Institutional Memberships & Associations
The below memberships are sponsored by Libraries and IT Services.
Association for Research Libraries (ARL)
ARL influences the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education committee, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interest with those of allied organizations.
ARMA
ARMA International is a not-for-profit professional association and the authority on managing records and information – paper and electronic. Its approximately 11,000 members include records managers, archivists, corporate librarians, imaging specialists, legal professionals, IT managers, consultants, and educators, all of whom work in a wide variety of industries, including government, legal, healthcare, and financial services in the United States, Canada, and 30-plus other countries. The association also develops and publishes standards and guidelines related to records management. It was a key contributor to the international records management standard, ISO-15489. For additional information, contact Cynthia Ghering, director of Content and Collaboration and the University Archives & Historical Collections.
Capital Area IT Council
The Capital Area IT Council is a Michigan Regional Skills Alliance (MI RSA) that was formed to address the specific workforce development challenges facing our local information technology industry. Employer led and directed, the Capital Area IT Council is a coalition of industry, education, economic development, and government partners committed to identifying, developing, and implementing real solutions for improving the quantity and quality of IT professionals in this region. MSU holds an institutional membership with the Capital Area IT Council which provides all MSU staff members an opportunity to attend sponsored training and informational sessions on various IT topics. If you are interested in more information on the Capital Area IT Council and their offerings, please visit their website.
Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC)
The CIC is a consortium of the Big Ten universities plus the University of Chicago (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln joined on July 1, 2011), organized by the provosts of those universities.
CIC-CIOs
The provosts have formed several Executive Leadership groups, including one of the Chief Information Officers (CIOs). Vice Provost and CIO Dave Gift is MSU’s member, and immediate past chair, of the CIOs group. The CIC CIOs in turn sponsor a large number of CIC Peer Groups that bring together IT-related staff and others across the CIC institutions to share ideas and best practices, and collaborate on projects. MSU has benefited greatly from its participation in the various CIC venues.
CIO Executive Council
The CIO Executive Council is a “vendor-free” global community of corporate, government and not-for-profit chief information officers; it is an enterprise of CIO Magazine. The Council provides planning, best practices and leadership development resources, and webinars, and facilitates personal access to CIOs with similar issues and interests across all organization types. It has been a useful way for MSU to connect to experience and expertise beyond the usual set of peer educational institutions.
Common Solutions Group
The Common Solutions Group (CSG) was formed to advance the overall effectiveness of research university IT functions through collaboration, rather than to differentiate them competitively. MSU was invited to join in 2009. The current CSG membership is comprised of 29 of America’s most prestigious research universities, both public and private, and includes EDUCAUSE and Internet2 as Consortial Members. Brendan Guenther (director, IT Services Teaching and Learning Support) and Tom Davis (Acting CIO of IT Services) are most actively engaged with CSG for MSU.
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) works to maintain and improve access to information, expanding the concept of "library" and supporting providers and preservers of information by (a) fostering new approaches to the management of digital and nondigital information resources so they will be available in the future, (b) expanding leadership capacity in the information professions, and (c) analyzing changes in the information landscape and helping practitioners prepare for them. Most CLIR publications are publicly available from the CLIR website.
Data Management Association (DAMA)-Michigan Chapter
MSU is a Corporate Sponsor of the Michigan Chapter of the Data Management Association (DAMA). DAMA-Michigan is a not-for-profit, vendor-independent professional organization dedicated to furthering the understanding of the field of data management through providing and supporting an open forum addressing issues related to this field. By affiliation, local and regional chapters of DAMA are members of DAMA International, a not-for-profit affiliation of local and regional chapters and Members-At-Large around the world consisting of thousands of data resource management professionals.
EDUCAUSE
"The mission of EDUCAUSE is to enable the transformational changes occurring in higher education through the introduction, use, access to, and management of information resources and technologies in teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and institutional management." Michigan State University has an institutional membership which includes a limited number of Participating Representatives for Educause. Participating Representatives are usually active in the association and attend Educause conferences and participate on membership committees. If you are interested in obtaining general information regarding Educause and would like to be associated with the MSU membership, please visit their website and create a profile (click login in upper right corner and then select create profile).
Educause Learning Initiative (ELI)
ELI has the mission of helping institutions advance learning through IT innovation. The strategic focus is on learners and successful learning. Based on the mission and focus, ELI explores three primary areas: Learners, learning principles and practices, and learning technologies. Among the activities supported by ELI are an annual meeting, and online and face-to-face focus groups and workshops throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Educause ELI membership is held at the institutional level. MSU staff members can use this site to access briefs, case studies and other resources used in daily work applications. To access the ELI site, you must have a profile on file with Educause. If you need to create a profile, go to the Educause website (educause.edu), click login in the upper right corner and then select create profile.
Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR)
ECAR provides access to research topics including student uses of technology, IT collaboration, identity management, and IT support for business continuity. MSU staff members can utilize ECAR’s comprehensive and timely research to reduce risk when making business plan decisions. The ECAR membership is held at the institutional level and open to all MSU staff members. To access the ECAR site, you must have a profile on file with Educause. If you need to create a profile, go to the Educause website (educause.edu), click login in the upper right corner of the screen and then select create profile.
Gartner
Gartner is one of the world's leading providers of research and analysis about the global information technology industry. They provide data, advice and opinions to clients worldwide, deliver consulting engagements throughout year, and hold annual events where they review the results of their studies to attendees. Their clients include chief information officers and other senior IT executives in corporations and government agencies, technology companies, and the investment community. Gartner’s reports can benefit MSU staff members in obtaining in-depth research and analysis information when making many information technology decisions. MSU staff members can access the Gartner research and reports through the Gartner portal. To access the portal, a MSU netid and password is required. If you need assistance in accessing the Gartner portal, please contact the IT Services Support Desk at 517-353-4420x311 or itserve@msu.edu.
InCommon Federation
MSU is a member of the InCommon Federation. The mission of the InCommon Federation is to create and support a common framework for trustworthy shared management of access to online resources in support of education and research in the United States. InCommon uses the Internet2 Shibboleth federated identity management tool to allow users from any InCommon member institution to use their home identity credentials to log on to services at other institutions, facilitating collaboration while reducing the number of IDs and passwords users and service providers need to manage.
Internet2 (UCAID)
Internet2 provides leading-edge data network capabilities in support of research and education, and promotes collaboration and innovation across academia, industry, government and the international community. Much of MSU's external network traffic is carried on the Internet2 network.
Kuali Foundation
The Kuali Foundation is organized for the purpose of creating and sustaining a “community source” initiative intended to provide administrative systems software to meet the needs of higher education institutions regardless of Carnegie Class. Michigan State University is a Founding Kuali Investor, and participates on the Kuali Board and on the Kuali Project’s functional and technical development teams for finance and research administration projects. Additional financial support has been provided through grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Michigan Technology Network (MITN)
The Michigan Technology Network was formed to support and strengthen the Lansing IT community. MITN sponsors IT mixers six times annually, providing an atmosphere for networking and collaboration for IT members in the Lansing Area. MITN also sponsors several educational events throughout the year including training sessions and updates on new facilities, companies and technologies in the IT field. MITN’s goal is to add value by increasing knowledge sharing in the Lansing area and provide a vehicle to keep the IT community up-to-date on the IT field. Through the MSU institutional membership, MSU staff members have an opportunity for professional networking and to participate in discussions regarding IT topics in the Lansing area. MSU staff members are automatically eligible for membership which includes an opportunity to attend the IT Mixers and educational/training events. Please visit their website to sign up as an individual member under the MSU membership.
Merit Network Inc.
Merit Network, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation that operates a statewide education and research data network throughout Michigan, and provides Internet connectivity services to MSU. MSU is one of the governing members of Merit Network.
Research University CIO Conclave
The Research University CIO Conclave (RUCC) is an informal self-organized group of approximately 50 CIOs of North American "research intensive - high" Carnegie class universities, established to provide a venue for discussing issues and speaking with one voice on critical national-level policy and strategy issues. RUCC works through a closed mailing list and meets once or twice annually as decided by its members.
Sloan-C
The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines. Created with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sloan-C encourages the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve online education in learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and providers, and student and faculty satisfaction. For additional information, please contact Keesa Muhammed at johns253@msu.edu.
MSU's premium membership in the Sloan Consortium entitles attendees to receive a discount on the registration fee at the annual Sloan-C meeting, as well as other benefits
Society for American Archivists
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) is the oldest and largest national archival professional association. SAA’s mission is to serve the educational and informational needs of more than 5,500 individual and institutional members and to provide leadership to ensure the identification, preservation, and use of records of historical value. As part of its institutional membership, MSU frequently hosts SAA sponsored workshops and webinars for professional continuing education of MSU’s archivists, librarians, and other staff and faculty as well as the greater Mid-Michigan area professionals. For additional information, contact Cynthia Ghering, director of Content and Collaboration and the University Archives & Historical Collections.
