In November, Drake’s All Staff Council Recognition Committee celebrated Drake’s Information Technology Services (ITS) staff with a surprise cookie delivery. We continue the celebration here by spotlighting the department and providing a few fast facts about how they make life at Drake better.

Purpose Statement: “Drake ITS exists to empower Drake University to thrive in a digital world.”

Where they live: The department is spread among several buildings on campus: administration, network infrastructure, and professional services teams are in the Dial Center; campus relations and support center teams are in Carnegie; and the academic technology team is in Meredith Hall. The classroom build team is currently in the old ROTC building, plus each college/school has dedicated techs.

Staff members: 47

Student employees: 26

Longest-serving employee: Senior Solutions Engineer Joe Scavo (since 1983)

Newest team member: Jonathan Walker, Application Developer 2 (Joined in June 2016)

What has ITS been busy with lately? Plenty:

• Managed Printing—Implemented the new Follow Me printing system
• Campus wireless upgrade—Replaced obsolete equipment from the campus wireless network with more reliable, higher capacity equipment
• Technology upgrades in classrooms/Sheslow Auditorium—In August 2015 launched the first phase of a multi-year initiative to upgrade audio/visual technology across campus.
• Computer life cycle refresh plan—Responsible for slightly over 2,300 computers on campus; just completed the first phase of replacing faculty computers, and gearing up for staff computer replacements.

Kudos to ITS staff for leading the charge to provide and support innovative use of technology, and for helping enhance the Drake experience for students, faculty, and staff.

—All Staff Council Recognition Committee

We are happy to announce the fifth book of the University Book Club. We’ll be reading Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. Cowles Library has books available for checkout on a weekly basis. (Hint: ask for the book on reserve at the circulation desk.)

Click here for more information: Winter Book Club Info

Contact Sara Heijerman if you have any questions, would like to receive future book club info directly to your email, or would like to RSVP for the discussion, which will be Thursday, Jan. 12, at 4:45 p.m. at Gateway Market Cafe. We’ve had a lot of fun at these, please feel free to join us!

If you can’t make the discussion, we hope you’ll enjoy the book recommendation—as a bonus, this book has been turned into a movie and will be in theaters on Jan. 6!  We’ve also pre-selected our Spring Break book, if you want to get a jump start on the next great read—our spring book will be The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan.

Have a great winter break, and happy reading.

Drake Book Club—previous selections:

• The Kind Worth Killing—Peter Swanson
• Thirteen Ways of Looking—Colum McCann
• The Boys in the Boat—Daniel James Brown
• The Nest—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
• Hidden Figures—Margo Lee Shetterly (current selection)
• The Association of Small Bombs—Karan Mahajan (Spring Break selection)

—Sara Heijerman, Campus Card Office

Please join us for our Cityscapes: New York meal on Wednesday, Dec. 7 in Hubbell Dining from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.. Faculty and staff can dine for just $5 by showing their Drake Card to the cashier!

—Jennifer Bowersox, Sodexo

The schedule for FYS 2017 will be developed early in the spring semester. If you are interested in teaching an FYS, visit the FYS resources web page to find more information, including past syllabi and the form for submission of an FYS proposal. If you have questions, contact arthur.sanders@drake.edu.

—Art Sanders, Associate Provost

It is time to consider offering a J-Term 2018 on-campus class. Schools and colleges will be assembling the J-Term 2018 schedule early in the spring semester. You should use whatever process your school/college uses to schedule classes.

If it is a new class that needs AOI approval, once it has been approved by the appropriate department/school/college, you should submit the appropriate AOI request form to the University Curriculum Committee.

The only difference in this process for J-Term than any other semester is that once the class is scheduled, we ask that you provide that information to Associate Provost Arthur Sanders.

The call for Drake Research Grants and Undergraduate Assistantship Grants for 2017–2018 are now available. Details and proposal information can be found online.

—Art Sanders, Associate Provost

FYS Lunch/Discussion
Our final FYS Lunch/Discussion is on Friday, Dec. 2, at noon in the Medbury Honors Lounge. While these meetings are designed for those currently teaching FYS, we welcome those with an interest in possibly teaching FYS in the future as well.  If you would like us to provide lunch for you go to: http://tinyurl.com/DecFYSLunch2016  by Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 10 a.m. and let us know your lunch preferences.

Planning for 2017 First Year Seminars
The schedule for FYS 2017 will be developed early in the spring semester. If you are interested in teaching FYS, visit www.drake.edu/dc/facultystaffresources/fysresources/. There you will find information about FYS, including past syllabi, and the form for submission of an FYS proposal. If you have questions, contact arthur.sanders@drake.edu.

—Art Sanders, Associate Provost

A few weeks ago, we sent out phishing simulation emails to 500 random faculty and staff members. We’re happy to say that nearly everyone who received a phishing simulation email either didn’t open the email, or didn’t click the link. Great job, everyone!

Later this week, we’ll be sending out the next phishing simulation email to another random 500 faculty and staff members. Again, if you receive the email and open the attachment, you’ll be sent to an informational page. If you receive an email you suspect is phishing, simulated or not, please forward it as an attachment to informationsecurity@drake.edu.

Participating in training like this is an effective and risk-free way to learn about the dangers of phishing and help protect individual and campus data. If you have questions or concerns, please contact informationsecurity@drake.edu.

Learn even more about how to secure your digital life by visiting our blog at its.drake.edu/category/security-blog/.

And don’t forget you have just a few days left to enter the ITS phishing contest at its.drake.edu/phish!

—Peter Lundstedt, Information Security Manager