During the month of July, some University services will operate on a limited and reduced basis. Individual offices have developed service and communication protocols for the month of July. Plans for Facilities, Student Services, Conferences and Events, Public Safety, and Information Technology are provided below. 

Information Technology: ITS will be using student technicians to triage incoming service requests. With the reduction in front line support, attention will be on supporting Fall 2021 pandemic-proofing, completing new faculty and staff computer builds, and finalizing in-progress classroom repairs and renewals. As a result, there will be delays to overall support response and repair timelines.

Facilities Planning & Management: Coverage during the month of July will focus on health and safety related services. In order to ensure an appropriate focus on these efforts, non-emergency work orders will likely be delayed and service times may be extended. 

Student Services: The SSC will be closed. ID Cards and key request will be handled by appointment through Scott.Law@drake.edu, Monday through Thursday between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. until Aug. 3.

Mail Services: Mail Services will operate  from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with the exception of Friday, July 3. Pick-up and delivery will be limited to once per day in all areas. 

Conference and Events: The Office of Conferences and Events as well as the Olmsted Center will be closed from June 29–Aug. 3. 

Public Safety: Drake Public Safety will be remain open. Non-emergency service calls may be delayed. The primary responsibility of officers will be to patrol and provide for the security of the campus.

For emergencies or to report any issues, please call 271–2222.

— Scott Law, Director, Public Safety & Operational Services

Over the coming year, Drake will be transitioning from the current LMS, Blackboard Learn, to Blackboard Learn Ultra, a more advanced and user-friendly version.

The August changes will have minimal effect on the functionality of courses or the availability of features within courses. Instead, they will focus primarily on the look and feel of the LMS landing page and its navigation.

Starting Aug. 9, when you log into Blackboard, your landing page will look different. Learn more about the updated navigation at Getting Started with Ultra Base Navigation in Learn Ultra (How-to). The basic background and colors will all be a standard Drake color scheme.

Faculty can, however, customize a course by uploading a banner image. Learn more about customizing course images including guidance around image quality, size, and fair use at Creating Course Card Images/Course Banners in Learn Ultra (Best Practices). 

Learn more about the project, who to contact, and the proposed timeline at our FAQ page at drake.edu/its/learnultra/ and we will be adding additional help documentation to the Learn Ultra category in the Knowledge Base of our IT service portal.

— Karly Good, ITS

Remember you can shop at the University Bookstore online, 24/7 at drake.bkstr.com. For added convenience, you can choose to have your online orders shipped directly to the Bookstore for easy pick up at the front door. If you choose this option, please park in the Olmsted lot and call 515–274–3401 to get instructions on how to pick up your order. 

Don’t forget Bulldog Bucks work for online shopping as well. You can shop for all your summer course materials as well as great Drake merchandise. 

As summer classes end, you can return your rental books to the Bookstore and follow the procedures for pick up. Rental books can also be mailed in.

Pick up and rental return hours are Monday–Friday from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. The Bookstore is closed July 3.

— Katie Wilz, University Bookstore

Due to work required to wrap up the 2020 fiscal year, access to MyDrake, MyDUSIS, Banner, Touchnet, eTranscripts, and other Banner-connected systems will be unavailable from Tuesday, June 30, at 5 p.m. through Wednesday, July 1, at 12:01 a.m.

We appreciate your patience while this necessary work is performed. If you continue to have any issues accessing these systems after the planned maintenance window, please contact the support center at 515-271-3001 or visit service.drake.edu/its to report your issue.

— Carla Herling, ITS

ITS is making updates to Panopto ahead of the Fall 2020 semester. As a result, access to Panopto will be unavailable on Saturday, June 27, from 8 to 11 p.m. During this time, users will be unable to view or upload content to and from Panopto.    

We appreciate your patience while we perform this necessary work. If you continue to have any problems after the planned maintenance window, please contact the support center at 515-271-3001 or visit service.drake.edu/its to report your issue.    

— James McNab, ITS

In May, I described some upcoming changes to Drake’s email protection system that will change the hover text of email links. On Wednesday, June 24, we will complete the migration to Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, and this functionality will take effect. 

As we work to adjust settings and improve functionality over the coming weeks, you may see email behaving differently. It may be junk mail that lands in your inbox, or wanted email that is delivered to your junk mail folder. In either case, the best way to ensure that emails go to the correct destination is to modify the message classification from your own mailbox. 

For Macs:

For PCs:

Because junk mail rules can be set individually, ITS has little control over these settings. If you’d like to learn more about how junk mail filtering works in Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, please see Junk Mail and Phishing (FAQ).

If you experience any issues with mail delivery or large amounts of misclassified mail, please visit the IT service portal.

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS 

Fall parking permit sales will open online for students, faculty, and staff through the Parking Registration link in myDrake on Monday, Aug. 3.

Permit pricing will not change for the 2020–2021 school year, and permits are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Blue lots (resident passes) — $375

Yellow, Red, and Green lots (commuter passes) — $250

Orange and Purple lots (commuter passes) — $125

Evening/weekend passes (any commuter lot after 4:30 p.m. and on weekends) — $100

If you are unsure of which permit you need to buy, please review the parking lot colors on the campus map. If the pass type you prefer is sold out, please purchase your second choice and email studentservices@drake.edu to be put onto a wait list for your first choice.

Permits will be distributed in a variety of methods to assist with social distancing. Your confirmation email will give you further instruction on how your permit should be acquired.

— Sara Heijerman, Student Services Center

University Avenue is closed from 25th Street to 31st Street through Saturday, June 27, at 9 p.m. This closure is for paving improvements along University Avenue. For more information, see Des Moines Road and Trail Closures.

As a result of the closure, the Olmsted, Aliber West, and GK parking lots are not accessible. We strongly advise anyone coming to the campus to approach and use the lots along Forest Avenue. If you have any questions, please direct them to Kevin Moran (Kevin.moran@drake.edu) or Scott Law (Scott.law@drake.edu).  

— Scott Law, Executive Director Public Safety & University Operations