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Rutgers IT Annual Review 2021 – 2022

Information Technology Advancing the University Mission

Message from Michele Norin, Senior VP & Chief Information Officer

As I look over the statistics and accomplishments in this year’s report, one theme is a constant—the hard work and dedication of the Rutgers IT professionals who have played an essential role in these efforts. Without a doubt, a lot has changed in the past year. As I write this, our campuses are thriving, and it’s wonderful to see—the students filling our classrooms and computer labs, the colleagues at gatherings and meetings, the energy and innovation of life at our university. As we chart our course into the future, our commitment to the Rutgers community—to our students, faculty, and staff—remains steadfast. We are here to support and to serve you, and I want to thank my team—and our colleagues across Rutgers—for their dedication to advancing Rutgers’ missions of teaching, research, service, and health care.

Sincerely,

Michele Norin Signature
Michele Norin
Senior Vice President
and Chief Information Officer 

Rutgers IT by the numbers

4,225,913,715,961,721

bytes of typical monthly Internet traffic

6,100,000

ScarletMail messages handled per week

98.8%

OIT Help Desk satisfaction rating

117,500,000+

total files on OneDrive and SharePoint

Explore impressive statistics, numbers, and milestones within various areas of Rutgers IT.

Supercomputers solve complex problems

The Office of Advanced Research Computing (OARC) is the go-to resource for Rutgers researchers facing complex computational projects like modeling the climate or analyzing human proteins. OARC offers world-class supercomputers like Amarel and experts who can help researchers use them. 

faculty, staff, and students from over 150 departments across Rutgers campuses have attended high-performance computing training since inception in 2017

* 160% increase from fiscal year 2020–2021

dollars in new research awards for OARC-partnered projects since March 2016

Rutgers departments, institutes, and organizations performing research on systems maintained by OARC

Enhanced education technology

In today’s world, you need academic tech tools that work efficiently virtually and in-person. The Rutgers community is able to learn, instruct, and work anywhere at anytime thanks to key resources like:

  • Adobe
  • Canvas
  • Computer labs – in-person and virtual
  • LinkedIn Learning
  • Microsoft Office
Professor Marshall Jones teaches Theater Appreciation course in a Synchronous Classroom

Digital Learning Commons (DLC) at Alexander Library 

Web conferencing and collaboration

Web conferencing tools have been proven to be vital, whether you’re remote, hybrid, or in-person. With Zoom, Webex, and Microsoft Teams available at Rutgers, usage continues to increase.

Phone display with lock

Keeping data secure and organized

Producing information is one of the most important things that a major research university like Rutgers does, so protecting that critical information is a must for Rutgers IT. We store it securely, back it up to protect against data loss, and organize it so the entire Rutgers community can find it when it’s needed. 

Streamlining tech support experience with new Rutgers IT Help portal

The implementation of the Rutgers IT Help portal (ServiceNow for IT Service Management) made significant progress over the past year including: 

  • Conducting a pilot program with several departments/units 
  • Conducting focus groups to help improve customer experience 
  • Offering one-on-one team training sessions with groups to support the adoption of ServiceNow  
  • Hosting a ServiceNow higher education user group with speakers from MIT, Yale, and other Big Ten Academic Alliance schools 
  • Adding advanced search features for the knowledge base 
  • Adding several request forms to support self-service in the portal 

On September 8, 2022, the Rutgers IT Help portal was officially launched to all faculty, staff, and students.

Did you
know?

 Alongside Rutgers Athletics, the Office of Information Technology preconfigured Wi-Fi in the student section of SHI stadium, so students could get access to a Wi-Fi connection while cheering on the Scarlet Knights. 

 

The Rutgers University–Newark wireless classroom initiative allows over 350 Rutgers students in Newark to simultaneously use RUWireless Secure to access online exams.

 

RU-Camden IT ensured that 700+ faculty and staff were technologically equipped to work at home and at the office so they can succeed in a new hybrid work environment if needed.

 

Rutgers IT has provided the university with all of its technology needs – both on and off campus, near and far. These are just a few of the many IT projects and initiatives that made a major impact on the university this year.

Inside look at Rutgers IT resources

Learn about Rutgers IT and the wide variety of resources offered to faculty, staff, and students, including the Rutgers IT newsroom, Tech Guides, security tips, web conferencing best practices, and more.

Annual review 2021-2022 credits

  • Produced by the IT Communications team within the Office of Information Technology
  • Communications planning, creative direction, and project management by Allan Hoffman and Amanda Pecora
  • Writing and research by Allan Hoffman, Amanda Pecora, and Stephen Connelly
  • Website design by Anita DeSimone, Rich Sese, and Amanda Pecora
  • Graphic design by Rich Sese and Jenna MacNeill
  • Website development by Rich Sese
  • Also, thank you to the numerous IT staff members throughout various OIT divisions and Rutgers schools, departments, and units who provided statistics and data for the 2021-2022 annual review.

Data refers to fiscal year 2022, unless otherwise noted.