Unit: Office of Academic Technologies

2025 CIT Conference highlights innovation and change

Provost Ani Yazedjian presents the keynote, "Resisting the Urge to Resist Change" to the 2025 CIT conference attendees

The annual Continuous Improvement in Technology (CIT) Conference brought together the Illinois State University information technology (IT) community to discuss new developments, share best practices, and celebrate achievements from the past year. The event, held in the State Farm Hall of Business (SFHB) on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, featured a series of presentations, networking opportunities,

Love is in the (AI)R

A hand and arm reaching out of a blank phone screen, holding a rose

As Valentine’s Day approaches, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the season to launch romance scams alongside traditional phishing attacks. Universities are prime targets, with scammers focusing on students, faculty, and staff. These scams can now use artificial intelligence (AI) to produce profiles, deepfake images, and voice cloning to build trust and manipulate victims.

Technology sheds light during recent power outage

A student walks in front of Fell Hall during fall on the Quad

A far more efficient method of tracking the power status in campus buildings has been developed by Tech Solutions’ Networking team. This team has developed a dashboard to better assist the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), along with the University Police Department and Facilities Management, allowing them to quickly understand the scope of a power outage, in order to be able to communicate information with the campus community.

The importance of cybersecurity with Dan Taube

A group of students work on a team project on a classroom computer

The most important lesson I’ve learned and accepted is that this is a marathon that doesn’t end. In terms of cybersecurity, there is no real endgame where we can consider everything online to be safe and secure. While there are certainly techniques that are most effective to reduce the likelihood and impact of a cyberattack, eliminating it is impossible because of technology and threat actors continuing to rapidly evolve. This ultimately requires cybersecurity to constantly adapt to different threats and attacks, which is all a part of the marathon we are currently in.

2025 Williams Outstanding Technology Service Award nominations now open

Provost Ani Yazedjian with Todd Thomas of the School of Information Technology, the 2024 recipient of the Williams Award.

If there is an outstanding staff member providing excellent, impactful support for students or faculty, we want to know about it! Nominations are now open for the 2025 Williams Outstanding Technology Service Award. All full-time administrative professional or civil service employees in roles supporting technology with at least four years of experience in their role or similar roles at Illinois State University are eligible to be nominated.