Faculty who are teaching in classrooms this fall are required to wear a face mask unless an exemption has been granted by Environmental Health and Safety and approved by the provost. This clarification in policy is reflected within the faculty/staff section of Drake’s COVID-19 site.

Every Drake faculty and staff member was provided with a washable, reusable mask at the start of the semester, and faculty choosing to teach face-to-face were provided with face shields. Shields are meant to supplement masks, not replace them.

To request an exemption from wearing a mask while teaching in classrooms this fall, please email Chris Nickell, director of environmental health and safety, at chris.nickell@drake.edu.

The 2021 Global Citizen Forum will be held virtually in March and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in higher education. In preparation of the conference, the planning committee needs your input.

Please complete a five-minute survey designed to gauge the interest of faculty and staff to participate in the conference as presenters or attendees. Responses will be collected through Sept. 18.

Thank you for your participation.

— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Partnerships Coordinator

Drake Online Design Dialogues will resume Sept. 24 at 11:30 a.m. The sessions are open to all. Following the first dialogue on Sept. 24, sessions will be held the third Thursday of the month at 11:30 a.m. via Zoom. Sessions will be facilitated by Christina Trombley and the Instructional Design and Technology staff of Drake Online and Continuing Education.

September’s discussion will allow for open dialogue regarding your experiences with teaching online the first few weeks of fall semester.  You can also send specific questions to christina.trombley@drake.edu and we will provide a demonstration.

Please register to attend. You will receive a confirmation with the Zoom link to attend.

— Christina Trombley

Drake University is excited to announce that Amazon Business with Business Prime is now available for Drake purchases. Drake has had an Amazon Business account for a number of years, but the addition of Business Prime is new. Amazon Business can simplify your purchasing process and allows you to take advantage of Amazon’s wide product selection and competitive prices for business purchases.

Shopping through Amazon Business is as user friendly as on Amazon.com. Additional benefits include:

• Access to millions of additional products, available only to Business customers
• Business Prime offers FREE and fast shipping across millions of products
• Business-specific pricing, including quantity discounts on eligible items
• Access to a specialized Amazon Business Customer Service team at 888-281-3847

Effective immediately, Amazon Business with Business Prime is accessible to Drake faculty and staff for Drake purchases. With the addition of Business Prime, purchases for Drake purposes using a personal Amazon Prime account will no longer be allowed and Drake will not reimburse for Drake purchases using a personal Amazon Prime account. Drake also will not reimburse for any personal Prime memberships. Drake’s Amazon Business account should not be used for personal purchases.

Existing Amazon Business accounts will now have access to Business Prime. Any other faculty and staff that have a need for an Amazon Business account should contact Heather Winslow at heather.winslow@drake.edu or 515-271-1982.

— Adam Voigts, Chief Financial Officer

The Nelson Institute at Drake University is proud to announce a new, three-year initiative focused on building the intercultural capacity of our campus community.  To that end, the Nelson Institute is sponsoring the “Facilitating Intercultural Learning” program, a development opportunity for select faculty from across campus. The endeavor is designed to create intercultural self-awareness and to prepare faculty to begin integrating intercultural learning into their courses, programming, or other work. It is a 12-week cohort training and coaching program, with a new cohort of faculty coming in each semester. This initiative will allow Drake to continue to foster intercultural learning and development in service to our students and local, national, and international constituents.

The Facilitating Intercultural Learning program is designed to help participants engage more effectively with difference by developing four core intercultural competencies:

1. Increasing awareness and understanding of their own characteristic ways of making meaning and acting in familiar and unfamiliar contexts;
2. Increasing awareness and understanding of others’ ways of making meaning and acting in familiar and unfamiliar contexts;
3. Responding mindfully in contexts that disorient or challenge them;
4. Bridging cultural gaps in those contexts: Shifting perspective, attuning emotions, and adapting behavior in effective and appropriate ways.

Learn more about the program, its curriculum, and read testimonials from others who have completed the program.

The Nelson Institute plans to sponsor a cohort of up to eight faculty each semester in fulfillment of this initiative. Participating faculty will receive a $1,000 stipend upon completing the program and will be designated as “Nelson Fellows.”

For the inaugural cohort, the program will begin on Sept. 22, 2020. We are inviting interested faculty to send a brief expression of interest to Dr. Jimmy Senteza (Jimmy.Senteza@drake.edu), director of the Nelson Institute, by noon on Sept. 16, 2020. Please highlight how you think this might benefit your work at Drake University, and contribute to your overall intercultural development.

— Annique Kiel, Executive Director of Global Engagement and International Programs

The 2021 Global Citizen Forum will be held virtually in March and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in higher education. In preparation of the conference, the planning committee needs your input.

Please complete a five-minute survey designed to gauge the interest of faculty and staff to participate in the conference as presenters or attendees.

Thank you for your participation.

— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Partnerships Coordinator

As part of our continued commitment to providing a safe and respectful environment for the entire Drake community, the Title IX Office has prepared a short online training series that explains recent policy revisions that have been adopted to maintain compliance with new federal Title IX regulations and provides information about employee sexual misconduct reporting requirements.

The Title IX Office asks that all Drake employees complete this training no later than Wednesday, Sept. 30. The course is available through Blackboard and can be accessed via my.drake.edu. Upon selecting the Blackboard link under “Commonly Used Apps,” employees can access the training via the left hand menu under the “Courses” tab by clicking on the course entitled “Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Violence Prevention” and selecting the “Title IX Training” module and following the instructions within the course.

— Jessica Morgan-Tate, Title IX Coordinator/Equity and Inclusion Policy Specialist

BUILD (­Bulldogs United In Learning Drake) is a series of 1–2 hour presentations on topics relevant to faculty and staff.  Due to our need to socially distance, all classes will be held virtually.  Most will offer a live virtual presentation, which allows for meaningful interaction with colleagues and the presenter.

The first class this fall is Staying Charged through Change on Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 9–11 a.m. Change is a natural part of life, but it can be disruptive, both professionally and personally. Changes at work can affect our identity, our sense of belonging, and our relationships with coworkers, clients, and customers. In this class, we will explore the process of change and transition and learn how to survive, and thrive with change. Presented by Lars Petersen from Employee & Family Resources.

To register, send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

This is a reminder for faculty and staff to complete the COVID-19 online training course. This 15-minute course can be accessed through Blackboard via my.drake.edu. Upon selecting the Blackboard link under “Commonly Used Apps,” employees can access the course via the left hand menu under the “Courses” tab by clicking on the course entitled “Drake University Awareness Training for Returning to Campus During COVID-19” and following the instructions within the course. If the course does not appear in your Blackboard course list, you can find it by searching for the term COVID in the Blackboard search area.

As has been stated before, it is important for all of us to do our part to protect the health and safety of the Drake community, and taking this training is one step in that process.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

With a few exceptions, summer brought relatively few cyber-attacks and scams aimed at colleges and universities. As the fall semester starts, these attacks are quickly resuming, and both in-person and remote learning are prime targets. Preventing these attacks will help keep this semester as smooth and stress-free as possible.

The information security team has emphasized some of these items over the past few years, and they are still effective at preventing data and identity theft, extortion threats, and malware infections.

• Be attentive for phishing. These emails spoof familiar brands and people we know, and convince us to open unfamiliar websites or attachments. When reading email, slow down and look at the sender’s name and email address, and hover over any links to see where they go before clicking.
• Shop with a credit card. Credit cards provide greater fraud protection over debit cards, and add an extra layer between the transaction and your bank account. If you can, use one card for online shopping and a different card for in-person transactions.
• Save or print order confirmations. Keeping order documentation allows you to respond quickly to any fraud, win payment or order disputes with the seller or payment card company, follow any return policies and procedures, and have seller contact information.
• Keep a clean machine. Use modern anti-virus products and a firewall on your personal devices and network. Routinely check for and install operating system and app updates to make sure all needed security patches are applied.

Drake is a prominent target for phishing, fraud, and other types of attacks. In fact, most email messages sent to Drake faculty, staff, and students are malicious. ITS blocks as much as possible, but some attacks will get past our defenses. Everyone is responsible for detecting and reporting possible information security incidents. For more information, see the Data Breach & Computer Incident Response (FAQ) and Reporting a Phishing Message (How-to).

ITS will continue to simulate phishing and assign training to those most at risk. If you’d like to discuss any information security issues, please feel free to reach out to me directly, or email informationsecurity@drake.edu.

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS