ITS News

Home
/
ITS News

Latest News

Powering the Shift: Inside ITS’ Role with eCampus

As George Mason University transitions its course materials operation to eCampus, much of the work is happening behind the scenes in Information Technology Services (ITS). Conversations with project leaders show that what may appear to be a bookstore transition is also a larger technology effort to… Continue reading

IT Security

More IT Security stories

ITS in Action

More ITS in Action stories

Operational Updates

October 2026
- October is the annual observance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CAM), sponsored by the National Cybersecurity Alliance. In observance of CAM 2026, ITS will have several events for the George Mason University community: Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2026.
- George Mason University has completed the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Modernization Assessment, a major milestone in planning the future of the university’s student, financial, and human capital management systems. Completed after months of stakeholder engagement, business process analysis, and future-state planning, the assessment gives university leadership a strong foundation for making informed decisions about modernizing core administrative functions and the technology that supports them. Learn more ERP Modernization Assessment Positions George Mason for the Future.
- Software Procurement Reminder
  The Architectural Standards Review Board (ASRB) is responsible for reviewing, verifying compliance, and providing recommendations with regards to software procurement requests, University Policy 1307: Procurement and/or Development of Administrative Systems/Applications. The ASRB works with requesters to evaluate risk and determine mitigation strategies when necessary. Before using any software, please ensure that it is approved by ASRB or begin the procurement process for it to be supported. Learn More about ASRB.
- (New!) Adobe Products
  Over the summer, George Mason entered into a new enterprise agreement with Adobe that brought new products for employees and students. For more information on these tools and their eligibility requirements, see the Adobe Service Page.
  - Employees: Acrobat Studio is the new standard Adobe product for employees and includes Acrobat Pro for all your PDF editing needs, AI Assistant to garner insights and summaries from PDFs, PDF Spaces to enhance collaboration, and the Adobe Express Premium and Firefly platforms for accelerated content creation. In addition, All Apps Pro is available by request to creative professionals who require Adobe’s professional grade tools such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Premiere to perform their work duties.
  - Students: Acrobat Express for Students includes access to the Adobe Express Premium and Firefly content creation platforms, AI Assistant for PDF summaries, and PDF Spaces for simplified collaboration. Students can also access professional Adobe tools, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Premiere, in campus computer labs via Shared Device Access to All Apps.
- Enterprise Integration Services Relaunched
  ITS has relaunched enterprise integration services through a new service model effective Monday, October 5. This updated model provides a more scalable, sustainable, and transparent approach to supporting the university’s growing demand for data integration work. Under this model, approved vendor partners will perform integration design, development, and testing work. ITS will continue to provide enterprise architecture oversight, governance, quality assurance, validation, and stakeholder coordination. This approach gives the university access to specialized integration expertise while maintaining alignment with university standards, security requirements, data governance policies, strategic priorities, and project objectives. Requesting departments, projects, or sponsoring organizations will be responsible for funding integration work. Stakeholders with current or future integration needs are encouraged to review the Enterprise Integration Services request page before submitting a request or planning related project work: Enterprise Integration Services.
- Alumni Email is Changing
  Email service for George Mason alumni is transitioning to an email forwarding service. After multiple email solutions were offered over the years, a forwarding service was chosen to provide a sustainable and affordable solution for alumni to stay connected to the university. The new forwarding service offers an @gmualumni.org email address that forwards messages to a non-George Mason email address. This change does not affect current students or employees. Learn more about the alumni email changes.
- Upcoming Microsoft 365 Changes for October 2026
  See the ITS website for details about upcoming changes Microsoft will be making this October, including:
  - SharePoint OTP Retirement: Changes to Guest Access
    To create a more secure file sharing process, Microsoft is changing SharePoint sharing permissions and deprecating legacy one-time passcodes. As a result, MS Teams owners, SharePoint site owners, or OneDrive account holders may receive reports of external members having lost access to their shared data. To resolve this, the owner should re-share any file, folder, or site with the affected guest, after which guests should regain access to existing shared resources as well.
  - Legacy Outlook for Mac Retirement
    Starting October 2026, the legacy Outlook for Mac desktop client will cease working with Exchange Online. Users will need to switch to the New Outlook for Mac desktop client or Outlook on the Web (OWA) to check their email with the Mac OS.
  - Exchange Web Services (EWS) Retirement
    Microsoft will begin retiring Exchange Web Services (EWS) in October 2026, with full retirement completed by April 2027. Applications that rely on EWS to connect to Exchange Online may experience service disruptions through the final retirement in April 2027. Mac Mail (Apple Mail for Mac) is one of the most widely used applications that relies on EWS. Microsoft is working with Apple to support the transition; however, functionality remains dependent on Apple providing the necessary updates. If you are a Mac Mail user and experience issues using the application, it is recommended to switch to the Outlook for Mac desktop client or Outlook on the Web (OWA).

Sign up to receive Bits & Bytes, our quarterly newsletter.

Is there something you’d like to feature in our newsletter? Send it to us!

Submit to Bits & Bytes

Bits & Bytes Archive

ITS Spotlights

More Spotlights

Follow Us