SUPPORT SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES

COMPUTER SERVICES

The University has developed a high-speed fiber optic network connecting all major campus buildings including residence halls. Attached to this network are servers for administrative functions, academic computing, and research computing. This network is also connected to the Internet, providing all students access to Internet mail, Web servers, and many more valuable network resources.

From the University SamInfo link, students can activate and begin using their SHSU computer accounts as soon as they are accepted to the University. To ensure prompt communications, the University will send official statements and documents via the students’ e-mail addresses. These accounts will remain available to students after they graduate, allowing continuity for job searches and alumni interactions.

Ethernet ports are provided for each student in the residence halls (including Bearkat Village and Sam Houston Village).

Client computers supported are PC and Macintosh workstations. Computer labs are operated by the Department of Computer Services and workstations are available 24 hours a day during the week, with extensive weekend hours. Software for campus computers is provided on all University computers connected to the Campus network (SAMnet).

Wireless access for SHSU students is currently available at many locations throughout campus. Students can reach the Internet while studying in the library, eating in the LSC, or sitting outside in the mall area. Efforts are under way to provide wireless access points in all academic buildings on the main campus. Current details are available online: https://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/wireless.

The administrative computer functions have been developed to serve the students with convenient ways to interact with the University 24/7, by telephone or the web. Examples include telephone registration, electronic transcript transmission, and electronic funds transfer for financial aid loans. Additional functions including registration, grade look-up, degree plans, and payments by credit cards are provided via the University SamInfo website: https://www.shsu.edu/saminfo.

Students are encouraged to apply for part-time employment with Computer Services. Opportunities exist to participate in building and maintaining the computing infrastructure at the University. The Computer Services department employs more than 100 students as lab assistants, telephone operators, night time system operators, web designers, programmers, helpdesk assistants, and software/hardware technicians. These students gain valuable experience for the future and provide an essential part of the operations of the department and University. For more information visit: http:// www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/staff/grads.html.

SHSU’s Computer Services website is: https://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/. Questions regarding SHSU’s computer resources may be addressed to HELPDESK@SHSU.EDU.

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

The Office of Institutional Research conducts research and analyses to support administrative decision-making and develops management information systems to provide information necessary for assessment of education and non-education programs at Sam Houston State University. Also, this office maintains a library of reference materials on planning and institutional research, designs research methodology to achieve specific goals, coordinates university-wide institutional research activities for strategic and tactical plans.

Reconciling the potential conflict between traditional collegiate values and accountability methods, the Office of Institutional Research monitors institutional effectiveness activities, determines appropriate types of assessment, and helps ensure that assessment results are used in program improvement.

LIBRARY, NEWTON GRESHAM

The Library contains more than 1.3 million books, bound periodicals, and government documents and a variety of formats, including multimedia, microforms, microfiche, phonograph records, videotape, and newspapers. The library subscribes to over 2,200 periodicals, an increasing number of which are available electronically. As a depository for selected federal and state government publications in a separate collection of over 230,000 print and non-print documents, the library also serves the citizens of five adjacent counties. The Library’s Thomason Room houses over 12,000 rare books and other materials on Texas, the Southwest, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, the Civil War, Library Science, Criminal Justice, and other topics. Other groups of materials housed in the Newton Gresham Library include paperbacks for recreational reading, current periodical issues, new books, and a children’s literature collection. A multimedia lab, music listening room, study carrels, a small lounge area furnished with vending machines, and a copy center, including a public fax machine are provided for the convenience of students and faculty. Library holdings information may be electronically accessed through an online catalog from hundreds of library and campus computer workstations, as well as remotely via the Internet.

The campus network may be used to search electronic periodical or other databases for citations and information. The library maintains database licenses for important databases such as ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, PsycINFO, CJ Abstracts, NCJRS, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, and Biological Abstracts and ScienceDirect. OCLC’s FirstSearch makes databases such as WorldCat, AGRICOLA, PAIS, and Business and Management Practices available to SHSU students. TexShare, the statewide electronic resource-sharing program, provides access to a variety of electronic databases and thousands of full-text journal articles. A complete list of the electronic databases and electronic journals can be viewed at www.shsu.edu/~lib_www/resources/datab.html. These resources are available from home, campus offices and computer labs. Access to online catalogs of libraries throughout the United States, including nearby university libraries such as the University of Houston, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas is available via the Internet. Books, articles, documents, and other items which are not available locally may be requested through the OCLC interlibrary loan system, a database of over 35 million bibliographic records to the world’s literature.

Sixteen librarians, twenty-six support staff, and a number of student assistants provide reference, interlibrary loan, circulation, acquisitions, and other library services to the faculty, staff and students of the University, as well as to visiting scholars and off-campus users. The University Archives, located on the 4th floor of the Library preserves the history of the campus, as well as a collection of faculty monographic publications. A multimedia lab and classroom, staffed by Computer Services department, is available during regular library hours. The seventy networked workstations in this multimedia area may be used to access the periodical and information databases, as well as the library’s multimedia (CD-ROM) collection of over 500 library-use-only CD-ROMs. This multimedia collection is listed in the online catalog and is available to all library users. To assist library users in utilizing library material and services, over fifty printed guides and bibliographies have been developed by library faculty and staff. They are available in print format in the reference area, and are accessible electronically from the library’s home page. The home page also provides access to information on the library’s services for off-campus and distance education students (https://www.shsu.edu/~lib_www/).

MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS TUTORS

The University provides free mathematical and statistical tutoring services to all students enrolled in certain courses in the form of personal tutoring and computer-based tutorial software. Students can find tutoring services at two on-campus locations: the SAM Center, Academic Classroom Building IV, telephone (936) 294-4444 and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lee Drain Building, telephone (936) 294- 1564. Hours of operation and availability of tutors at each location are posted on a semester to semester basis. These tutoring labs are staffed by Sam Houston State University students who are selected, hired, and monitored by the SAM Center staff and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. In addition, the SAM Center houses instructional software for a variety of courses that can be utilized on site by all Sam Houston State University students.

RESEARCH AND SPONSORED PROGRAMS

The mission of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) is to support the teaching, research and scholarly activities of the faculty. The office provides support to faculty and staff in preparing and submitting, to external entities, proposals for grants and contracts. ORSP assists the Research Council in overseeing the Research Enhancement Program. This program provides internal research support to strengthen faculty efforts to obtain external grants and professional development support to promote scholarly activities to further intellectual progress in the individual faculty member’s discipline. Support for research and scholarly activities which may involve undergraduate and graduate students is considered a vital part of the suc cess of the University’s mission. The office protects the interests of the University by ensuring compliance with federal, state, Texas State University System (TSUS), University, and sponsor rules and regulations. ORSP assists the University’s compliance committees that address the regulations and policies on issues such as the use of humans and animals in research, the use of hazardous materials, and financial conflicts of interest.

TEXAS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

The Texas Research Institute for Environmental Studies (TRIES) serves as a research and educational facility for faculty and students at Sam Houston State University. The institute hosts the University’s visualization laboratory as well as a full service analytical laboratory. Each laboratory contains state-of-the-art equipment to meet the demands of research and education at the University.

The visualization laboratory is focused on the development of virtual reality simulations, distributed processing, computer modeling and custom software development. The laboratory possesses multiple geographic information system (GIS) software packages that enhance the quality of research being conducted by faculty and graduate students. GIS can be applied to research that addresses issues relating to business, criminal justice, environment and anything containing a spatial component. The laboratory also possesses software used by Hollywood studios for the production of special effects in movies, which provides students hand-on experience with industry standard software.

The analytical laboratory at TRIES is a full service laboratory capable of conducting research requiring organic, inorganic and biological analyses. The laboratory possesses multiple instruments to assist researchers in all venues of analytical analyses and serves as a resource for research as well as instruction.

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