The following recommendations by the Equipment Committee were approved by the College of Social Sciences Policy Committee and the Dean, effective October 8, 1998.  Portions of sections B and C were updated by the College Committee on October 16, 2000 to reflect changes in technology.

AS RESOURCES ALLOW AND AS REQUESTED, THE COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES WILL PROVIDE EQUIPMENT AND RELATED SERVICE TO ITS DEPARTMENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF AS SPECIFIED BELOW.  WITH THE EXPECTATION THAT ANNUAL DEPARTMENTAL ALLOCATIONS FOR SUPPLIES AND SERVICES WILL BE USED TO PURCHASE MINOR EQUIPMENT, THE COLLEGE WILL NOT NORMALLY CONSIDER REQUESTS TO PURCHASE SUCH ITEMS.

A.   Equipment Purchase Policy :

The following addition to Equipment Purchase Policy was approved by the Policy Committee on November 2, 1999, to become effective in Academic Year 2OOO-O1:

The College will set aside the smaller of $2O,OOO or 25% of its annual equipment budget to be used to share the cost of purchasing departmental copy machines.  If the College Equipment Committee determines that there is need, the first priority for use of these funds will be to share equally with departments the cost of replacement copy machines, not to exceed a contribution of $1O,OOO to a given department* in a five year period.  The College Equipment Committee will normally recommend no more than two departments to receive such funding in a given year.

* Geography and Environmental Studies will be considered the equivalent of one department for purposes of these allocations.

The remaining priorities for College purchase of equipment requested by departments are:

1. Computer workstations for newly hired tenure track faculty members

2. Computers and other essential equipment for College level labs

3. One computer equivalent to a new faculty workstation for each department office

4. Replacement of faculty computer workstations which have become inadequate

5. Computers equivalent to new faculty workstations for each FTE departmental office staff member

6. Instructionally related equipment and software which have the broadest use within the College

7. Other equipment which supports instruction

8. In any given funding cycle, departments may request exceptions to the College's normal order of priority in order to address identified departmental needs.  The Equipment Committee is authorized to make specific exceptions as justified.

B.   Computer Workstations for new Probationary Faculty Members

1. New probationary faculty members will be provided with one of the following workstations, if requested:

   • 650 MHz Pentium III, 128 MB RAM, CD-ROM, 17" monitor, ZIP drive
   • Graphite iMac, 128 MB RAM, Imation Superdrive

2. Upgrades will be considered where justification is provided.

3. Additional peripheral devices, including printers, and software other than that commonly bundled with computers are normally to be provided by the department.

C.   Replacement of workstations :

1. Tenured or probationary faculty members and department secretaries may request updated computers at any time they feel their needs justify doing.  Replacements will normally be made if the currently provided computer is a:

   • PC with a processing speed no greater than 233 MHz, or
   • Macintosh with processing speed no greater than 120 MHz

2. Written requests for replacements must be made by the chair.  If the computer to be replaced does not meet the standard of obsolescence defined above, the request must identify the inadequacy of the current device and the user tasks which require the upgrade.

3. If the College Equipment Committee or its designee determines that replacement is justified, the replacement will normally be at the level of a new faculty workstation (Section B above).

4. The College will have first right to re-assign the use of the computer being replaced if it was purchased with College funds.

D.   Departmental Office Equipment :

1. The College will provide each department with at least one computer equivalent to a new faculty workstation (section B above) for central office use.  As resources allow, additional workstations will be provided up to the level of one computer per full time equivalent staff member.

2. The College will provide current versions of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint for those workstations that it provides to the staff, if requested.

3. The process for replacement of staff computers in subsequent years will be similar to that for replacing faculty workstations (section C above).

4. As requested, each department will be provided with:            

   1. a moderately priced, legal size scanner and

   2. one removable storage media device (Zip, Jazz, or equivalent)

5. The College will consider sharing the cost of departmental copy machines.

6. All other office equipment and software will normally be purchased by the department.

E.   Equipment Request Procedures :

1. Departments will be asked to alert the College by May 1 of each year regarding major equipment needs anticipated for the following academic year, but the official annual call for equipment requests will require that they be submitted to the College Office no later than September 15.  Except for needs which could not be anticipated, equipment requests will not normally be considered at other times.

2. All equipment requests (including software) must be approved and prioritized by the department chair.  Requests submitted directly to the College by other faculty members will not be considered.

3. All equipment requests must include:

   1. a brief description of each item (including make and model, if possible)

   2. the intended use for each item

   3. the estimated cost of each item

   4. the item's priority among the department's requests

           For a Computer Purchase Request Form (.doc), please click here.

F.   Servicing of Equipment And Software :

1. Equipment and software maintenance contracts for departmentally based items will normally be a departmental responsibility.

2. The College technician will attempt to diagnose and service PC and Macintosh computers which were purchased with college, department, or university funds, including those which were acquired through grants and software which was provided by the College.  If the technician cannot identify the problem or provide the needed service, he or she will help coordinate repairs for the department and will provide or arrange for transport of the equipment when needed, but departments will be responsible for the cost of repairs and any shipping costs which are required.

3. Maintenance of privately owned hardware and software is the responsibility of the owner.

4. Service will be requested on the form provided to departments by the College technician or will provide equivalent information.

    For a Computer Service Request Form (.doc), please click here.

G.   Off-Campus Use of Equipment :

1. Only equipment commonly used in the field may normally be used off-campus,

2. A written request to use an assigned computer workstation off-campus must be approved by the department chair and a copy filed in the College office.

3. The College may call for computers to be returned to campus for an annual inventory.

4. The chair's certification that the assigned workstation is on-campus is required for the Dean to sign a campus clearance form for a faculty member.

5. Faculty members should be duly diligent about care of equipment used off-campus.  The College will not be expected to replace equipment lost or damaged off-campus due to negligence.

6. Faculty members will be responsible for transporting equipment to campus for diagnosis, service, or repair.
   

   Please check the following links for more information on available resources.

   College Lab Policies	Microsoft License
   Equipment Purchase Policy	Career Center
   Computer Service Request (.doc)	Computer Purchase Request (.doc)
   Equipment for Check-out