Students may even find themselves visiting the new URL less frequently since a WebSTAC smartphone application is in the works.

In the past, WebSTAC was accessible via the URL acadinfo.wustl.edu. This caused confusion among students who assumed that the URL was in fact the simpler webstac.wustl.edu.

The administration added the new URL upon learning of students’ confusion.

The Student Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) first requested that the Office of Student Records add the additional URL last Spring.

After a process of ensuring the security certificate associated with the new URL, the Office of Student Records recently debuted it to the Wash. U. community.

“We were kind of surprised to learn that students assumed that’s what it was,” said Director of the Office of Student Records, Susan Hosack.

In the past, incoming students have entered the terms “WebSTAC” and “WUSTL” into Google, in an effort to find the site.

Students hope that the new URL will make it easier to access the website and will cut down on confusion.

“I think the URL could have been simpler. The change will make it easier for students to find information that is really important to them,” sophomore Abby Pribble said.

Some students do not think that the change was necessary.

Junior Adam Hasz has WebSTAC bookmarked on his web browser, so he was not aware of the change.

“I really don’t think that this will make that big of a difference,” Hasz said. “It definitely is more straight forward, but I don’t think it will change students’ lives at all.”

Because acadinfo.wustl.edu is still a functioning URL, students like Hasz will be able to continue accessing WebSTAC via their prior bookmarks.

Now that accessing the website is more user-friendly, students will soon have an application they can download onto their smartphones enabling them to use some of WebSTAC’s functions.

Senior Matt Lanter and Class of 2010 graduate William Scales thought of a WebSTAC app in the spring during the class Software Engineering Workshop.

Lanter and Scales noticed that the WebSTAC website showed up very small on smartphones, so students rarely visited the site without a computer. Nonetheless, Lanter thinks that its information is very useful throughout the day, especially at the beginning of the year when many students carry printed out schedules, and at the end of the year when students run low on meal points.

Lanter conducted a survey on Facebook of 163 students asking what they would want the app to do. The four most popular responses were viewing meal plan balances, campus card balances, class schedules and adding campus card points.

77 percent of students said that they would use the application at least once a week, and 22 percent of students said that they would use it daily.

“I hope it makes students’ lives easier and provides them with information on-the-go,” Lanter said.

A prototype of the application has already been completed and provides users with their class schedules, a building map and campus card and meal point balances. Lanter is working with STAC and Information Services and Technology (IS&T) to see when and how he can release the application to students.

“IS&T is evaluating what they can provide me with, but they’re very helpful and excited about the idea,” Lanter said. He predicts that it the app will be available sometime next semester.

Lanter is also working on an application to view a campus map. He wants students to be able to select a building and then see where that building is using Google Maps. This application should be available by the end of the semester.

Editor’s note: Matt Lanter is the senior photo editor at Student Life.

A GO WUSTL pilot program has been underway since mid-January. Student Technology Services (STS) representatives said it has been a success.

“The feedback has been generally good,” Director of Student Technology Services Barbara Braun said. “There have been a few hiccups along the way that were Microsoft-related.”

According to Marcia Mannen, associate director of client support for Arts & Sciences Computing, most of the questions that students participating in the pilot have raised were not technical. There have not been many questions regarding the actual program, but rather addressing issues such as mail forwarding.

The Student Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) has been happy with the pilot.

“It’s going to be a good transition,” said sophomore Brandon Lucius, a member of STAC. “There are a lot of tools and applications that are going to make students’ lives more organized and efficient.”

Tools available with the new GO WUSTL program include video and text chat, an application similar to Google Documents, and a global address book.

According to Braun, the global address book is among one of the favorite applications of the pilot program participants.

Issues that have plagued the new e-mail service since the pilot started include backlogged e-mail and issues with the spam filters.

Sophomore Betel Ezaz, who is participating in the pilot program, has found some of its drawbacks.

“It seems inefficient right now, even compared to what we already have,” she said. “My main issue is that it loses e-mails and that the spam folder always has legitimate e-mails. I think they can figure it out. They’ve been really good about feedback.”

To remedy the issue with regular mail ending up in spam folders, all e-mails from Wash. U. addresses have been whitelisted.

“Overall I think it will be better because of the options that are available through GO WUSTL,” Ezaz said. “It’s just a matter of working out the small issues before we go live with it. I think it’s good.”

Arts & Sciences and engineering students are making the transition from Squirrelmail.

“From our perspective we know it’s something to be excited about,” said Kristen Hornberger, communications specialist for the Engineering Public Relations & Communications department.

The business school is transitioning from a less advanced version of Microsoft Outlook.

“It’s a very smooth transition,” said Sharon Yoon, associate director of MBA student affairs. “It’s very nice I think. Students are very savvy, and this is very intuitive.”

The old e-mail accounts will not be phased out immediately; their end dates have not yet been decided.

STS will be offering a series of hour-long workshops in early March to help acquaint students with GO WUSTL. In the meetings STS will discuss how to use specific applications and how to forward mail. STS is also encouraging students to look to the GO WUSTL Web site to find answers to simple questions.

Expectations for the program’s success are running high.

“If the pilot program was any indication, it was pretty smooth,” Braun said. “I don’t think it will be too difficult.”

But this tradition will soon be changing. The Student Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) and Student Technology Services (STS) have teamed up to reduce printing waste in residential halls.

Their solution is a system that enables students to print to a virtual universal printer from anywhere in Residential Life housing. They can then go to a printer anywhere on the residential campus and release their print job from that printer. But they must actually be in the computer lab to print the job.

Members of STAC and STS hope this system will cut down on the number of pages students print and never pick up.

The new system is managed by PaperCut. PaperCut gives Washington University technology services the power to implement many different sanctions, including paper quotas, fees per sheet of paper and the new release system.

Members of STS have high hopes for the new system.

“We hope that by having to physically be at a printer, that will cut back on the amount of waste,” said Barbara Braun, director of STS.

Although STS has not kept count of exactly how much waste there has been in the past, employees say they often observe a large number of packets that just sit in the computer labs until someone recycles them.

Students have also noticed this wastefulness.

“There’s this big tray full of paper that nobody ever uses,” sophomore William Swanson said.

Few students have reported problems with the new system.

“I think that so far students’ reaction to it in res-halls has been really positive,” said John Bailey, manager of STS. “I think the students like that you can print to the system anywhere and release it to any printer in the system…which I think is a nice thing they didn’t have before.”

Students also seem to understand the need for the new system.

“In terms of wastefulness, yes, it’s a good idea. In terms of convenience it might not be, but when it comes to environmental issues in general, oftentimes convenience has to be sacrificed, because in the long run what’s most important is that our environment is in a stable condition,” freshman Justin Blau said.

“I think it makes sense because if someone goes there and prints and doesn’t pick their things up, it saves paper,” sophomore Bridgette Zou said.

STS will be tracking the results of the new program over the next few semesters.

“We’re going to be monitoring this fall and this spring, working with STAC to see how printing totals compare and watching recycle bins to see waste anyway,” Braun said. “We’re taking it out for a test drive, and we’ll see what happens.”