WashU IT Staff Space

It is a common challenge – timesheets are due, or a monthly status report needs updating, and valuable time is spent piecing together information, searching for project updates, updating slides or correcting extracted data. It is a familiar cycle that many would like to leave behind.  Feedback received regarding the heavy administrative overhead and complexities of the legacy Planview […]

Congratulations to the project team for the official retirement of the university’s legacy Student Information System (SIS) on June 26, marking the conclusion of an era for a platform that served the institution for 30 years.  The enterprise system, which included widely used legacy portals such as WebSTAC, WebFAC, Course Listings, and SISAdmin, has been fully replaced by Workday […]

WashU IT leadership has announced updates to the department’s ongoing employee engagement efforts, highlighting the critical role of recent feedback in shaping future workplace initiatives.  Focus groups facilitated by third-party vendor Sparck reinforced key themes originally identified during the employee engagement survey held in the spring. These discussions provided deeper insights into how the department can address perceived areas for improvement. In response, […]

The university’s newest generative AI platform, Ask WashU, is now free and available to the entire campus community. This secure platform gives students, faculty, and staff the ability to personalize chats, select from multiple AI models, and interact directly with InfoSec policies. To see the platform in action, watch this quick one-minute video. For some guidance […]

WashU Expands AI Roadmap with New Training and Tools  WashU IT continues to progress in artificial intelligence (AI) with access to advanced tools and growing training opportunities. These efforts mark a significant step forward in the university’s long-term AI roadmap.  Partnering with the Office of the Provost, the Digital Intelligence & Innovation (DI2) Accelerator, and the Center for Health AI (CHAI) teams, WashU IT has been working behind the scenes to equip university […]

At BJC HealthCare and the WashU School of Medicine, AI is changing what a typical day looks like for doctors, nurses and care teams. The goal is simple: less time on the computer; more time with patients. Leaders from the Epic1 team, which manages the shared BJC/WashU Epic electronic medical record system, recently shared how […]

Washington University in St. Louis is making strides toward a smarter, more connected future through the Network Modernization Project, launched in November 2024. This WashU IT initiative is replacing outdated network equipment with state-of-the-art systems designed to meet the demands of today’s academic and research environment.  Aligned with WashU’s Here & Next strategic vision, the project delivers a tenfold increase […]

Starting in early August, Microsoft began integrating OpenAI’s latest generative AI model, GPT-5, into Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. This upgrade enhances the AI assistant’s capabilities for all WashU users—whether they have a full Copilot for Microsoft 365 license or are using the free Microsoft 365 Copilot chat version—offering smarter reasoning, quicker responses, and improved access to work-related data. What’s New […]

WashU is excited to offer secure, scalable, cost-effective, unified API (Application Programming Interface) access to cutting-edge generative AI models. Designed for faculty, researchers and staff, the platform supports integration with sandboxed endpoints hosted within WashU’s Azure tenant, which is approved for sensitive data, including HIPAA and FERPA.  This will result in ease of access to powerful […]

Learning Activities is now available as part of Microsoft Education experiences. This feature helps educators and students transform passive content into active learning. With just a few selections, users can create engaging practice activities such as flashcards directly from existing learning content, improving interactivity and knowledge retention. General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout began in mid-October 2025 […]