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Today's universities are enterprises in the true business sense. Perhaps more than commercial organizations, the actions, plans, and management of universities come under the microscope of alumnae, donors, trustees, parents, activists, and the press. This scrutiny underscores the need for tools and methodologies that facilitate collaboration, knowledge sharing and oversight among the various work groups and communities within universities.

Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters, the ongoing threats of terrorism, and the auditing profession's increased emphasis on business continuity planning have captured the attention of higher education executives. Most now realize that they ought to be doing business continuity planning; most, however, are not sure where to begin. George Mason University (Va.) has developed an executive-level Enterprise Executive Risk Management Group (EERMG) to build the organization's business continuity plans and capacity.

It's one of the questions HR execs ask themselves everyday: "Are we using our human resources information services solution the way we should be, and doing everything we need to do to meet the needs of our employees?"

Students and staff located at the Thailand campuses of two U.S. universities are safe, say officials. Richard Meyers, president of Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., issued a statement late yesterday assuring the higher ed community that its campuses, located in Bangkok and Cha-am/Hua Hin, were not impacted by the actions that toppled the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Usually the word agility is paired with athleticism, but nowadays that characteristic is considered a valuable trait in higher ed management. Now more than ever, the ability to change with the academic and business winds is crucial to success as a higher ed chief business officer. Moreover, today's CBO is a key component of the president's cabinet of advisers, said a panel of college and university presidents speaking at the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, held in Baltimore, Md.

Viruses and worms have attacked every college and university network. Predictably, almost all colleges and universities use some virus protection software, spam filtering and or firewalls to try to protect IT networks. Still, the attacks keep coming, as do the security breaches.