The Korean Cultural Club is celebrating Seollal on Saturday, Feb. 24, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Wesley House located at 2718 University Ave. Come enjoy great food and learn about the Korean traditional lunar New Year. Visit the Facebook event.
— Mykaelah Fennoy
In honor of Black History Month, the Black Law Student Association (BLSA) is hosting a panel discussion on race and equity in the areas of criminal justice, housing, and employment. The discussion will take place Monday, Feb. 26, from 5 to 6:45 p.m. in Kerns Commons (second floor of the law school). Panelists include Rita Bettia, legal director of the ACLU of Iowa, Rob Poggenklass, staff attorney at Iowa Legal Aid, and Emily Cohen, human rights specialist at the Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Department. A question and answer session will follow. Food and drinks will be provided.
— Brinet Rutherford
Women’s Basketball – Pink Game for cancer awareness
Drake vs. Bradley
Friday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m.
The Knapp Center
Men’s Basketball – Senior Day
Drake vs. Valparaiso
Saturday, Feb. 24, at 2 p.m.
The Knapp Center
Bulldog Family Series presented by Iowa State Bank
Women’s Basketball – Senior Day
Drake vs. Illinois State
Sunday, Feb. 25, at 2 p.m.
The Knapp Center
For more information, contact the Drake Athletics Ticket Office at 515-271-3647 or visit www.godrakebulldogs.com
— Ryan Harris, Athletics
The first Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) lunch of the semester is Friday, March 2, at 12 p.m. in Medbury Hall, Room 201. The lunch discussion is an opportunity for those engaged in SoTL projects at any level—from just thinking about starting one, to almost complete, or those simply curious about SoTL—to share ideas, seek advice, or ask questions of colleagues engaged in the process. To receive a lunch, register by Monday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m.
— Art Sanders, Associate Provost
The Online Master of Arts in Communication successfully launched in January. The cohort of 14 students is already halfway through its first class. Students can enter the program six different times a year due to the program’s six-week parts of term. More students are set to begin the program March 26 when the second part of term begins.
The Online Master of Science in Education: Effective Teaching, Reading Specialist Endorsement and the English as a Second Language Endorsement are scheduled to launch at the end of March, with the Gifted and Talented Endorsement following shortly thereafter.
Finally, the MPA and MBA are on track to launch their online programs this fall.
The implementation and launch of these programs could not have been done without the hard work and support of the colleges and schools.
In addition to the launch of these programs, several faculty and staff members are preparing to teach online. Nine faculty and staff have completed the Quality Matters Online Teaching Certificate with three more scheduled to complete their training this semester. Sixteen more staff and faculty have completed, or are in the process of completing, the two required modules for teaching online. By May, almost 30 faculty and staff will have prepared to teach and assist in online learning. This marks another great step forward in ensuring our online programs meet the same quality as our face-to-face offerings.
If you have questions or are interested in discussing online education, contact Christina Trombley at christina.trombley@drake.edu.
— Christina Trombley, Online Programming
Full-time faculty and staff received an email yesterday from The Chronicle of Higher Education and Modern Think inviting them to participate in this year’s Great Colleges To Work For survey.
Please take time to complete the survey. It is easy, quick, anonymous, and confidential, and the primary tool used by the University to gather feedback on workplace culture. Instructions on how to access the survey are included in the email.
Although ITS has done testing and precautions have been taken so that this email should not be identified as SPAM, if you do not see this email in your inbox, please check your junk folder.
The survey period ends Friday, March 2. View a FAQ and more information.
For questions, contact Gary Johnson, director, human resources at gary.johnson@drake.edu.
— Gary Johnson, Human Resources
Drake University senior Meghan Walters of West Bend, Wis., has been named a semi-finalist for the 2018-2019 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The program received nearly 10,000 applications this year, and Walters is part of a more exclusive pool of applicants to have been selected for further consideration.
Walters is an international relations and public relations double-major who applied for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Program in Bulgaria. As a semi-finalist, Walters has been recognized by the U.S. National Screening Committee as having the outstanding academic record, personal qualities, and educational experiences Fulbright seeks in potential award recipients.
Walters’ application is now in the hands of the Bulgarian commission, which will conduct further screening and make the final decision. She credits international opportunities during her time at Drake for preparing her for the Fulbright program.
“I received an AmeriCorps grant to work at a refugee center where I taught citizenship classes, English phonetics to seniors and a kindergarten preparedness class for young kids,” Walters said. “Additionally, while studying abroad in Morocco in spring of 2017, I worked at a school for children with physical and mental disabilities.”
According to the Fulbright website, “the Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
Finalists are chosen and notified in spring 2018; if chosen as a Fulbright finalist, Walters will receive a federally funded grant and spend one year in Bulgaria teaching English starting in August.
The university has consistently been a top producer of undergraduate Fulbright recipients, having had four in 2017-2018 and a total of 31 since 2000–2001.
Visit the Fulbright website to learn more about the selection process and scholarship.
The web-based Drake Undergraduate Social Science Journal (DUSSJ) welcomes paper submissions for the upcoming publication of its 18th edition in spring 2018. Any Drake undergraduate student is welcome to submit a piece that offers an engaging, critical and original analysis pertaining to the departments of the social sciences—Culture and Society; Economics; History; International Relations; Law, Politics, and Society; and Political Science. Students may submit papers that display strong writing skills in a shorter analytic essay of seven pages or less, or they may submit a longer research paper consisting of anything greater in length. Submitted papers should include full citations to all sources used.
Submissions will be reviewed by six members of the editorial board using the method of blind peer review, meaning the author’s identity will be withheld during the process of reviewing submissions. The board reserves the right to edit papers for style or length, and they may request revisions by the author as a condition of acceptance; authors will be given plenty of time to make these revisions.
The deadline for submission is Feb. 19. No more than one submission per person will be considered. Please send your submissions to dussjadvisor@gmail.com. All questions should be directed to this address as well. When submitting a paper, please indicate whether the essay is a research paper or short analytic essay. Also, please indicate the primary discipline and any secondary discipline(s).
— Natalie Bayer, History Department
The Violence Intervention Partner (VIP) team provides 24/7 advocacy services to anyone in need of support and/or assistance due to sexual assault and/or harassment. The main goal of VIP is to assist student members of the Drake community with compassionate, informed, and confidential sexual assault response support. VIP consists of student advocates who are specially trained to provide appropriate support in incidents of sexual and domestic violence on campus. If you are interested in helping others or you know of a student who would make a great advocate, please apply or encourage them to apply. Applications are due Monday, March 12, at 4 p.m. The online application can be found here.
— Tess Cody, Violence Prevention & Programming
The Sussman Spring Leadership Conference “Leadership Re-Framed” is Sunday, Feb. 18, in the Upper Olmsted Center. The conference is open to all Drake students. Participants must register in advance. Due to the program format, only 250 students can attend, so be sure to sign-up by Feb. 12. The event is provided at no cost to students due to the generosity of Mr. Richard and Mrs. Lila Sussman. Register here.
Conference agenda:
9:30 – 11 a.m. Check-in and hearty pancake breakfast
11:10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Keynote speaker
12:10 p.m. – 1:55 p.m. Breakout sessions
2 p.m. Ice cream and debrief
For questions, email: ali.jensen@drake.edu.
— Marina Verlengia, Academic Excellence and Student Success
