IT news of interest to the PSM community
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Websites available for existing and new labs and faculty members and large projects.
The college of Agriculture and Natural Resources generously funds infrastructure and personnel to provide for the hosting of websites for labs, projects and faculty members. The attractive website design templates provide for the creation of sites that meet accessibility and university branding requirements. Please contact psmit.support@msu.edu if you would like to inquire about having a website set up.
ANR Webservices offers assistance with website maintenance.
Labs and faculty members having their own website using the dotCMS website content management system offered by ANR Webservices can request help to update their websites by emailing: anr.webcontent@msu.edu and including the following information:
- Site Name / URL
- Specific names of pages required to be edited or created
- Location of Pages / content.
- Images and content.
- Details regarding image placement within the page or text.
Furthermore ANR offers training on the dotCMS system: Training schedule and signup.
Use of OKTA Authenticator app saves MSU money
MSU recommends the use of the OKTA verify app, as the preferred way of authenticating versus text messages (SMS) or voice call authentication. A large number of users still prefer to use text messaging and receiving calls to authenticate and as a result, MSU has to pay more for the use of these means of authentication, charges we would not incur if everybody used the Okta verify app primarily. Users whose phones can run the OKTA verify app should be using it so we can stop paying extra. The Okta verify app can work as long as a user has wifi service to the phone and doesn’t require cell service, and it is generally more secure than SMS and the Okta Verify App is not subject to the SIM Swapping attacks associated with SMS and voice call authentication. Please view this article to learn more about registering OKTA Verify app as a Multifactor Authentication Factor.
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Creates Center for Instructional Technology
The Center for Instructional and Research Technology (CIRT) at ANR IT was created to enhance the integration of advanced technology into research and teaching across the university. CIRT empowers faculty, researchers, and students by providing access to secure, scalable tools and services that support instructional innovation and ensure compliance with national cybersecurity and research security standards. The center bridges academic needs and emerging technology solutions, aligning institutional capabilities with federal mandates such as NSPM-33 and CMMC. To learn more contact Ron Southwick.
