In early August 2016, President Martin announced the realignment of services to create the Division of University Advancement, which comprised three offices: Alumni Relations, Development, and University Communications.

One of my first actions was to appoint Dave Remund as executive director of University Communications. He officially started in this role last week and has already been hard at work meeting with partners across campus and within University Advancement to better understand University Communications’ role at Drake, and how that office—and all of University Advancement—can best serve all parts of the Drake community.

I announced another new change to my team last week: In keeping with the division’s strategic focus on external relations, Nick Valdez, neighborhood & community relations manager, will join the University Advancement team, reporting directly to me.

Nick’s alignment with University Advancement makes operational and strategic sense. His active engagement with community partners, his relationship building responsibilities, his strong connection to advancing Drake’s public image, and his overall “outward looking” function make him and his work a perfect match for our shared responsibility to engage and inspire our alumni and friends in support of our University’s mission.

Supporting his professional responsibilities, Nick will work from the Alumni House. This remarkable facility will serve Drake and Nick well as the “front-door” to the University’s community engagement.

This is an exciting new chapter for Drake. All units within University Advancement share a common commitment to advancing Drake’s mission through promoting, positioning, advocating, and story-telling. What we do individually matters greatly; what we do together powerfully advances the Drake experience for our students, alumni, campus partners, and the community.

All of us in University Advancement look forward to collaborating with campus partners in pushing forward the exceptional work and meaningful mission of this great University.

—John Smith, Vice President for University Advancement

Many thanks to Joe Lenz for starting a new tradition, the Drake Social, one that I’m very happy to continue. Open to all faculty and staff, the next social will be on Thursday, Oct. 6, 4–6 p.m. in Shivers Hospitality Suite, adjacent to The Knapp Center. Attendees will receive one complimentary ticket for beer or wine, and water, soda, etc., are also on the house. Nearby parking is available in Lot 2 east of Shivers at the northeast corner of Forest Avenue and 25th Street.

Mark your calendar for future socials:

• Dec. 15
• March 9, 2017
• May 11, 2017

—Sue Mattison, Provost

Our new academic year has begun, and Information Technology Services (ITS) is excited to join you in making this another great year. I want to update you on what we accomplished this summer and what to expect from us this fall. With a new ITS continuous improvement plan and a summer full of improvement projects, we look forward to continuing to partner with you.
Over the summer, ITS completed an ambitious list of improvement projects:

• Printing—The office of the CFO, Laser Resources Inc. (LRI), and ITS updated the entire managed printing system across campus. More than 130 printers were replaced, and a new accounting system automatically uploads printing charges to Banner and delivers summary reports to budget officers on a monthly basis. Printing is more secure and convenient with Follow-Me printing available across campus.
• Network Upgrades—ITS installed more than 500 wireless access points across campus as it replaced the entire campus wireless network. Drake invested more than $850,000 in network improvements to wireless and other core infrastructure equipment. We are now working to locate and address coverage gaps. Let us know where you find gaps at its.drake.edu/wifi-form.
• Email Security—Early this summer, ITS implemented a system to reduce and contain email phishing attacks. Between June and August, more than 15 million malevolent email messages were blocked before they reached campus, improving overall email safety and effectiveness.
• Banner Infrastructure—During the summer, ITS completed a two-year project to move its enterprise information system, Banner, to new infrastructure. This work has been like flying an airplane while building a new one around it, but the transition is substantially complete with no significant service interruptions to blueView, DUSIS, and MyDUSIS.
• Computer Replacements—During the spring and summer, ITS completed a full inventory of all campus faculty computers. To date, more than 98 faculty computers have been replaced. ITS staff is now working on an inventory of classroom and staff computers. Once that inventory is complete, replacement of staff computers will begin based on criteria including age of device, divisional balance, and available funds.

As we look to the fall, we are excited about projects already underway or about to begin:

• IT Support System—ITS is implementing a new system to replace our current ticketing system, which will improve transparency and visibility into our work. We will begin using the new system late this year or in early 2017.
• Computer Replacement Improvements—ITS is streamlining the methods we use to build and deploy computer replacements. Along with the office of the CFO we are working to develop a standardized renewal and replacement plan for campus computers.
• Faculty Collaboration—ITS is partnering with the Office of the Provost and Deans’ Council to increase formal collaboration with faculty. The initial focus will be in four areas: classroom technology, research, labs, and emerging technologies.
• Security Early Warning System—Information Security Manager Peter Lundstedt is implementing an information security early warning system to help us identify and address issues by monitoring our systems and reporting suspicious activity.
• Continuous Improvement Plan—Over the next six months, ITS will be working on initiatives designed to deliver on the division’s continuous improvement plan. These include creating a publicly-accessible services dashboard, collaborating with the office of the chief administration officer and Institutional Research to conduct a satisfaction survey, improving visibility and usage of online software training available through Lynda.com, improving IT project outcomes and transparency, and reducing institutional information security risk.

We have made great progress this summer, but there is always more to come. Please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of my staff about any issues, ideas, or concerns you may have—my door is always open.

—Chris Gill, Chief Information Technology Officer