Parkland College Trustees Vote to Upgrade IT Infrastructure

Parkland College will soon incorporate new technology that will streamline the student experience.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Parkland College will soon incorporate new technology that will streamline the student experience and automate processes and operations across the campus.

At its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, the Parkland College Board of Trustees heard a report from Parkland Chief Information Officer Amin Kassem that provided technology and security updates on campus and outlined the new Information Technology (IT) strategic plan.

One of the goals of the IT strategic plan is to modernize Parkland's educational and institutional infrastructure through a $3.9 million multiyear license and professional services from Ellucian Company of Reston, Va., Parkland's current enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company. The agreement includes retaining the Ellucian Colleague system as the college's ERP and migrating the system to the Ellucian cloud or Software as a Service (SaaS).

Expected to begin in summer 2024, the cloud migration project should improve student services processes and other college IT-related functions as well as improve the college's IT security measures. The project will likely span two years. Upon successful migration, Parkland College could save at least $225,000 annually after the fourth year, according to Kassem.

"The new IT strategic plan and the modernization project demonstrate our commitment to empowering the Parkland College community through technology and supporting the success of our students, faculty, and staff," Kassem said.

The trustees also received updates from President Pamela Lau on other college matters and from Stephanie Stuart, vice president for strategic partnerships and workforce innovation.
 
In other business, trustees approved:

• purchase of furniture from Krueger International of Green Bay, Wisc., $90,000
• a 30-month contract for Darktrace cybersecurity services from DarkTrace Holdings, Atlanta, Ga., $227,234
• purchase of food service for the Parkland College Child Development Center from Hendrick House of Urbana, $71,460
•  the acceptance of funds from external sources:
  • Illinois Community College Board (ICCB): Development Education Reform Act (DERA) Implementation Project, $95,000
• personnel appointments and modifications:
  • Robert Bielmeier, Associate Director, Financial Aid and Veteran Services
  • Hannah Garrett, CBE Program Navigator, Career and Technical Education
  • Ashley Hammock, Specialist, Assessment Center
  • Jorgi Jones, Coordinator-Activities and Conduct, Student Life
  • Charles Patterson, Custodian, Physical Plant
  • Maxim Prevatt, Theater Stagehand, Arts, Media, and Social Sciences
  • Isela Rangel, Student Records Advisor, Admissions and Records
  • Jonathan Rogers, Custodian, Physical Plant
  • Eric Shell, Technical Coordinator, Student Life
  • Jennifer Somers, Associate Director, Child Development Center