In an attempt to assist various departments at the University of New Mexico, the ASM (ASM) today donated more than 55 computers and monitors to various entities across campus which will help bring the departments who received the up-to-speed equipment in-line with the university’s new Project LINK finance system.
Project LINK is UNM's 5-7 year project to replace its current legacy administrative systems (Finance, Student/Academic, Student Financial Aid, HR/Payroll, Alumni/Development) with new integrated, web-based systems.
“We understood there were units across campus that are unable to upgrade their computers to operate and interface with the university’s new Banner finance system,” said Ken Baker, associate dean at ASM. “We thought let’s be a good university citizen and donate the equipment to those departments that are unable to obtain the equipment necessary to interface with the Banner system.”
“These computers meet minimum specifications that CIRT posted for Banner applications,” said Fred Youberg, coordinator, Project LINK. “The Anderson Schools are providing a big service to the campus through these donations,” Youberg said.
“As a whole, it was a good thing for the university. The magnitude and response was overwhelming. We had about 100 people who came by to pick up a computer. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to help them all,” Baker added.
Baker said that usually computers are gutted of the components of value – hard drives, disk drives and memory – and then sent to surplus.
“There is nothing of use left. We chose to keep these intact and make them available across campus. We wanted to make them available because the goodwill is more valuable than the money we could get out of them,” Baker added.
William Szaroletta from the Development Office commended the Anderson Schools for their largesse. “This is unbelievable. We are very fortunate the Anderson Schools chose to donate these computers to others on campus.”
The third-generation computers donated were Pentium III systems with 19-inch monitors, 55 of which were Dell systems. They are equipped with 450-800 megahertz chips said Baker.
For more information on Project LINK visit: http://link.unm.edu/
Contacts: Steve Carr (505) 277-1821; Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920