Drake Dining is asking for your feedback. Complete a quick survey to help Drake Dining direct and enhance its services. Survey participants will have a chance to win $100 in flex dollars. All Drake students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to complete the survey. Three winners will be drawn at random to win the flex dollars. The survey is open through Nov. 11. Please complete the survey only once.
—Jennifer Bowersox, Drake Dining
The next in a series of meetings focused on creating inclusive learning environments will be Monday, Nov. 13, at 3:30 p.m. in the Olmsted Center, Drake Room. These meetings are an opportunity for anyone on campus to come and talk about the challenges, successes, and failures we have faced as we try to navigate the difficult issue of creating inclusive learning environments. For questions, contact Art Sanders at arthur.sanders@drake.edu.
Art Sanders, Associate Provost
Faculty and staff are invited to nominate candidates for this year’s Global Scholars/Practitioners-in-Residence program. Nominations are due to annique.kiel@drake.edu by Nov. 27. The Global Scholars/Practitioners program seeks talented individuals from academia or the professions who have outstanding international expertise to teach part-time while also serving as mentors to our students and resources to our faculty and the community. Global Scholars/Practitioners will engage with the campus and community through teaching, public lectures, and joint research projects while drawing upon their professional networks to help our faculty, students, and the institution as a whole develop new and fruitful external collaborations. For more information and nomination instructions, please visit the Global Scholars/Practitioners-in-Residence web page.
Denise Ganpat, Drake International
The University Book Store will hold a two-day sale Nov. 14 and 15, and a faculty and staff appreciation sale Nov. 20 and 21.
Two-day sale
Outerwear, sweatshirts, polo shirts, long sleeve tees, and more will be 25 percent off Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 14 and 15, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. If you can’t make it in to the store, you can place an order online at www.drake.bkstr.com.
Faculty and staff appreciation sale
The University Book Store is extending a 30 percent discount to faculty and staff on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 20 and 21, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Join us for refreshments and get your holiday shopping done early. We will give away three $25 Follett gift cards.
Don’t forget, you can wear jeans with your Drake apparel every Friday!
Nate Reagen, President’s Office
Drake faculty are invited to hear how to connect with the Iowa Space Grant Consortium and NASA on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 10 a.m. in the Medbury Hall Honors Lounge. Former NASA Space Station Flight Director Tomas Gonzalez-Torres will talk about the ISGC’s support for research and opportunities to collaborate with NASA on research in STEM areas.
––Drinda Williams, Provost’s Office
The photography protocol and procedures section of the University Communications toolkit has been updated. Visit the toolkit for information on:
Justice Simpson, University Communications
Email phishing is one of the most prevalent attacks directed at Drake––over 100 million fraudulent emails are sent each year. That’s why ITS works to educate faculty, staff, and students about avoiding these attacks designed to convince us to give away our information.
October was National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and ITS shared tips all month on how to remain safe online. Until Nov. 17, ITS is holding its second annual Phishing Quiz, where faculty, staff, and students take a short quiz to learn how to identify these dangerous attacks. Thanks to some local businesses and campus partners, we’re giving away six great prize packages. Enter by going to drake.edu/its/phish. And, look for ITS staff at a table in the Olmsted breezeway on Thursday, Nov. 9, between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Spin the prize wheel and answer an IT security question for another chance to win.
In mid-November, we’ll be re-launching phishing simulation training for faculty and staff using a new tool called Knowbe4. This training creates emails that look like actual phishing attacks as an effective way to teach us how to identify and report them, all in a risk-free environment. It also has short videos that we will be using to help reinforce this training.
Our goal with these initiatives is to empower campus to keep personal and University data secure. Together we can be good stewards of the important information that has been entrusted to us.
—Peter Lundstedt, ITS
The Office of Community Engaged Learning and Service is looking for volunteers to help with this year’s Poverty Simulation on Nov. 16 and 17 from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Community partners, students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to volunteer for one or both days.
The simulations will be held Nov. 16 and 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. Sign up to volunteer.
We ask that volunteers come 30 minutes before the simulation starts in order to complete training for the experience. The simulation will conclude by 3 p.m. but you are welcome to stay for the debriefing and reflection from 3 to 4 p.m.
The poverty simulation is meant to help sensitize participants to the struggles people in poverty face on a daily basis. During the simulation, participants role-play the lives of low-income families, from single parents trying to care for their children to senior citizens trying to maintain their self-sufficiency on Social Security. Time is represented by four, 15-minute periods, each representing one week. The task of each family is to provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities during the simulation while interacting with various community resources, such as the bank, pawnshop, childcare center, school, employer, and grocery store. Afterward, participants and staffers conduct a debriefing.
Please see the description page for a list of all the job descriptions in the poverty simulation. You can click on each individual position for a more in-depth look at the job tasks.
—Gabriella Gugliotta
An important aspect of Drake’s Continuous Improvement Plan is to examine our processes. The Survey of Administrative Services occurs once per year in the fall. The goal is to communicate to faculty, staff, and students the process of self-evaluation, thoughtful planning, and implementation to elevate professional practices toward improved customer service.
This feedback helps departments, such as Facilities Planning and Management, understand how to improve services and where gaps may exist. Responses to the survey help to shape future efforts.
Survey respondents provided largely positive feedback about Facilities Planning and Management services. Responses were provided on a five-point scale, with five being the highest.
Satisfaction with FPM staff – Total Average 4.41
Respondents assessed their satisfaction with FPM staff including their courtesy, professionalism, knowledge, timeliness, and resolution of issues. Satisfaction with FPM staff was generally high; an area of opportunity across campus is timeliness (4.11).
Satisfaction with FPM support and services – Total Average 4.42
Respondents assessed their satisfaction with FPM support and services, including: custodial, grounds maintenance, snow removal, moving, cooling and heating, painting, construction, carpentry, trash/recycle, and postal. Satisfaction with FPM support and services was generally high for ground maintenance (4.69), postal (4.62), and custodial/trash/recycle (4.50). The lowest areas were cooling and heating (4.01) and construction (4.21).
The preservation of historic buildings can be demanding when upgrading mechanical systems. It is our goal through heating and cooling to establish a comfortable environment, while understanding the capacity of the system along with individual preferences. The same holds true for construction and the learning space. Moving forward we promise to service all needs on campus through collaboration and communication.
Overall satisfaction—Total Average 4.27
Overall satisfaction is above average, but FPM still has room for improvement.
In reviewing the data and reflecting on the comments provided by the respondents, FPM has concluded that:
It is our goal to remain consistent over time with the above benchmarks. While strong ratings were seen in FPM, we are actively developing strategies to improve our services and overall quality. The development of a capital review process and new work order portal are just a few strategies recently implemented.
—Manny Toribio, Facilities Planning and Management
Drake Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) is organizing a one-time event to pick-up unwanted, regulated materials (chemicals, solvents, paint, cleaning products, and aerosols) starting Nov. 22. The final day for pick-up will be Dec. 8.
During this event, the University will take advantage of an exemption from the EPA that will allow us to exceed our normal monthly waste totals without being subjected to increased regulations. This event has a strict timeline so it is important that departments that wish to take advantage of this opportunity begin to identify and segregate potential waste as soon as possible.
It is important to note that normal waste collections will continue during this period so departments that generate regulated (hazardous) waste can continue to collect that waste and request pick-ups as normal. Other waste, such as e-waste, batteries, broken glass, sharps, etc., will also continue to be picked-up as normal. The following guidelines should be followed for those wishing to take part in this event:
Begin identifying and segregating unwanted items as soon as possible. Unwanted items which may be regulated when disposed of may include, but are not limited to:
If you have any questions about what materials would apply, contact Drake EHS. Please refrain from bringing items from home as this is for University materials only. If you have questions about how to dispose of household waste, Drake EHS can provide resources and information on how to do so.
Items may be set to the side and labeled as “potentially unwanted materials;” do not label as waste. Those departments that utilize Satellite Accumulation Areas for waste should keep potentially unwanted materials separated from their normal waste as it will be counted separately. These departments should avoid using the same labels that they use for normal waste.
Create an inventory of the items you wish to dispose of. This will make collection easier and quicker. You may send inventories to EHS at any time.
When all potentially unwanted materials have been identified, request a pick-up from EHS. Pick-ups can be requested by visiting the EHS website: drake.edu/ehs and filling out a “Request a Pick-up Form” or by emailing josh.haines@drake.edu.
Collection of unwanted materials will not begin until Nov. 22. EPA regulations prohibit collection prior to this date. We realize that this coincides with the start of Thanksgiving break and that this is a busy time for many members of the Drake community, which is why it is important to begin the process of identifying potentially unwanted materials as soon as possible. Once collection begins, the University will have 30 days to collect materials, prepare them for shipment, and have the waste shipped off site.
Drake EHS contact information:
—Chris Nickell, Environmental Health and Safety
