WMU HOME > ABOUT WMU > WMU NEWS GoWMU intranet portal debuts Sept. 1, 2004 KALAMAZOO--GoWMU, the new Western Michigan University portal, as rolled out Aug. 23, will allow students, faculty and staff to use a single user name and password to access online information specifically for and about them. Only students, faculty and staff can access the GoWMU portal, which requires a BroncoNet ID and password, and GoWMU will eventually be the primary means for students, faculty and staff to conduct their business with WMU. GoWMU allows users to personalize their home page in the portal. They can add channels and links to Web sites of their choice, which they will see every time they login to GoWMU. Tutorials to teach users how to add channels and use the other features, are provided in GoWMU. General announcements to the campus community will be made through "announcement channels," which can be found on every user's portal home page and are among the few channels that users cannot remove or customize. In the near future, student e-mail addresses will be entered into GoWMU for each course in which the student is enrolled. This will allow students to have personal calendars, which will include their course schedules as well as any other information they wish to add. Faculty and staff will also be able to create personal calendars and share them with others to facilitate scheduling meetings. Registered student organizations and faculty and staff committees can set up "groups" within the portal, with message boards and chat rooms, which can greatly enhance communication among members of the group. Launching GoWMU is the first phase in rolling out the long-awaited new SIS, or Student Information System. New features and functionality are constantly being added to GoWMU. SIS project leaders encourage students, faculty and staff to begin using the portal now, so they are familiar with its capabilities and can take immediate advantage of new features as they become available. Students, faculty and staff can access the portal at <gowmu.wmich.edu>. Information on BroncoNet IDs is available at <www.wmich.edu/oit/accounts>. Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu WMU News Office of University Relations Western Michigan University 1903 W Michigan Ave Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA 269 387-8400 www.wmich.edu/wmu/news