In 1995-96, this section of the IT Plan described the challenges faced by U.S. Higher Education brought about by the combination of shrinking resources and weakening public confidence. Unfortunately for WSU, enrollment in Fall Quarter 1996 marked the fourth straight decline in as many years. While new freshman enrollments remained relatively steady, the lowest unemployment rate in the region in 42 years helped fuel a continued decline in the number of part-time students. The resulting reductions in tuition revenues and legislative appropriations combined for a third consecutive year of base budget reductions.

Fortunately, in the1996 legislature the Governor and other elected officials continued to view information technology as a priority. Consequently, WSU received substantial HETI funding for the 1996-97 fiscal year. Within the parameters set by the statewide higher education long-range information technology plan and in keeping with the university's strategic vision for IT, WSU proposed the following specific HETI-funded implementation actions in 1996-97:

• Network connectivity — completion of Phase I of the WSU networking plan and the beginning of work on Phase II.
• Electronic information resources and services — continued implementation of the new "Horizon" library system.
• Student support systems and services — programming support and hardware/software required to address the enrollment management priority described earlier, expansion of World Wide Web access to student admissions, registration and course data, and continued refinement of the new WSU "Wildcard" ID/debit card system.
• Ongoing support ("maintenance") — general maintenance of the HETI-funded video conferencing facilities and multimedia classrooms, expansion of the ISDN video conferencing network, upgrades to WSU’s multimedia production  and World Wide Web publishing capabilities and enhancements to WSU’s TV production and video production facilities.
• Electronic classrooms — purchase of portable classroom projection systems for classes taught in the various colleges and student union.
• Hardware, software & networking — support for the 1996-97 Science Technology Initiative (as required), enhancement of the networking plan implementation, and other basic hardware and software needs.
• Faculty development — funding of "WSU Online" (the approved mechanism for WSU’s participation in Internet-based courses and services), additional staffing for the CATS Communication Technology Laboratory, and course development grants and faculty development projects sponsored by the WSU Teaching & Learning Forum and Teaching, Learning & Technology Roundtable (TLTR).

The following outlines the status of each of these goals at the close of the 1996-97 fiscal year:

1. Network Connectivity. Although not all of the allocated funds had been spent, work on Phase I of the WSU Networking plan was essentially completed and priority projects in Phase II had been identified. The institutional investment to-date in the implementation of the WSU Network Plan is in excess of $2.5 million. Work is continuing at achieving minimal compliance with State Information Technology Support Committee (ITSC) networking standards.
   
   
2. Electronic Information Resources and Services. Implementation of Phase I of the new "Horizon" Library System at WSU was substantially complete at the end of the 1996-97 academic year. Through the efforts of the Stewart Library staff, WSU expended substantial institutional resources in 1996-97 in support of this ongoing project.
   
   
3. Student Support Systems and Services. Efforts in this area were still underway at the close of the 1996-97 fiscal year.  An individual was hired to provide temporary programming support for critical changes required in the Student Information System.   However, due to training lead times the individual was only approaching full productivity by July 1997.  The new enrollment management system (EMAS) was purchased and installed on hardware acquired with HETI funds.  Training was in process for full implementation by the beginning of Fall Quarter 1997.  World Wide Web access to student admissions, registration and course data, was in place and operational for the 1997-98 academic year.  The new ID/Debit Card (the WSU "Wildcard") was partially implemented but the contract vendor, American Express/Special Teams had announced their intent to get out of the business. Although some functionality and enhancements were achieved by the end of 1996-97, efforts were then focused on negotiating a favorable exit contract with American Express. WSU expended approximately $650,000 in institutional funds in this category in 1996-97.
   
   
4. Institutional Infrastructure. The initiative provided $111,500 to WSU for ongoing support of HETI programs already in place. In 1996-97 WSU used $25,000 of this funding for emergency and general maintenance of the video conferencing facilities and multimedia classrooms created with funding from the previous two years.

   Approximately $25,000 was used to expand the ISDN video conferencing network created with 1995-96 HETI funds. Part of the money was used to lease the Primary Rate Interface (PRI) line required to enable the University to make off-campus ISDN video conferencing calls.  Unfortunately, this project was only partially successful.  Although ISDN service was established, dependability did not reach acceptable levels for ongoing use.  Staff are continuing to evaluate the potential of ISDN but so far, the results have been disappointing.

   As planned, an additional $20,000 was used to maintain and upgrade WSU’s multimedia production and World Wide Web publishing capabilities. The monies were used to pay for the hardware and software upgrades required to keep these services current.

   The remaining $41,500 was allocated to renovate the WSU TV production studio (used to support distance education) and to relocate and upgrade Communication Arts & Technologies (CATS) video production services used to support both on-campus and off-campus programs. By the end of 1996-97, the relocation of the video production services was complete but other efforts were still in progress.

5. Electronic Classrooms. Work in this area was still in progress at the end of the 1996-97 fiscal year. WSU used some of this funding to purchase one classroom projection system, for each of the University's seven colleges and a system to support classes taught in the Student Union. Because of the ongoing use and needed renovations of the designated facilities, progress is made during relatively short periods between quarters.
   
   
6. Hardware, Software & Networking. In accordance with USHE guidelines, $65,900 of the funds in this category was used as partial support of the 1996-97 Science Technology Initiative (see Dean Ronald Galli’s memorandum of February 20, 1996).   The bulk of the remainder was combined with the networking connectivity funds described above to further the implementation of the WSU Network Plan. Funds were expended for network servers, hub equipment upgrades, additional fiber runs and building wiring upgrades.  Many of these were still underway at the close of the 1996-97 fiscal year and are expected to be completed during 1997-98.
   
   
7. Faculty Development. WSU used approximately half of this funding, $80,000, to assist faculty in the creation of online courses. WSU Online was successfully launched in Fall 1997 with 19 courses and a reasonably robust support infrastructure.   Approximately $13,000 of the funding in this category was used for student assistants to staff the Communication Technology Laboratory (faculty assistance center) that was created with last year's HETI funding. The laboratory was used for numerous training sessions and continues to provide the necessary hardware and software to enable faculty to use current communication technologies effectively in their classes.  As planned, approximately $62,600 was used for course development grants and faculty development projects planned in coordination with the WSU Teaching and Learning Forum, and Teaching, Learning & Technology Roundtable (TLTR).