Join Drake facilities and Drake’s Environmental Action League Oct. 20 from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. to help plant native plants in a bioretention cell on Drake’s campus. Stop by as time allows. Registerhere on DUGood and receive verification for your hours.
A bioretention cell reduces flooding and improves the quality of water that runs off of our campus. Wear shoes and clothes you are comfortable getting planting native flowers in. Snacks and drinks will be provided by DEAL and SAA while supplies last.
Installation site is in front of Harvey Ingham Hall, across the Reflection Pond.
Stop by whenever works for you. Wear shoes and clothes you are comfortable planting in. Tools and gloves will be provided.
This project is a student led initiative and is funded by the generous support of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the City of Des Moines.
Former U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, hosts a book club during the academic year to engage the Drake community on topics related to China and U.S.-China relations. This activity is part of the Ambassador-in-Residence initiative at Drake. Learn more at drake.edu/branstad.
The Ambassador’s book selection for the Fall 2023 semester is Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China’s Superpower Future by Chun Han Wong. The book was published in May 2023. You can find a description of the book from Amazon.com here. A limited number of free copies are still available for current students, faculty and staff who wish to participate in the book club. Sign up by emailing ambassador@drake.edu stating your intent to read the book and attend the discussion event on November 13th in the Cowles Library Reading Room, as well as to your request your free copy of the book (distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis). Dinner will be provided at the discussion event on November 13th — please state any dietary restrictions in your email to sign up.
For more information on this event, we encourage you to visit the event page on the Drake University Calendar.
Some courses will be temporarily reserved for students who have declared a certain field-of-study (major, minor, concentration, or endorsement). On Monday, November 13th, those reservations will be removed. Note that some courses have restrictions that are permanent.
If you are an undergraduate or pharmacy student intending to make any changes to your field-of-study and have those changes take effect before registration begins, file your changes via the change of record request no later than 4:30 p.m. on Monday, October 23rd. Requests submitted after this date may be delayed.
Join The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement on Thursday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in Sussman Theatre for our Sussman Lecture Series. This year Tim Shriver will be speaking on “The Dignity Index” and how it can help overcome toxic political divisions. Register for free.
This event is open to all Drake University students, faculty, and staff both in person and virtually. ASL and CART will be provided as well as accessible seating options.
The Sussman Lecture Series hosts a notable public policy figure to discuss topical current events with a small audience. The series was established by Richard Sussman, AS’51, and his late wife Lila. Tickets are required and seating is limited to provide an intimate experience for attendees.
Are you at risk for a stroke? Common risk factors include age, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, inactivity, poor diet, and family history.
Health Gauge will be offering vascular screenings tomorrow–Wednesday, Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to noon in the Olmsted Center Parents Hall North. This includes stroke/carotid artery, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and peripheral artery disease screenings. You may also add an optional osteoporosis screening and EKG. These painless and non-invasive screenings are open to all Drake employees, spouses/partners, and retirees. The cost is $125 for the three vascular screenings payable at the time of your appointment. The optional add-ons are $35 each. You may pay with cash, check, credit or debit card, or FSA dollars. Call Health Gauge at 515-244-3080 to schedule an appointment.
Old Main will welcome children and grandchildren of Drake faculty and staff for trick-or-treating on Monday, Oct. 30, from 3–5 pm. Offices will have treats and would love to see the kiddos’ Halloween costumes this year!
As President Martin has shared in recent messages to campus, the University will hold a town hall regarding the budget on Monday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m. in the Olmsted Center, Parents Hall. All faculty and staff are encouraged to attend to learn more about the fiscal year 2023 results, overall financial health, fiscal year 2024 budget, and a look ahead to fiscal year 2025.
If you have questions you would like addressed at the town hall, please send them to president@drake.edu.
Provost’s Social immediately following the town hall
The Provost’s Social will be held following the town hall also in Parents Hall. Drake faculty and staff who exemplify the Core Value of Joyful Accountability will be recognized.
To nominate a colleague, please use this Qualtrics form. Feel free to fill out multiple forms. All those nominated will be recognized on a rolling display at the event. From among those nominated, several will be chosen at random for prizes. Refreshments at the social will include an assortment of beverages and light snacks.
The combination of social media and AI-generated content has made major sharing platforms a prime hunting ground for scammers and cybercriminals. As we continue with Cybersecurity Awareness Month, remember that suspicious activity and online vulnerabilities can come in many forms.
The first line of defense in keeping your information private and safe is you. Practicing the following safety measures will provide you with a safer, more enjoyable social media experience:
Be wary of altered photos. Deepfakes, AI-generated images, and photoshopped images may look realistic and deceiving. Be sure to verify what you’re looking at before sharing it.
Keep your information private. Use privacy settings on social media to control who sees your information. Refrain from posting or sharing anything you’re not comfortable with anyone seeing.
Be careful who you share with. Bots may be used to comment and message you on social media platforms to learn more about you or gain access to your information or accounts.
Verify accuracy with a trusted source. AI Chatbots are programmed to communicate with human language and answer questions with automatically generated responses. Always verify the accuracy of the information you are receiving and be wary of misleading, inaccurate, or plagiarized material.
Use social media and AI resources thoughtfully and responsibly. Once something is shared, you can’t take it back.
Take the cybersecurity quiz! The first 150 people to complete the quiz will receive a coupon to use at the campus Starbucks, and all student participants will be entered into a random drawing for 1 of 10 Griff II t-shirts. Complete the quiz by October 31, 2023.
Watch for next week’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month topic in OnCampus. Learn more about cybersecurity, watch videos, and become a part of Drake’s security culture at drake.edu/its/csam.
For ITS assistance, submit a ticket at service.drake.edu/its, visit the lower level of Carnegie Hall, or call 515-271-3001.
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and ITS is going to be rolling out a testing for students using Microsoft’s Attack Simulation Training.
Phishing has existed in attackers’ toolboxes for decades, with threat actors posing as trusted contacts and then targeting unsuspecting victims through email or text messages to steal sensitive data. While malicious actors always attempt to craft legitimate-looking phishing communications, some cybercriminals excel at this more than others. Historically, phishing communications have often been easy to spot because of careless drafting, with a lot of spelling errors and incorrect grammar.
However, simply advising people to look for “traditional” attributes of phishing is no longer enough to keep organizations safe. Beyond investing in the right technologies, such as enabling spam filters and implementing multi-factor authentication, education can make or break efforts to safeguard organizations from phishing and ransomware.
Below is an email that you will be getting on Wednesday October 18th at about 10:00am. It is from what appears to be a mail server advising you of two messages that could not be delivered because of the synchronization delay, and it wants you to click on the “View Returned Messages” to get them.
Notice who the email is coming from—it is coming from effecturellc Portal dUScj@effecturellc.com. This is not a legitimate Microsoft email.
When you receive this email, report it as attempted phishing. If you click on the “Report” button, then you can select the “Report phishing” tab. This will allow you to report this email to Microsoft for review and they will be able to block future emails from getting into our system. It will also delete the email for you, so you do not have to do anything further with it.
Check out this week’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month topic in OnCampus. Learn more about cybersecurity, watch videos, and become a part of Drake’s security culture at drake.edu/its/csam and take the cybersecurity quiz to win prizes.
For ITS assistance, submit a ticket at service.drake.edu/its, visit the lower level of Carnegie Hall, or call 515-271-3001.
Every fall, we ask for your input on how we fulfill our commitment to elevate service excellence. Your collective input is reviewed and acted upon. For examples from last year, see the responses from Finance, HR, ITS, and others.
It’s that time of year again and thank you for your input in advance! Your voice helps shape continuous improvement in these areas across campus: Facilities Planning and Management, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology Services, Public Safety, University Communications & Marketing, and the SPARC (grants) office.
Click here to complete this year’s survey by Halloween, 10/31. It is completely anonymous and often takes less than five minutes to complete. You will only be asked to provide feedback on the areas you work with regularly.
The survey was developed by the Office of Institutional Research & Assessment in collaboration with each area on the survey. Continuous improvement efforts such as this drive intentional and strategic action.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
— Nate Reagen, Chief of Staff, Office of the President
