Following best practices, University Advancement recently sent a survey to leadership donors and engaged alumni assessing their needs and interests during the pandemic.

There was an overwhelmingly positive response to the University moving forward with fundraising, and the results demonstrated that University remains a priority for many of Drake’s alumni and friends:

• Of the donors surveyed, 82.8% said Drake is among the top three organizations they support.
• 98.5% of those individuals said Drake will remain in their top three in the coming year.
• Approximately 50% of surveyed alumni are interested in staying engaged through a virtual alumni speaker series this year.
• 41% of surveyed alumni are hoping to attend Relays in 2021.

Anecdotal feedback about donor relations and alumni programming was also positive:

“Hang in there, and keep up the good work. Thank you for doing a good job of staying in touch with alumni and for hosting creative and fun events in the recent past.”

“I really liked Drake’s All In format and the live updates online this year. Very well done.”

“I think you do a great job providing programming for alumni. Thank you!!”

Thank you to our campus partners who have worked with UA to stay connected with alumni, assisted with alumni and development events, and stewarded donors. These results would not be possible without your support.

— Elizabeth Kozor, University Advancement

Drake University is committed to student success, and one important indicator of student progress is retention. Ongoing efforts to identify strategies to enhance student retention require our ongoing attention to historical trends and gaps among various populations of students.

In order to enhance access to this information, The Office of Academic Excellence and Student Success, along with the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, have collaborated to provide an easy to locate set of data regarding student enrollment and retention at Drake.  It can be found here.

— Sandra Harris, Provost’s Office

ITS support: Due to campus social distancing requirements, the support center in Carnegie Hall is not open for walk-in assistance. Visit our IT service portal at service.drake.edu/its (or via the ITS Support button in myDrake) or call 271-3001 to get answers or report any tech issues. Our distance support options allow ITS staff to resolve many problems remotely. In-person appointments will only be scheduled after submitting an online or phone request if remote resolution doesn’t work.

eduroam wireless network: Connect to the eduroam network on campus and sign in using your Drake email address and password. DUGuest is only for visitors and many campus resources are unavailable from this limited network.

Blackboard Learn: As we begin to upgrade to the latest version of the Blackboard Learn LMS, the courses landing page has a new look. Learn more at Getting Started with Ultra Base Navigation in Learn Ultra (How-to). We’ve also added a campus Zoom license to use with Blackboard. Please note if you have not already logged into Zoom with your Drake credentials, please visit https://drake-edu.zoom.us once to create your account. For more on using Zoom with Blackboard visit Linking Zoom in a Blackboard Learn Course (How-to).

Connect with ITS: Want to know about changes being made, or any outages? Watch for more ITS information in upcoming issues of OnCampus, follow Drake ITS on Twitter @DrakeITServices, watch our news feed on drake.edu/its or service.drake.edu/its, or sign up for outage text messages by texting DrakeITS2020 to phone number 226787.

Not sure what other tech Drake ITS offers? Visit drake.edu/its/facstaff to learn about all of the tech resources and tools available to you.

— Carla Herling, ITS

ITS will be changing the login screen for all Microsoft 365 applications on the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 30.

After this change, all logins to Microsoft 365 applications will require you to use your Drake email address as your username instead of your 9-digit Drake ID.

This change will only effect Microsoft-connected applications like myDrake, Teams, Outlook, and Office. Non-Microsoft 365 applications will continue to accept either your Drake email address or 9-digit Drake ID as a username. After the change, you may also be prompted to re-log in to any open sessions on your computer and other devices.

This is being done as part of a larger project to better manage Drake-owned computers remotely.

More information and screenshots of the new login screen can be found at Signing in to Microsoft-connected systems (How-To)

— Christopher Mielke, ITS

A certain number of face shields have been made available to each college, and subsequently, everyone who may need one. If you are still in need of a face shield, let Nate Reagen know. Thank you and we’re all in this together.

— Nate Reagen, Office of the President

The Office of Alumni Relations is looking for faculty and staff to be speakers in a new virtual ‘Back to Class’ series. This is an opportunity for alumni to connect with campus and a chance for you to share your knowledge. The topic and time can be decided based on your schedule. After the session is completed, the video will be accessible on the alumni website.

To sign up or learn more, take this survey. For questions, reach out to alumni@drake.edu.

— Amelia Klatt, Alumni Relations

As we return to campus, please be aware of these important requirements:

Self Monitoring and Reporting:
All Drake University employees (including faculty, staff, and sub-contracted employees) are required to measure and record their own body temperature from home or at one of several self-serve stations on the Drake campus for indications of COVID-19 like illness prior to working on campus. Some departments, such as Facilities and Public Safety, may develop their own temperature monitoring process requirements consistent with this policy.

Employees must notify the Director of Environmental Health and Safety using this form and notify their manager of any of the following: 

1. Any symptoms currently considered to be associated with COVID-19 as indicated by the CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html, including a temperature of 100.4 or higher,
2. A personal diagnosis of COVID-19, or
3. Close personal contact (defined as being within 6 feet for 15 minutes or longer) with anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Employees reporting any of the above will not be allowed to report to work until personally notified that it is safe to do so by the University’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety. 

Out of State Travel Reporting:
Faculty and staff are to report out of state travel to the Director of Environmental Health and Safety by submitting this form.

Thank you for your help in keeping our campus safe and healthy for everyone in our community.

— Mary Alice Hill, Human Resources

The following is a list of upcoming workshops from The Ray Center offered through the Drake Office of Online and Continuing Education. For dates, times, and prices, or to register, visit drake.edu/doce/programs/.

Civility in the Work Place
Recent studies show that Americans believe our culture is uncivil. Civility will only improve when individuals commit to bettering their own actions. The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University is committed to helping individuals, organizations, and communities learn skills and strategies to help maintain civility, even during the most difficult conversations. In this session, participants will learn the importance of establishing connection, how to rephrase attack statements, and how to seek understanding and common ground.

Managing Stress at Work
Stress is a constant in our lives. No matter the steps taken to reduce stress, it will always show up again. As leaders, it is important to manage our stress so that we can overcome challenges and obstacles and keep pursuing our goal, and help our team members manage their stress as well. In this session, participants will learn about the difference between good stress and distress, and develop a stress management plan that helps them recognize their stress, choose the right mindset, take the right actions, and evaluate the outcome of their stress management.

— Amy Smit, Robert D. & Billie Ray Center