All posts by Heidi Weiss

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive, HR Information Archive

Employee perks and discounts

Drake faculty and staff have access to a number of free or discounted services and events.  The only problem is that employees often don’t know about them. A list of perks and discounts is now available and will be placed on blueView (soon to be myDrake) later this summer.

If your department offers any employee perks and discounts, or you know of a perk or discount from outside of your area that is not on this list, please contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

HR Information Archive

Wellness screening information

Those on Drake’s health plan can save approximately $300 in 2019 by completing a wellness screening this year. If you are on Drake’s health plan and currently enrolled in the Wellness Premium Incentive Program, you must complete a wellness screening annually to retain your savings. New this year: You will not be required to complete an online wellness assessment. You only need to complete the wellness screening to receive the premium incentive.

There are three ways to complete your wellness screening.

  1. At a participating Hy-Vee (available July 1—Sept. 15).
  2. On campus through UnityPoint Health (online registration opens Sept. 4 with screening dates in October).
  3. With your physician by filling out a Physician Wellness Screening Results Form.

If you have a physical with bloodwork between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, the results can be submitted as your wellness screening.

  • Take a copy of the Physician Wellness Screening Results Form to your appointment.
  • Your physician must sign the completed form and you or your physician must fax it to 1-855-827-6307. Results will be forwarded to Wellmark.
  • The signed form must be received by Sept. 30, 2018.
  • It is your responsibility to ensure your physician’s office submits the appropriate paperwork by the Sept. 30 deadline. To determine whether your paperwork has been received, contact Wellmark on their 24/7 helpline at 1-877-252-8412.

For questions, contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu or 515-271-1880.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

HR Information Archive

Are you a recognition champion?

Human Resources is looking for individuals or teams that do a great job of recognizing others. Do you passionately believe in the principles and value of recognition? Do you communicate, demonstrate, and deliver recognition within your department or across campus? Do you use available resources such as Peerceive and Called to Be True Blue awards, or other unique recognition ideas? If this sounds like you or you know someone who exhibits these traits, please let us know. We would love to hear what others are doing and create some best practices that can be shared with everyone.

For more information and to share your ideas, contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

HR Information Archive

Hands-on healthy cooking class

Join dietitian Anne Cundiff and chef Stacey Wertzberger on Thursday, July 19, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Hy-Vee’s Club Room at 4605 Fleur Drive to make some healthy recipes.

During this entertaining hands-on class, you will be the cook, making three lunch and snack recipes. You will learn new cooking tips and how to re-invent standard recipes. When you are done, you can sample your work and enjoy.

Cost is $20 per person. A minimum of ten and maximum of 20 participants is required.

Please contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu to register.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

HR Information Archive

Welcome new Bulldogs

In May, Drake welcomed five new, full-time employees to the Bulldog family.

Denise Kluever, Occupational Therapy Learning Space Coordinator, CPHS
Betsy McKibbin, Director of Marketing, University Communications & Marketing
Bailey Scharff, Assistant Events Manager, Events Management
Suzanne Stewart, Accounts Payable Clerk, Finance & Administration
Martin (Marty) Richter, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach, Athletics

— Laura Schwarz, Human Resources

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Call for nominations: Principal Global Citizenship Award

Nominations are open to faculty and staff for the Principal Financial Global Citizenship Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to global engagement and internationalization of the campus and curriculum. The selected awardee will receive a plaque, up to $3,000, and will be announced at the August 2018 Learning Symposium. A screening committee, appointed by the provost, will review all nominations and make recommendations to the provost. Nominations should be submitted to Bonnie Ehler at bonnie.ehler@drake.edu by June 30, 2018.

Nomination details:

A letter of nomination should be submitted recommending an individual for the award and explaining the context and manner in which the nominator has come to know the faculty or staff member. This letter should speak to the following qualifications:

Pursuant to the University’s mission to develop “responsible global citizens,” explain how the nominee has made outstanding contributions toward realizing the three main goals of the Internationalization and Global Engagement Strategic Plan, 2015-2020:

Goal 1: Serve as a global knowledge hub that brings value to external partners in local, national, and international settings.
Goal 2: Infuse global and multicultural perspectives across the campus and curriculum.
Goal 3: Develop infrastructure, resources, and communication systems to support internationalization and global engagement.

The nominee must be a faculty or staff member in at least her/his fourth year of service at the University. The nominee cannot have won this award within the past five years. Faculty and staff members who report directly to Drake International are ineligible.

Nominees who indicate a willingness to be considered will be invited to submit a c.v. and a statement discussing their contributions to the above goals. One or two letters of support from faculty, staff, or students will be accepted (this is optional). The deadline for submitting supporting materials is July 15.

Any individual who was nominated for the award in 2016 or 2017 may be re-nominated if the nominator resubmits a letter offering the individual for consideration this year. Files of previous nominees are maintained for two years. If a faculty member is re-nominated, the nominator will be invited to review the file from the previous year to ensure that the nomination is as current as possible.

Nomination letters are due by June 30, 2018, and should be sent as an attachment to bonnie.ehler@drake.edu. Questions may be directed to Jeff Kappen, acting director of the Principal Center for Global Citizenship, at jeffrey.kappen@drake.edu.

— Bonnie Ehler, Center for International Programs and Services

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Campus Scavenger Hunt tomorrow

All Staff Council is sponsoring a Campus Scavenger Hunt tomorrow, June 13, from 12:30–2:30 p.m. Meet at Pomerantz Stage in Olmsted to sign up and participate in the hunt. Participants may work as a team of two or individually. Work your way across campus gathering photos of items found on the “clue” sheet.  After capturing an image of each item, race your way back to Pomerantz Stage for check-in and the chance to win a prize (and bragging rights). The Scavenger Hunt is not only an opportunity for you to see people and places across campus you may have never seen, but it’s also terrific exercise.

— Kerwin Dobbins, Education Teaching and Learning Department

Campus Announcements Archive

Attend a GroupX fitness class for a chance to win a prize

For the rest of the summer, prize packs will be given out to a randomly selected participant at each GroupX class. To win, participants must be pre-registered for the class using the IMLeagues App or website. The more classes you register for and attend, the greater your chances at winning. Prizes will be given out on the following dates:

Friday, June 8
Tuesday, June 12
Monday, June 18
Wednesday June 20
Thursday, June 28

— Drake Wellness

Campus Announcements Archive

New login screen for Office 365 coming June 13

In preparation for the launch of the new myDrake portal later this month, ITS is rolling out a new login screen for Office 365. The current screen will continue to be used for other applications including TeamDynamix and Slate. Here’s the current screen:

The new screen, shown below, will replace the current Office 365 login screen beginning tomorrow, June 13. This may result in an outage affecting logging into email between 10–11 p.m.

Office 365 is the first system to use this new login screen. Other applications will eventually be converted to the same login screen. The new login will allow for single sign-on (SSO) access. With SSO, you only have to sign in once, and your authentication is passed on to other applications without having to enter your username and password again. ITS is working toward connecting many applications, including Blackboard and the IT service portal, through SSO access.

One important change with this new system is that you have to be sure to bookmark the application that uses the login screen rather than the login screen itself. This ensures that your credentials will be passed correctly between systems.

— Carla Herling, ITS

Campus Announcements Archive

Attackers don’t take summer vacations

Going somewhere fun this summer? Attackers are hoping you’ll also take a vacation from protecting your valuable accounts and personal information. Summer is traditionally high season for scamming, and this summer is shaping up to be a hot one, with active campaigns swirling around purported security incidents at trusted organizations, vacation bookings, and the World Cup.

No matter where you’re checking messages, whether at the local pool or from an exotic destination, slow down and take a closer look to make sure your plans don’t get disrupted.

Here are some indications that an email may be dangerous:

  • A strange sender, or one that you don’t expect
  • A request that you take ‘urgent’ or ‘immediate’ action
  • Links or attachments that don’t match the message content or that you don’t recognize.

ITS will continue to send out simulated attacks to faculty and staff this summer. If you receive any email that you suspect is phishing, don’t click any links, download any attachments, or reply. Instead, forward the email as an attachment to informationsecurity@drake.edu.

Additional training will be assigned to faculty and staff members who repeatedly click links or open attachments in phishing emails, simulated or not.

For more information on how to report phishing emails, see the IT Service Portal guide, Reporting a Phishing Message (How-to).

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS