KSUCVM Student Computing Initiative 

The Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine believes that in order to maximize the learning experience and prepare for the medical, technological, and business challenges of the world they will be entering, our students must be proficient in the use of technology. As a result, the college implemented the Student Computing Initiative beginning Fall of 2007.

Every 1st-year student enrolling at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine receives a new convertible laptop computer during their orientation week.  These computers are the student's window to their education throughout the 4-year curriculum, providing access to electronic versions of all curricular materials made available via the CVM Intranet and/or K-State Online (including text, images, audio, and video), as well as serving as a communications and collaboration tool between their fellow students and their professors. 

The program benefits for students and parents include:

• Uniformity - Students will have hardware and software that is compatible with all other veterinary students and their professors. 

• Flexibility - Students can more effectively use computers throughout the Veterinary Medicine complex and from other locations on campus. Since the computers offer wireless access, they will provide “anytime, anywhere” convenience, enabling the students to connect to all network services and functions between the College of Veterinary Medicine and Kansas State University.  

• Support - The computers will be under warranty, and CVM IT staff will be vendor certified and available to troubleshoot and make repairs if needed.  Complete computer replacement within 24 hours will be available for catastrophic damage.  

• Value and Convenience - The burden for students and parents on deciding which computer and what software to buy has been greatly reduced, as the computer will be furnished, configured, and maintained as part of the student's technology fee.  Overall cost to the student will be lower than individual purchases due to buying power, academic incentives, and standardization.

The current model being issued is the Fujitsu Lifebook T5010.  Click on one of the following links for more information:

• Fujitsu T5010 Website

• T5010 Spec Sheet (PDF) - some specifications on the model delivered may vary

• KSUCVM Student Computing Initiative Brochure (PDF) 

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  K-State Student Computing Resources

  Students are encouraged to review the K-State Information Technology policies and the CVM Network policies and procedures.

  The following computing resources are available to CVM students. If you have any questions, please contact Wayne Michaels, CaTS Director, 406 Trotter Hall, 785-313-0116. Visit the CaTS web site at http://www.vet.k-state.edu/cats.

  • CVM Library:

    The CVM Library has a number of computers available exclusively for CVM students.  These computers provide CVM students access to all CVM multimedia teaching programs, the Internet, the CVM Intranet, and e-mail.  There is a charge for printing in the library and throughout the CVM complex. Printing credit can be purchased from library staff.

  • Student Technology Room:

    The CVM Library maintains room 405B as a Student technology Room.  This room houses 2 networked computers containing a variety of useful software, as well as color scanning and printing capabilities (printing credit can be purchased from library staff).  Access is restricted to students via use of their ID badges, and is available 24/7.

  • K-State Campus Electronic ID (eID):

    All K-State students are required to self-register their own eID for access to various campus computing systems and resources.  eID's serve as official lifetime electronic identifiers for all faculty, staff, alumni, students, and visitors.  Students may self-register their eID by visiting the eID website at http://eid.k-state.edu. In addition to providing access to variuos campus systems, the eID will also serve as your "official" campus e-mail address, and is used to disseminate campus-wide announcements.  

  • CVM Network Accounts:

    All CVM students are given a CVM network account that mirrors their campus eID.   These accounts are required in order to attach to the CVM network and use network resources from TabletPCs or other available computers within the college.

  • Internet Service Providers:

    K-State Telecommunications is the Internet Service provider (ISP) for the K-State community, and their dial-up service is available to all K-State students. There are two  dial-in rates available, ranging from $5-10/month. On-Line sign-up for this service is available at http://www.telecom.ksu.edu, or you may visit the Telecom offices at 109 East Stadium during business hours.  Information on other Manhattan area ISPs, including high-speed cable and DSL Broadband services, can be located in the Manhattan Yellow Pages under "Internet Service Providers". 

  • Remote CVM Intranet access:

    The CVM Intranet (internal Internet) contains course information, class syllabi, student announcements, and programs accessible only to CVM faculty, staff, and students, and access is restricted to computers connected within the CVM complex.  To access the CVM Intranet from off-campus, students must use their CVM network username and password.

  • K-State Online:

    K-State Online is K-State's Internet-based course management system that transforms the everyday classroom into interactive web sessions for K-State's on-campus and distance education communities.  K-State Online allows you to get your coursework done on your schedule, in your way.  You can work on assignments, tests and group projects or participate in class discussions or surveys any time of day, wherever you are.  K-State Online can be accessed at http://public.online.ksu.edu/ by signing in with your K-State eID.

IMPORTANT COMPUTER SECURITY INFORMATION

The risk of computer viruses and worms continues to rise, and a vulnerable machine can be attacked and compromised within a few seconds when connected to the Internet, even through a dial-up connection. To protect the university's network and resources as well as other K-Staters’ systems, K-State now requires computers connecting to the university network to:

1. Install the university’s site-licensed anti-virus software and have it configured to update continuously through a local server.

2. Set Microsoft Update to check for updates daily and install critical updates automatically.

K-State actively scans its network to identify computers that are unpatched, vulnerable, or infected with a computer worm or virus. If yours is identified as such, it will be blocked from accessing the network until it has been repaired and/or patched. Once a computer is compromised, it may be necessary to reformat the computer's hard drive in order to return it to a known safe state.  To help avoid this scenario, KSUCVM has adopted these additional policies:
 

3. Computers will be configured to download and install critical updates through the CVM Windows Server Update Services.  This insures that the latest critical patches and updates are available to CVM computers even if Microsoft's servers are temporarily overloaded or unavailable, and allows the updates to be installed at times that are convenient to our users.

4. Computers will be configured with a universal administrative user account and strong password. In the event of a failure of the CVM Windows Update Server, the network administrator will be able to use this account, in conjunction with Network Security software, to push critical updates and patches to vulnerable computers as necessary.

5. The universal administrative account will be configured to have access via Remote Desktop, so that in the rare instance where procedures #1 and #2 fail, the network administrator can remotely log into a vulnerable machine and manually install critical updates and patches. 

Campus and local network administrators will scan the CVM network on a regular basis, particularly following the release of any critical updates from Microsoft, to identify unpatched and vulnerable computers.  Steps 1-3 will be followed as needed until all identified systems have been successfully updated and their vulnerabilities addressed. The configuration requirements above can be removed upon leaving the university.