for women of color and marginalized groups equal pay must address race and gender biases that erode the woman’s dreams and the ability to thrive.

It evolves with a touching portrayal of black feminist thought…an aspiring Black woman who chooses to advocate for a unique group that exists within our society. It is where we find the intersectional processes of ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation that shapes the future of young women through their individual and collective consciousness, self-confidence, and actions. As her talk unfolds, Dr. Cooper is open and vulnerable about her struggles, fears, and the disappointments of a troubled life—and her ultimate response to them. Education and advocacy came in the form of bold new courage inspired by and through a mentoring program that can and will change the future.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

Content Notice: This keynote covers a variety of situations, including references to addiction, racism, and sexual assault that may be painful to some members of the audience. We want to make sure you have advanced notice if these situations are painful to you and communicate your option to not attend the session. Additional working space is provided in 1160 Gray-Little Hall/Integrated Science Building (GLH/ISB).

There isn't a likely substitute for hands-on exercises when posturing your team for efficient and effective incident response efforts.

We will share the two types of cyber attack rehearsals, share the benefits of hands-on exercises, and then discuss some important considerations. Short, sweet, and to the point.

This session explores two stories of innovation on two campuses where a CIO partnered closely with a Provost to transform teaching, learning, and the student experience for every student, all across the curriculum. The goal in both cases was to put powerful digital storytelling technologies in the hands of every student to complete multimodal academic work and to develop digital portfolios to differentiate their “career brand.” The session will also have an interactive component where the audience can share or imagine approaches to breaking down silos to broadly impact every student’s academic experience.

As a seasoned staff heads towards retirement the need to document both on-prem and cloud enterprise applications and the data interchanges has become a vitally important succession planning exercise.  Learn about WSU's journey to document our home made "spaghetti" of data integrations.

What attendees can expect to learn:

The complexity of tackling documentation of enterprise systems, some not even managed by central IT.  We will discuss the process we are undergoing and the vision we have of what we will be able to leave for the next generation of IT professionals as our core applications staff nears retirement.

At the University of Kansas, external tools must be reviewed for technical, security, privacy and accessibility concerns before they can be made available in the institution's learning management system. External applications, using the LTI or learning tools interoperability standard, can be a great way to add additional functionality to a LMS such as Canvas. While these tools can be easily added to the system, there are many other factors that must be considered before adding external tools to the LMS. At KU, the IT Educational Team guides a review process of new tools that considers technical, security, privacy and accessibility concerns before approval by the Academic Systems Steering Committee. This presentation will review the steps and rubric that KU IT uses in this LMS integration review process.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Attendee can expect to learn about the process used by KU IT for reviewing and approving new external tools in the institution's learning management system, Canvas. The presenter will also discuss with attendees about practices and processes that are used at their institution for adding new external tools to the LMS.

Each year we see more and more cases of compromised credentials, account lockouts due to email compromises, and greater risk to student, financial, and personal information.

This panel will discuss how college institutions try to minimize these issues using another level of protection: second-factor authentication.  Unfortunately, it is not as simple as turning on a control measure.  We will look at the most significant benefits of multi-factor authentication or what is sometimes termed 2nd-factor authentication.  We will also discuss the level of planning we have had to conduct to prepare and implement this for our student population.  Lastly, we will discuss how we implement and maintain the process, whether through automation or manual actions.  If you plan to expand protection for your student population, this is the session you should attend.  Our panel has a variety of levels of implementation and experiences to share and answer your questions.

What attendees can expect to learn:

We will cover the benefits of MFA for your student body.   Discuss the pros and cons of the MFA choices.  Offer insights into the extensive planning and preparation needed.   Walk through various implementation processes we each have or plan to follow.

We had a unique opportunity to address accessibility issues when the Drupal migration process forced major changes for our websites. We will discuss how we addressed that opportunity, the testing process, tools and resources, and lessons learned.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Key things to check for while testing for accessibility; tools to do that;lessons learned from our process.

Join Pittsburg State University and KanREN to learn about a series of unfortunate events that happened on December 14th, 2022 aka Finals Week.  We will share the timeline of events, the communication efforts, and steps we are taking to make our redundant connection extra redundant.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Join us for a deep dive into:

• The timeline from the first fiber cut to PSU’s Kansas City path early on 12.14.22. To the 2nd and final blow to PSU’s redundant connection via PSU’s Wichita path at 4:39pm that same day. Did we mention this was Finals Week???? 

• We will share what we communicated, how we communicated, and the tone in which we communicated. These things matter.  

• We’ll discuss how PSU and KanREN worked together to stay informed and educated during a chaotic time 20 hours.

• How PSU’s Disaster Recovery plan served as a guidebook for the PSU IT and Marketing teams throughout the disaster.

• And finally how KanREN and PSU are exploring creative options to avoid such an incident in the future.

Open Discussion around devices, data center (Servers/Storage), esports, conference room/classroom modernizations. 

What can attendees expect to learn? 
More about Lenovo--our portfolio,capabilities, services, etc. and what we are doing with other universities/colleges across the State of Kansas.

In this presentation, we will discuss how Microsoft security products can aid in achieving a Zero Trust environment by focusing on Identity and Endpoint management. You can maximize your existing investment in AzureAD and Intune to achieve more efficient management.

Security and IT teams collaborate to navigate Account Take Over procedure by implementing the following process.  When a compromised account for phishing attempt is identified, the Security team disables the account in Active Directory and notifies the members of the Help Desk and Windows Server.  The Help Desk fields the calls from the users.  After the user is verified, the account is enabled in AD, and the password and security questions are reset.  The Server team works to find any rules set up in Outlook and looks to identify possible patterns.  Those updates are communicated back to the entire team to track resolution.

What attendees can expect to learn:

The process challenges and learning from other schools for any improvement.

Bringing together current students to discuss technology needs they have encountered. Where have institutions met needs, fallen short and where is there room for improvement.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Attendees will experience where students have taken advantage of offered technology, what solutions they have embarked upon on their own and how we can best serve teaching and learning effectively.

Building automated response capabilities into Microsoft's security lineup doesn't necessarily require Azure Sentinel. With just Defender for Endpoint P2 licensing you can build automation to proactively contain threats while your security teams are sleeping.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Sharing lessons learned from building automatic device isolation in Defender for Endpoint with the standard P2 licensing by using a logic app. We will also review advanced hunting queries and how to build on them to produce custom alerts, schedule emailed reports, and more.

Requests for digital signage on campus were exponentially growing.  Each time we added a new digital sign, it led to more requests.  This is a great “problem” to have; however, the challenge faced was finding the time to fulfill all these new requests.  Our current system (Visix) had all the bells and whistles and was really powerful, but it was time consuming and technical to get up and running.  Most our users wanted a simple digital sign to display full screen images and videos.  They didn’t have a need for all the extra, more advanced features. After some research and exploration of possible alternatives, we decided to move forward with Xibo, a FREE open-source digital signage platform.  From there, we brought together our construction department, networking team, server team, AV techs, and technical trainer to work out a streamlined process for digital signage requests.  Using Xibo, and our new streamlined process, we’re now able to stay caught up with our digital signage requests.  We even plan to convert most of our existing signage over to Xibo by the end of 2023.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Learn about how FHSU implemented a free digital signage system and streamlined our processes.

Join KU Interim Director of Support Services Tom Johnson and KU Technology Support Center (TSC) Manager Kris Dover for a casual open discussion about support services. Attendees will be able to share lessons learned, tips, questions. 

This session will not be recorded. 

Ever wonder how your security posture compares to the university or college down the road? Or against best-in-class security operations? If so, this interactive presentation is for you. 

In this session, Regional Vice President of ISG Technology, Walter Hirsekorn, will help you and your peers evaluate the 12 most critical aspects of your cyber security program. We’ll utilize live, anonymous polling to help you better understand how your security program stacks up.

Key takeaways:

• The 12 most critical security controls you need

• What best-in-class security operations look like

• Strengths/weaknesses of your security (and how to level up)

• How your security compares to your peers

In this presentation we will cover the possible vulnerabilities that could potentially put you or your organization at risk of a cyber attack, along with helpful tips and tricks for how to remediate those vulnerabilities.

Are you tired of spending hours on tedious tasks? Say goodbye to the grind and hello to some AI assistance! In talk, we’ll look at how ChatGPT and other AI tools can help you breeze through your to-do list and up your productivity game. We’ll cover all the juicy details on how to use these AI tools to automate menial tasks, complete code with ease, and fix pesky errors in no time. Come on down, kick back, and let the machines do the heavy lifting for once!

What attendees can expect to learn:

Attendees can expect to learn some specific tactics for using AI tools to make them more productive in the workplace.

Join a diverse panel from Pittsburg State University to learn about our journey of leading change through the implementation of a new ERP! PSU is an Oracle Cloud campus. We have implemented: ERP (finance/purchasing) and HCM (human resources). We are the process of implementing FMC (financial aid), and will soon begin the implementation of SMC (student).

Join us to hear about our journey of working with campus on re-engineering processes, change management, and all the politics that go along with it! During the panel you will hear from the Assistant Director of Financial Assistance, the Director of IT Process and Project Management, the Director of Development and Implementation, and the Chief Information Officer. This group will be prepared to share what we've done well and where we have learned lessons.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Learn how various PSU departments teamed up and accomplished the following: Selected ERP products and implementation partners. Worked closely with University Admin on change management and re-engineering processes. Created buy in through many communication avenues. Developed a training community for our campus. Utilized project management to create and follow a multi year path.  IN ADDITION, hear from PSU about the many lessons learned and the importance of agility and pausing to reflect.

Join Butler Community College for a discussion on moving from on-premise server infrastructure to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Attendees will learn how Butler Community College made the decision between Ellucian Cloud and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Including information on cost savings, challenges, migration path, ongoing and future endeavors.

How is project management utilized in your institution’s IT shop? This session will discuss the structure and processes utilized at K-State to facilitate projects and provide support for organizational change management. Small or maybe no Project Management Office? We will also provide some tips for accidental project managers to assist in keeping projects on track alongside the operational duties you must perform. This will be an interactive session where we can all learn from our collective successful and not so successful experiences.

What attendees can expect to learn:

This session will cover the following learning objectives:

• How the PMO structure and procedures at K-State help facilitate project work.

• How we are integrating change management practices with our projects.

• Sharing tips for the "accidental" project manager

Join us the hour before dinner is served for cocktails and drinks at Abe & Jake's Landing, located in downtown Lawrence on the Kansas River. We will have live music, as well as a loosely planned networking activity. Attendees over 21 will be provided with two drink tickets to use at Abe & Jakes, and there is a cash bar available as well. 

Google maps location: https://goo.gl/maps/uEZEbFg71tUMGgAc6

Parking map is available here: https://abejakes.com/new-page.

Join us for dinner at Abe & Jake's Landing, located in downtown Lawrence on the Kansas River. The menu will feature a buffet of options from Culinaria Mediterranean Kitchen--one of Lawrence's best. We will also have live music. Attendees over 21 will be provided with two drink tickets to use at Abe & Jakes, and there is a cash bar available as well. 

Google maps location: https://goo.gl/maps/uEZEbFg71tUMGgAc6.

Parking map is available here: https://abejakes.com/new-page.

This is an optional event if you are looking to continue your conversation from dinner. The Eighth Street Tap Room is a local favorite "dive bar," and we've asked them to open their basement and hired a DJ for full lounge effect. The only thing is that you will have to pay for your own drinks, but they take cash and credit.

Join us for a continental breakfast at the Burge Union, Forum C/D. 

We will be joined by KU's Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer, who will provide morning remarks from 8:30 to 8:45 p.m. to kick off the second day of the conference.

Presenting the process of creating our squid web/HTTP proxy for server Internet communication. Going through server and service configuration, endpoint configuration, securing the VM, and the benefits so far. 

http://www.squid-cache.org/  

What attendees can expect to learn: 

How to setup, configure, and utilize a Web Cache proxy for server environments. 

Generative AI can create natural language text (ChatGPT) and emulative visual images (CrAIyon, DALL-E, MidJourney, and others).  

Controversies are swirling around various aspects: 

How the generative AI tools are made and run: 

• uses of copyrighted seeding texts and visuals in databases to train the AIs (without the permission of the original authors, in some cases),

• guardrails around generative contents (such as those against x-rated content, against hate speech, against various dimensioned stereotypes) vs. those without any guardrails,

How the generative AI tools are used: 

• academic honesty, citations,

• commercial applications,

• authorship

A typical sequence in using a text-seeded generative AI that creates digital visuals is to use phrases to describe the desired visual (often multiple iterations)…selecting the image…downloading the image as a .webp format, and directly using the image with citation…or using the image as an inspiration, reference, or base.  (One creates a derived image, by borrowing some visual concepts from the generative AI.)    “Photorealistic” asks the AI for create an image that looks like an actual photo.  And “after Picasso” or “in the style of Georgia Totto O’Keeffe” asks for a style transfer from the known works of the artist into a different context.   [Please see “Co-Creating Common Art with the CrAIyon AI” on SlideShare:  https://www.slideshare.net/ShalinHaiJew/cocreating-common-art-with-the-craiyon-ai for a clearer visual gist of this phenomenon.]  The presenter wrote an article titled “CrAIyon:  Putting an art-making AI through its paces” on the C2C Digital Magazine at (https://scalar.usc.edu/works/c2c-digital-magazine-fall-2022---winter-2023/craiyon-paces).  As a former college faculty member and current instructional designer, the presenter introduces the topic and throws a conversation around the complexities. 

How Wichita State uses TDX to solve problems

What attendees can expect to learn:

• The value and why of using Cascading Attributes

• Using TDX to find people

• How to use Work Flows to Automate

• How to Use Automation Rules, Using Reports for Metrics

• Using Assets, Knowledgebase, Surveys, Program and Portfolio Management

• Custom Apps (Software Catalog)

KCCIT (Kansas Community College Information Technology) exists to be a trusted advisor to the State of Kansas while promoting, facilitating, informing and enhancing the Information Technology services at each of the Kansas Community Colleges.

Join KCCIT members for a casual discussion about challenges, tips, lessons learned and all things community college & information technology.

This is an attempt at a roundtable discussion of common strategies and challenges for higher-ed IT efforts at designing disaster recovery sites and business continuity plans.

What attendees can expect to learn:

• Common DR/BC strategies for higher ed institutions

• Addressing the usual challenges of budget, time, and resources

Are you a new or aspiring manager in higher education looking to learn from experienced mid-level managers? Then join us for an insightful panel discussion featuring mid-level managers from diverse areas of higher education, who will share their experiences and insights on navigating the path to management.

During this panel discussion, you will have the opportunity to learn from seasoned managers who have successfully made the transition from individual contributors to managers in higher education. Our panelists will discuss the unique challenges they faced in the higher education environment, the skills and competencies required for success, and the strategies they used to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.

This discussion will be particularly relevant for new or aspiring higher education managers seeking to develop their leadership skills, build effective teams, and navigate the complex dynamics of academia. Our panelists will also provide practical tips and advice for managing up, down, and across the organization and strategies for building a supportive network of colleagues and mentors in higher education.

WSU has used the existing enterprise backup systems for many years and was over due for a refresh of capabilities.  The WSU server team worked together to form requirements and desires from DR exercises, audits, and day-to-day pain points so that we could bridge as many gaps as possible and understand what we could afford.

At Dell Technologies, we see a future that propels human progress, one that delivers business and societal impact for everyone. We are driving innovation, partnerships and technology to connect people with opportunities, improve environmental impact and build trust.  Thanks to our customers and partners, this past year was one of the best ever in Dell’s history. And our emphasis on environmental, measures ensures that while we accomplished our business goals, we also delivered positive results for all of our stakeholders.  Join Danielle Rourke, Chief Technology and Innovation Strategist, for a deep dive into our journey towards a more sustainable technology future and engage with fellow attendees on how your department and institution can find everyday methods to improve your own sustainable technology future.

Please note: Attendance is limited. Official sign up for this tour will take place you check-in. Those who sign up should plan to meet in the Burge Union Atrium where you registered on the first day of the conference.

Join KU IT staff for a walking tour of Jayhawk Boulevard and some featured KU locations. Perfect for those who haven’t visited the KU campus before. The tour will also look at a small variety of classroom spaces, as well as our Media Production Studio (MPS).

Bus transportation will take participants from Burge Union up the hill, to the newly-opened KU Welcome Center.  The walk down the hill should take about an hour, back to the Burge Union.

FortiWeb defends web applications and APIs against OWASP Top-10 threats, DDOS attacks, and malicious bot attacks. Advanced ML-powered features improve security and reduce administrative overhead. Capabilities include anomaly detection, API discovery and protection, bot mitigation, and advanced threat analytics to identify the most critical threats across all protected applications.

Fortinet’s unique Security Fabric combines Security Processors, an intuitive operating system, and applied threat intelligence to give you proven security, exceptional performance, and better visibility and control--while providing easier administration. The Fortinet Security Fabric delivers a unified approach that is broad, integrated, and automated.  Reduce and manage the attack surface through integrated broad visibility, stop advanced threats through integrated AI-driven breach prevention, and reduce complexity through automated operations and orchestration.

User experience is a broad concept, spanning the multitude of interactions an end-user may experience within a single context. In the context of a higher education institution, our end-users may be current or prospective students, faculty, staff, members of the community, or literally anyone who steps onto our campuses, or engages with our online platforms. Colleges and universities work hard to make campuses attractive spaces, but how much effort is put into making our digital properties as appealing?

An argument could be made that more users will interact with an institution’s online presence, when compared to the number of users experiencing our campuses in person. In this panel discussion we would like to talk about how higher education IT organizations are meeting the needs of our end-users. Does your organization employ individuals whose responsibilities specifically target user experience issues? Or do you partner with other organizations within the institution, such as a marketing team, to evaluate and address users’ needs?

Panel members from KU IT will kick off the discussion by sharing details about our own UI/UX team. We’ll open the discussion and we hope you will share what your organizations are doing, and what you think the role of a user experience professional should be, in a higher education IT organization.

What attendees can expect to learn:

Participants and attendees will learn what other universities are doing, with regard to user experience practices in IT organizations. I hope the discussion will prompt further discussions within our organizations, and promote the use of user experience professionals within our teams, in IT.

Colleges and Universities have a wealth of data about their students. However, this data is typically spread across a wide array of systems that are not integrated. Join this session to learn how you can tap into these data sources and identify those students who are struggling and at risk of dropping out or leaving.

What you can expect to learn:
Learn how colleges and universities, working with AWS, have tapped into the wealth of student data across disparate systems to improve student outcomes.

The How-Tos on setting up KnowBe4 for Security Training and Phishing Alerts. What all KnowBe4 can do.

What attendees can expect to learn:

What KnowBe4 has to offer and Basic Set up of the software to make optimal use and get the most out of the platform to enhance your security posture.

Please note: Attendance is limited. Official sign up for this tour will take place you check-in. Those who sign up should plan to meet in the Burge Union Atrium where you registered on the first day of the conference.

Join KU IT staff for a walking tour of Jayhawk Boulevard and some featured KU locations. Perfect for those who haven’t visited the KU campus before. The tour will also look at a small variety of classroom spaces, as well as our Media Production Studio (MPS).

Bus transportation will take participants from Burge Union up the hill, to the newly-opened KU Welcome Center.  The walk down the hill should take about an hour, back to the Burge Union.

Join leadership from our respective universities for a panel discussion on topics related to higher education and information technology.

This session is hosted by Tharseo IT. The first 15 minutes will focus on Tharseo – what we’ve done in the Higher Ed community, why we chose OCI as a practice focus, etc. 

This will be followed by a 20-minute panel discussion with Oracle, Butler CC and Tharseo IT. The following questions will be addressed:
The session will conclude with a 10-minute Q&A session.

• What led Butler CC to move to the cloud and why OCI?

• There are a lot of Ellucian Banner folks going to the cloud, why chose OCI? Why was the experience unique?

• How is Tharseo IT’s approach unique?

• What are some of the benefits Butler CC has enjoyed since the migration?

Join us for a final lunch, closing remarks, and raffles from our event partners. Please note that your lunch order is indicated by a sticker on the back of your name badge.