Opportunities from USF Solutions

Bonnie Covelli of USF Solutions approached us with opportunities for students. She is looking on the behalf of a local business for website design. The company is a glass company. According to Ms Covelli: "They have zero web presence at the moment. The website would primarily include information on company location and products. No e-commerce, no outrageous bells and whistles are needed."

At this point it would be donated time, but this would be an excellent opportunity for students who have not had any experience or just a little experience. Perhaps two students could cooperate on this. It would be a good entry for your resume and help you when more formal jobs or other paid opportunities occur.

Additionally Ms Covelli, also informed us of another opportunity, this one paid, but will require more experience.

"It's for a small retail store, but the website will need a bit more "bells and whistles" and someone with enough knowledge to advise on hosting and long-term maintenance carriers. The store has a current "basic" website, but they are ready to upgrade to a more sophisticated look. ... For this project, the designer would only need to work with me, and I'd serve as the interface with the client. Also, the designer would be paid."

Please contact either Cris or Ruth if you'd like to take advantage of either opportunity.

Paid or unpaid - experience will help you land the job of your choice.

Join us on Facebook!

We now have a Facebook group: Computer Science at University of St. Francis. Anyone interested in our Computer Science program whether student, alumni, faculty, staff, prospective student, former teacher, or just plain interested, is welcome.

Facebook Link

So sign in, add photos, links, start or join a discussion. This can be a great way to reconnect with old friends and classmates.

You're always welcome!

VMWare is here.

University of St. Francis’s Computer Science department is now participating in the VMWare academic program. This allows students, faculty and staff access to selected VMWare software products at no charge. You should have received an email from VMWare to activate your account via your St. Francis email. If you didn’t stop in and see Ruth so we can get your account started. Once you get your account you can download the software for your personal use.

Click here to access the VMWare Elms site.

This is your chance to explore what you can do with VMWare!

Anatomy of a Server Room

Thanks to the efforts of students, alumni, and staff here at USF who gave up a day of their Christmas break we have our first Computer Science server room.

Our heroes were Tim Archer, Joe Bozen, T.J. Eakle, Ben Gunnink, Jon Paul, Matt Ramuta, Arturas Zalenekas, Chris Bigott, Kyle Baczynski, Kevin Beckman, and Ross McCallister.

VPN access to the server room is up and working.

The server built during Fall Semester by Scott Walton for databases was also added to the server room. So far, we have a firewall, web server and a database server. Plans are in the works to incorporate a virtualization server as well. Stop in and take a peek, it’s next to the A116 computer lab.



Thanks to their efforts the resources in our new server are accessible from all labs on campus.

Oh and while they were at it, we now have a new wireless access point in the A119 lab.




VPN access to the server is available to all Computer Science department students, alumni and, of course, to our staff.

Thanks to all who devoted so much time and continue to help improve the learning environment at USF.

Our traditional end of the semester celebration was a success again this year. Pizza and conversation made for a nice break in the day before the rush to the last week of classes.


Information Technology senior Arturas Zalenekas presented the results of his Database Administration tutorial project. Arturas did an assessment and pilot run of the setup of a real time hot standby database server using Oracle’s Data Guard. He worked with the USF Information Systems department to demonstrate how a live standby in the USF environment could be built. His findings on this complex issue and demonstrations were appreciated by both the Computer Science department and the USF IS department.

Computer Science senior, Larissa Kries, reported on her internship with the USF IS department. Larissa developed several components in the portal using Java, Eclipse, and Banner. She considered her major accomplishment the Bookmark feature in the portal. Over the course of her work she became more confident of her skills in development and investigation into new features. She became accustom to the wider scope and demands of the production environment.

Computer Science sophomore, Nick Zelinski, spoke informally about the work he has done for the USF Health and Wellness Center. He had responded to a request for help with the medical records template system by the Center and donated his time. He worked with Silver Cross Hospital to become familiar with the system. So much work was needed that his job has evolved into a paid position. He is considered by Silver Cross to be the systems support for USF Health and Wellness.


We also want to congratulate our winter graduates this year, both Information Technology majors, Arturas Zalenekas and Ryan Mosier.

Good luck to you both!

Career in Automation

Congratulations to graduating Information Technology senior Arturas Zalenekas. He'll be starting as a system administrator with Cascade Solutions after his graduation this Fall semester. Cascade Solutions is a leader in automation engineering. It will be a new and challenging environment, but we know Arturas is well able to handle it.

Great work!

Fighting Crime

Information Technology senior, Nick Morris, is helping make everyone a little safer. He just began an internship with the Will County Sheriff's office. Not only will he be working supporting the computers and networks needed, he'll also work with the Computer Forensics unit. His workplace includes the sheriff's office, as well as the detention center, and the courthouse. Nick tells us in his first couple of days he met detectives, chiefs, lieutenants and correctional officers. The variety of work, the opportunities to be involved with the Criminal Justice system in all facets, and the people he can help and from whom he can learn are making this a great opportunity for Nick to move his career in the direction he wants to focus on.

Thanks to Computer Science alumni, Jackie Falbo, for making this internship possible. Nick has told us how great she is to work with. Thanks also to the Will County Sheriff's Office for giving one of our students this opportunity.