This month, the All Staff Council Recognition Committee would like to highlight the staff of The President’s Office.

How many staff members are in the department?  Just three: Marty, Cheryle, and Nate.

What is the primary function of the team? Our primary function is to support the President in any way we can.

Who has been with the team the longest, and what is their job title and length of employment? Cheryle Anania! She is the Assistant to the President and has been here longer than Marty & Nate as she has been at Drake since April 2012.

Who is the newest team member, and what is their job title and month/year of start?  Nate started at Drake in his current role as Chief of Staff in November of 2016. Nate also worked with Drake before that as a consultant starting in 2015.

What campus buildings do your team members “live” in?  We are all normally in Old Main 211, but with the pandemic we’re a mix of working at home and in the office.

What are some recent challenges and accomplishments of note that others in the University might not know about?  There’s so much to talk about here. Just drive down University Avenue to see all the progress.  You’ll notice the new development across from Old Main, the Home2 Suites hotel and future retail, the new Harkin Institute, streetscape improvements, and the new Kum & Go gas station. Whew! On campus, we’re proud to launch the new Bright college all while keeping up with the challenges the pandemic has thrown our way. At the time of this writing, our COVID-19 case numbers are relatively low; which represents a mountain of work by so many. We’re proud of what’s been accomplished in this “unique” semester.

Anything else noteworthy/interesting/special about your department that bears mentioning?  We’re fortunate that we all have a similar outlook on things: we don’t get too distressed regardless of what gets thrown at us. From unexpected visitors at the President’s Office, to boisterous phone calls, to all the issues Marty has to handle—we deal with what’s in front of us. It’s a good team.

— Amelia Klatt, Alumni Relations/All Staff Council

Drake Online Design Dialogues provides the opportunity for faculty and staff to learn more about designing and delivering classes using Blackboard.  We have had over 50 faculty and staff attend at least one session.

The final meeting for this calendar year is Thursday, Nov. 19, at 11:30 a.m.  We will not have a topic this month, but rather allow participants to ask questions and help problem solve.  If you have specific questions or issues, please send those to christina.trombley@drake.edu and we will go over them together.

Register for November’s Design Dialogue. You will receive a confirmation with the Zoom link. We will continue these sessions again in January.

— Christina Trombley, Executive Director, Online Programming

About Module 3: Module 3 is being released this week. This self-paced module is expected to take about one hour and is focused on the navigation of the new Ultra Course View. All Fall 2021 courses will be built using the Ultra Course View. 

As of this week, you should have Ultra course sandboxes available to you via your “Courses” list under the “Assorted Dates” area or under the “Sandboxes” group of courses. The names of these courses  follow this formula- Ultra Sandbox #: Drake ID. These sandboxes allow you to practice new features in the Ultra Course View. Please choose one of your sandbox courses to complete the “Things to Try on Your Own” sections of the orientation course (Module 3 and beyond). As you are learning your way around the Ultra Course View, the sandboxes provide you with a student-free working space so that you can begin developing and designing courses in the new look and feel.   

Need assistance with your Ultra sandbox courses? 
If the sandbox courses in Ultra course view are not showing in your Courses list, please request assistance by submitting a  Blackboard Site Creation request in the IT Service Portal. 

What’s Next? 
Next week, Module 4 will be released, and it will introduce new content creation features in the Ultra Course View.   

— Karly Good, ITS

In Blackboard, as a part of the Courses list in the Assorted Dates area, you will find the Blackboard Learn Ultra Instructor Orientation course to help you prepare to use Blackboard Learn Ultra. If you have a large number of active courses, you may need to search for the course by its title. Each week, for three weeks, you will be notified of a new module to complete. 

The Orientation course activities won’t be graded or reviewed. The course is made up of self-paced activities to help you transition from using Original Course View to the Ultra Course View. Additionally, by completing this orientation course, you will gain insight into the experience your students will have when we switch to the Ultra Course View in Fall 2021. 

On November 3, you will also have Ultra Course View sandboxes available to you in your Courses list in the Assorted Dates area or under the Sandboxes group of courses. These sandboxes will provide a space for you to experiment with new features in the Ultra Course View while completing modules in the Orientation course. 

In next week’s OnCampus we will share more information about Module 3 training and the upcoming course sandbox availability.  

— Karly Good, ITS 

The Office of University Communications and Marketing maintains a social media directory for every Drake University-affiliated social media page. Take a look around to see which departments have pages, follow them, and invite your friends to follow along: news.drake.edu/social-media-directory.

While you’re looking around, let us know if your department page has changed. Maybe you have a department name change, you want a new cover photo, or you don’t see your URL on the directory at all.

Additionally, we would like to start compiling a list of Drake-affiliated Facebook groups with a focus on program-specific groups. Below are links to examples of these groups.

Drake PR & SPC and Graduate Programs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/295362453852493/

Drake English: https://www.facebook.com/groups/drakeenglish/

Drake Rhetoric, Media, & Social Change: https://www.facebook.com/groups/257726310929378/

Drake SJMC Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147246729292754/?ref=br_rs

Drake Program in LPS: https://www.facebook.com/groups/166852185473/?ref=br_rs

Drake University ABA Program: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DrakeABA/?ref=br_rs

— Niki Smith, University Communications and Marketing

New faculty and staff who are members of the Phi Beta Kappa national honors society are invited to participate in the Drake chapter’s activities for 2020–2021. Founded in 1923, Drake’s Gamma Chapter was only the third institution in Iowa to be awarded a chapter. Please contact Maura Lyons, professor of art and design, at maura.lyons@drake.edu to self-identify as a member and for more information.

— Maura Lyons, Art and Design