All posts by Aaron Jaco

For Students Archive

DELTA Rx’s Next Top Entrepreneur Competition

  • Do you have an idea for an innovative health care solution?
  • Are you looking to grow as an entrepreneurial leader?
  • Share your idea and win CASH prizes!

DELTA Rx’s Next Top Entrepreneur Competition is taking place in February 2016, and you don’t want to miss out on this unique opportunity!

The competition is open to all students, regardless of major, with a health care innovation. During three rounds of competition, you will develop your creativity and presentation skills through business plan presentations, problem solving, and feedback from innovators. The competition judges will represent the pharmacy, health care, and business sectors. Participants can register as an individual or in a team.

LEARN MORE:
Information sessions to provide competition guidelines and recommendations will be held 4–4:30 p.m. in Harvey Ingham 004, on Feb. 8, and in Harvey Ingham 019 on Feb. 9. You can also learn more here.

SIGN UP: To register yourself or your team, email deltarx@drake.edu.

—Submitted by Sarah Dean

For Faculty Archive

Important: Changes to merging courses in Blackboard

In an effort to better serve you, DTS is making some changes to how we merge courses in Blackboard. I am excited to report that instructors will no longer have to worry about merging their own courses. I am currently working with our Banner-Blackboard integration to automatically merge courses.

While we work on finalizing this process, I will be merging your courses so you can concentrate on what matters to you the most, teaching your courses. Please email me at maryjane.blystone@drake.edu and include the following information:

  •  Course CRN to be merged (e.g., COUNT-123-4567)
  • Name of the course to be merged (e.g., Accounting Spring 2016)
  • Which content to copy to the new course if any already exists.

Let me reassure you, this is a temporary solution until we are set to have the system merge courses automatically. We will notify you once this process is complete.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.

—Submitted by Mary Jane Blystone, LMS Technology Specialist

HR Information Archive

Another year to celebrate

Congratulations to the following staff and faculty members who celebrated service anniversaries at Drake in November and December.

November:
Maria Almanza-Arriaga, Facility Services
Carolyn Anderson, Head Start
Teresa Bartschat, RaySociety
Mary Cecil, Campus Mail Operations
Renae Chesnut, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Shannon Cofield, President’s Office
Kendra Colbert, School of Education
Alice Cronin, Residence Life
Ashlee Cummings, Head Start
Christine DeWall, Alumni & Development
Christine Ditter, Student Financial Planning
Lindsey Feikes, Office of Admission
Claudia Frazer, Cowles Library
Mary Beth Holtey, College of Arts & Sciences
Karl Kaiser, Facility Services
Mark Kloberdanz, Counseling Center
Kristi Longtin, Law School
Krista Magill, Law School
Tamara Masters, Head Start
Elvira Meija De Luna, Facility Services
Brandi Miller, Student Financial Planning
Christine Miller, Law School
Timothy Nelsen, I Have a Dream Foundation
Michele Nelson, University Communications
Peggy Nielsen, Head Start
Kevin Pendra, Facility Services
Crescenciano Roman-Mendoz, Facility Services
Judith Russell, Head Start
Aimee Schmidt, Athletics
Charlene Skidmore, Honors Program
Anthony Squire, Drake Technology Services
John Stacy, Facility Services
Ramiza Suvic, Facility Services
Carole Tillotson, Law School
Jennifer Woodley, Alumni Relations
Elizabeth Young, Head Start

December:
Daniel Anderson, Athletics
Randi Boelkes, Office of Student Accounts
Pamela Brennan, Cowles Library
Elizabeth Burns, University Communications
Mary Butterwick, College of Business and Public Administration
Mary Byers, Head Start
Blake Campbell, Alumni Relations
Brina Coppi, Student Records and Academic Information
Amy Cutler, Law School
Simon Dominguez, Facility Services
Jacqueline Fortin, Facility Services
Edward Frederiksen, Facility Services
Thomas Ginn, Facility Services
Kathleen Hickman, CBPA
Jennifer Hogan, Drake International
Lindsey Horner, Athletics
Alicia Mann, DTS
Cheri McDaniel, Ray Center
Gerald Parker, Student Life Center
Robert Rigg, Legal Clinic
Hazima Rizvic Mustafic, Facility Services
Nanette Schroeder, Head Start
Lola Spear, Students Services Center
Debra Strang, Head Start
Kathy Veach, Finance and Administration
Nathaniel Werden, Public Safety
Gary Williamson, Athletics
—Submitted by Laura Schwarz, Administrative Support Specialist

Campus Announcements Archive, For Faculty Archive

Deadline to submit final grades

Instructors, your ability to submit final grades will end at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 23. (Online grade entry for the Law School will remain open until Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016.) This deadline was set by the faculty and appears in Section 2.135 of the faculty manual.

I greatly appreciate your efforts to submit your grades by the 10 a.m. deadline.

From that point, staff from your dean’s office and the Student Records Office will work together—expeditiously—to reconcile grades for courses that students have repeated (for a better grade) and to calculate students’ GPAs. This work must be done quickly yet carefully so that, among other reasons, informed decisions can be made with regard to students’ academic probation/suspension.

We will begin this process promptly at 10 a.m. on Dec. 23, as we must complete it by close of business, before the University adjourns for winter break.

If you have any questions about how to submit your final grades, please contact your dean’s office or Kevin Moenkhaus (kevin.moenkhaus@drake.edu or 271-3902) in the Student Records Office.

Thank you, and best wishes as your semester draws to a close.

—Submitted by Kevin Moenkhaus, Director, Student Records and Academic Information

For Students Archive

A message from public safety & student life

As we begin to wind down the semester, Chief Law and I ask that each of you keep the following in mind

Stay safe: Each and every one of us represents Drake University. Respect each other, respect yourself, and watch over each other during these last few weeks of the fall semester. If you plan to participate in social activities this weekend or next prior to finals, please do so in a manner that ultimately highlights the best of who you are and who we are as a University. Remember:

  • Take advantage of the Drake Safe Ride program.
  • Utilize the Drake Guardian App.
  • Be an active bystander: If you see a fellow Drake student at risk, intervene to help.
  • If you see something, say something by calling Drake Public Safety at 515-271-2222 or the Des Moines Police Department at 911.
  • If you choose to use alcohol, do so responsibly. Drake offers exciting and enriching social activities and cocurricular events throughout the semester that are alcohol-free alternatives.
  • Pay attention to your surroundings.

Enjoy the holiday break: If you will be going home for winter break, be sure to spend your time reconnecting with family and friends and recharging your batteries for what promises to be an exciting and eventful spring semester.

Get excited for J-Term: For those of you participating in J-Term travel seminars, please immerse yourself in the opportunity to further understand what it means to be a responsible global citizen. If you are taking an on-campus J-Term course, we hope you enjoy this educational experience.

Celebrate December graduates: To those whose journey here at Drake is coming to an end and who will be graduating on Dec. 19, congratulations! You are entering into an esteemed group of Drake alumni, and you will carry that honor with you throughout the rest of your life.

The Division of Student Life and the Department of Public Safety wish all of you and your families the very best as we move into 2016—good luck with your final exams!

—Jerry Parker, Acting Dean of Students, & Scott Law, Director, Public Safety

Campus Announcements Archive

From the Provost: Important end-of-semester updates

The Day Free for Study
As we approach the end of the semester, this is a reminder of Drake policy related to performance evaluation and grading (Faculty Manual 2.131) and the Day Free for Study:

  1. Student Records and Academic Information publishes a final evaluation schedule for the last week of fall and spring semesters. A two-hour evaluation period is designated for each class and all classes are expected to meet at the designed time and place for a final session. If a final examination is given in a class, it must be given during the designated final evaluations period. Deviations from the final evaluation schedule require authorization of the dean.
  2. The last class day prior to the beginning of the final evaluation period is designated as a “Day Free For Study”, commonly called “Dead Day.” During this time, no committee meetings (for which students or faculty unable to attend would be at a disadvantage) may be held, and classes do not normally meet. Individual colleges and faculty members may schedule voluntary review sessions for their classes, with the provision that attendance by students is voluntary and no new materials can be presented which will be included in the final evaluation. Laboratory reports and term papers previously assigned may be assigned due dates during the Day Free for Study. No final evaluations may be given during the Day Free for Study.

Commencement
The commencement ceremony for those students—graduate and undergraduate—graduating at the end of this semester will be held in The Knapp Center on Saturday, Dec. 19, beginning at 10 a.m. If faculty are planning on attending—as I encourage you to do—please plan to be in the Bell Center for robing and assembly no later than 9:30 a.m.

To assure that we have a sufficient number of chairs on the floor for faculty, please RSVP to https://drakefallcommencement2015.eventbrite.com no later than Tuesday, Dec. 15. Please, only RSVP is you DO plan to attend. As this is President Martin’s first commencement at Drake. I ask that you do him—and the students who have earned their degrees—the honor of your presence.

If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Geiger at x3095 or nancy.geiger@drake.edu.

Being Social
The final faculty/staff social of the semester will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 16, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., immediately following the campus community budget discussion (4–5 p.m.) in the Shivers Hospitality Suite. Please attend both the campus discussion, led by Chief Financial Officer Teresa Krejci and President Martin, and the social. It has been a long and productive semester, and it will be pleasant to end it in each other’s company. Nearby parking is available in Lot 2 east of Shivers at the NE corner of Forest and 25th Street.

—Joe Lenz, Interim Provost

News & Achievements Archive

College of Arts & Sciences news

Renee Cramer, associate professor and chair of Law, Politics, and Society (LPS), traveled with four LPS students to San Quentin prison to attend a LiveLaw event in early December. The trip follows these students’ successful efforts to bring LiveLaw, a legal storytelling event, to Des Moines for the first time in spring 2015. Students partnered with national producers and oversaw story curating, event planning, grant writing, and publicity of the event, which was featured on the Life of Law website and podcast. Their efforts led to an invitation from Life of Law Executive Producer Nancy Mullane—a journalist and author of Life after Murder: Fine Men in in Search of Redemption, which the students read in class—to join her and 300 inmates and civilians for LiveLaw San Quentin, which will be podcast on Christmas day. They will bring their experience at San Quentin back to class and will also put on a public program in the spring to discuss what they observed and learned.

The trip also complements students’ ongoing learning about the nation’s correctional system and social justice issues. Students ahve engaged in ride-alongs with Des Moines police and made a trip to the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville.

—Submitted by Emily Kruse, Assistant to the Dean

News & Achievements Archive

Drake news: Week of Dec. 7

Wells Fargo makes $200,000 commitment to Drake
Wells Fargo recently renewed its longstanding commitment to Drake University’s College of Business and Public Administration with a five-year, $175,000 grant to the Professional and Career Development Center. The grant enhances Drake’s efforts to prepare students to be remarkable leaders and team members in the professional world.

An additional $25,000 grant by Wells Fargo to the University’s new Data Analytics program honors the career contributions of former Drake President David Maxwell and his wife, Madeleine Maxwell. Read more in Drake’s Newsroom.

Junior Dylan DeClerk honored for philanthropic contributions
The Central Iowa Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored Dylan DeClerk, a junior marketing and finance major, with its Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy award during a Philanthropy Day Awards program on Friday, Nov. 13. Dylan is executive director of Opportunity on Deck, which has benefited hundreds of students. Learn more about Dylan’s work.