BY HANNAH ROACH '17
Mount Holyoke made the rapid transition from ISIS to MyMountHolyoke on Aug. 9 after the shutdown of ISIS, which had been the college’s academic information technology portal since 2004.
MyMountHolyoke offers very similar tools and resources to ISIS, with a few distinct differences.
Unlike ISIS, MyMountHolyoke allows students and faculty to access campus wide announcements through its internal notification system. This system will help alert students, faculty and staff to campus-wide emergencies or weather safety needs.
Many students wanted to move away from using ISIS over the past year, primarily because of its name. ISIS, or Internet Student Information System, shared its name with the notorious terrorist organization.
Mount Holyoke was not the only institution using ISIS: many other schools are changing their websites, including Penn State and the University of Florida.
For every school, the change largely stemmed from negative connotations ofthe name ISIS. The schools now use portals very similar to MyMountHolyoke; the websites are personalized to their university’s needs and campus.
Student opinion on campus varied. Hannah Seay ’17 said she was happy to hear of the name change, saying it “should have been changed years ago.”
“The only complaint I have is that you can’t access your schedule on your phone,” Seay continued.
Seay is one of many students satisfied with the new system, specifically the online employment service.
With the new MyMountHolyoke system, all student workers will have their timesheets submitted online, as opposed to the paper timesheets of past years.
“The online time cards are so much easier,” said Kaitlin Grant ’17.
This week marks the first month of the website’s use. Acting President Sonya Stephens spoke about MyMountHolyoke during her address at convocation.
“You’ve already all signed in to another portal, a virtual community that is as individualized as we are, and yet connects us to this place, to this community of learners,” Stephens said. She highlighted the individualized nature and new name of the website: “I’m talking about our new IT portal, MyMountHolyoke. So remember each time you log in, that this is your Mount Holyoke. Our Mount Holyoke.”