We’re excited to unveil the new digital edition of Blue Magazine, Drake University’s bi-annual alumni magazine. You can explore each story by scrolling through the issue or use the menu in the top right corner to jump to specific articles. Check out the latest issue for inspiring stories on The Ones: Drake’s Campaign for the Brave & Bold, community-driven initiatives from the Jay N. Darling Institute, and a celebration of 50 years of women’s basketball at Drake.
— Bruce Heintz, University Communications & Marketing
Mark your calendars! From noon, March 6, to noon, March 7, the All In 24-Hour Giving Challenge returns for its 12th year, continuing a proud Drake tradition.
In celebration of your support, any Drake faculty or staff member that makes a gift during All In will be entered into a drawing for one of the following prizes:
Free parking pass for Commuter Tier II Parking Lots
Treats delivered by Griff II for your entire department
Drake Relays Experience package (Gift card to use at the Relays Tent, VIP Relays Tickets, and more)
Bucksbaum Experience package (VIP seating, Bucksbaum t-shirt, and more)
Year-long, individual membership to the Varsity Cinema
Bulldog Beer Package (4-pack of Bulldog Beer, a Drake-branded pint glass, and more)
3×5 Drake Bulldogs Flag
Drake Belt Bag
An apple pie baked by Dr. Sue Mattison
Join your fellow faculty and staff and go All In for our Bulldog community on March 6–7. Learn more at all-in.drake.edu.
— Bruce Heintz, University Communications and Marketing
The Fall 2024 cohort ofDU England: Drake Semester at Harlaxton started their experience with a fancy-dress, sit-down dinner at the manor house (where they live and learn) for Convocation. Led by Professor Mary M. McCarthy (Department of Political Science), students Camden Eckhoff, Kylie Greer, Isaiah Hulshof, Lizzy O’Neel, and Samantha Pollack are studying topics such as sacred architecture, international law, and Shakespeare, with visits to places like the Lincoln Cathedral, the UK Supreme Court, and Stratford-upon-Avon. You can follow their adventures through Sam’s bloghere.
If Harlaxton looks like the adventure you have been looking for, the application for the Fall 2025 Faculty-in-Residence position is currently open.
Attend a faculty information session on Friday, Oct. 4, at 10 a.m., Cowles 201 to learn more. Or if you want to discuss your ideas one-on-one, set up a meeting with Director of Education Abroad, Maria Rohach.
Imagine a world where driving is not an option. How would that change the way you view transportation?
Join in fostering a healthy and inclusive community by taking part in National Week Without Driving, happening Sept. 30 to Oct. 6. This is a week-long challenge for drivers to learn about the barriers and challenges nondrivers face on a daily basis. Nearly a quarter of people in the United States, including those with disabilities, seniors, and low-income individuals, rely on walking, biking, public transit, or asking for rides. Their experiences highlight the importance of connected, accessible, reliable public transit, and safe transportation options for all.
To participate in the challenge, all you need to do is opt out of driving yourself for at least one day the week of Sept. 30 to Oct. 6. After that, you can aim for two days or even the whole week! You can bike, walk, take public transit, or ask for a ride.
Even if you cannot participate in the challenge, this is a great opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint. Check out one of the many sustainable transportation options available at Drake.
DART: Utilize your DART benefit and ride the DART bus for FREE with your Drake ID. Check out routes and schedules here. Reach out to sustainability@drake.edu or gregory.lin@drake.edu if you want to sit down with someone and find a bus route that works for you.
BCycle: Drake has partnered with the Street Collective to provide students, faculty, and staff with the opportunity to purchase a $20 annual bike share membership. This means unlimited 30-minute rides on a classic or e-bike. Sign up on the app using a drake.edu email, select annual membership, and enter promo code: bulldogsbike24.
Drake Bike Library: Drake employees and students can check out a bicycle for the day for free by bringing their Drake ID to the Student Life Center in Olmsted. You must sign a liability waiver and will be given a helmet to wear and a key to the bike lock.
Walk: Embrace Healthiest State Month and grab your walking shoes! Walk the Bulldog Mile on October 2nd as a part of the Healthiest State Walk and take your chance at winning a prize.
Travel Seminars are short-term, faculty-led study abroad (or domestic) experiences. Travel Seminars provide an opportunity to teach a course that integrates an academic experience with intercultural and experiential learning while traveling. Interested in leading a J-Term 2026 travel seminar? Submit your travel seminar proposal by Sunday, Oct. 27, at 11:59 p.m.
The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is partnering with Broadlawns Medical Center Outpatient Pharmacy to offer flu vaccinations on campus in Harvey Ingham, Room 107, for Drake University faculty, staff, and students.
The flu vaccinations are available through a scheduled appointment (strongly preferred), or on a walk-up basis. Walk-up vaccinations will require additional time on the day of vaccination for completion of paperwork. Signing up at least two days in advance is highly encouraged.
Appointments will be offered the following dates/times in Harvey Ingham, Room 107:
Prescription insurance is required for this flu vaccination clinic.
You must bring your ID and prescription insurance card to your appointment. (We are unable to accept cash/credit card payments for services at this clinic).
Wear a shirt to your appointment that will allow access to your upper arm.
COVID vaccines will not be available at this clinic, only flu vaccinations.
The University Communications and Marketing team is excited to share that we are launching a blog called College Kickstart with dozens of articles aimed at reaching prospective students and parents with helpful content that will answer common questions and guide them through their college decision-making journey.
Those articles fall into several categories, which you’ll find in the site’s navigation:
By creating helpful content that addresses commonly asked questions throughout this journey, we will not only position Drake University as a trusted partner, but our SEO-driven approach will make Drake University more discoverable to Google searchers (both prospective students and parents), putting Drake on the radar of prospects that might not have otherwise been looking for us online.
While we have a number of new articles already in the development queue, we welcome ideas for any article that may help answer common questions and hot topics during a prospective student’s or parent’s college decision-making journey.
Contact John Krantz, Strategic Communications Director (john.krantz@drake.edu) with questions or ideas.
— John Krantz, University Communications and Marketing
University Communications and Marketing will hold professional headshot sessions Friday, Sept. 27, from 9:30–11:30 a.m. in Old Main, Conference Room 115. The sessions are free to all students, faculty, and staff.
Select the Register button on the University calendar page. Space is limited.
High-resolution portraits will be made available for download through SmugMug 3–6 weeks after the photos are taken. Images can be downloaded at https://drakeuniversity.smugmug.com/Headshots-1.
— Jimmy Hoover, University Communications and Marketing
Historically, University Advancement has managed the recognition of alumni and their degrees. In the past, undergraduate degrees were the two letters for the college and then the class year (AS’09), all graduate degrees (except Law and Pharmacy) were changed to GR for graduate degree and then the class year (GR’09).
We have evolved as a University and have added degrees, and this recognition has not been updated for quite some time. We have heard from you throughout the years with questions. We also spoke with the Registrar’s Office who supports this update.
Recently we have updated this recognition that mirrors much of what is in Banner degree-wise.
We will continue to recognize Liberal Arts (LA) and Fine Arts (FA) since we have living alumni from those schools (they merged in 1987 and became AS).
Undergraduate recognition will not change (but we have added some), graduate degrees will now be recognized by their degree. We believe this comprehensively gives us a better update of the current offerings at Drake and correctly identifies how these alumni should be recognition.
New rules:
Undergraduates are recognized by their College and Year (this includes John Dee Bright College students with their associate degrees)
Non-Degreed Alumni are recognized by their anticipated graduation year only
Graduate and Honorary degrees are recognized by their specific degree abbreviation
New/changes to undergraduate degree recognition.
Undergraduate from former 4- or 5-year Pharmacy Programs
PH
Undergraduate from John Dee Bright College
JB
Undergraduate from Pharmacy & Health Sciences**
HS
** Note the change from the previous standard for the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. Since Pharmacy degrees are now graduate degrees only, they will be recognized according to the graduate degree table as PharmD. Those who graduated with a 4- or 5-year undergraduate Pharmacy degree in the past will be recognized with PH. Those with other undergraduate degrees (Health Sciences, Kinesiology, Nursing) from the College of Pharmacy & Health Science will be recognized with HS.
Also note, there is always a comma after the name, and then no spacing between degree and year.
Example
CY Salutation
Undergraduate with degree from single college or school
John Smith, AS’04 John Smith, BN’07
Undergraduate with degree(s) from two different colleges or schools
John Smith, AS’04, BN’04 John Smith, JO’07, HS’07
Undergraduate with associate degree only
John Smith, JB’23
Undergraduate with associate degree and bachelor’s degree
John Smith, JB’23, BN’25
Alum who received an undergraduate pharmacy degree through the 4- or 5-year program
John Smith, PH’92
Non-degree student who would have graduated with UG degree in 2007
John Smith, ‘07
Non-degreed student who would have graduated with a graduate degree in 2007
John Smith, ‘07
Alum with only a Juris Doctor
John Smith, JD’07
Alum with both a bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor
John Smith, HS’05, JD’08 John Smith, ED’17, JD’20
Alum with degrees from two different undergraduate colleges or schools and a PharmD
John Smith, AS’00, BN’00, PharmD’07
Alum with several graduate degrees
John Smith, MBA’07, MPH’09, JD’11
Honorary Degree
John Smith, HLLD’14
Alum with degrees at all levels
John Smith, JB’23, AS’25, BN’25, MBA’28, MS’30, JD’33, OTD’36
We will share this with the alumni in the fall issue of Blue magazine. We encourage you to share this with alumni as well.
Update your name badge and email signature
Should these changes apply to you, we ask that you work to get an updated nametag and business card to reflect the change. These can be ordered by your department staff through Image Solutions (badges) or Woolverton, Mfg. (business cards). Your division’s Budget Manager can direct you to the appropriate person to place those orders.
Faculty, on Thursday, Sept. 19, University Communications and Marketing is holding five separate meet-and-greet sessions in Meredith Hall, Room 207, with representatives from The Conversation—an independent news organization that relies exclusively on academic contributors to provide explanatory analysis and insights on topics spanning law and policy, science, health, economics, education, history, ethics, and many other topics that are well-aligned with the expertise of Drake faculty.
Published articles in The Conversation are widely syndicated across national media outlets—providing visibility to Drake and our faculty expertise to millions of readers all over the world.
Please add your name to the time slot you plan to attend.
Who should attend:The Conversation welcomes contributions from Drake faculty members, as well as any current Drake doctoral candidates. If you have an interest in learning more about The Conversation and how you can become a contributor, we encourage you to attend a session.
Why you should attend: Here are just a few stats on the impact being a contributing author to The Conversation can have. In a recent author impact analysis, The Conversation reported:
26% of faculty contributors saw an increase in citations of their scholarly articles
18% have used articles or metrics to aid in soliciting grants or funding
45% received additional media interview requests after their article was published
14% were invited to speak or present at a conference
43% had opportunities arise for new academic collaboration
93% said they had a very positive experience working with the editorial staff
