Release 2024.04

What’s New: Your ITS Update for the 2024.04 Release

2024.04 is the first release CMC ITS ran end to end, and the cycle in which the department took its current shape. ITS reorganized around how the campus asks for help — with named consultants partnered to departments — launched two significant campus systems, began the move to Canvas, and modernized the network and identity platforms the college runs on.

This is also the release in which release management became a working practice. ITS now bundles work into named, dated releases so that partners across campus can see the same picture we do: what is in this release, what the last one delivered, and where a new request naturally fits. Everything published on this page, and every release page that follows it, is a product of that decision.

Key Initiatives for the Campus Community

1. A New Shape for ITS

ITS reorganized around how the campus actually works with us, rather than around the technologies ITS happens to operate.

• A Solutions team with named consultants: We established a Solutions group of consultants, engineers, and programmer-integrators. Each department now has a consultant who knows its work — a role deliberately broader than project management, combining partnership, delivery, and change support in one continuing relationship.
• Depth of support for every service: The structure is designed so that support for any service is shared across a team. Departments get continuity through vacations, leave, and transitions, and colleagues get to take real time off.
• New senior roles created: Senior Infrastructure Engineer and Senior Solutions Engineer positions were opened, and a Senior Solutions Consultant was hired. Five colleagues joined the department across the cycle.
• Release management adopted: Work is now planned in 2024.04 / 2024.08 / 2024.12 release cycles, broken down monthly, then weekly. Trello and a documentation platform were licensed to hold the roadmap and the knowledge behind it.

2. Systems Students and Staff Depend On

• StarRez launched for housing: StarRez became CMC’s housing platform, with data validation completed in January and go-live in February, in time to run the spring housing cycle.
• EMS upgraded: The event and room reservation system moved to a new version, with the Registrar’s scheduling workflows supported closely through the transition.
• Financial Aid systems modernized: New servers were built for the PowerFAIDS packaging platform and the federal data exchange behind it was brought current, working alongside the Financial Aid team through the packaging season.
• Shared spaces improved: New displays and control systems went into the Story House mailroom and entryway, the Rose Institute, and the Math Common Room, and three multi-function printers were replaced.

3. Teaching and Learning: the Canvas Journey Begins

• Faculty Teaching & Technology Summit: The January summit introduced faculty to Canvas, pairing the case for the move with faculty demonstrating how they already teach in it.
• A first migration cohort and a permanent resource course: The spring cohort moved their courses from Sakai to Canvas, and a Canvas resource course was built to hold documentation, training materials, and session recordings for all faculty.
• Electronic Blue Book in the Founders Lab: The Founders pop-up lab was reactivated and Electronic Blue Book exam sessions were run with classroom management software. Faculty response was strong enough that instructors began requesting repeat sessions.
• Classrooms rebuilt over winter break: Eight Roberts classrooms received new Zoom equipment driven from touch panels, replacing handheld remotes, and VGA was retired campus-wide in favor of current digital standards.

Behind the Scenes: Modernizing the Foundation

1. Network and Identity

• A new firewall platform: All network segments were migrated to a new firewall platform in coordination with our shared-services partner, with routing and load balancing reworked alongside it.
• Modern threat intelligence: Reputation-based threat blocking was added to the campus network using industry threat intelligence sources, and security event monitoring was tuned for completeness.
• Single sign-on modernized: The campus sign-in page moved to a current authentication client, and the Duo Universal Prompt was rolled out across nearly every integrated application — a cleaner, faster sign-in experience for everyone.
• Email authentication: DKIM signing was deployed and DMARC introduced during spring break, improving how reliably CMC mail is delivered and how well the domain is protected from spoofing.

2. Strengthening Security Practice

• Multi-factor authentication extended: MFA enforcement for remote desktop access was developed and staged for core servers, aligned with NIST security guidance.
• Awareness built in-house: A phishing awareness exercise with built-in remediation training was developed using our existing security tooling.
• Independent testing engaged: ITS contracted an external penetration test and completed internal preparation ahead of it — a practice CMC has repeated every year since.
• Consortium coordination: ITS worked closely with our consortium partners on shared threat awareness and coordinated response, reflecting how connected the five colleges’ environments are.

3. Research Computing Takes Root

• The case for a cluster: Competitive bids were taken, facilities assessed for power and cooling, and an outside HPC specialist engaged to build the team’s own expertise rather than to operate the system for us.
• A sandbox before the hardware: A five-node sandbox was provisioned so scheduling, job management, and support practices could be learned before the physical cluster arrived — power distribution and fiber were ordered and the data center prepared in parallel.
• Designing for the science building: ITS specified the cabling and AV distribution standards for the future science building and began the display evaluation that would shape its classrooms.

Looking Ahead: ITS Priorities for the 2024.08 Release Cycle

With the department restructured and the network modernized, 2024.08 turns to the core platforms the college runs on, and to the largest start-of-year preparation ITS has undertaken.

• Storage and monitoring refresh: Replace the primary storage platform, with encryption at rest aligned to NIST SP 800-171, and bring a new security monitoring appliance into service.
• The cluster arrives: Install and commission CMC’s first high-performance computing cluster, integrate it with campus identity, and document it for researchers.
• Guest Wi-Fi: Launch Claremont Guest as a purpose-built network for campus visitors.
• Security governance: Bring a formal Information Security Policy program, a data classification standard, and initial AI guidance to the President’s Executive Committee.