All posts by Ashton Hockman

Strategic Updates Archive

Financial aid appeals for loss of income related to COVID-19

The following COVID-19 update was sent to campus June 24 from Ryan Zantingh, director of student financial planning.

As we navigate unprecedented economic upheaval created by the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to make you aware of Drake’s financial aid appeal process that is available for a recent loss of income or other special circumstances. For certain situations, financial aid administrators have the authority to make changes to a student’s FAFSA in order to more accurately reflect a student’s ability to pay for college. 

If you have completed the 2020–2021 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and anticipate a reduction of family income in 2020 (compared to the 2018 income reported on your FAFSA), you may wish to submit Drake’s Special Circumstances Form to report your situation. Staff from the Office of Student Financial Planning will review your appeal and, if appropriate, adjust your FAFSA. This adjustment may result in increased eligibility for need-based student financial aid. 

Adequate substantiation is required in order to consider an appeal for special circumstances. Please complete the Special Circumstances Form with as much detail as possible and include supporting documentation when submitting your form. 

I recognize that a great amount of uncertainty about the pandemic remains and projecting 2020 income may be difficult. If this is your situation, I encourage you to submit this form later in the summer or during the fall semester when you are better able to provide accurate information. There is not a pressing deadline to submit this form, but understand that billing obligations will continue as scheduled. Accordingly, you should submit your appeal as soon as you have the information needed to do so.

If you have questions or need assistance with this process, please contact the Office of Student Financial Planning at financialaid@drake.edu.

Drake’s Special Circumstances Form for 2020–2021 is available here.

Please visit drake.edu/coronavirus, which houses a repository of campus updates and messages pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also provides answers to many frequently asked questions.

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

New dial-in conferencing feature coming to Microsoft Teams

ITS is updating current campus Microsoft licenses to a new version that will allow all faculty and staff to take advantage of the dial-in conferencing capabilities of Microsoft Teams. After the new licensing is applied, you will be able to schedule meetings in Teams and have attendees join meetings by calling a toll free phone number instead of using the Teams app. As the new licensing is applied, you will receive an automated email letting you know your conference phone number and associated PIN. Please watch your inbox for an email like the example below in the coming week. We recommend that you save this email for future reference.

For more information on using Teams for meetings, see Holding Virtual Meetings Using Microsoft Teams (Best Practices).

— Christopher Mielke, ITS

News & Achievements Archive

Drake receives 2020 CASE Educational Fundraising Award

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced the winners of the 2020 Educational Fundraising Awards. Drake University was one of more than 100 U.S. educational institutions recognized. Drake received an award for Overall Performance in the category Private Research/Doctoral Institutions with Endowments Under $740 Million.

The award honors colleges and universities that show solid program growth, breadth in the base of support, and other indications of a mature, well-maintained program. 

The Educational Fundraising Awards annually recognize exemplary development programs based on a blind review of data submitted to the CASE Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey.

Read the full news release for more information.

Strategic Updates Archive

All In starts today!

Drake University’s seventh annual All In 24 Hour Giving Challenge began today (Tuesday, June 23) at noon and ends tomorrow at noon! We hope you’ll join us in celebrating this important event for Drake.

At at time of immense change and uncertainty, All In is a unique event designed to bring together hundreds of members of the Drake Community to support, share, and celebrate everything that makes Drake exceptional. Last year more than $500,000 was raised for areas all across campus.

You can participate in the event by spreading the word about All In today and tomorrow throughout your networks. Follow and share content on Drake’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages, plus visit the All In website for highlights. 

Thank you for your commitment to Drake and for coming together to help build a brighter tomorrow.

Campus Announcements Archive

Planned Panopto outage June 27, 8 to 11 p.m.

ITS is making updates to Panopto ahead of the Fall 2020 semester. As a result, access to Panopto will be unavailable on Saturday, June 27, from 8 to 11 p.m. During this time, users will be unable to view or upload content to and from Panopto.    

We appreciate your patience while we perform this necessary work. If you continue to have any problems after the planned maintenance window, please contact the support center at 515-271-3001 or visit service.drake.edu/its to report your issue.    

— James McNab, ITS

Campus Announcements Archive

Reminder: Changes coming to email protection

In May, I described some upcoming changes to Drake’s email protection system that will change the hover text of email links. On Wednesday, June 24, we will complete the migration to Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, and this functionality will take effect. 

As we work to adjust settings and improve functionality over the coming weeks, you may see email behaving differently. It may be junk mail that lands in your inbox, or wanted email that is delivered to your junk mail folder. In either case, the best way to ensure that emails go to the correct destination is to modify the message classification from your own mailbox. 

For Macs:

For PCs:

Because junk mail rules can be set individually, ITS has little control over these settings. If you’d like to learn more about how junk mail filtering works in Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, please see Junk Mail and Phishing (FAQ).

If you experience any issues with mail delivery or large amounts of misclassified mail, please visit the IT service portal.

— Peter Lundstedt, ITS 

Campus Announcements Archive

Reminder: University Ave closure through June 27

University Avenue is closed from 25th Street to 31st Street through Saturday, June 27, at 9 p.m. This closure is for paving improvements along University Avenue. For more information, see Des Moines Road and Trail Closures.

As a result of the closure, the Olmsted, Aliber West, and GK parking lots are not accessible. We strongly advise anyone coming to the campus to approach and use the lots along Forest Avenue. If you have any questions, please direct them to Kevin Moran (Kevin.moran@drake.edu) or Scott Law (Scott.law@drake.edu).  

— Scott Law, Executive Director Public Safety & University Operations

For Students Archive

Watch out for COVID-19 scams targeting college students 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning college students of phishing scams targeting their personal information. These emails claim to be from the Financial Department of Drake University or another school and instruct you to click a link to see a message about your COVID-19 economic stimulus check, then log in with your Drake ID and password. If you do log in, you could be giving your ID, password, and other personal information away to scammers, as well as potentially downloading malware to your computer or smartphone. 

Fortunately, these scams are easy to avoid by taking a few steps:  

  • Research where a legitimate university email would be coming from, as many phishing emails use inaccurate department names.  
  • Call Drake’s Finance or Registrar’s office (or whatever office it claims to be from) directly to confirm the email’s authenticity.
  • Examine the message closely. While some phishing emails can be nearly impossible to distinguish from the real thing—bad grammar and spelling can give them away.  

If you receive an email that you’re unsure about, forward it to informationsecurity@drake.edu or report it directly to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint. 

—Peter Lundstedt, ITS 

For Students Archive

Standing for Justice: Resources for staying well and engaging your community

The following message was sent from Erin Lain, associate provost for campus equity and inclusion; Tony Tyler, associate dean of students; and Danielle Green, director of the counseling center, to the campus community on Monday, June 1.

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

We write you today in a very serious time in our nation. Not only are each of us determining how to stay safe in a worldwide pandemic, but we are faced with continual reminders of violence Black communities face.

The death of George Floyd has struck a chord with many people. For many it resonates deeply in a long string of extra-judicial killings from Ahmaud Arbury to Breonna Taylor and highlights long standing violence against marginalized communities in our country. We have seen violence even in the Des Moines community in the past few weeks with the attack on DarQuan Jones. 

It seems like every week we hear about a Black person being killed, a Jewish grocery store being attacked, refugees being mistreated, LGBTQ folks facing homophobia and transphobia, or Asian communities facing xenophobia. The list goes on and on. The reports of violence and inequity can be overwhelming. 

It is important that at this time we not only take care of ourselves as we are bombarded with violent images, but also that we reaffirm our commitment to equity and inclusion. We must take action to show those from marginalized groups that their lives matter.  

The added stress and ambiguity of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic adds additional challenges right now. Below are some suggestions and guides for staying well and engaging your community.

Educate yourself  
If you are looking for a way to take action and respond, often the best place to start is educating yourself. The Office of Equity and Inclusion has developed a series of Social Justice Toolkits, located here. There is an Anti-Racist Toolkit listed after the list of other toolkits.

Protest and Social Unrest
Protests are a form of social and political discourse. You may feel compelled to join a local safe, organized protest or travel to join one. If you do, we suggest you review your rights as a protester. Please also see guidance on safe and healthy public demonstrations.

A Time to Come Together
On Wednesday, June 3, at noon, faculty, staff, and students are invited to come together virtually to share, grieve, and organize. In order to join this session please register here.

Prioritizing Mental Health 
Mental health challenges may creep up in ways we do not anticipate. When we are alone, or quiet, or without distraction is often when challenging mental health concerns can arise. The answer is not to avoid being alone or quiet or without distraction, rather, it is notice what you are thinking and feeling and take action to care for yourself. Some simple ways to do this are to eat well, sleep well, check in with others, and visit with the counseling center. This website provides additional tips and tools you can use to cope.

If you are a student, the Counseling Center is offering a Zoom Call with Sharaine Conner, (LMSW, IADC), a therapist at Thriving Family Counseling Services  in Des Moines to discuss mental health during this time of social unrest. We will share on Drake Student Central on Facebook opportunities to register for this Zoom Call.

If you are a faculty or staff member, the Drake Counselling Center has guidance for supporting students, and at the bottom of the page, information on contacting Employee Family Resources if you need support.  

In solidarity,

Erin Lain, PhD, JD
Associate Provost for Campus Equity and Inclusion
Professor of Law
She/Her/Hers

Tony Tyler, M.Ed.
Associate Dean of Students
He/Him/His

Danielle Green, MSW, LISW, CADC
Director of the Counseling Center
She/Her/Hers

Strategic Updates Archive

Standing for Justice

The following message was sent from President Martin to the campus community on Monday, June 1.

Dear colleagues and students,

George Floyd died one week ago today, handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Officer Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department. The video of the arrest shows Officer Chauvin with his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck while Mr. Floyd pleads with the officer, telling him that he is in pain and that he cannot breathe, before he calls out for his mother. Officer Chauvin kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for more than two minutes after Mr. Floyd became non-responsive.

Mr. Floyd was pronounced dead at the Hennepin County Medical Center a little over an hour after he was first approached by Minneapolis police officers. He was forty-six years old. He was a son, a brother, a friend, the father of two daughters, and a grandfather to a three-year-old girl. He died telling Officer Chauvin, “I can’t breathe.” He died saying to Officer Chauvin, “please, please, please.” He died calling out to his deceased mother.

Officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and he and the three other Minneapolis police officers involved in Mr. Floyd’s death have been fired. While it is commendable that these actions have been taken, it remains heartbreaking and infuriating that Mr. Floyd’s pleas were met with such callous disregard by Officer Chauvin and his fellow officers. This is made all the more heartbreaking and infuriating by the fact that Mr. Floyd is not the first Black man to die while telling a police officer, “I can’t breathe.”

We can and we must do better. This is required of every single one of us and every single institution in this country. Justice demands that we all do our part to confront and overcome the legacy of bigotry that motivates an Officer Chauvin to put his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck and keep it there as Mr. Floyd’s life is extinguished.

This institution and its people – faculty, staff, students, and alumni – have worked and will continue to work to stamp out bigotry and intolerance, to make our campus and our communities welcoming and safe for all. Indeed, we demonstrated our willingness to be in this fight together nearly two years ago with the Paint It Black movement. Drake University is committed to equity and inclusion and we will – through education, scholarship, service, and advocacy – strive to be part of whatever it takes to ensure that the right to life and liberty is not denied to anyone because of the color of her or his skin.

Sincerely,

Marty