Have you ever heard students say that they may not be able to return to school because a parent lost a job, or due to significant family medical expenses? Have you wondered how to help?
Federal regulations give financial aid administrators the authority to make certain adjustments (called professional judgements) to a student’s FAFSA to better reflect a student’s current financial circumstances. Professional judgments may result in an increase to the student’s eligibility for need-based assistance.

Student Financial Planning has developed the Special Circumstances Form designed to help a student report financial situations that are either not reported on the FAFSA, or have changed since the tax year on which the FAFSA is based. Our office will review these forms to determine if adjustments to a student’s FAFSA could be made.

I know that students frequently share their financial struggles with others around campus. Thank you for your partnership as we seek to increase awareness about this recourse for students encountering financial hardship. Please share this form with students who may need it, or direct them to Student Financial Planning for assistance.

Ryan Zantingh, Director of Financial Aid

Reminder: Two online courses, Drake University Online Information Security Awareness and Prevent Sexual Violence Together, were due to be completed Dec. 7. If you haven’t completed them, see the information below.  An additional course, Prevent Discrimination and Harassment Together, is to be completed by March 31.

These new online programs underscore Drake’s commitment to the safety and security of our people. You’ll view realistic scenarios based in a higher education setting and interactively answer related questions. Training is completed at your own pace and the courses may be accessed multiple times. Courses retain previously completed content and will return you to the place you last viewed course information. The Blackboard system will electronically record your status as “completed” when you finish each course.

Course access in Blackboard
To locate the courses log in to myDrake and click the Blackboard app in the shaded blue area near the top of the screen. Click Agree and Continue at the pop-up screen describing privacy, cookies and terms of use. Next, enter your Drake Banner numeric ID and password and you’ll be directed to the Blackboard home page. The courses are listed in the My Courses area of the page.

Need Help?
The home page of Blackboard includes a link to On Demand Help topics. If you have questions about the Information Security Awareness course, contact Peter Lundstedt, director, Information Security and Compliance.  For questions about the other courses, contact Mary Alice Hill, director, HR Partner Services, or Kathryn Overberg, Title IX coordinator and equity and inclusion policy specialist.

Mary Alice Hill, Human Resources

ITS is preparing for a major upgrade to the servers hosting our campus applications. This upgrade will begin Saturday, Jan. 12 at 5 a.m. and last until 11 a.m.

During this maintenance period, myDrake, MyDUSIS, Banner 9, and all related applications will be inaccessible at times. As the maintenance window continues, these applications will return gradually.

Thank you for your patience as we perform this necessary work. If you continue to have any issues after the planned maintenance window, please contact the Support Center at 515-271-3001 or visit service.drake.edu/its to report your issue.

Carla Herling, ITS

ITS is updating eight classrooms with new instructional technology. Work began on Meredith Hall rooms 229, 233, 236, 237, 202 and 206 in December and early January. Fine Arts Center (FAC) rooms 304 and 336 will be updated during the spring semester. This article explains why and how these classrooms were selected and how we identified which audio/visual components to install.  

Historically, ITS included every conceivable technology and connection in a room, resulting in high costs and unnecessary complexity. As a result, classrooms are both confusing and often don’t align with pedagogical needs. We wanted a way to cost-effectively modernize the most classrooms without affecting functionality. We determined that: 

• Room control interfaces are challenging.
• Faculty need to project content, preferably using a projector.
• Faculty need amplified sound for video playback.
• Whiteboards are as critical, if not more critical than, projection.
• Wireless display technology frees the instructor from having to be at the front of a classroom.
• Multiple computer connection cables cause confusion and expense.
• Many faculty members want to easily allow students to project from their personal technology.  

In order to compare rooms objectively, ITS created a classroom quality index based on the Educause Learning Space Rating System Initiative. With the help of this index, ITS staff reviewed every classroom and rated them to determine which rooms were most in need of upgrading. We identified 34 rooms that were at or near the point of immediate failure. View a complete list of the classrooms in need of updating 

ITS staff met with individuals from the Registrar’s office, the faculty senate information technology committee, facilities planning management (FPM), and the classroom advisory group, comprised of a representative from each school/college. The purpose of these meetings was to ensure we were being fiscally responsible, that we had correctly identified the most urgent spaces to update, and that we had selected appropriate technology. We were given the go ahead from these groups to move forward with the upgrade plan as quickly as possible. We will continue to keep campus informed on the progress of these updates and the timeline for future classroom upgrades. 

Jerome Hilscher, Information Technology Services

The Office of Community Engaged Learning is now accepting nominations for the Newman Civic Fellowship.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a national award that recognizes and supports community-committed students who are changemakers and public problem-solvers. Students should engage in collaborative action with others from campus or from surrounding communities in order to create long-term social change, take action in addressing issues of inequality and political polarization, and demonstrate the motivation and potential for effective long-term civic engagement.  Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides students with training and resources that nurture their assets and passions and help them develop strategies for social change.

Nominees must be enrolled in higher education for the spring semester 2019, and the 2019–2020 academic year.

To nominate a student, please submit 1–3 paragraphs including information about the nominee’s approaches to addressing the root causes of social issues. This may include involvement in public policy reform, community organizing, community-based research, social entrepreneurism, or other efforts to build the capacity of community-based organizations. Additionally, please include why you believe this person has the motivation and potential to develop innovative and collaborative approaches to addressing public problems and to contribute to a network of similarly committed students.

A committee will review nominations to select one student from Drake University to be nominated for the Fellowship. That student will need to complete additional paperwork.

Please submit nominations to Amanda Martin, assistant director of Community Engaged Learning, at amanda.martin@drake.edu no later than Jan. 11.  View more information about the Fellowship.

Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning and Service