Category: Student Resources

Quick Check: Outlook Time Zone Settings to Avoid Missing Your Advising Meeting

Posted on by Katrina Frank

A Message from the Director of Advising

Hi, Students! This is Lesley Clinard the Director of Advising.

We’ve heard from some students who have missed advising (or other) meetings because Outlook or Bookings was set to the wrong time zone. When this happens, meetings may appear at the wrong time, even if the calendar invite looks correct.

Before scheduling or attending an advising appointment, please do this quick check. This only takes about a minute and can prevent missed meetings.

Lesley Clinard, Director of Advising

Quick Check Steps

Check your Outlook time zone

  1. Open Outlook on the web and click the Settings icon (top right)
  2. Go to General
  3. Select Language and Time
  4. Make sure your time zone is set to Eastern Time
    • If it’s not, select Change, update it and Save
the "Language and Time" screen on Outlook for the web.

If your advisor uses Bookings…

  1. Look for the time zone label/icon on the booking page (for example: “All times shown in Eastern Time”)
  2. Use the time zone dropdown if available
  3. Confirm the meeting time in your Outlook calendar after booking

Note: If your time zone is incorrect, your meeting may appear at different times on your and your advisor’s calendars.

emphasis of the time zone icon in Microsoft Bookings.

Need Help?

For help with Outlook and Bookings settings: Contact the Help Desk at Help.Desk@kzoo.edu

For advising questions: Message me, Lesley Clinard, directly in Teams.

Outage – Microsoft Cloud Services

Posted on by Peter Zillmann
warning icon

Information Services is monitoring an outage in Microsoft’s cloud services. According to Microsoft, “Users may be seeing degraded service functionality or be unable to access multiple Microsoft 365 services.” For updates on this outage please feel free to check Microsoft’s Service Health Status page.

6 for 2026

Posted on by Katrina Frank

This week we are highlighting 6 resources that are aimed at improving collaborative efforts and creating efficiencies.

Comment with an IS resource that you enjoy using.

1. Community Pages

Did you know there’s a quick way to get IS information based on the type of community member you are? Check out our student, faculty, and staff pages to find your resources much sooner.

2. Project Intake Form

Coming soon!

In IS we are working diligently to implement a more structured approach to collaborating with campus offices regarding projects with technology component/impact. Stay tuned for details on the new Project Intake Form.

3. Acquisition Policy

Are you a faculty or staff member looking to implement new software and technology? Before you select that “checkout” option or sign that contract, be sure to follow the College’s acquisition policy to ensure the right technical solution.

4. New Teammates

Soon you will see a handful of new faces in IS! While we’ll do our best to introduce our new colleagues, be sure to check out our IS staff and Library staff directories to see our full IS team.

5. “New” Phone System

Last quarter the College underwent a big migration from handheld phones to Teams Phone. Refresh your memory on how to use Teams Phone through our Phone Services page.

6. Cybersecurity

Stay alert and stay safe by following best practices relating to information security.

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Cybersecurity Tip: Multifactor Authentication

Posted on by Katrina Frank
a graphic representing three trick or treaters holding a shield that spells MFA.

Be Prepared…

Get ready for those harmful hackers looking to get control of your accounts and add an extra layer of security by enabling multi-factor authentication.

Cybersecurity Tip: Password Power!

Posted on by Katrina Frank
an adorably illustrated Kalamazoo College knight serving as the password manager and a large shield representing strong passwords.

Strong Passwords and Password Manager

Don’t get tricked and instead treat the security of all of your accounts equally. No matter how unimportant you think your account may be, hackers find value in everything.

Tips and Tricks

Password Creation

  • Hackers don’t hack in, they log in. Protect your passwords by making them complex and unique to each website.
  • The wilder, the better! A long, complex password is your first line of defense against hackers.

Memorizing and Storing Passwords

  • Do you find yourself clicking “forgot your password” again? Let a password manager remember it for you! By storing your login info in a vault, you’ll never forget it.
  • Give your memory a break and store multiple passwords in one password manager. Doing so is more secure and strengthens your defenses.

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Spooky Season is Upon Us and So Is…

Posted on by Katrina Frank

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Let’s avoid cybersecurity nightmares and prepare for this spooky season and beyond.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month where Information Services will share some tips to keep the phishing phantoms, horrid hackers, and the malicious malware away.

Subscribe to get your tips this month!

an adorably illustrated Kalamazoo College knight swatting away a cyber threat with a fly swatter.

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Welcome! – Fall 2024

Posted on by Katrina Frank

Welcome!

K Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Welcome, welcome, welcome! Whether it is your first or last year at the College, the Information Services (IS) team is here to help you get ready for the new academic year. To start the quarter off right, please review the list of common resources available to you.

If you need to connect, please feel free to send us an email at HelpDesk@kzoo.edu or stop by the Help Desk in the Upjohn Library Commons (located on the first floor to the right of the grand staircase). We’re open Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with Student Computer Consultants available during some off hours.

Student Tools

  • Hornet Hive – The Hornet Hive is the campus hub for announcements, event listings, and links to campus web resources.
  • Office 365 – Free access to Office 365 which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, Teams, Stream, and online file storage space in OneDrive.
  • Moodle – Where you can access instructor course materials, your grades throughout the quarter, and more.
  • Printing – Information on standard laser printing, color and large format/poster printing, 3D printing, printer locations, cost, print credits allotments, and how to set up wireless printing.
  • Connecting to the Internet – See our instructions for using the eduroam network! Setup takes a few minutes, but it will work all year, all over campus, and at other campuses all over the world.

Visit the Student Tools page for more resources and student IS news throughout the year.

Faculty Tools

  • New Employee IS Resource List – Are you a new employee and need a starting point on the IS resources available to you? Check out the new employee IS resource list!
  • Moodle Help– Information on requesting a course and getting help with our course management system.
  • Office 365 – Links to Office 365 training and documentation by Microsoft.
  • Phone Services – Quick guides on how to use your office phone along with phone line troubleshooting.

Visit the Faculty Tools page for more information on other resources to utilize throughout the year.

Staff Tools

  • New Employee IS Resource List – Are you a new employee and need a starting point on the IS resources available to you? Check out the new employee IS resource list!
  • Office 365 – Links to Office 365 training and documentation by Microsoft.
  • Department Printers – Learn where to purchase printer cartridges and how to get printer repairs
  • Phone Services – Quick guides on how to use your office phone along with phone line troubleshooting.
  • Colleague – For users that need information on our campus administrative system.

View the Staff Tools page for more information on other resources to utilize throughout the year.

Additional Resources Worth Mentioning

  • Answer Bot – Looking for answers but you can’t connect with the Help Desk. Not to worry, try to find what you need using our self-help assistant, Answer Bot.
  • Register an Entertainment Device – Do you have an entertainment device such as a console to use on the Kalamazoo College network? Check out the Register a Device page to follow the required steps and complete the Device Registration form.
  • Wi-Fi Issues
    • Visit the Wi-Fi troubleshooting page to assist you in resolving your issue. Please attempt all troubleshooting tips that apply to your circumstance before completing a report.
    • Due to the complexities of Wi-Fi-related problems, specific details are needed to help resolve Wi-Fi related issues. You must provide the following in order to submit a Wi-Fi Outage Report.

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Help is on the way! Introducing Answer Bot

Posted on by Katrina Frank
friendly robot named Answer Bot.

Hello Hornets!

With the long weekend ahead and finals on the way, Information Services has a friendly new face to help you find what you need when the Help Desk is away…

Introducing Answer Bot, a new interface where K students, faculty, staff, and parents can try to find what they need with suggestions from Answer Bot. Not seeing a solution? Answer Bot also helps you submit a request to the Help Desk much easier.

So, give it a go…

Ask Answer Bot!

New Year, New(ish) IS Resources

Posted on by Katrina Frank

Happy New Year K Community!

To kick off 2023, here are some new and some not so new IS resources that will come in handy throughout the quarter.

As always, if you need to connect, please feel free to send us an email at HelpDesk@kzoo.edu or stop by the Help Desk in the Upjohn Library Commons (located on the first floor to the right of the grand staircase). We’re open Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with Student Computer Consultants available during some off hours.

Community Member Pages

Looking for resources depending on whether you’re a student, faculty, or staff member? If so, select the page that relates to you:

New Employees

Did you know there are resources for supervisor’s hiring new employees and onboarding tips for new employees? Check them out:

Partner with IS

K faculty and staff are supposed to consult and partner with IS when considering any technology hardware; software; services; and any cloud or externally hosted systems. It’s true!

Learn how to get started:

Scheduled Maintenance

You can count on Information Services regularly performing upgrades and maintenance Thursday evenings from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. During this time you can expect a brief VPN disruption.

Note: IS may not publish a weekly scheduled maintenance post if systems do not directly affect the campus community.

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Cybersecurity Awareness Month – Phishing

Posted on by Peter Zillmann

This week’s post for Cybersecurity Awareness Month covers Phishing.

What is Phishing?

According to the National Cybersecurity Alliance, phishing is “a form of social engineering by which cyber criminals attempt to trick individuals by creating and sending fake emails that appear to be from an authentic source, such as a business or colleague.” Some phishing tactics used by criminals include:

  • Forging a message from a financial institution, claiming you’ve been a victim of fraud
  • Impersonating a supervisor, asking for help with a task
  • Claiming to be a delivery company, alerting you to a problem with a package

When you see these sorts of messages, it’s important to be vigilant.

How do I know if the message is fake?

Some red flags include:

  • Email structure
    • The sending email address doesn’t match the company it’s coming from
    • Poorly-crafted writing with misspellings, and bad grammar
    • Greetings that are ambiguous or very generic
    • Language that’s urgent, alarming, or threatening
  • Requests
    • Strange or abrupt business requests
    • Requests to send personal information
    • Urgency to click on an unfamiliar hyperlink or attachment
  • Offers
    • Contains an offer that’s too good to be true

See a Phishing Email? Here’s what to do…

  1. Pat yourself on the back for recognizing that an email is fake and part of a phishing scam.
  2. Report the phishing message through Outlook by selecting the Junk option in the top ribbon and then Report as Phishing option. If you’re using the web version of Outlook, simply right click on the preview of the phishing email, hover over Report and select Report Phishing.
  3. Not sure? Ask the Help Desk!

Suggested Articles from your IS Team

The content on this page was adapted from the National Cybersecurity Alliance’s information on phishing.

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