All posts by Ashton Hockman

Campus Announcements Archive

University Advancement highlights 2018 gift commitments

As the campus community steps into the exciting process of Big Ideas—helping to shape the future priorities of Drake—it seems a good time to celebrate Drake’s culture of philanthropy and the powerful impact of our alumni and friends. Gifts from generous donors are vital to our success, allowing us to do things that would otherwise not be possible.

University Advancement’s focused development efforts, working alongside partners from across the University, has resulted in a successful start to this fundraising year. Since the start of the fiscal year, a number of meaningful gifts have been secured/documented. Below is not an exhaustive list, but it does highlight many new gift commitments since July.

Thanks to each of you who help to foster Drake’s culture of philanthropy through enthusiastic representation, meaningful stewardship, passionate advocacy, and true commitment to share University Advancement’s effort to inspire and engage alumni, students, and friends advancing the mission of the University.

  • Scholarship and Travel Funds — $1.7 million (supporting all colleges/schools)
    • Including $1 million received gift from the estate of Dorothy Dawson for scholarship supporting the School of Education
  • The Ray Center — $710,000
  • Boys and Girls Club capital — $105,000
  • Drake Law School — $137,000
  • Drake Athletics — $473,000
  • The Harkin Institute — $4 million
  • Slay Fund for Social Justice — $100,000
  • CBPA Career Services — $50,000
  • SJMC — $125,000 (planned gift)
  • Marching Band — $125,000 (planned gift)
  • University General Endowment — $200,000
  • Sustainability Initiative — $100,000+
  • Murphy Cup (CBPA) — $25,000
  • Arts and Sciences — $44,500
  • Buchanan Center (CBPA) — $100,000
  • World Language Programs — $40,000
  • Pharmacy — $31,000
  • Lorentzen Hatchery (CBPA) — $150,000
  • The Drake Fund to date — $1.425 million (as of December 7)

—John Smith, University Advancement

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive, For Students Archive

myDrake, MyDUSIS, and Banner 9 extended maintenance outage

ITS is preparing for a major upgrade to the servers hosting our campus applications. This upgrade will begin during our standard maintenance period on Thursday, Dec. 20. Due to the complexity of the work required, ITS will start the maintenance window at 6 p.m. on Dec. 20 and conclude it by 1 a.m. on Dec. 21.

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

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Holiday check schedule

Please note the following schedule for check processing to accommodate the 2018 winter break:

Winter break:

  • All check requests are due to Accounts Payable by the end of the business day, Friday, Dec. 14.
  • For requests received by the above deadline, checks will be processed on one of the two final check runs of the year and available either by noon on Tuesday, Dec. 18 or Thursday, Dec. 20. The check processing on Dec. 20 will be the last check run before the holiday.
  • The accounting office will be closed during both holiday breaks. Normal check processing will resume on Friday, Jan. 4.

Thank you for your help in coordinating to ensure we meet all needs during the upcoming season.

Please contact Jeni at ext. 4509 with any questions you may have.

Jeni Baugher, Accounting Supervisor

For Faculty Archive

Faculty writing group, spring semester 2019

Faculty members are invited to participate in a faculty writing group meeting approximately once a month over the spring semester. The first meeting will be 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1. The writing group will be co-facilitated by En Li (History) and Nate Holdren (LPS). Our goals will be to help ourselves make progress on our scholarship during the semester, and do so more efficiently and enjoyably. In our meetings, we will discuss our goals, plans, and progress on our writing, share how we organize our writing time, and discuss challenges in our writing. Depending on participant interest, we will workshop each other’s work and write on site. We will also read a book on academic writing such as Joli Jensen’s Write No Matter What or Robert Boice’s Professor as Writers and discuss it to the degree that participants find it useful. 

There are spots for 10 faculty participants. We are especially interested in faculty working on writing book proposals and manuscripts for first books. Should space become limited, priority shall be given to 1) those who participated in previous faculty writing groups we have facilitated, 2) tenure-track faculty, and 3) faculty who are members of under-represented groups. 

This writing group is supported by a Faculty Enrichment Grant from the Provost’s Office. Faculty who attend all sessions will receive a small stipend of approximately $150. People who can only attend some of the sessions are encouraged to participate if doing so helps their writing.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Kayla Jenkins (kayla.jenkins@drake.edu) by Monday, Dec. 17. 

If you have questions, please contact En Li (en.li@drake.edu) and Nate Holdren (nate.holdren@drake.edu). 

—En Li, History Department

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

What is your Drake account worth?

Do you know the value of your email account? How about the value of accounts that may be associated with your Drake email or personal email address, as seen in this graphic (courtesy of Krebs on Security)?

Nearly all online services require an email address to create an account, and with that email address, someone can reset any password for associated services or accounts.

There isn’t a central exchange for compromised accounts in the criminal world, but price lists are posted from time to time, and offer some insights. For criminals, iTunes accounts can be worth up to $8, FedEx and airlines up to $6, Groupon fetches $5, and wireless providers such as AT&T and Verizon go for around $4. Facebook and Twitter retail for only $2.50 each. Online shopping retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Target go for $1 to $3 each.

These prices pale in comparison to the value of the data within our accounts. Correspondence with colleagues, financial, health, and student information all carry great value. When this information is exposed, Drake faces financial theft, regulatory fines, reputation loss, and greater scrutiny.

Know the characteristics of phishing to defeat attackers and keep everyone’s information protected. Slow down and look carefully for red flags that give away an email’s intent before acting. Suspicious emails can be reported here.

—Peter Lundstedt, ITS

HR Information Archive

Wellmark Wellness Center access in 2019

Beginning Jan. 1, 2019, Drake faculty and staff will no longer have access to the Wellmark Wellness Center located in myWellmark.

If you are on Drake’s medical plan, completed a wellness assessment, and would like to save a copy before Jan. 1, 2019, please follow these steps:

  • Go to wellmark.com
  • Log in using your Wellmark User ID and Password
  • Click on Visit the Wellness Center
  • You will receive a message letting you know you are leaving a Wellmark site. Click OK.
  • Click on the Healthy Living tab at the top of the page
  • Click on Wellness Assessment
  • Click Print Reports in the upper right corner of the page
  • You have a choice of three reports. You may print any or all of them.

If you have questions, please contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Town hall and Drake social Thursday

Please plan to attend the Town Hall meeting Thursday, Dec. 13, at Shivers Hospitality Suite. It will begin at 3:30 p.m. and be followed by the Provost’s Drake Social.

The Town Hall will include an update on the budget by CFO Teresa Krejci, and President Marty Martin will share information about Drake’s Big Ideas initiative.

At the Drake Social, those who have been nominated as exemplifying the Drake Core Value “Generosity of Spirit” will be recognized. From among those nominated, three will be chosen at random to select from a menu of prizes, such as: premier parking for a month, a pie baked by the Provost, a restaurant gift card, afternoon snacks for the office, and more.

To celebrate each of our core values, several employees have shared their thoughts on Generosity of Spirit — take a look!

—Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

For Students Archive

Final grades due Dec. 19

Final grades for non-Law School courses are due Wednesday, Dec. 19. Final grades for the Law School are due Tuesday, Jan. 15.

Generally, final grades are available to view by the first calendar day following the day the grade was entered. You may view your final grades by clicking the “My Grades” link under the Student Records area in MyDrake.

Have a wonderful and safe winter break.

—Kevin Moenkhaus, Associate Registrar