After gathering input from campus and posting for the two-week review period, the Approval Authority Policy was presented to and approved by the Board of Trustees during their April meeting. The policy combines and replaces two previously existing policies titled Contract and Legal Service Authority and Executive Purchasing. The new policy will become effective July 1, 2018.

As a reminder, the purpose of the policy is to ensure all contracts and transactions are signed by those with the authority to obligate the University with external parties in accordance with the delegation approved by the Board of Trustees. Individuals authorized to sign contracts and transactions under this policy are expected to have the necessary information and expertise to fully understand the implications of such commitments.

The new policy is available in the University Policy Library. Please take a moment to review the Approval Authority policy.

New Payment Request Form

As we have planned for implementation of the Approval Authority Policy, we have taken the opportunity to revise the forms used to submit payment requests to accounting. A new form titled Payment Request Form will combine and replace the previously existing Direct Pay and Invoice FOAPAL form. The new form is available on the Finance & Administration Forms webpage. The use of the new Payment Request Form will be effective July 1, 2018. Please discontinue use of the Direct Pay and Invoice FOAPAL forms.

— Heather Travis, Controller

Each year, Drake Dining donates unused flex dollars to help fight hunger both locally and globally. Unused Flex money left over at the end of the year is donated to Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation. The organization uses the money to help provide nutritious meals to children and support food pantry programs, food recovery programs, and community gardens. This year, the Stop Hunger Foundation awarded a grant to help the Sprout Garden construct hoop houses over the raised beds, put up signage, and seed/plant garden beds. In June, more than $32,000 of leftover flex money was donated to the Stop Hunger Foundation.

— Jennifer Bowersox, Drake Dining

For the rest of the summer, prize packs will be given out to a randomly selected participant at each GroupX class. To win, participants must be pre-registered for the class using the IMLeagues App or website. The more classes you register for and attend, the greater your chances at winning. Prizes will be given out on the following dates:

Friday, June 8
Tuesday, June 12
Monday, June 18
Wednesday June 20
Thursday, June 28

— Drake Wellness

In preparation for the launch of the new myDrake portal later this month, ITS is rolling out a new login screen for Office 365. The current screen will continue to be used for other applications including TeamDynamix and Slate. Here’s the current screen:

The new screen, shown below, will replace the current Office 365 login screen beginning tomorrow, June 13. This may result in an outage affecting logging into email between 10–11 p.m.

Office 365 is the first system to use this new login screen. Other applications will eventually be converted to the same login screen. The new login will allow for single sign-on (SSO) access. With SSO, you only have to sign in once, and your authentication is passed on to other applications without having to enter your username and password again. ITS is working toward connecting many applications, including Blackboard and the IT service portal, through SSO access.

One important change with this new system is that you have to be sure to bookmark the application that uses the login screen rather than the login screen itself. This ensures that your credentials will be passed correctly between systems.

— Carla Herling, ITS

Going somewhere fun this summer? Attackers are hoping you’ll also take a vacation from protecting your valuable accounts and personal information. Summer is traditionally high season for scamming, and this summer is shaping up to be a hot one, with active campaigns swirling around purported security incidents at trusted organizations, vacation bookings, and the World Cup.

No matter where you’re checking messages, whether at the local pool or from an exotic destination, slow down and take a closer look to make sure your plans don’t get disrupted.

Here are some indications that an email may be dangerous:

• A strange sender, or one that you don’t expect
• A request that you take ‘urgent’ or ‘immediate’ action
• Links or attachments that don’t match the message content or that you don’t recognize.

ITS will continue to send out simulated attacks to faculty and staff this summer. If you receive any email that you suspect is phishing, don’t click any links, download any attachments, or reply. Instead, forward the email as an attachment to informationsecurity@drake.edu.

Additional training will be assigned to faculty and staff members who repeatedly click links or open attachments in phishing emails, simulated or not.

For more information on how to report phishing emails, see the IT Service Portal guide, Reporting a Phishing Message (How-to).

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS

Drake Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jennie Baranczyk and the women’s basketball staff and players would like to invite girls in grades K-12 to participate in one of our exciting 2018 basketball camps. Find the dates of camp and more information on our camp website bulldogbasketball.com. To receive a Drake faculty/staff discount, contact Sarah Hoffman at sarah.hoffman@drake.edu.

— Nicci Hays Fort, Athletics

Summer group fitness classes are in session now through Friday, June 29, at the Bell Center. All classes are free for faculty, staff, and students. View the schedule.

— Ellen Lowe, Wellness & Recreational Services