Please join Human Resources in welcoming four new, full-time Drake University employees for the month of February.
Sarah Heller, Student Account Consultant, Student Accounts
Jeremy Calvert, Information Security Analyst, ITS
Ananda (Annie) Spadt, Assistant Director, Brand Integration, UCM
Karen MacKinnon, Administrative Assistant, History, Arts & Sciences
Laura Schwarz, HR Support Specialist
As a non-profit university, Drake relies on generous philanthropic support from people who care about the institution and its students to offer the best educational experience possible each year. And next month, you can be part of one of Drake’s most exciting and successful fundraisers, All In. During this 24-hour giving challenge, students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and friends share, celebrate, and support all things Drake. During All In, gifts go further through exciting matching gifts and donor count challenges.
A new ambassador program will be an important driver of All In’s success and students are invited to be a part of sharing All In. Your connections and network can be a powerful tool for spreading the word about Drake. Ambassadors get exclusive resources to help spread the All In message and track their impact. Sign up to be an ambassador.
All In primarily takes place online (check out the new website) and in social media feeds, where people share their Drake pride and give to the All In fundraiser. Events will also take place on campus during the day, with more information to come.
Contact Becca Widmer, director of annual giving, at becca.widmer@drake.edu if you have any questions about the Ambassador program or the All In challenge and be sure to follow the Drake Alumni social channels, (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), which will be the primary social feeds for All In, but expect to see All In everywhere Drake is.
Becca Widmer, University Advancement
One of Drake’s most exciting and successful advancement and fundraising activities is back and better than ever. On April 4–5, the Drake community will rally around the University for All In. During this 24-hour giving challenge, alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents, and friends will share, celebrate, and support Drake. As a non-profit University, Drake relies on philanthropic support to fulfill its mission. During All In, every gift goes further through matching funds and donor count challenges.
A new ambassador program is one way All In will be more dynamic this year. Ambassadors are provided with exclusive resources to help spread the All In message and track their impact. As faculty and staff members, your connections and endorsement will help All In achieve even more in 2019. Sign up to be an ambassador.
All In primarily takes place online and on social media, where people share their Drake stories and pride and give to the All In fundraiser. Student events will happen on campus during the day and a happy hour event for alumni, faculty, and staff will also take place in Des Moines during the evening of April 4. (More details to come.)
Contact Becca Widmer, director of annual giving, at becca.widmer@drake.edu if you have any questions about the Ambassador program or the All In challenge and be sure to follow the Drake Alumni social channels, (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), which will be the primary social feeds for All In, but expect to see All In everywhere Drake is.
Becca Widmer, University Advancement
Thank you to everyone who completed the Great Colleges To Work For survey. We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. The survey closed yesterday, and I am pleased to announce that we had 62% participation. A summary of the results will be shared with the campus in early summer.
Mary Alice Hill, Director, Human Resources
Facilities Planning and Management is asking all faculty, staff, and students who will not be on campus over spring break to help conserve energy by following these simple guidelines:
Thank you for taking these simple steps to help Drake save energy across campus. Have a wonderful spring break!
Kevin Moran, Executive Director, Facilities Planning and Management
With spring break quickly approaching, some Drake faculty and staff may travel by air to visit family and friends. If that sounds like you, did you know that Drake employees receive a 50% discount (or $3.50 per day) at the Keck Airport Shuttle Parking, located at 5555 Fleur Drive, for business and personal travel?
Simply take a ticket at the gate and park your car in any open space. A shuttle will pick you up in the parking lot and drop you off outside the terminal for quick and easy entry into the airport. Upon returning to the airport, the shuttle will pick you up outside of the baggage claim doors and drop you off at your car.
When you pull up to the cashier window to pay, identify yourself as a Drake employee, show them your Drake ID or business card if asked, and you will receive the discount.
And if your travels include car rental, Drake employees may rent a car for personal use through Enterprise and receive the same rates as the University.
For the personal use account, go to enterprise.com and book using the personal use account number XZ6299F. Once you sign up, you will receive a packet of information via email and you can print off a card.
You may also enroll in the Emerald Club with National, which is the sister company of Enterprise.
A full list of Drake Employee Perks & Discounts can be found in myDrake by clicking on the Human Resources App (top of page). Next click Benefits, and then Additional Benefits, and finally Perks & Discounts for Drake Employees.
Linda Feiden, Wellness & Recognition Specialist
Mobile devices store more sensitive data than people realize, often more than what’s on your computer. This may include:
Regardless of how you dispose of old mobile devices, be sure to first securely erase all that sensitive information. Simply deleting is not enough—you need to reset the device. This process varies among devices, below are the steps for the two most common brands:
If you’re unsure, or need assistance, ask for help from a technician at the store where you purchased it. Attackers can and will use old mobile devices to gain access to your information and accounts, impersonate you, and phish you and your contacts.
ITS will be continuing phishing education this month using emails that mimic real attacks. If you receive an email that you suspect is phishing, don’t click any links, download any attachments, or reply.
For more information on reporting phishing emails, see the IT Service Portal guide Reporting a Phishing Message (How-to).
Peter Lundstedt, ITS
Due to decreased traffic during Spring Break, we will be adjusting the building open hours to better secure the campus and improve resident safety. Please note that this will not affect any academic/administrative building “after-hours” card access.
Almost all academic and administrative buildings will be closed on Saturday and Sunday during break (March 16, 17, and 23). Most buildings will have open hours from 7:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. during the week of Spring Break (March 18–22). Regular hours will resume on Sunday, March 24.
Cowles Library open hours/after-hours are listed on their website.
Please contact Public Safety (515-271-2222) if you have a door access emergency during this time, or contact the Student Services Center (515-271-2000 or studentservices@drake.edu) if you have a general card access question or concern.
Sara Heijerman, Student Services Center
ITS supports campus technology with on-campus and offsite data centers. Recently, our offsite data center raised its rates. To avoid increasing our annual costs, ITS is moving our offsite data center to a new location. At the same time, we are replacing aging equipment and improving internet connectivity by offering additional redundancy for campus. A project team has been created and is currently planning this work.
Below are a few key project dates:
Watch for additional OnCampus articles updating you on the project in April, May, and June. Also, ITS leadership will be providing more detailed information to some key stakeholder groups in the near future.
Please be aware that moving the offsite data center introduces the risk that campus technology may become unavailable. This is because for a period of time we will be unable to fail over to our offsite data center. The team is working to identify ways to minimize or eliminate any potential outages. In the event that any outages do occur, we will notify campus through our regular communication channels.
Kris Brewster, ITS
Midterm grade entry is now available in MyDUSIS. Midterm grades are due by 10 a.m. on Monday, March 25. Students are able to view their midterm grades as soon as you submit them.
To access the MyDUSIS grade-entry link, log into myDrake, click on the “Grading” icon under the Faculty & Advising section, and then click on “Mid Term Grades – Submittal Link.”
Those of you who would like to send your midterm grades from Blackboard to MyDUSIS can follow the instructions here.
Students have until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 29, to drop a course with a “W”.
Kevin Moenkhaus, Associate Registrar
