All posts by Bonnie Ehler

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Call for nominations: Principal Global Practitioner/Scholar-In-Residence

The Office of Global Engagement invites nominations for the Principal Global Practitioner/Scholar-in-Residence Program for 2022–2023, seeking to attract talented individuals from academia or the professions who have outstanding international expertise to teach a course, mentor students, give public lectures, work on joint research with faculty, and aid the global capacity-building of the institution as a whole through fruitful collaborations. Nominations will be considered for fall, spring, or the full academic year.

Nomination Instructions:
Candidates should be nominated by faculty or administrators within the academic unit to which they will be attached. (Candidates must be non-Drake faculty or employees). Please submit the following supporting materials:

  • A nomination letter discussing the qualifications of the candidate and expected contributions to the department and Drake University as a whole
  • Candidate’s biographical information
  • A letter of interest from the candidate
  • A letter of support from the department chair and college/school dean

Nominations should be directed to Annique Kiel, executive director of Global Engagement and International Programs, by Feb. 18, 2022. Units considering a nomination are encouraged to consult with Annique prior to submission (annique.kiel@drake.edu).

Among the criteria to be considered for the nominee:
1. A record of recognized leadership in a global context and distinguished professional accomplishment in their field
2. A documented commitment to international understanding and global citizenship
3. An ability to bring global perspectives and experiences to the Drake community
4. A willingness and ability to offer a course(s) that complements the existing curriculum and meets rigorous academic standards.

In recognition of their contributions, Global Practitioners/Scholars receive a stipend, a travel allowance, an appropriate workspace in the host college/school, and access to university facilities. Global Practitioners/Scholars will be affiliated with an appropriate academic unit for at least one semester and offer at least one course per term.

This program is proudly sponsored by the Principal Center for Global Citizenship, housed within the Office of Global Engagement.

—Bonnie Ehler, Global Engagement

HR Information Archive

Heart health month

February is American Heart Month—a great time to be reminded about the importance of practicing heart-healthy habits. Not-so-fun fact: Every 36 seconds in the U.S. someone dies from cardiovascular disease, and heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States.

Do you know your risks? Risk factors include smoking, inactivity, high blood pressure, obesity/overweight, high cholesterol, and family history of heart disease. Although you can’t fix family history, no matter your age, you can take simple steps to lower your risk for a heart attack or stroke.

Know your numbers. Get your annual physical and review your medical conditions with your primary care physician. This includes controlling your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels and weight.

Choose healthy foods and beverages. Add some heart-healthy recipes into your day and reduce the amount of sodium, sugar, and bad fats from your diet.

Get moving. Regular physical activity is a must for all ages. It could be as simple as walking more and sitting less. And don’t forget to add some resistance training. Moving your body has benefits beyond a healthy heart. It can help reduce stress, keep your joints healthy and improve brain function.

If you smoke – QUIT.  There are a number of online resources to help you reach this goal.

In addition, if you are not vaccinated against COVID-19, the American Heart Association (AHA) joins Drake in encouraging you to do so!

“Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is especially important for heart and stroke patients because people with such underlying conditions are more likely to develop complications from the disease.” The AHA offers more details on the importance of vaccination and heart health here.

If you want to get started toward a healthier heart but don’t know where to begin, follow this 28-Days Toward a Healthy Heart chart.  These small steps could make a giant leap in your health!

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Call for nominations: Principal Global Citizenship Award

Nominations are being accepted for the Principal Global Citizenship Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to global engagement and internationalization of the campus and curriculum on the part of faculty or staff. The selected awardee will receive a plaque, up to $3,000, and will be announced at the 2022 Global Citizen Forum in March. A screening committee will review all nominations and make recommendations to the Provost.  Nominations should be submitted to Bonnie Ehler at bonnie.ehler@drake.edu by Monday, Feb.14, 2022. 

A letter of nomination should be submitted recommending an individual for the award and explaining the context and manner in which the nominator has come to know the faculty or staff member. This letter should speak to the following qualifications:

Pursuant to the University’s mission to develop “responsible global citizens,” explain how the nominee has made outstanding contributions at Drake toward realizing the following:

  1. Support Drake University as a global institution by creating linkages to global partners in local, national, and international settings;
  2. Develop and/or actively support global and intercultural learning opportunities for Drake students;
  3. Develop infrastructure, resources, and partnerships to support internationalization and global engagement.

The nominee must be a faculty or staff member with at least four years of service at the University. The nominee cannot have won this award within the past five years. Faculty and staff members who report directly to Global Engagement are ineligible.

Nominees who indicate a willingness to be considered will be invited to submit a resume or C.V. and a statement discussing their contributions to the above goals. Up to three letters of support from unit or institutional leadership, faculty, staff, or students will be accepted (this is optional).

Any individual who was nominated for the award in 2021 may be re-nominated if the nominator resubmits a letter offering the individual for consideration this year. Files of previous nominees are maintained for one year. If a faculty/staff member is re-nominated, the nominator will be invited to review the file from the previous year to ensure that the nomination is as current as possible.

Past recipients include:

2021 – Sally Haack, Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Clinical Sciences

2020 – Jody Swilky, Ellis and Nelle Levitt Professor of English/Writing Workshop

2019 – Pramod Mahajan, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences

2018 – Tim Knepper, Professor of Philosophy/Comparison Project Director

2017 – John Rovers, Professor of Pharmacy & Health Sciences

2016 – Ellen Yee, Professor of Law/Director of International Programs

Nomination letters are due by Feb. 14, 2022 and should be sent as an attachment to bonnie.ehler@drake.edu.  Questions may be directed to Annique Kiel, Executive Director of Global Engagement and International Programs, at annique.kiel@drake.edu.

— Bonnie Ehler, Global Engagement

Campus Announcements Archive

Black Women’s Battles for Survivors’ Benefits in Post-Civil War America

Dr. Brandi Brimmer, Morehead-Cain Associate Professor in the Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present a lecture on Friday, Feb. 25, 6:30 pm, in Levitt Hall, Old Main.

This presentation explores how poor Black women used newly opened federal institutions during the Reconstruction era to make claims of citizenship and build new lives for themselves in freedom. Based on an analysis pension files initiated by southern Black women, it will examine how newly freed Black women leveraged their status as Union widows to gain access to U.S. pension bureaucracy.

Sponsored by Office of Campus Equity and Inclusion, and Drake History Department

— Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Drake Basketball faculty and staff days Feb. 4 and Feb. 26

Drake Basketball will host Faculty and Staff Appreciation Days on Friday, Feb. 4, and Saturday, Feb. 26. Each faculty and staff member can receive up to four complimentary tickets to each game.

Redeem Tickets: Feb. 4 – Women’s Basketball Pink Game vs. Valparaiso at 6 p.m. Free T-shirt giveaway!

Redeem Tickets: Feb. 26 – Men’s Basketball vs. SIU at 3 p.m.

For more information on all Faculty and Staff Appreciation days, visit DrakeTix.com/facultyandstaffdays. Please remember that per Drake University policy, masks are required in the Knapp Center.

— Aimee Lane, Athletics

For Students Archive

Summer 2022 travel seminar deadline extended

The deadline to apply for a Summer 2022 travel seminar has been extended to Feb. 18. Apply for a summer travel seminar today!

Summer 2022 travel seminars are:

Germany & Poland: Heritage and Holocaust: Read more on the blog.

Uganda: Sustainable Development in Africa: Read more.

Additionally, information sessions for each of the Summer 2022 travel seminars will be held in the coming weeks. 

For Germany and Poland, virtual sessions will take place: 

  • Wednesday, Feb. 2, from 6 p.m.–7 p.m.
  • Friday, Feb. 4, from 2 p.m.–3 p.m.
  • Wednesday, Feb. 9, from 4 p.m.–5 p.m. 
  • Use this link to join a session.

For Uganda, virtual sessions will take place: 

  • Wednesday, Feb. 2, from 5 p.m.–6 p.m.
  • Thursday, Feb. 3, from 5 p.m.–6 p.m.
  • Thursday, Feb. 10, from 5 p.m.–6 p.m.
  • Use this link to join a session (passcode: 864289)

To apply for a travel seminar, visit Terra Dotta, Drake’s online application portal. Use your Drake ID and password to login. Additionally, the deadline to apply for a Global Learning Scholarship has been extended to Feb. 15. Scholarship applications can be found within your Terra Dotta application. 

For questions about a specific travel seminar, contact the course instructor. For general study abroad questions or issues with Terra Dotta, contact studyabroad@drake.edu.

— Nathan Jacobson, Global Engagement

HR Information Archive

Accepting feedback: Customized Work Arrangements policy

The amazing group of employees who came together to help assess the future of flexible work for staff has been released of their task force service. While the updated existing policies, newly adopted policies, and supporting resources will be works in progress for the foreseeable future, the task force’s work is now officially complete.

In line with each one of our Core Values, Drake HR would like to thank each of the task force members for their:

  • Joyful Accountability in being curious, creative, brave, and bold;
  • Generosity of Spirit in approaching this work by presuming the very best in our talented and dedicated staff and with an eye always on equity and inclusion;
  • Desire to be All In This Together—assuring the task force’s work was regularly communicated to campus with the highest levels of transparency and with opportunities for feedback and input; and
  • 100% Commitment to Drake’s Mission in keeping our students first, while simultaneously acting with purpose and optimism in how we evolve and modernize our approach to workforce management.

As we have shared with campus previously, we are adopting a Customized Work Arrangement Policy to replace and supersede policies informing staff about telecommuting, flexible schedules, and summer hours. The CWA policy is now live and posted in the Policy Library. Since it is a brand-new policy, we will conduct a formal review of the policy after it has been in place for one year. Until then, we are accepting on-going feedback, suggestions, and questions. You can direct them to drakehr@drake.edu, please use the subject line: CWA Policy and let us know what you think. We still have a lot of learning to do and we will make improvements as we identify them.

Drake HR is creating a CWA page on its website that will house a variety of tools, templates, and resources relating to the CWA policy. A lot of time and effort has been put into them and we hope that investment of time is reflected in their usefulness to both staff and managers. If you are interested in exploring with your manager a CWA, we suggest you spend some time with these new resources as a next step.

If any managers or department would be interested in training for their areas, please let us know. We are happy to provide whatever assistance or training may be helpful.

Managers: separate communications will be coming your way in the coming weeks addressing how to help review and update essential functions of your direct reports and conduct eligibility assessments of existing positions—as these will be important initial steps to complete before approving any new CWA requests.

Once again, we thank the task force and also all staff who provided feedback, ideas, and suggestions throughout this journey. It’s not over, but it feels great to have covered this much distance already.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

Campus Announcements Archive

Search for Title IX coordinator

Drake University thanks Jessica Morgan-Tate for serving as the University’s Title IX administrator since 2018. Jessica is leaving Drake to accept a position in Arizona.

Assistant Director of Public Safety and Operational Services Tricia McKinney will serve as interim Title IX coordinator until the position is filled. Tricia has experience in Title IX matters and is trained in Title IX, VAWA, and Clery reporting. We are grateful for Tricia’s willingness to serve as a resource to students, faculty, and staff. 

The search process for the Title IX coordinator role is underway—watch for updates in future issues of OnCampus. The Title IX office can be contacted at  (515) 271-4956 or titleIX@drake.edu.

— Venessa Macro, Chief Administration Officer

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

New UCM internal department site

The Office of University Communications and Marketing is excited to announce the launch of its new internal department site within the University intranet. Content on this site is only accessible to internal audiences (faculty, staff, and students). You can find UCM’s internal department site by going to:

  1. my.drake.edu
  2. Campus Resources > Department Sites
  3. Administrative Departments > University Communications & Marketing

On the department site, you will find UCM’s Toolkit with helpful brand, editorial, logo, and graphic design resources; PowerPoint and Word templates; and information about the people and functions of UCM.

ITS is helping departments across campus create internal department sites. These sites are an ideal place to house internal-audience content securely and provide an easier path to navigate to employee forms, resources, department news, and other key information for the Drake community. 

If your department would like to transition to an internal department site, contact Jeff Regan, technical project manager, at jeffrey.regan@drake.edu.

— Kelsey Faybik, University Communications and Marketing

For Students Archive

An Evening with Ty Marcellus: Creator of NightWraith and Nu World Comics

An Evening with Ty Marcellus: Creator of NightWraith and Nu World Comics will be held Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. in Sussman Auditorium, Olmsted Center. Ty Marcellus has combined his music career with his passion for comics to create a universe with over 1,000 characters, and he’s combined music with each adventure.

This event is sponsored by the Office of Campus Equity and Inclusion and Coalition of Black Students.

Register at Eventbrite

— Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost