The new Groups @ University Life is a web hosting service that utilizes CampusPress, a WordPress-powered platform designed for higher education websites. The service gives you the ability to get up and running quickly with a new website or blog using Penn-branded templates and curated plugins; and is intended to replace the now deprecated Dolphin Group website hosting service.

We are pleased to announce that the new PennKey Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) application is now available. SSPR is a modern, secure, easy-to-use app for resetting your own PennKey password if forgotten – using only your pre-registered personal (non-Penn) email address and cell phone number.

Using SSPR for PennKey Password Resets

• Before using the app, you must have previously enrolled in SSPR and registered your preferred personal contact information.

• Once enrolled, you can use SSPR to send a code to your registered personal email to quickly reset a forgotten password at any time. After completing the reset, a notification message will be sent to both your registered personal email and cell phone (both are required to use SSPR).

Note: Those who choose not to enroll in SSPR will continue to contact their LSPs or Service Desks if they need to reset forgotten PennKey passwords.

Help and Resources

• Documentation:
  • SSPR Enrollment Instructions (users)
  • How to Reset Forgotten PennKey Password Using SSPR (users)
  • SSPR End-User Support (support providers)
  • Identity Proofing Guidance for PennKey Administrators (support providers)
  • SSPR Information Sessions PPT (support providers)

• Users should contact their IT Support Staff or PennKey Support for assistance
• Support providers may contact ISC Client Care for issues
• PennKey Self-Service Password Reset project details
• Penn’s Identity & Access Management (IAM) Program website

The University of Pennsylvania is committed to providing equal access to information, programs, and activities by making our web pages accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.

Web Content

When creating web content is such an important role for maintaining accessibility on the web.  Below are some accessibility web tips:

Use proper heading structure

When you’re creating a web page full of content, think of it as a typical Word document.  You would want to title your document, this would be the <h1> in HTML, or Heading 1 in WordPress, as your primary heading.  Then within the document, you would have sub-sections, this would be sub headings in HTML like <h2>, <h3>.  It is important not to lead off a page with a sub heading, like an <h2> and always lead off with <h1>.

When using WordPress to manage your website, within the format box in the page editor toolbar, <h1> will be Heading 1, <h2> will be Heading 2, etc. 

When you create or manage a page in WordPress, the title of your page will automatically give your page an <h1>.  After you give your page a title, you can use sub headings to section and grouping your content.  Avoid using headings for styling.  It is also important not to skip a heading level, Heading 3 should follow a Heading 2, and never directly after a Heading 1.

Keep hyperlinks in context

It is important to describe a hyperlink to your audience.  When creating a link to another page, try to keep context like “learn more about us” instead of “click here.”

Describe your images with alternative text

Alternative text provides a textual alternative to non-text content in web pages.  This will be read by screen readers, allowing the content of the image to be accessible to visitors with visual or cognitive disabilities.  Every image must have an ALT attribute.  If the image is purely decorative, an empty ALT attribute can be provided (e.g. ALT=””).

When using WordPress to manage your web page, when you upload an image, there is a section to provide alternative text.  Use this to provide a description of your image.  You only need to set it once and then whenever you insert this image going forward, it’ll automatically bring over that alternative text.

Additional resources

• Web Accessibility at Penn: recommended web guidelines
• Cynthia Says: recommended program for assessing current accessibility
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Additional information and guidance on accessibility can be found on the following Penn websites

• Weingarten Learning Resources Center
• Student Disability Services
• Butler Assistive Technology Room

ISC will be upgrading Data Center firewalls on Saturday from 4:00 AM until 7:00 AM. During this time, there will be intermittent connectivity disruptions to ISC-hosted services and

administrative applications. Impacted ISC-hosted services and administrative applications

include but are not limited to:

• All mainframe applications
• Archives
• Atlas
• Athletics
• BEN Deposits
• BEN Financials
• Business Services (Parking, Dining, Campus Express, StarRez)
• Classlists
• Contact Center (Genesys platform)
• Data Warehouse collections
• Facilities
• OASIS
• Penn Community
• Penn Directory
• PennNet Mailing Lists
• Research Services systems (HSERA, ARIES, RIS, Polaris, PennERS)
• SMTP-Relay

Wireless connectivity will not be affected by this outage.

More Information:

FY22/23 Data Center Schedule – The full FY22/23 Data Center planned maintenance schedule is available at https://www.isc.upenn.edu/alerts-outages/data-center-planned-maintenance-schedule

If you have any questions, please contact University Life Technology Services at https://ulife.vpul.upenn.edu/vpults/problem

Your AirPennNet certificate may have expired since being off campus. Instructions for re-connecting to AirPennNet can be found here

Good Evening,

Information and Resources for Working Remotely can be found using the following link:

The following information is on this site:

• A “To-do list” to prepare your home computer/laptop for logging in remotely
• Secure Remote Access (VPUL’s VPN)
  
  • recently updated with detailed instructions
• Video Conferencing with BlueJeans
• Text and Video Communication with Microsoft Teams
• Document Sharing with Penn+Box
• O365 web portal – access to all online Microsoft products
• Managing your PennNet Phone

We are working to schedule virtual helpdesk meetings with offices in support of the staff working remotely.  We would like users to refrain from calling the emergency phone line.  We have setup private helpdesk channels for each office – department name tech support (i.e.  CS Tech Support, PWC Tech Support) and recommend that users communicate via Teams.

We look forward to working with you and enabling you to work remotely.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

VPUL Technology Services