As the STEM@DRAKE buildings near completion, work will begin on the Robert D. and Billie Ray Promenade (formerly 27th Street) and parking lot.

Phase 1: The parking lot south of Opperman Hall will be resurfaced and a new entrance off of Forest Avenue will be built beginning around July 15. Completion is scheduled for Aug. 24. Please use the fine arts parking lot during the construction period.

Phase 2: Construction will begin on the new parking lot and the Robert D. and Billie Ray Promenade around Aug. 1. Phase 2 includes a new water main; a new grading plan for the area; and new, improved walkways along the 27th Street corridor. This project should be wrapped up on Dec. 1. Please use the fine arts parking lot or the parking lot located at 25th Street and Forest Avenue during the construction period.

Phase 3: Construction of a new turnaround at the corner of 25th Street and Carpenter Avenue will begin Aug. 29, with completion scheduled for Dec. 1. Phase 3 was added to the construction project to allow incoming students to move into Jewett Residence Hall.

To see where construction is taking place, refer to the 27th Street Logistics Plan.

The following message will be sent to new students moving into Jewett Hall next week:

The Fall 2017 academic term is just around the corner and we are preparing for your return to campus. There are a few bits of information we want to share with you to help with your return to campus. There has been significant progress on the new STEM building this summer. This includes the closing and planned removal of the Jewett Residence Hall parking lot, as well as the closing of 27th Street.
 
Please note that due to the 27th Street and Jewett parking lot closure, we have made arrangements to allow 30-minute vehicle unloading to occur on Painted Street in front of Jewett Residence Hall on Friday, August 25, and Saturday, August 26, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.  Vehicles may enter from 25th Street onto Carpenter Avenue. Des Moines Police will be available to direct traffic. Cars may unload on the north side of painted street then circle and depart on the south side of painted street. 
 
If you are arriving at a time other than these designated times, you may park in the Olmsted parking lot to unload your vehicle. There will also be a small 15-minute unloading zone located at the corner of Carpenter Avenue and 27th Street.
 
Please note that the Olmsted parking lot is not an overnight parking lot. Students who need overnight parking will need to relocate their vehicles to lot 25A across University Avenue.

The new mailing address for Jewett Hall is 2700 Forest Avenue.

—Jolene Schmidt, Facilities Planning & Management

I’m so pleased to announce that Jenny Tran-Johnson has accepted our offer to serve as interim registrar from July 15 through Sept. 15, 2018.

The vision for the new registrar position is to support students with consistent processes that foster student retention and success. The registrar will work closely with faculty, deans, and other academic and administrative leaders to review academic policies and programs and serve as the official custodian of students’ records, among other duties.

For the coming year, Jenny will focus her efforts on two main projects:

• Developing consistency and cohesiveness in campus-wide policies and processes for student records, with technology solutions as appropriate
• Support advising and retention efforts

Jenny is a Drake alumna, receiving her BA in biology, and she is currently working to complete her PhD in education. She has worked at Drake since 2008, when she began as director of student programs. In 2013, she became the assistant dean, student support, in the College of Arts and Sciences. As assistant dean, she served as an academic adviser, helped create academic plans to support students’ goals and on-time graduation, oversaw orientation and retention programs for the college, and worked closely with Student Records to provide graduation clearance and manage degree audits.

Jenny has also been an active member of the Drake community beyond her day-to-day responsibilities, including serving on a variety of campus-wide committees, as a CREW Scholars faculty mentor, and most recently as chair of All Staff Council. She has also instructed several courses in the LEAD program, for which she also served as the interim director this past spring.

Clearly, Jenny is the right person for this interim position, having earned the respect of colleagues across campus for her intelligent, thoughtful, and reasoned approach to improving processes. I look forward to working with her to establish this new position on campus.

In addition, Kevin Moenkhaus’ title will change to associate registrar, and he will continue to focus on internal operations, including the catalog, implementation of Drake Online, and Banner XE installation.

—Sue Mattison, Provost

The next step in advancing the development between 25th and 27th Street along the south side of University Avenue is removal of the five Drake-owned rental homes. Since the beginning of this process, Drake neighborhood representatives, faculty, and staff prioritized the concept of moving one or more of these homes. The ideal outcome would be to transition some of the homes to another site, transforming them from rental units to affordable, single-family homes in or near the Drake Neighborhood. Interested buyers are working closely with moving experts and the City of Des Moines to finalize plans and their commitments to this project.

From a structural and safety standpoint, not all of the homes are good candidates for relocation and will instead be taken down. We are working with Habitat for Humanity to ensure as much repurposing of materials as possible is accomplished. The adjacent parking lots will continue to be available for Drake’s use—we don’t anticipate that changing until 2018. Watch OnCampus for updates and information, including project schedule.

—Venessa Macro, Chief Administration Officer