Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Message from the President

Dear Faculty and Staff, 

I often talk about my interest in learning about new ways that technology can support our work at the University of New Orleans. Personally, I’ve always loved exploring new tools when teaching my classes, and I regularly write reports that benefit from a quick run through Gemini or Chat GPT. Since I’ve arrived at UNO, I’ve tried to foster collaboration and transparency by using Microsoft Teams as we engage in planning for the University’s future. Teams is a collaborative virtual environment that integrates meetings and chat seamlessly with other Microsoft tools, including files stored in OneDrive. 

I am happy to announce that our colleagues in IT have recently configured Microsoft Teams so that all faculty, staff and students can create new Microsoft Teams as needed. IT has created a very helpful website to help guide your use of Teams. For instructions on how to create a Team, click on the Basic Instructions button. 

Adding members to a team opens up doors to collaboration and gives them access to the contents of your team. Please be careful when sharing sensitive information. Some confidential information (e.g., social security numbers, bank information, health information) should never be stored in Teams. To review the University’s policy on Data Classification and Data Security, please click here. When adding members, use their exact UNO email address (user@uno.edu; no aliases). We are licensed to use Microsoft Teams for university business only. 

I hope that expanded use of Teams will help us to share information more easily and collaborate – while also reducing the use of paper! I look forward to sharing with you early trends from Teams-supported UNO 2030 planning activities in the State of the University address on Tuesday, March 12 at 9 a.m. in the University Ballroom. 

With UNO Pride, 

Kathy Johnson, Ph.D.
President
The University of New Orleans