All students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to nominate individuals and student organizations that have shown exceptional leadership and contributions to the Drake community. The recipients will be awarded at the Adams Leadership Convocation on Friday, April 21.

All nominations are due by midnight on Friday, March 31. Criteria and nomination forms for the various awards may be found here: http://bit.ly/AdamsConvocation 

Awards categories include:

Individual Leadership Awards
Class Year Awards: Top First-Years, Sophomores, Juniors (P1), Seniors (P2)
Outstanding President/Chairperson
Outstanding Student Organization Officer
Outstanding Residence Hall Leader
Wanda Everage Peer Mentor Award
Drake Service Award for Individual
Organization Adviser of the Year
Ron & Jane Olson Outstanding Global Service-Learning Student Award

Student Organization & Programming Awards
Drake Service Award for Student Organization
Outstanding Student Organization
Outstanding Educational Program
Outstanding Social Program
Outstanding Equity & Inclusion Program
Outstanding Weekend Alcohol Alternative Program
Outstanding Collaboration Award

Oreon E. Scott Outstanding Senior of the Year 
The Oreon E. Scott award nomination process, requires a letter of nomination from faculty, staff, and/or students highlighting the senior’s achievements in the areas of scholarship, leadership, involvement, and service. More about the nomination process for this award can be found here.

—Meghan Baeza, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership

This past week ITS began using a new system for tracking service requests. If you submit a request online, or call the Support Center, you’ll see a different look and feel to the emails you receive. This is the first step toward the launch of a new campus-facing service portal coming in May. Watch OnCampus for more information and upcoming opportunities to try out the new system for yourself. You can also hear more about this and other upcoming ITS projects at Thursday’s Town Hall. Feedback? Let us know at carla.herling@drake.edu.

—Carla Herling, ITS

Save the Date—Shred Event
The third annual all-Drake shred event is happening Thursday, April 20, 12–3 p.m. in the Olmsted parking lot. Bring all your confidential documents and have them shredded for free!

Protect Yourself from Tax Fraud
As the deadline for tax filing looms, the wave of scams from attackers trying to get their hands on your personal information is reaching its crest. The IRS estimates that identity thieves have stolen over $8 billion by filing fraudulent tax returns in the past several years, and the trend is remaining steady.

Scammers like to take advantage of stress and heightened emotions to trick you into taking actions that you would not normally take.

Here are some common tactics:

• Identity Theft: If your identity has been stolen in the past, thieves may use this information during tax season. The IRS reports large numbers of claims filed under others identities.
• Email Scams: Emails claiming to be from the IRS, tax preparers, employers, and others ask you to take immediate action, however the IRS and other agencies don’t communicate via email.
• Phone Scams: Callers will claim that you are subject to an audit or fines but that a credit card payment over the phone can resolve the problem quickly and without publicity. They also might notify you of a pending refund and ask for account information to deposit funds.

These tactics and others escalate through, and even after, the tax deadline. Don’t be fooled! Find out more information on combatting and responding to tax fraud on the Information Security website.

—Peter Lundstedt, Information Security Manager

All are invited to participate in a series of community conversations regarding the impact that arts and culture have on quality of life and economic development in central Iowa. Two of these conversations will take place on Drake’s campus: the first on Wednesday, March 22, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Olmsted Center, and the second on Thursday, March 23, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Cowles Library Reading Room. To learn more and register, click here.

—Marty Martin