Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1, ITS is holding a Phishing Derby, a contest where faculty, staff, and students can take a quiz to learn more about how to identify phishing emails and fraudulent websites. Taking the quiz enters you for a chance to win a Bluetooth speaker or headphones. Visit its.drake.edu/phish to enter starting tomorrow.

Watch for information in the Nov. 7 OnCampus about the PhishMe phishing simulation scenario we’ll be sending out later that week. Receiving emails that look like phishing but cause no harm is an effective way to educate about the dangers of fraudulent emails without any actual risk.

The goal of these ITS initiatives is to empower campus to be able to keep both their personal data and our institutional data secure.

Learn more about IT Security at our ITS Security blog at its.drake.edu/category/security-blog/

—Carla Herling, ITS

The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) wants to let campus know that while the Databook isn’t available yet, we are working diligently to bring it to you. Drake’s Databooks provide a wide variety of information about the population characteristics of students, faculty, and staff. After many discussions with senior leadership and other campus constituents, OIRA is updating the Databook format so it will be more dynamic and allow you to mine for the data you need. Due to the work on this new, improved Databook, what will be available on OIRA’s Databook page this year will be sparser than in the past.  We still anticipate having the basic information online and available before Nov. 1, with faculty information to be added around Nov. 15. (Faculty data isn’t collected until Nov. 1.) Thank you for your understanding as we work to bring you the best data for your decisions.

—Christine Marchand, Office of Institutional Research and Assessment

 ITS is making upgrades to Blackboard. As a result, Blackboard access will be unavailable on Oct. 23 starting at 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. on Oct. 24.

We appreciate your patience while we perform this necessary work. If you continue to have any issues after the planned maintenance window, please contact the Support Center at 271-3001 or supportcenter@drake.edu.

—Mary Jane Blystone, ITS

Want to see STEM@DRAKE progress in real-time? Now you can—a webcam is up and running on site so you can watch construction as it happens. Watch it here.

When Drake migrated from the Office Max to the Office Depot platform, the off-site printing program also changed. As this was done this past summer, it is likely that some of you were not able to attend the webinars regarding the changes. Here is what you need to know:

In all cases, we in Finance & Administration would prefer you use on-campus machines unless Office Depot is less costly. Office Depot is the preferred vendor, as an alternative, if you find they are less money for extremely large or complex jobs that cannot be done on campus.

There are two methods to purchase printing from Office Depot:

1. Online ordering, with a week turnaround as your job will be printed out of state. This is the solution that provides direct billing to A/P via a feed, which is similar to the former Office Max procedure. When you order online, you can build and price your job so you know exactly how much it will cost and compare to the cost of printing on the new machines on campus.
2. Walk into the Office Depot/Max local store, in which case you must bring the Office Depot Store Card that is on our website, plus your P-Card. We no longer have an option for direct billing from the local store.

If you have questions, please contact kelly.foster@drake.edu.

—Caron Findlay, Finance & Administration

Every day, more than 200,000 malicious emails are sent to Drake faculty, staff, and students.

Since July 1, over 18 million malicious emails have sent to drake.edu email addresses. Most of these have been blocked by our IT security tools, but even the best tools cannot catch every single email.

That’s why ITS works to educate campus about how to detect and avoid being caught by malicious emails that “phish” for personal and campus data.

In celebration of October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), ITS has been sharing tips and tools for keeping yourself safe online and not becoming a cyber-victim.

In November, we’re taking it to the next level:

Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1, ITS is holding a Phishing Derby, a contest where faculty, staff, and students can take a quiz to learn more about how to identify phishing emails and fraudulent websites. Each person who takes the quiz will be entered for a chance to win a Bluetooth speaker or headphones. Visit its.drake.edu/phish starting Nov. 1 to enter for your chance to win.

At the same time, we will be re-launching phishing simulation training with PhishMe for faculty and staff. Receiving emails that look like the real thing but cause no harm is an effective way to educate everyone about the dangers of phishing email without any actual risk.

The goal of these initiatives is to empower campus to be able to keep both their personal data and our institutional data secure. Learn more about IT Security at our ITS Security blog.

It takes a campus working together to keep everyone safe.

—Carla Herling, ITS

Cowles Library invites all Drake students, faculty, and staff to try out new databases and to fill out the trial evaluation form letting us know what you think, including if you think it might be useful in any of your classes and research. These databases are on trial through the month of October and can be found here.

Cowles initiates database trials each fall and spring to give our patrons an idea of what new resources are available, and to invite feedback from our user community on how useful these resources might be. This is a crucial step in our overall stewardship process: We strive to provide access to those resources that are most useful in the curriculum and for research. Pending availability of funds in late spring, we consider adding those resources that fill unmet needs and received strong, positive feedback.

—Teresa Koch, Cowles Library

Faculty and students are invited to attend the 10th conference of the Cultures and Languages Across Curriculum (CLAC) Consortium on Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22, sponsored by World Languages and Cultures. The conference will explore definitions and comprehensive strategies for infusing foreign language, as well as intercultural skill sets and competencies for developing a global mindset, throughout the curriculum. The 2016 theme—Developing Responsible Global Citizenship Through CLAC—emerges from Drake’s longstanding commitment to provide “an exceptional learning environment that prepares students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship.”

For more information about the workshops, schedule, and registration, please visit http://clac2016.wp.drake.edu/conference-schedule/.

Drake students can attend the conference at a special rate. If you would like to attend but have financial limitations, please contact Marc Pinheiro-Cadd directly at marc.pinheiro-cadd@drake.edu

The primary purpose of CLAC is to provide students with opportunities to use their linguistic and cultural competencies outside of the language classroom. To show our commitment to CLAC, 25 Drake professors now include CLAC options for their students as a result of CLAC workshop participation the past two summers.

—Dorothy Pisarski, Global Communications Liaison

During the summer we worked with a student representative team along with a professional furniture design team to modify current furniture settings and create spaces to match student needs and preferences. We are excited to announce the selected furniture will be arriving on Thursday, Oct. 13. Please expect some disruptions during this time. Thank you for your patience during the Book Store transition and everyone’s willingness to make this a success.

—Kelly Foster, Finance & Administration