Powered On Newsletter: Nov 2025

Spotlight: Santhy Chandran

Santhy Chandran just celebrated her 10 year anniversary as a Web Programmer/Analyst at College of the Canyons. She enjoys working at COC because of the team and people that she works with on a daily basis. Over the past decade, she has made significant contributions to the College—one of the most notable being the successful launch of Self Service, a critical application widely used by both students and employees.

Prior to working at COC, she was a developer at the State Bar of California in downtown Los Angeles. Since transitioning to higher education, she has expanded her skills and knowledge significantly. In fact, that is one of the aspects she likes best about working in technology – she is always challenged and never stops learning. Now that she works at COC, she has gained knowledge and skills in APIs, Colleague Studio, Envision Basic and Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. She just keeps on learning!

Outside of work, Santhy is passionate about giving back to the community. She enjoys volunteering for Wildland Weed Warriors. What began as a way to help her daughter earn volunteer hours has become a personal passion. She helps plant native plants, water them, and pull weeds at trailheads in the Santa Clarita Valley. Sounds like very rewarding work! Family is at the center of Santhy’s life, as she spends so much time doing things with the kids. She loves spending time with the family. She has been married for 18 years and has two daughters, ages 7 and 13. Although she is very busy with family activities, she does have a little time to watch family-oriented shows on TV.  And these days, when she does read, she primarily reads educational and parenting books.

When you hear Santhy talk about her hometown, Kerala, India, it makes you want to visit. By her vivid description, you can just imagine the beautiful scenery of water, mountains, and tropical fruit, including the delicious wide variety of mangoes. Sounds like a wonderful place to live!

Enterprise Applications is very lucky to have Santhy on our team. She is one of those rare people who is respectful and humble and does a fantastic job at everything she works on at COC. Thank you, Santhy, for your 10 years of service!

Keeping Campus Tech Fresh!

by Mat Camara 

VOip: Rapid Fire Notes

By Sarah Schnittker

November 7^th was our Official Cutover Day for the VOIP Transition—what does this mean for you and your daily functions here at College of the Canyons?

1. All new phones have been deployed across the campus—meaning you should have something new plugged in at your desk; however, we are aware that a few were either missing or arrived damaged. We highly encourage you to test your devices as soon as possible and report any issues.
2. Log Into Zoom: Whether you’re on desktop, mobile, browser—log into zoom as soon as possible.
   1. Setting Business Hours and Ring Settings: in browser, go to account settings -> Phone. Under the Settings header, you can scroll down to a section called “Call Handling”. Here you can set custom hours for receiving phone calls and modify ringing-settings; meaning you can adapt how Zoom rings when you’re in/out of meetings, or the office, or in queues!
   2. For Voicemail: the first-time accessing Voice Mail, you will need to log into Zoom through the browser. After logging in, go to account settings -> Phone. Before you can edit anything, the website should prompt you to ‘claim’ your extension’s voicemail box and set a passcode.
   3. For Delegations and Assistants: After logging in, go to account settings -> Phone. There is a section called “Delegation & Assistant” where you can give privileges and permissions to for other individuals to pick up YOUR Additional training courses on call queues, transfers, and holds will be made available.
   4. Additional settings, including Desk Phone and Hold Music, can be modified in browser.
3. There may be some temporary phone downtime and, during the morning period, phone services, including call queues, may be unavailable. Our entire network team will be available for On-Site support in collaboration with the Technology Help Desk. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you experience any issues, including device or licensing issues.
4. Desktop Zoom Phone: we are working on putting together information videos on how to use the Zoom Phone on your computer, including accessing Voice Mail, transferring calls to meetings, and navigating the newest features. In the meantime:
   1. If you pick up the new Desktop Poly Phone: the features of these new, lightweight devices should be nearly identical functionality to the last—with a cleaner display.  
   2. If you pick up a call from your computer: the keypad should change into new feature including an icon to transfer the caller into a zoom meeting!
   3. Unless you change the settings in the Zoom Browser, all your devices may ring when receiving a call. Feel free to fiddle with your Zoom Phone to find the best system that works for you!
5. You do not have to dial 9! Whether you’re calling out of the district using the digital zoom phone or the physical phone beside it, we no longer need to dial 9 to reach people outside of the district! Just punch in a phone number like you normally would from your cell.

The Network team is excited to bring to you all the new ease and features that comes with this VoIP solution. We appreciate your understanding and adaptability through this transition—we are also learning more about this platform every day! Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Recap of Cybersecurity Awareness Month

By Hsiawen Hull, Michael Gunther, and Sarah Schnittker

(Fisher Fish from “Over the Garden Wall” Episode 8, 2014)

It’s no longer Cybersecurity Awareness Month (goodbye October!) but what a successful month it has been! The Infrastructure and Information Security team in the Technology Department has been running a Phishing Tournament throughout the month—and although a few of you fell for these spooky season tricks, a whopping 338 Phish were caught and reported!

In today’s digital age, cybersecurity plays a vital role in protecting our personal and professional information. As we have learned throughout the month, one of the most common threats people faces is phishing—a deceptive tactic where attackers impersonate legitimate organizations or trusted contacts through email, text messages, or even phone calls. The goal is often to trick individuals into revealing sensitive details such as names, birthdates, passwords, or financial information.

Phishing attempts can be surprisingly convincing, often mimicking the logos, language, and tone of familiar companies or even appearing to come from someone you know whose account has been compromised. Because of this, it’s essential to stay vigilant. Always double-check the sender’s address, look for unexpected attachments, and be cautious of links that direct you to unfamiliar or external websites.

If something feels off, don’t take the risk—report the message through Outlook with that handy report button (right click on the message and look for that red shield) or by reaching out to the Technology Help Desk. A moment of caution can prevent serious data breach or identity theft. Staying alert and informed is one of the simplest and most effective ways to defend yourself against cyber threats.

Thank you to the combined 290 individuals who participated in Phish-reporting and attending workshops hosted by the IIS team, including Michael Gunther and Hsiawen Hull. The sessions highlighted how Cybersecurity is shaped and perceived, especially highlighting how it’s changed since last year; if you want to learn more, be on the lookout for more Flex sessions throughout the Spring semester and next year’s Cybersecurity Month! 

Below is the leaderboard of points at the completion of the month—with 1 point given to every correctly reported Phish and 2 points for every workshop session attended. Winners will be contacted again when their prize is available. We appreciate your continued diligence and efforts to keep our district, and your personal information, safe.