Walk-ins Welcome Again!

The Service Desk is now open once again for in-person assistance 8 am - 5 pm CT on the 6th floor of the Lamar Alexander building.

But you can still call us 7:30 am - 5:30 pm CT at 901.448.2222.

Too Many Zoom Meetings? ‘Core Hours’ Keep Some Remote Workers Productive and Sane

Even if you are back on campus, you may be conducting meetings via Zoom. Some companies are setting defined daily meeting schedules for employees to prevent burnout. That means Zoom meetings only during core hours, say 10 am to 2 pm. Learn more about this innovative approach to promote a better work-life balance for both in-office and remote workers in this Wall Street Journal article titled Too Many Zoom Meetings? ‘Core Hours’ Keep Some Remote Workers Productive and Sane.

Mplus analyzes Structural Equations Models (SEM) that can include both continuous and categorical latent constructs. As their website states, it can also analyze "both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, single-level and multi-level data, and data that come from different populations with either observed or unobserved heterogeneity. Analyses can be carried out for observed variables that are continuous, censored, binary, ordered categorical (ordinal), unordered categorical (nominal), counts, or combinations of these variable types."

Learn more about Mplus on OIT's Research Software website. Learn when to use it, where to run it, how to learn, and where to get help.

Microsoft has some excellent training courses we recommend:

• Introduction to Microsoft Teams L100 (July 20 - 11:00 am - 12:00 pm CST)
• Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook Level 100 (July 21 - 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm CST)
• Introduction to Cloud Storage in Microsoft 365 (July 27 - 9:00 am - 10:00 am CST)
• Empowering Collaboration in the Modern Workplace with SharePoint and OneDrive for Business (July 29 - 11:00 am - 12:00 pm CST)

Word: Insert or Remove Page Numbers
Inserting or removing page numbers in Microsoft Word can be tricky! Learn the easy way to do it with this one-minute video.

Email
How to Add a Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc) Recipient in Outlook

1. Create a new email or reply to an existing email.
2. Click Options on the ribbon, then click the Bcc icon.
3. Add recipient(s) to the Bcc: field.

1. Create a new email or reply to an existing email.
2. Click the Bcc icon on the far right of the screen.
3. Add recipient(s) to the Bcc: field.

Lean 6 Sigma
Free Online 2021 NCCI Annual Conference July 21 & 22

This is your last chance to register for the 2021 NCCI Conference - it starts tomorrow! UTHSC attendees can go for free (it normally costs $345 value for non-members).

NCCI (Network for Change and Continuous Innovation) focuses on continuous improvement, organizational development, planning, quality, institutional effectiveness, and related areas. Some of the awesome sessions planned include:

• A Picture Is Worth More Than 1000 Words: Visualization Revisited
• High Conflict People in the Workplace- Oh My! Tools & Tips to Manage
• Virtual Collaboration: From Flipcharts to Zoom
• Using Lean Processes and Continuous Improvement Across a Division, Our Story
• An Introduction to Design Thinking for Strategic Challenges
• Intuitive Project Management Training for Everybody

View a complete listing of all the sessions.

Be sure to register today (did we mention it was free?). If you don’t have an existing NCCI account, you will need to create one, but it is super easy (be sure to use your official UTHSC email when you register so you won’t be charged).

And, most of all – be sure to share this link with coworkers who may be interested in attending!

Mobile devices are an amazing and easy way to communicate with friends, shop or bank online, watch movies, play games, and perform a myriad of other activities. Since these devices are such an important part of your life, keeping you and your devices safe and secure is essential.

Securing Your Devices
It may surprise you to know that the biggest risk to your mobile device is most likely not cyber criminals but you. You are far more likely to lose or forget a mobile device than have someone hack into it. The number one thing you should do to protect your device is enable automatic screen locking when the device is idle. This means that you have to unlock the screen with a strong passcode, your face, or your fingerprint to use your device. This helps ensure that it is much harder for anyone else to access your information if your device is lost or stolen. As a bonus, for most mobile devices, enabling the screen lock also enables encryption, helping protect the data stored on the device.

Here are several more tips to help protect your devices:

1. Updating: Enable automatic updating on your devices, so they are always running the latest version of the operating system and apps. Attackers are always looking for new weaknesses in software, and vendors are constantly releasing updates and patches to fix them. Keeping your devices up to date makes them much harder to hack. When choosing a new Android device, look at the vendor’s commitment to keeping the device updated. Apple iOS devices are updated by the company itself, while Android mobile devices are updated by the vendor that sold you the device, and not all vendors actively update their devices. If you are using an old device that is no longer supported or cannot be updated, consider purchasing a new device that is fully supported.
2. Tracking: Install or enable trusted software to remotely track your mobile device over the Internet. This way, you can connect to it over the Internet and find its location if your device is lost or stolen or remotely wipe all of your information in a worst-case situation.
3. Trusted Mobile Apps: Only install apps you need and stick to trusted sources. For Apple iOS devices such as iPads or iPhones, that means Apple’s App Store. For Android devices, use Google Play; for Amazon tablets, utilize the Amazon App Store. While you may be able to install apps from other sites, these are not vetted and are far more likely to be infected or outright malicious, either of which could compromise your privacy. Also, check to make sure the app has lots of positive reviews and is actively updated by the vendor before downloading it. Stay away from brand new apps, apps with few reviews, or apps that are rarely updated. 
4. Privacy Options: Mobile devices collect extensive information about you, especially since you take them everywhere you go. Thoroughly review your device’s privacy settings, including location tracking, and make sure sensitive notifications (such as verification codes) don’t appear on-screen when the device is locked.
5. Work: Be sure any mobile device you use for work is authorized for work use. When at work, be extra careful and never take any pictures or videos that may accidentally include sensitive information, such as pictures of whiteboards or computer screens.

Your mobile devices are a powerful tool – one that we want you to enjoy and use. Just following these few simple steps can go a long way to keeping you and your devices secure.

Jerrico Elion
In each issue, we feature one of our amazing ITS team members. We learn more about Jerrico Elion with our Networking team in this segment.

What is your role and how long have you been in ITS at UTHSC? I am part of the Network Infrastructure team and have been in ITS at UTHSC for 4 years.

What is a day in the life of Jerrico like? My day is typically figuring out networking problems both wired and wireless across campus. When I’m not thinking about the OSI Model at work, I entertain myself by annoying my girlfriend with amazing dad jokes and try to learn more about video game programming.

What is your favorite thing about working at UTHSC? Getting a chance to work with new technologies and assisting with the network upgrades on campus. *I like solving hard problems while working with people who are friendly and much smarter than me. *Joke answer tee hee

What’s something most people don’t know about you? I currently own 180 cookbooks based on different forms of ethnic cuisines e.g. Moroccan, Indian, Filipino, etc.  I also own 50 homebrewing/cocktail books as well for when I find the motivation to homebrew (beer/wine/mead) or make a fancy drink.