All posts by Aaron Jaco

From the Provost: Week of May 2

Guest Speaker for Learning Symposium

I am pleased to announce that our guest presenter for the afternoon session of the Learning Symposium will be Jennifer Godinez (AS ’97). Jennifer Godinez is associate director of Minnesota Education Equity Partnership (MnEEP). As associate director, she co-leads MnEEP and is responsible for key initiatives and program evaluation. Prior to joining Minnesota Education Equity Partnership, she served as executive director of La Escuelita and is founding chair of the Latino Scholarship Fund of Minnesota. She has in-depth experience in youth development, college access program development, race equity policy and strategy development, and education policy development. At Drake she was a Multicultural Cowles Scholar, with a sociology major and multicultural studies concentration. She also holds an M.P.P. from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Policy, which she attended as a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow. She will talk with us about her academic and professional journey in developing pathways of cultural responsiveness, inclusivity, and equity action.

While I am at it, I remind you to register for the 2016 Drake University Learning Symposium.

2016 Learning Symposium: “Inclusive Excellence ”
August 19, 2016 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
Sheraton West Des Moines
1800 50th Street, West Des Moines

Click on this link to register and select the sessions you would like to attend—space is limited by the size of the rooms.

We hope you join us at the Symposium to welcome our new provost into the learning community that is Drake University.

Provost Mobile Office Hour
My next scheduled mobile office hour is Tuesday, May 3, 10 a.m.–noon, Cowles Cafe.

—Joe Lenz, Interim Provost

Weight Watchers at Work meetings

Great news! We have just started a 12-week Weight Watchers at Work series. Classes meet Mondays at 11 a.m. starting today through Aug. 1 (no meetings on Memorial Day or Fourth of July).

Weekly meetings include confidential weigh-ins from 11 to 11:15 a.m., followed by a 30-minute class. The cost is $156 for the 12-week renewable series. If you are interested in attending this Weight Watchers at Work series, please contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu for registration and room information.

—Linda Feiden, Assistant Director, Wellness & Engagement

Identities 101

Join Professor Jennifer Harvey and UNITY Roundtable today, May 2, 8–9 p.m., in Parents Hall South, Olmsted Center, for a dialogue around diversity in the classroom to get a better understanding of the intersection between social reality and personal identities.

—Thalia Anguiano

Refugee simulation

Join LEAD 100 students in a refugee simulation on Wednesday, May 4, 6–8 p.m. in Parent’s Hall. A series of hands-on simulation activities will help you better understand the experience of refugee resettlement, and teach you what you can do to help refugees in Iowa. Bring your friends, and brave refugee resettlement together as a “family.”

—Kaitlin Brueggen

Faculty accomplishments

Mahmoud Hamad takes part in drafting of Libyan constitution

Mahmoud Hamad, associate professor of political science, was selected by the United Nations to co-lead a mediation team that solved disputes within the Libyan Constitutional Drafting Assembly, which on April 20 announced they have approved a draft of Libya’s constitution.

Hamad stayed in Salalah, Oman, from March 15 to March 27 to work with the group. The mediation team included a former Jordanian prime minister and former ministers; justices; and members of parliament from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Oman. The consultative meeting was held under the auspices of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General Martin Kobler, the African Union Envoy to Libya Jakaya Kikwete (former president of Tanzania from 2005 to 2015), and the Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah. Read more in the Drake Newsroom.

Perrine’s No Confession, No Mass honored

The 28th annual Publishing Triangle Awards were presented on April 21 at a gala ceremony. Jennifer Perrine, associate professor of English and director of women’s studies at Drake, received the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry for her work, No Confession, No Mass.

The Publishing Triangle, the association of lesbians and gay men in publishing, began honoring a LGBT writer for his or her body of work a few months after the organization was founded in 1988, and has now partnered with the Ferro-Grumley Literary Awards to present an impressive array of awards each spring. The Publishing Triangle established its poetry awards in 2001. Joseph O. Legaspi, a judge this year, and Kamilah Aisha Moon, a past finalist for the Audre Lorde Award, presented these awards, which carry a prize of $500 apiece.

Bulldogs of DU: Emily Weaver

What do you do?
I am the director of annual giving, so I’m in charge of raising operational support for the University. The Annual Fund is sort of like the University checking account; the money that’s raised is spent to meet Drake’s immediate needs.

What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m focused on All In, our 24-hour online giving campaign. Days of giving were becoming increasingly popular among our peers, so we decided to try it two years ago and we’ve been really successful.  We raised almost $100,000 last year alone. This year’s campaign is May 10-11, noon to noon. The idea is that we want people to naturally engage with us online, so we produce a lot of video with University Communications and promote via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the website, and email. We try to make it fun and engage people—for example, some pharmacy professors are doing a race to see who can put on the most white coats, some arts and sciences faculty are doing an interpretive dance , and Craig Owens did a bedtime story last year that was hilarious.

You have three adorable kids—what do you love most about being a mom?
One thing that I love is seeing traits that I’ve always loved about my husband in my children. It’s neat to see these mini versions of yourself. I’m kind of a homebody and am a family-oriented person, and I just love having my people around me. Kids are so resilient and forgiving and you are just everything to them. Adults hold grudges, kids are always in your corner.

My daughter likes things a particular way, which is just like me. She also has this confidence—I think it comes from my husband—and she thinks this is her world and we are just living in it. She walks in a room and thinks she owns the room. My son is really smart and always has to know everything. I love watching his brain work. My baby is a huge mama’s boy, and I love that.

Chill out with the LEAD Relaxation Room

From May 2–6, the LEAD capstone will host events to promote the relaxation room they have initiated in their efforts to enable students to achieve their optimal performance while managing stress. The Relaxation Room is located in the Mezzanine in Upper Olmsted. You will find food, prizes, tea, coloring books, silly putty, Legos, deep breathing exercises, and more.

—Samantha Olea

All Staff Council Summer Kickball Game

It’s time to sign up your team for the All Staff Council Summer Kickball Game!  Kickball games will take place at the ASC Summer Kick-off Social on May 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. Please fill out this Qualtrics survey if you are interested in signing up a team or participating as an individual player.

Even if you don’t want to play, we hope you’ll come cheer on your co-workers, and enjoy some time away from your desk. As a reminder, we’ve been collecting entries for a FREE parking pass at the ASC events all year, and this will be your LAST chance to enter the drawing! We’ll be selecting our winner at 3:30 at the event.

—All Staff Council Communications Committee

Update from the Associate Provost

The last day of the semester that The Writing Workshop will be open for tutoring  is Sunday, May 8.

“Scholarly Voices: From Writing to Speaking: An Informal Panel Discussion,” will be held on Friday, May 6, at 3 p.m. in the Speaking Studio in the lower level of Cowles Library.  The panel will consist of Professors Jennifer Perrine, Bill Lewis, Dan Alexander, and David Courard-Hauri. More information: Scholarly Voices event information

—Art Sanders, Associate Provost