Message to Faculty and Staff from Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Danny M. Kemp

Dear Faculty and Staff:

As we continue to meet the growing needs of the campus community during this complicated time, the following provides specific details related to information technology. Please know that the Division of Information Technology appreciates everyone’s patience as we work to support changing needs.

Telephones
Radford University and Radford University Carilion (RUC) utilize internal VoIP telephone systems. During normal business operations, most calls are internal to campus. Thus, operations can be sustained with a minimal number of “trunk” lines for incoming and outgoing external calls. If faculty and staff forward their office phones to their smartphones, Google Voice, or some other number, then a single call will tie up two of these “trunk” lines, thereby creating capacity problems at peak times of the day. Therefore, we ask that faculty and staff DO NOT forward their office phones to an external number. We are currently working to expand the number of “trunk” lines on the main campus.

Voicemail
Faculty and staff are encouraged to update their voicemail greetings to let callers know they will be checking voicemail on a regular basis and/or provide an alternate phone number where they can be reached. Main campus faculty and staff may check their voicemail from any phone by dialing 540-831-7750. When answered, enter *, the last four digits of the office phone number, and the password. Then, follow the operator instructions to access messages. RUC faculty and staff may check their voicemail from any phone by dialing 540-224-4199. When answered, press # and once prompted enter your five digit extension and your password followed by #.

Alternate Phone Solution for High Volume Offices
For many offices that receive a large volume of calls, there is an option to allow users to install a smartphone app to receive and place calls from their normal campus phone number. This takes time to configure, so if this is a critical need for your office, please enter an ITOneStop support request. To do this, login to ITOneStop www.radford.edu/itonestop and then click the “Get Help” link. Enter “Jabber Phone Access” as the subject and in the description enter “Setup Jabber Phone Access for phone number 831-xxxx (replacing xxxx with your phone number). Please indicate if you have an Android Phone or an iPhone. This cannot be setup without knowing the type of smartphone you have.

Technology Support
The Technology Assistance Center provides support online, as well as by phone at 540-831-7500, from 8 a.m. until midnight Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Friday. Increased call volume is anticipated over the next week, so please consider using the ITOneStop knowledge base at www.radford.edu/itonestop for answers to common questions and requests for one-on-one assistance. Desire 2 Learn (D2L) support continues to be available 24/7 by calling 540-831-7500 and selecting the appropriate option.

VPN
Faculty and staff are encouraged to connect to the VPN only if they are accessing resources that are restricted. If you are using email, Zoom, D2L, Blackboard, OneDrive, and other public facing resources, there is no need to connect to the VPN. You are encouraged to disconnect from the VPN if you are participating in a Zoom meeting in order to have the best possible experience. Access to the following resources does require a VPN connection: Banner admin pages; Cognos reporting; H: drives; Whale drives; and other restricted resources.

Zoom Online Conferencing
Zoom is an online conferencing tool licensed for all faculty and staff, as well as students. Zoom can be utilized for audio only (phone) meetings, video meetings, and web conferencing with computer sharing. There is a limit of 300 attendees in a meeting. To log into Zoom, visit https://radford.zoom.us and click Sign in. To learn more about using Zoom, visit www.radford.edu/zoom.

DUO Two-Factor Authentication
All users are encouraged to print a set of DUO backup codes that can be utilized in the event that your primary two-factor authentication method has a problem. This can be done by logging into the MyRU portal, clicking on the Duo icon, clicking the Print Codes button, and then entering your Radford password.

As a reminder, several information portals have been made available in order to provide a variety of resources to help faculty and staff, as well as students. These webpages, as outlined below, represent a partnership among several offices as a collaborative effort to provide helpful resources, tips, and instructions to the campus community and beyond.

Keep Learning at www.radford.edu/keep-learning
Keep Teaching at www.radford.edu/keep-teaching
Keep Working at www.radford.edu/keep-working

Again, please know that the Division of Information Technology appreciates everyone’s patience as we support growing and changing needs!


Sincerely,

Danny M. Kemp
Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer