IT News for Pitt Faculty & Staff (March 2025)
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Get the Most out of Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is packed with features that can make your life easier — if you know where to find them! Whether you’re writing a document in Word, crunching numbers in Excel, or organizing your inbox in Outlook, Pitt IT has tech tips will help you work smarter, not harder.
1. Word: Use the Editor tool to get spelling, grammar, and stylistic suggestions.
2. Excel: Press Ctrl+E to Flash Fill a whole column once Excel recognizes your pattern.
3. Outlook: Drag emails to the Tasks pane to easily follow up on messages.
4. OneDrive: Use the Search bar to find documents by title or content.
5. OneNote: Add and then search for Tags in your notes. They're like e-Post-it notes.
6. Teams: Use @mention to ensure people see your message in a team/group chat.
This is just a small selection of our tips and tricks for maximizing your productivity in Microsoft 365. Get a whole bunch more ...
Cybersecurity Briefing Session: Tuesday, March 18 at Noon
Pitt IT is offering a quarterly series to keep you informed and armed to protect your own and Pitt resources. Join us for our first virtual brown bag session:
* Incident case study
* Privileged user responsibilities
* Safe software/service purchasing
* Artificial Intelligence standards
Empower Your Students with Data Analytics
Join us for an exclusive session on Alteryx Designer, designed to help educators like you bring valuable analytics tools and learning opportunities to your students. Equip your students with the skills they need to thrive in the data-driven job market. Learn more and register.
Don't Get CAPTCHAed Unaware
CAPTCHA ensures that someone filling out a form or doing another online action is a real person, not a bot! Now, scammers are using fake CAPTCHA screens to trick you into downloading malware. CAPTCHA does not require a verification step. Your should never be asked to copy/paste (Ctrl+V), download, or run a script (Win+R) while completing CAPTCHA. If it does, ignore it and exit!
Enroll Your Kids in CyberCamp Starting March 24
If you have a child in high school who likes tech, then Pitt's AFA CyberCamp is the summer activity for them! The Standard and Advanced CyberCamp will be held Monday – Friday, June 23 – 27, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on campus. The camp is designed for a range of skill levels and is focused on systems security and cyber ethics. Taught by cybersecurity pros from Pitt and elsewhere, students learn in-demand skills like cyber hygiene, system administration, and more. The camp concludes with students competing to find and fix vulnerabilities in a virtual environment. Registration opens March 24. Spots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis ... and it fills up quickly! Sign up for an email reminder to be sure you're one of the first to enroll.
Follow Pitt IT on LinkedIn for a Chance to Win
Do you feel lucky? Pitt IT has created a LinkedIn site at linkedin.com/company/upittit. We'll be picking three followers on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, to win a $10 Starbucks card. So follow us today, and you could be enjoying some free java just in time for finals! (Winners will be chosen at random from among followers who are Pitt faculty, staff, or students.)
Panther Bytes to Nibble On
Check out these bite-sized blogs about tech topics you should know.
LinkedIn Learning: Bite-Sized Courses with a Big Impact
All Pitt faculty and staff have access to the full range of LinkedIn Learning courses at no cost. Here are some of the newest and most popular courses on the platform.
- Microsoft Copilot: The Art of Prompt Writing
- Tips to Coaching Yourself to High Performance Daily
- Work Smarter, Not Harder: Save Time & Money and Increase Productivity
- Nano Tips on How to Apologize Authentically
- Building Model-Driven Power Apps
- How to Create Executive Level Data Visualizations
