About the Office of Technology Services

The Office of Technology Services:

• Provides the highest level of cost-effective technology support possible to students, faculty and staff  
• Stays current with technology advancements 
• Creates resources to help promote the understanding and use of technology 
• Provides technology training opportunities 
• Helps faculty, staff and students understand how to help themselves 
• Provides leadership in instructional technology, resources, and services 
• Communicates changes and improvements in campus technology 
• Communicates answers to frequently asked questions and concerns 
• Seeks ideas and suggestions for improving the delivery of technology services 
• Proposes and implements changes that will take advantage of the evolution of technology to provide a more productive environment and better user experience 
• Provides guidance to faculty, staff and students in selecting and adopting secure and sustainable technologies and applications 
• Assesses and manages security risks associated with University information assets, technology and applications 
• Connects the campus community to technology resources, ensuring they are available when and where they are needed
• Facilitates, guides and manages campus technology initiatives aligned with Towson University’s strategic direction.  
• Works toward meeting or exceeding compliance with national and international technology and information security standards. 

OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Mission Statement

The Office of Technology Services provides leadership and support for the University’s strategic direction by leveraging technologies and resources to foster student success, academic achievement, and institutional excellence within a culture of service, innovation, and collaboration.

Strategic Plan Goals

The overreaching strategic goals of the Office of Technology Services include:

1. Maintain a flexible, responsive, and program-focused educational technology environment in which faculty and students can confidently use available resources, explore new teaching and learning strategies, and take advantage of creative and innovative opportunities.
2. Support responsive student-centered services, streamlined business processes, scalable and efficient operations, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness through the development of integrated, high-functioning, and flexible information systems.
3. Leverage technology to advance the University digital strategy in support of fostering greater connection, communication, and collaboration among internal and external constituents.
4. Provide high-performing, useful, secure, and well-supported technology infrastructure and resources by stressing strategy, coordination, planning, communication reliability, customer service responsiveness, and staff development.
5. Support Towson University's inclusion, effectiveness and efficiency goals by providing digital accessibility consultation services to campus workgroups and the university community.

OTS Units

The Office of Technology Services (OTS) is comprised of seven units all working together to ensure the technological success of Towson University students, faculty and staff. Together, these units offer responsiveness and quality of service to keep people—and their technology—working.

Client Services

Client Services' three operating units provide a range of services to the university community: the Faculty/Staff Help Center offers telephone, walk-in, and online support; the Field Support team's three campus precincts serve as a base of operations for on-site service calls to campus offices; and the classroom technology unit provides planning, design, construction management, and support for 400+ campus classrooms.

Enterprise and Infrastructure Systems

Enterprise and Infrastructure Services (EIS) provides technology infrastructure support to the campus community. EIS is responsible for the central computing systems, Internet services, wired/wireless networks and the phone and tv infrastructure that the campus relies on every day. In addition, the team is responsible for managing NetIDs, email, enterprise application platforms (PeopleSoft, ImageNow, etc.), file storage, collaboration systems, managed desktops, server and database hosting, storage and support of a large collection of business applications and system integrations.

Finance and Administration

The Finance and Administration team plans and manages the business aspects of OTS. Financial, human resources, administrative and communications support services are provided to all OTS staff. Telecom administration and account provisioning support are provided to the university community.

Information Security

From both a technological and policy perspective, the Office of Information Security (OIS) aims to promote data security, security policy compliance and safe computing practices across campus business units and academic departments.

Information Systems

Information Systems (IS) team supports university-wide business systems that allow students, faculty and staff to perform administrative duties. Systems supported include: PeopleSoft, TU’s official system of record - including the Human Capital Management, Campus Solutions and Financials modules, Salesforce, TU’s official system of engagement.

Information Technology Support Centers

The Information Technology Support Centers team provides a wide range of services including support for technology adoption through OTS Training, Blackboard course web presence, the Towson University Website, student facing technologies, campus digital signage solution, Scantron processing, Webex live web conferencing tool and Panopto instructional recording tool.

Project Management Office

The Project Management Office (PMO) receives, facilitates and manages technology-related requests for the campus. The PMO guides technology projects that are in alignment with university strategic goals, enabling OTS to promote the success of faculty, staff and students.