Save the date for the 2018 Drake Learning Symposium on Monday, Aug. 20. This year the symposium for faculty and staff will be held at the Olmsted Center to make it easier for everyone to attend all or part of the event. The theme this year is Building Trust: Leading the Conversation. The keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Kathy Obear of the Center for Transformation and Change. Her topic will be Facilitating Difficult Dialogues. A call for proposals for break-out sessions will be going out in a few weeks. See the Learning Symposium web page for more details.

—Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

Final grades for J-Term courses are due by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb 7. If you have difficulty entering final grades, contact Kevin Moenkhaus or Shannon Odenbach.

— Kevin Moenkhaus, Office of Registrar

Faculty and staff are invited to a social hosted by the provost on Tuesday, Feb. 6, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Shivers Hospitality Suite, adjacent to The Knapp Center. Snacks, soft drinks, beer, and wine will be served.

— Drinda Williams, Provost’s Office

Instructors, view a list of educational technology resources available to you. This soon-to-be comprehensive A-Z list of technologies benefit teaching and learning experiences as well as research endeavors. The number of resources will continue to grow as will the content within each resource. If you visit this website at least once a semester, you should find something new that could enhance your courses and support student success.

— Karly Good, ITS

Drake continues to be targeted by individuals attempting to coerce faculty and staff to give away confidential information like usernames and passwords, personally identifiable information (PII), or computer access. Other attacks try to gain financial benefit by using fake invoices and wire transfers.

Because of this constant threat, ITS provides training on how to detect and respond to these types of attacks using simulated emails. These emails are a risk-free way to teach faculty and staff how to detect and report phishing. If you receive a simulated phishing email and open the link or attachment, you’ll be directed to an informational page letting you know the signs you may have missed.

Because phishing represents such a significant risk to campus, ITS is beginning to assign additional training to faculty and staff members who repeatedly click links or open attachments in phishing emails, simulated or not.

If you receive an email you suspect is phishing, don’t click any links, download any attachments, or reply. Instead, forward the email as an attachment to informationsecurity@drake.edu.

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

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS

Faculty and staff can eat for only $5 at Hubbell Dining Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 30, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Present your Drake ID to the cashier to receive the discount.

— Jennifer Bowersox, Drake Dining

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 30

Time: 2 to 3 p.m.

Location: Dial Center Large Conference Room

Description: Faculty, attend a workshop to learn how to set up your Blackboard course to match your syllabus requirements. This practical, hands-on session will help you to take what is provided in your completed syllabus and build your Blackboard course to match what you have already developed. The course is taught by Karly Good. Sign up and view the topics for future workshops at http://www.drake.edu/edtech.

Note: Please bring your own laptop or other internet capable device. If you don’t have a laptop or internet capable device, consider borrowing a laptop from the kiosk located in the lobby of Meredith Hall.

— Carla Herling, ITS

The Internal Revenue Service released Notice 1036 on Jan. 11, which updates the income-tax withholding tables for 2018 reflecting changes made by the tax reform legislation enacted last month. The IRS has advised that employers begin use of the 2018 withholding tables as soon as possible, but not later than Feb. 15.

The University is working with our software provider to implement the new withholding tables. We anticipate implementation to be complete early next week. Employees should begin to see the changes reflected in paychecks issued Jan. 26 and after.

The new withholding tables are designed to work with the W-4 forms that employees have already filed with their employers to claim withholding allowances, so employees are not required to make any changes at this time.

An IRS frequently asked questions page on the new tables is available here. Please consult your tax professional with any additional questions you might have regarding the tax reform legislation.

— Heather Travis, Controller

Final grades for J-Term courses are due by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb 7. If you have difficulty entering final grades, contact Kevin Moenkhaus or Shannon Odenbach.

— Kevin Moenkhaus, Office of Registrar