Issue 4 Spring 2019 Highlights

A DEPARTMENT ‘IN DISARRAY’

Sixth Technology Support Services Director in 3 Years Resigns PAGE 5

Brand new as well as used, non-working computer towers and screens stack high in the already cramped cubicles in the Technology Support Services office in the LI building. Extension cords and mice and their cables hang out from boxes which, both empty and full, reach from the floor nearly to the ceiling.

Empty water jugs add to chaotic workspace that accommodate 15 technicians who call the building their office.

Clutter is just one of the numerous challenges plaguing TSS, the department which is responsible for everything from faculty computers and workstations to students’ access, plus Wi-Fi connectivity and Canvas accessibility -- services which are pivotal to the operations of Fresno City College.

At the moment, the office is without a director, and seemingly without a clear direction, according to claims by several employees of TSS.

Filling the Musical Chairs What is known is that with the Feb. 28 departure of Nathan Zierfuss-Hubbard, most recent director of TSS, the department is once again led by an acting director. This is the sixth change in TSS leadership in the last three years.

“The high turnover of directors of technology over the past few years has placed the division in disarray,” said a technology support staff in the office. “TSS staff are constantly in a reactionary mode, doing the best they can to maintain a semblance of prioritized service to FCC students, faculty and staff.”

Numerous TSS staff said they were voicing their frustration about the high turnover rate of the director position anonymously because of fear of reprisal.

The departure of Zierfuss- Hubbard after less than two months as director leaves the direction of the department uncertain for the time being. Zierfuss-Hubbard, whose last day was Feb. 28, said he resigned to take a position with a university

Many of the issues do not impact FCC students in a directly visible way, except for the perpetual connectivity problems with the Wi-Fi on campus.

Connectivity issues have plagued the campus at FCC for years now. Lopez says the college looks to alleviate the problem by starting an on-campus help desk as an offshoot of the primary help desk.

“We’ve been discussing following a model similar to what Fresno State does,” Lopez said. “We would have a centralized point help desk on campus that could assist students in connecting to the Wi-Fi or answering a Canvas question, or showing them how to load Office 365.”

Currently there are three different campus based help centers across the district, but none is resident on the FCC campus.

“The way I’ve looked at it is to have it manned by students who would then be trained in how to do all of these different kind of things,” Lopez said. “It would be very similar to standard corporate environment where level one kinds of things could be handled by the technician on site; level two could be handled by our TSS staff members, and level three potentially to the district for those that we can’t seem to get answered.”

Lopez said that in addition to an on-campus help desk, the administration has hired an outside contractor to evaluate the on-campus network.

“We’ve got to do a better job in designing a way that the network hands off students from one side or one AP (access point) to the next as you go around campus,” Lopez said.

Despite the growing list of technology problems faced on a daily basis by the TSS staff, Goldsmith has high hopes for the future of the TSS department. “I look forward to the districtwide technology plan that will probably shed some light on the fact that the colleges need more resources as it relates to technology.”