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Technology Considerations for Faculty & Staff

Blaze the Red Dragon mascot in the library, using several mobile devices

The Importance of Technology

Technology is a key consideration while preparing for class, in your office or teaching.  Information Resources supports and maintains campus owned equipment. If you choose to bring your own device there are some important things to consider.

For technical assistance at SUNY Cortland contact The Help Center by phone at 607-753-2500 or by email at thehelpcenter@cortland.edu.

Technology Policies and Guides

Visit the Information Resources homepage for a complete list of technology policies. 

myRedDragon

myRedDragon is your springboard to nearly all of SUNY Cortland's online tools and resources. Sign in to myRedDragon to gain access to your college Email account, online courses in Blackboard, library research databases and services, your grades, course registration and more.
myRedDragon Login

Bringing a Device to Campus? 

While most offices will have a device for you to work from, often you may need to bring your own:

  • Tablets and Other Devices 
    Network access is available for most tablets, smartphones and mobile devices.  Be sure to update your device regularly for better performance and security.
  • Windows or Mac?
    Windows and Macs are both popularly used on campus and supported by the college Help Center. It is recommended that your computer is running a current and updated operating system: Windows 10 for Windows and Mac OS X El Capitan (OS X 10.11) or newer for Mac. 
  • Suggested Computer Specifications
    In general, your computer should have a minimum of 4 GB RAM and at least 200 GB of free storage space on a hard drive for basic computing tasks. 
  • OS Updates
    It is important to regularly update your computer.  We recommend using the auto-update feature.  Your computer will need to be up to date to get on the network.
  • What about a Chromebook or different operating system?
    While these computers are not supported by the college they are allowed on the network. If you plan to use the device on the wireless network, make sure it can support WPA-2 Enterprise wireless networking.  There will be minimal support in using these devices. many users report issues connecting to the network.  Our recommendation is to bring a machine running Windows or Mac OS.

Software for Faculty & Staff

Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 is a suite of productivity software delivered and accessed over the internet. The suite includes common desktop applications including Word, Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, OneDrive and Skype for Business. Current SUNY Cortland students can get Office 365 for free.
Get Office 365

Discounted Software

As a current SUNY Cortland student, you are eligible to purchase educationally priced software on a variety of products at a significant discount.
Shop Educationally Priced Software

U Drives

Information Resources provides a network drive (U drive) to each faculty and staff member for storing files. The contents of this network drive are centrally backed up by Information Resources nightly. A department share drive is a shared network drive on college servers where faculty or staff can store data and the rest of their department can have access to it.  

More about securing your files

VPN Instructions

When not on campus, you can VPN into your shared drives to access them securely. 

More About VPNS