Drake Public Safety has partnered with the 911 Cell Phone Bank, a nonprofit organization providing emergency-only cell phones to those who otherwise may not have access to an emergency line when it matters most. If you have an unused cell phone you would like to donate to help those in need, please drop it off at the Public Safety Office.
—Brett Niederhauser, Drake Public Safety
Did you know Cowles Library has more than 250 databases available to Drake students, faculty, and staff? We’re highlighting these valuable resources on the Cowles Library blog. Learn more about how JoVE Biology (and JoVE Neurology) 2017 and MathSciNet can help you!
—Leslie Noble, Cowles Library
The Group X program has added a couple new classes this semester. Come check out Step & Sculpt on Fridays at 12:15 p.m. and the Walking Group on Thursdays at 12:15 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.: Recipes from Home Lunch in Hubbell Dining
Please share with us your favorite recipes from home. We will choose several to feature during our lunch on Feb. 21! If your recipe is selected, you will also receive two meal tickets to lunch that day to share with family! Please email your recipe by Feb. 3 to jennifer.bowersox@drake.edu, along with the following information: Recipe name, recipe (ingredients, directions), a little about this recipe.
—Jennifer Bowersox, Sodexo
To all students, faculty, and staff:
As part of our continuing effort to keep the campus community informed about safety matters, we are notifying you that Drake Public Safety has received reports of three burglaries in Drake-owned real estate properties and two incidents of suspicious activity that have occurred since November—with three occurrences during J-Term. All of these incidents involved doors that were broken or found open. These incidents have also been reported to the Des Moines Police Department, which is investigating.
While it is true that most crimes on and around our campus involving members of the Drake community are crimes of opportunity, in these recent cases we have had break-ins to unoccupied—i.e. the tenants were not home—or vacant homes. As a reminder, if you arrive at home and suspect someone has broken in, do not enter the premises, but call the Des Moines Police Department and Public Safety and wait for assistance.
If you or friends are the victim of a crime, please immediately make a report to Drake Public Safety (271-2222) and the Des Moines Police Department (911).
In addition, here are some links to helpful safety tips:
Personal Safety
Protecting Your Stuff
As a reminder, we strongly suggest that you download the Drake Guardian App and use the Safe Ride Bus for additional safety on and around campus.
—Scott Law, Public Safety
University Communications, ITS, and the Office of Admission have been preparing new templates for top-level content management system (CMS) web pages (mainly those that can be reached directly from Drake’s homepage), including a new homepage design for www.drake.edu.
The new designs are scheduled to go live on Feb. 4. In preparation for this launch, a publishing freeze will be put in place the prior day to prepare the templates and migrate data. The CMS will still be available to make edits and prepare content as normal, but during this period, changes will not get pushed out to the live site. There will not be any downtime for the public website, only in having updates published.
This will only affect web content that is managed in the Terminal Four (T4) CMS. Other Drake sites that utilize alternate systems such as WordPress will not be effected.
The publishing freeze will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2, through 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4.
If you have any questions please contact Jeremy Sievers at jeremy.sievers@drake.edu (x2795).
—Jeremy Sievers, University Communications
A revised add/drop form is now available for students to download online. This form replaces the half-sheet, carbon-copy add/drop form, which is considered obsolete as of the Spring 2017 semester.
Like the previous form, the revised form may be used for students to request and receive permission to add or drop a class after the semester has begun. Students must use the form to obtain signatures from various officials, including the instructor of the class, and submit the form to their college/school dean’s office.
Please be aware that dean’s offices and academic departments may no longer have hard-copy versions of this form available in their offices now that the form is available online.
Best wishes to all of you as we begin the spring semester.
—Kevin Moenkhaus, Student Records and Academic Information
Back in September, Facilities Planning and Management (FPM) prepared a list of future deferred maintenance projects for the campus. I am excited to announce FPM has purchased a new chiller for the east chiller loop of the campus and work will begin Jan. 23. The funding for this project was made possible from a onetime allowance from the Board of Trustees for decreasing the backlog of deferred maintenance on the campus.
The chiller project will begin with demolition of the old chiller and the cooling tower. During February, work will include structural steel install, electrical work, and new piping installs. The new chiller and cooling tower will be delivered on Feb. 28. The cooling tower startup is scheduled for March 22. The chiller start up is scheduled for April 19.
This will cause some issues in the loading dock and small parking lot located at the north end of the Harmon Fine Arts Center. A crane will be used to unload and set the new equipment, and a dumpster will be in same area for construction debris. Please email me with any concerns or issues during the completion of this project: jolene.schmidt@drake.edu
—Jolene Schmidt, Director of Operations & Support Services
Drake Postal Operations has moved to a new location. We are no longer on 24th Street. Feel free to stop in and see our new space in the lower level of the Olmsted Center. When placing orders to be shipped to Drake, please use the following addresses:
For large deliveries: Ship to 1315 30th Street and use the loading dock.
For all other deliveries and service: Ship or go to the lower level of the Olmsted Center located at 2875 University Ave.
For any questions about deliveries or services, call us at 515-271-4717.
—Tricia McKinney, Public Safety
As users and consumers of a worldwide internet, each of us has a role to play in protecting our private information. Data privacy is about your freedom—who has access to your personal activities, information, and ideas? Much of our day-to-day activity and work takes place on the internet or on an internet-capable device, but how often do we pause to consider who has access to our information, and how they are using this information?
These concepts are the theme of Data Privacy Day, an internationally recognized day on Jan. 28 that encourages every global citizen to learn how to better protect private information in a world that is increasingly connected. Here are some excellent resources about how to take back your privacy and keep your information safe:
ITS is coordinating the third annual Drake shred event this spring! Bring your confidential documents and have them shredded free of charge on Thursday, April 20, from 12 to 3 p.m. Look for more information in a future OnCampus issue.
Learn even more about how to secure your digital life by visiting our blog at its.drake.edu/category/security-blog/.
—Peter Lundstedt, Information Security Manager
