Information Services 2024-25 Annual Report University of Richmond | Information Services | Annual Report 2024-2025

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2024-25 Top News

Academic Support

Spider Secure: Cybersecurity

Robust Infrastructure

Generative AI at the University of Richmond 2024-25

During the time of the 2024-2025 academic year, Generative AI (GenAI) worldwide moved from experimentation to everyday utility, reshaping how people create, learn, and make decisions across sectors. Generative AI promised faster insight and new forms of collaboration while reinforcing the need for discernment, transparency, and human judgment. In this moment of rapid progress, GenAI’s most durable value is as a human-centric partner that augments expertise, expands access to knowledge, and accelerates responsible innovation. Over this period, Generative AI showed transformative potential for teaching, learning, scholarship, and operations, laying a practical foundation for thoughtful advancement in higher education.

Information Services works on several fronts to support the considered use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) at the University of Richmond. In January 2024, Vice President for Information Services and CIO Dr. Keith W. McIntosh convened an AI Working Group to focus on the academic aspects of GenAI. The group, which includes faculty and members of the Provost’s Office, the Faculty Hub, the Weinstein Learning Center, Boatwright Library, and Information Services, produced:

  • A Generative AI website, with guidelines for GenAI use for students, faculty, and staff. The site is a one-stop shop for tracking everything related to GenAI at Richmond.
  • SpiderAI, which equitably provides access to paid GenAI tools including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The service was available last year to faculty and students, and now it is also available to staff.
  • Another tool, MessageAI, that supports University administrators who communicate on behalf of the University.
  • A rough-draft of an AI literacy framework, which will be reviewed by the faculty for potential inclusion in the undergraduate curriculum.

In addition, Dr. McIntosh began a conversation about GenAI with the IT Governance Steering Committee, which oversees technology governance at the University. As part of the discussion, IS offered a two-hour AI Literacy class for committee members. The class was based on the AI Literacy Framework developed by the AI Working Group. Committee members submitted and evaluated 14 use cases. Once a technical review of each use case is completed, IS expects to build out several pilots.

Much more is coming in the 2025-26 academic year, as Information Services ramps up AI services and support for students, faculty, and staff.

Workday Implementation, Phase One

In January 2025, the University of Richmond successfully launched Workday, making a significant change to our enterprise application infrastructure. The data conversion effort achieved an outstanding 99.32% success rate on the initial build--well above the typical industry range of 80-95%. This achievement reflects the deep expertise and meticulous preparation by the Enterprise Applications team under Tech Lead Lee Parker, with vital support from IS Project Office Director Susan Galvin. Parker went on to co-present on the team’s data conversion success at the EDUCAUSE 2024 Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX.

Lee Parker and Eric Hoffman (Moran Technology Company) present "Navigating ERP Implementation Data Risks" at the EDUCAUSE 2024 Annual Conference.

Over several months, the team completed four rounds of data conversion to migrate information from the legacy Banner system into Workday. Data conversion was led by Deb White and Tequita Hawkins, supported by Valerie Caminiti, Mason Cox, Pavel Perinka, and Joon Han, ensuring accuracy and completeness throughout the process.

The team also developed and tested over 75 integrations connecting Workday with external partners such as Amazon, Bank of America, and Cigna, enabling seamless data exchange across systems. Concurrently, Workday security configuration was expertly managed by Ray Cargill, Alex Szymanski, and Cory Anderson, who assigned appropriate roles and permissions to more than 4,600 staff, faculty, and student employees.

Julie Farmer, Workday@Richmond program director, commended the teams dedication, resilience, and collaborative spirit, which were instrumental in achieving go-live despite the project's complexity and scale.

This successful implementation underscores Information Services' commitment to delivering robust, integrated technology solutions that enhance operational efficiency and user experience University-wide.

Wireless Network Upgrade

Over the summer of 2024, UR's campus-wide Wi-Fi infrastructure underwent a significant upgrade. The Information Services team replaced or added 2,900 Wi-Fi access points across all academic and administrative buildings. The latest Wi-Fi 6E standard will deliver leading-edge performance to students, faculty, and staff.

"The Wi-Fi 6E project highlights our dedication to providing equitable access to high-quality resources," said Dr. Keith W. McIntosh, vice president and chief information officer. "By offering a robust network, we enable the campus community to connect, collaborate, and learn freely. I'm extremely proud of our team and their work."

Wi-Fi 6E uses additional frequency bands, expanding the wireless network's capacity and connectivity across campus. The network was also extended, with Information Services adding new access points in places previously unsupported.

In the spring of 2025, the Network Services team completed the installation of a dozen completely new access points:

  • The walking path around Westhampton Lake
  • The quad and sidewalks between Heilman, Gottwald, Lora Robins and Booker
  • Sidewalks and green spaces between Wood/Marsh/Moore
  • Sidewalks and green spaces between RH3/Whitehurst
  • Additional coverage of Milhiser Green
  • Outside classroom & patio between Weinstein Int Center & Law

Two projects that were separate from the Wi-Fi upgrade project also added access points around the circle toward the Robins School of Business, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, and the tennis court area.

"The wireless network was crucial for summer research, especially for students who use their personal computers for data analysis," said Christine Helms, associate professor of physics. "The upgraded network has been great for connectivity and uploading or downloading large data files to Box for collaboration. It was great having all the upgrades completed before students arrived so we could hit the ground running."

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