FaCT Status

The Faculty Computer Trade-in Program

Changes to FaCT and Desktop Support from ACCC

The FaCT (Faculty Computer Trade-in) program was set up 11 years ago to give each tenure-track faculty member a new computer plus software and hardware support on a three-year cycle. After years of cuts, it has become an almost seven year cycle. The program no longer serves the campus well, nor does it even serve many faculty members in practice. We have concluded that in our challenging budget climate the shrunken FaCT program does not provide enough return on investment.

Please note, there are two aspects of FaCT. One is the purchase of new machines; the other is software licenses and hardware support. Although we will not purchase new machines in the coming year, we will continue our hardware and software support for an existing, qualifying FaCT machines. Full support will be provided through 6/30/2012 for faculty listed here. If you have FaCT support questions, please send an email to fact@uic.edu.

Given that we are maintaining our support structure for the existing FaCT machines, ACCC has now transitioned to this new program and has begun offering the new ACME support to anyone, staff or faculty, tenure-track or not, for a fee. If you are planning to purchase a new computer, we offer via the new ACME program both Windows and Apple PCs, to your department at cost. These are the same choices that we would have given FaCT recipients ( Current ACME Computer Choices ), and we will also provide hardware and software support for $200 per year. That, along with the PCs unfortunately, is no longer provided at no cost to departments like the FaCT program was, but it does represent a significant economy of scale, something much harder for departments to do on their own.

There are significant benefits in economies of scale in computer purchasing created by the ACME program. It is also critical that faculty have modern equipment to pursue their academic mission. It is our desire to create the most advantageous support program possible, and we will continue to work toward this goal.

If you are interested in this program or have additional questions, please send an email to acme@uic.edu.