Please join us at a reception for Carlyn Marron, assistant director of international student and scholar services, who is departing Drake and “retiring” from her career in international education. Stop by Drake International on Friday, May 10, from 2-4 p.m. to thank Carlyn for her ten years of service and wish her well as she begins this new chapter.
Bonnie Ehler, International Programs and Services
Drake faculty members are invited to participate in an intensive Faculty Writing Group (FWG) focused on using the summer effectively for our scholarship. We will meet on Wednesday, May 22, from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. and Friday, May 31, from 1–4 p.m. The FWG will be co-facilitated by Nate Holdren (LPS) and En Li (History). Our goal will be to help set ourselves up to make progress on our scholarship over the summer. We will read Joli Jensen’s book Write No Matter What and discuss it to the degree that participants find it useful. The session will also include discussion/workshop of the faculty members’ own scholarship and on-site writing time.
This writing group is generously supported by a Materials and Services Support Grant from the Center for the Humanities and a Faculty Collaborative Grant from the College of Arts and Sciences. There are spots for ten faculty participants. Should more than ten individuals express interest, priority shall be given to 1) those who actively participated in the previous Faculty Writing Groups, 2) tenure-track faculty who are not yet tenured, 3) faculty who are members of groups under-represented, and 4) faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Participants who attend both sessions will receive a stipend of $150. Light lunches will be provided for the May 31 session.
If you are interested in participating, please contact Kayla Jenkins at kayla.jenkins@drake.edu by Wednesday, May 1.
If you have questions, please contact the co-facilitators of the summer FWG, Nate Holdren at nate.holdren@drake.edu and En Li at en.li@drake.edu.
En Li, Assistant Professor of History
Criminals continue to develop creative ways to fool us. A new type of scam has been gaining popularity recently—personalized scams. Thieves find or purchase identifying information, then use it to craft a customized attack.
How do personalized scams work?
Traditional scam emails or phone calls are typically generic. Think of the infamous Nigerian Prince or “You Won the Lottery” examples. Personalized scams are different. The criminals start by doing research and crafting a tailored message for each intended victim. They find or purchase names, passwords, phone numbers, or other details. This information is found on hacked websites, social media sites or in public government records.
A common attack is to track down your email address, name, and an old password that you used on a hacked website. The criminal claims to have evidence about embarrassing or criminal activity and references your password(s) as proof that they’ve hacked your accounts. If you don’t pay them, they threaten to share the information with your family and/or law enforcement.
Despite this threat, your computer is very rarely at risk. The scammer is simply using a few details in order to scare you into believing they have a record of all your online activity.
What should I do if I’m targeted?
Recognize that emails and calls like these are scams. Feeling scared when someone has personal information about you is natural, but remember the sender is almost always lying.
Here are some clues to look for:
Ultimately, though, common sense is your best defense to defeat these intrusive attacks.
ITS will continue phishing education in May using emails that mimic real attacks. If you receive an email that you suspect is phishing, don’t click any links, download any attachments, or reply.
For more information on reporting phishing emails, see the IT Service Portal guide, Reporting a Phishing Message (How-to).
Peter Lundstedt, ITS
First Year Seminar class “The Talking Cure: Dialogue in a Polarized Age” will be hosting a dialogue on the topic of race and the use of the N-word in classes on Tuesday, May 7, from 7–9 p.m. in Medbury Honors Lounge.
Because the use of the N-word is a prevalent issue in classrooms, we would love to hear about your opinion on it. This is a dialogue and not a debate. We are not trying to decide who is right or wrong; we simply want to hear from all perspectives. We encourage you to come with an open mind.
Why have a dialogue if we won’t solve the problem? Because our aim is to create awareness and mutual understanding on our campus, even if you don’t change your mind.
For questions, email Carol Spaulding-Kruse at carol.spaulding@drake.edu.
Carol Spaulding-Kruse, Professor of English
Please join us at a reception for Carlyn Marron, assistant director of international student and scholar services, who is departing Drake and “retiring” from her career in international education. Stop by Drake International on Friday, May 10, from 2–4 p.m. to thank Carlyn for her 10 years of service and wish her well as she begins this new chapter.
Bonnie Ehler, Center for International Programs and Services
From an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors nationwide, Drake had two recipients of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Program: Colton Sleister, chemistry and BCMB major, and Lorien MacEnulty, physics and astronomy major. Both students will receive scholarships of up to $7,500 a year to help cover costs associated with tuition, mandatory fees, books, and room and board.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established in 1986 and is considered the most prestigious award in the United States to undergraduates in mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering. The award honors the excellence demonstrated by our students in the sciences as well as the University. Academic Institutions may nominate up to four students every year.
Kayla Jenkins, Assistant to the Dean, Arts & Sciences
The Office of Student Financial Planning will be hosting a Loan Exit Counseling session for graduating students on Friday, May 10, at 10 a.m. in Harvey Ingham, Room 135. During this session, we will review required next steps and answer all your questions about repayment plans, consolidation, refinancing, loan forgiveness programs, and more.
We encourage you to bring a laptop if you would like to complete the required online loan exit counseling at this session. Prior to the session, ensure you are able to log in at www.studentloans.gov. If not, use the password recovery process to regain access.
Ryan Zantingh, Director of Financial Aid
The Drake University Sprout Garden needs volunteers for a few weeks at the beginning of the summer to assist with watering and upkeep. If you’re interested, please sign up for weeks that you are available to stop by.
Additionally, the garden needs some extra care going into growing season. If you are interested in doing some weeding and watering, please contact laura.harris@drake.edu.
Laura Harris, AS’ 19
Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Adams Leadership Convocation Awards. This ceremony, held on April 19, recognized student leadership and achievement across Drake’s campus through a variety of award categories. Please see below and congratulate the following Drake student, staff, and organization winners:
Kristin Economos, Director, Student Leadership Programs
Each month a faculty member, nominated by their dean, is recognized for their efforts to integrate innovative technology into their classroom. April’s digital faculty member of the month is Kelley Ellis, assistant professor of practice, school of Accounting, College of Business and Public Administration. Read an interview with Kelley below:
Which course(s) do you use this technology in? I would like to share a variety of technology tools that I use in my courses. I am continually looking for ways to make my life easier, make my courses easier to navigate, and make the content more interactive for the students. I probably use the most technology in my Accounting Systems course.
What type of technology do you use?
How does this type of technology align with your teaching pedagogy? I think demonstrating the use of lots of different technologies within the course is good for the students to see for this system course. In their professional careers after graduation, they will have to learn many new software packages and tools. This course gets them used to learning new technologies—and me too.
Where did you get the inspiration to make a change?
Some changes were required out of necessity, others were based on attending training sessions at Drake by ITS or webinars offered by Blackboard.
How long did it take for you to implement this technology?
None of the technologies that I have implemented took very long to master. I have just added new things each year and tried to continually improve the course.
Did Drake ITS assist you in implementing this technology?
I have set up consultation meetings with ITS to talk about objectives I wanted to accomplish. ITS gave me options to choose from and pointed me toward resources to help me learn the skills needed. Once I started implementing a new technology, I developed very specific questions, and ITS was always very responsive in answering my queries.
Are you interested in trying out new technology in your classroom? Want help from ITS? Schedule a technology adoption consultation.
Jon Hurdelbrink, CPHS, and Carla Herling, ITS
