If you are looking for used or new furniture for your office and/or classroom, Facilities Planning and Management is here to assist you. We are currently collecting an inventory list of used items available in the warehouse that are free to departments around campus. If you are looking for something we do not have available, we will work with our preferred furniture vendors to help find a solution that fits your budget and space. If your furniture is damaged, notify Facilities Planning and Management and we will check the warranty status to see if the item can be fixed or replaced. Please contact Kelly Foster at kelly.foster@drake.edu for any furniture related inquiries.

— Kelly Foster, Facilities Planning and Management

A bicycle ride for staff and faculty will take place on May 31. All abilities are welcome. Cyclists should meet in front of Old Main at 4:30 p.m. The route will depend on attendance. In the event of bad weather, the ride will be rescheduled.

— Amy Cutler, Law School

Late last week, University Communications became University Communications and Marketing. This involved some difficult decisions and staffing changes in order to streamline operations. A smaller in-house staff and this new name are part of a comprehensive effort to improve efficiency and more effectively promote the Drake University brand. There will be an intentionally strong focus on marketing going forward, to help the University remain viable and vibrant in these challenging times.

The UC&M team strives to be audience-focused, data-driven, and also digital-first whenever possible. (Note: The amount of printed materials has been reduced by more than 35 percent in the past 18 months.) Priority audiences are faculty/staff, prospective students, alumni, and other stakeholders in the public realm.

Turn to UC&M for guidance and support. More tools are in place now to empower campus partners to fulfill their own needs; see the department website and click on the Toolkit tab. When you have more complex needs that require strategic planning and/or full-service support, the UC&M team will step in directly.

Need help from UC&M? Your three primary points of contact will be:

Communications: For help communicating with faculty and staff, or sharing significant stories with the public via news media, contact Jarad Bernstein, Director of Communications, x3119 or jarad.bernstein@drake.edu.

Marketing: For help in marketing academic programs to prospective students or in engaging former students who are now alumni, contact Betsy McKibbin, Director of Marketing, who joins Drake on Monday, May 21. Her phone number will be x4501, and her email address will be betsy.mckibbin@drake.edu.

Brand Integration: For questions pertaining to creative execution of the Drake brand, including the University website and all forms of printed, digital and other tools, contact Jeremy Sievers, Director of Brand Integration, x2795 or jeremy.sievers@drake.edu. (Note: A smaller in-house staff that’s more focused on digital and social media means that graphic design for printed materials will largely be outsourced. Whenever possible, digital solutions will be presented and provided first.)

Other staff may be assigned to work with you directly (view organizational chart); however, to help the UC&M team manage workload and workflow, please contact one of the three directors listed above first. Also, new requests must have been pre-approved and prioritized by a President’s Council or Deans Council member. This will help ensure the UC&M team remains focused on the highest-priority needs of the University.

Thank you for your patience and flexibility during this time of transition.

— Dave Remund, Executive Director

ITS is in the process of updating Sophos Antivirus software across campus over the next few weeks and moving it to a new server. Please check Sophos to ensure your computer is up-to-date. If you are not sure how to verify this, please contact the Support Center at 515-271-3001 or visit service.drake.edu/its to report your issue. In order to fully install your update, you will need to restart your computer.

— Carla Herling, ITS

Drop in for one of the final three offerings of OneDrive transition sessions led by ITS. We will discuss how adopting OneDrive can positively impact our campus collaboration, security, and anytime/anywhere access to individual files. We will also cover the installation for users who have not started the process (please bring your computer if you need assistance with the installation process).

All three sessions are held in the Science Connector Building, Room 301:

• Tuesday, May 22, 1–4 p.m.
• Tuesday, May 29, 8 a.m.–12 p.m.
• Wednesday, May 30, 8 a.m.–12 p.m.

— Carla Herling, ITS

Last week, you may have received an email with the subject “Receipt for Your Payment to Home Chef.” This message was a phishing simulation sent out by ITS.

Many individuals reported that PayPal-related phishing scams are some of the most commonly seen in their mailboxes, and with good reason. Scammers know that financial-related emails are likely to generate a recipient response at a higher rate than other methods. To help you to distinguish this type of phishing email in the future, here are the red flags that indicated that the message was not legitimate:

Sender email address: Carefully inspect how the sender’s name and email address are displayed, then compare it to one of your trusted contacts. In this case, the sender’s name is receipt@paypal.com, and the return email address is paypal-receipt@notification.accountsupport.finance.me.com. The email address reveals the true source. You may need to hit reply to see additional information, as the reply-to address can be different from the sender address.

Recipient address (you): Is this an email you would normally receive at work, even as a PayPal customer?

Salutation: This clue can be a bit ambiguous, but PayPal explicitly states on their website that every email they send out will address you by name. If you’re a PayPal customer and you receive an email that doesn’t address you by name, that’s a red flag. If you aren’t a PayPal customer, the fact that you’re receiving any email from them is a red flag.

Link destination: Hover over the links in the email. Instead of taking you to PayPal, the link starts with 2fa.com-token-auth.com/. At Drake, these links are sometimes masked by urldefense.proofpoint.com, our email filtering system, which can add confusion. If you don’t see urldefense.proofpoint.com or the name of the organization in the link, that’s a red flag. If you’re a PayPal customer, an easy way around this is to open a web browser and go to the PayPal website that you know to be legitimate, which can be found via a web search or emails you’ve previously received from PayPal.

There is no shame in falling for a phishing email. Scammers are becoming experts at making their emails seem real, and most of us will fall for one at some point. What matters is the action you take after the fact. If you think you may have clicked on malicious link or attachment, or entered information into a fraudulent website, contact ITS quickly at informationsecurity@drake.edu. We can help you take steps to prevent fraud or a data breach from occurring.

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS

Faculty, the deadline for final grade entry for the spring semester is 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 23. Exception: final grades for the Law School are due on Tuesday, May 29.

The final evaluation schedule includes a listing of when and where courses are scheduled to meet for their final evaluations.

— Kevin Moenkhaus, Office of the Registrar

The Office of the Provost wants to congratulate Keith Miller and Jody Swilky. The Drake University Board of Trustees unanimously approved the renewal of their Levitt Distinguished Professorships. Keith is the Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Law and Jody is the Ellis and Nelle Levitt Professor of English.

— Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

The cross-departmental project team has entered the testing phase of Banner 9. Designated Banner users from key departments are using the new system to ensure that functions work as anticipated, and to help update support documentation. The project team is also starting to prepare for Banner 9 training.

Our timeline is on schedule and we anticipate campus rollout starting in mid-July through Dec. 31, when our current version (Banner 8) will no longer be supported.

You can find the latest information on the Banner 9 project, along with our other major ITS projects, at drake.edu/its/pm/ourprojects.

— Kris Brewster, ITS

Nearly every week there’s a news story about a new phishing attack. Attackers are constantly looking for weak links within an organization to exploit for access to critical systems. As the public becomes more aware of these attacks, the attackers have to evolve. Because their methods are always changing, we continue to send out monthly emails to test faculty and staff using the latest phishing tactics.

Every time you receive an email, slow down and take a second look before acting. Look carefully for red flags throughout the message, including the sender, subject, overall message content, links, and attachments. If you receive any email that you suspect may be phishing, forward the email as an attachment to informationsecurity@drake.edu. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

ITS will assign additional training to any individuals who repeatedly click links or open attachments in phishing emails, simulated or not. Our campus information is too valuable to ignore any weak links we may be providing.

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

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS