Drake’s core values form the foundation of how we perform our work, how we conduct ourselves, and how we interact with one another. Our core values serve as a foundation to help guide us in building a stronger, more vibrant campus culture.

Over the next four weeks, we will explore how each core value specifically supports an environment where employees are appreciated and can appreciate each other. Let’s start with:

Joyful Accountability

• I am curious and creative, brave and bold.
• I strive each day to be my best.

What an empowering core value to have! In many organizations, accountability is thought of as almost a punitive concept. The subject comes up when something doesn’t go right—when someone messes up. An image of accountability is often a pointing finger assigning blame.

Not here. This value tells us that it’s actually okay to be wrong—it’s acceptable to try and fail. We value improvement and innovation and sometimes even our best efforts in those areas miss the mark. And that’s okay. When we are diligent and things don’t pan out quite as we wanted, we can pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try again.

This value equally encourages us to be accountable for how we approach each day, as well as share in each other’s achievements and recognize our colleagues when they succeed. Let’s celebrate each other’s triumphs, learn from each other’s missteps, and strive together to think up new and better ways of carrying out our work.

Is there a staff member you want to hold accountable for their awesomeness—their propensity to be curious, creative, brave, or bold?  Why not nominate them for a Called to be True Blue award? If you know of a student worker who has been coming up with ideas and suggestions to help your department improve? Why not have the department put together a nice thank you card? Write them an unsolicited letter of thanks and recommendation that they can have on hand for the future? If you know a faculty member who has been going above and beyond with their ideas and suggestions for improvement—send an email to the Dean, heck the Provost, so their good work garners additional visibility.

“A culture of accountability makes a good organization great and a great organization unstoppable,” wrote author Henry Evans. Let’s channel accountability to inspire and fuel us. We can help contribute to such a culture by appreciating—embracing and encouraging—the ideas, suggestions, and innovative steps we all take with Drake’s students and best interests at heart. If you stop and think about it, it feels like appreciation is baked into this sentiment of joyful accountability. Isn’t that great?

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources; Nate Reagen, President’s Office

As part of Employee Appreciation Month, Human Resources is encouraging everyone to submit a shout-out for a faculty, staff, or student employee. Simply write a sentence of appreciation for a colleague and submit it to Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu. Deadline to submit a shout-out is March 24.

Read some of the shout-outs submitted this week!

“A shout-out to Trevon Smith: Trevon is always friendly and helpful for new Drake employees. He has embodied the Drake joyful accountability core value and displays it every day with a smile.” – Teresa Downs

“A shout-out to Brett Lindman: Brett is great to work with at Sodexo and does what he can to make every order count.” – Teresa Downs

“A shout-out to Drinda Williams: Drinda is always organized and has many great ideas. I enjoy being a co-chair with her on the ASC Recognition Committee.” – Teresa Downs

“A shout-out to Ann Guddall: I am newer to BOM meetings and Ann has a wonderful way of explaining topics in an easy-to-follow way. It is a pleasure to work with her.” – Teresa Downs

“A shout-out to Diana Newman for once again taking the lead on covering for CPHS staff absences/openings and assisting in areas beyond her responsibility. Her attention to detail and follow-through helps everyone else to be able to manage their responsibilities. Despite the additional work, she is always positive and helpful, even when she gets asked the same question multiple times!” – Renae Chesnut

“A shout-out to Laura Krossner: Laura has taken over e-reserves, etc. in Cowles Library. She’s been amazing this year as I have a lot of films and other things that need to go on reserve. When I needed a very difficult Interlibrary Loan, she called Duke Libraries, negotiated with their Interlibrary Loan folks, and secured the request. It took her a couple of weeks. I needed this obscure item for a conference paper. She’s just so infinitely helpful and is the type of person who will email me in the evening to tell me she followed through on a request.” – Dina Smith

“A shout-out to Phoenix Ford: I just got out of my evening class, and lo and behold, IT tech Phoenix Ford emailed me at 6 p.m., still working on my laptop. He’s been so helpful to me and others who have had laptop issues. I heard a story from a colleague that he stayed until 10 p.m. one night fixing her laptop so she could fly out of town the next morning.” – Dina Smith

“A shout-out to Nicki Kimm who worked diligently to correctly title and list my FYS course in the fall.  I require film screenings for FYS, and the schedule always seems to be wrong the first time it’s loaded.  Not this time around.  Nicki worked with me closely to get the course scheduled properly and found an old description for a revitalized FYS I plan to teach.  She’s wonderful!” – Dina Smith

“A shout-out to Ashley Rasmussen for always being so quick and efficient. I often have to get bits of information for the Provost’s Office, and Ashley never seems bothered by my repeated emails. She is pleasant and efficient. Thank you, Ashley!” – Drinda Williams

“A shout-out to Emily Fleming: I am so thankful for you and your great attitude no matter what comes along. It has been so wonderful working with you these last several months, especially as we have had to learn so many new things together. I appreciate how you are always willing to take anything on, and how you dig in and find out the best way to tackle a project. You are awesome, and I’m so glad you are here!” – Kristi Longtin

“A shout-out to Allyssa Fluit for helping to cover for staff absences and openings in the CPHS over the past few months. Even though she is new to Drake, she has been a quick learner and has taken on more responsibility to help cover for absences. She has a great can-do attitude and is always willing to pitch in and help!” – Renae Chesnut

“A shout-out to Ann Regan: Ann tackled a big project related to community college transfer credits that has allowed Drake to move forward with an important initiative.  Thanks to Ann, we are way ahead of where we would otherwise be with this project. She cheerfully worked through lots of tedious data, and I appreciate her efforts!” – Lauren McCarthy

“A shout-out to Jean Myers and Atong Nyok for their work keeping Collier-Scripps Hall clean and disinfected. It is nice to see their smiling face when I arrive in the morning.” – Cheri McDaniel

“A shout-out to Tricia McKinney, who has graciously taken on the interim Title IX Coordinator role for the past few weeks.  Tricia has helped ensure we continue to provide important information and support during a time of transition.  Her expertise and willingness to assist is much appreciated and valued!” – Venessa Macro

“A shout-out to Amanda Martin and Melissa Sturm-Smith for carrying the balls of so many projects while I was out on maternity leave.  They kept all the balls in the air and moving so that I could catch them upon my return.  Thank you!” – Renee Sedlacek Lee

“A shout-out to Trevon Smith: I greatly appreciate how Trevon Smith is always quickly responsive, courteous, and thorough.  I’m so thankful to have him at Drake!” – Valerie Thacker

“A shout-out to the Accounting Team: I love working with you ALL, and I appreciate all you do for this campus!  It’s always a pleasure to work with your team, and I appreciate your expert help.  You never make me feel like I’m asking a dumb question (which I might be) and are always patient when I make a silly mistake.  I can’t imagine all the things you process in a month – you’re a well-oiled machine, with great personalities to boot!  Keep up the amazing work.” – Sara Heijerman

“A shout-out to Natalie Russell: You have done such an amazing job taking over the reins in the mailroom – you’ve made incredible improvements in such a short period of time, and your dedication to “customer service” for the whole campus community is impressive and appreciated.  You clearly love what you do, and you are a breath of fresh air in my work life.  Keep up the great work!” – Sara Heijerman

“A shout-out to Korrine Jackson: You’re always so helpful and great to work with.  I really appreciate your collaboration when I need help with something – you’re always so kind and patient.  I really appreciate you, and Drake is lucky to have you!” – Sara Heijerman

“A shout-out to the Grounds Team: Thank you for keeping our campus clean and beautiful ALL YEAR, but especially for what you do in the spring and summer.  As a plant lover, I appreciate nothing more than walking the grounds and checking out all the impressive landscaping and flower arrangements.  You all do an AMAZING job, and I can’t wait to see this summer’s planters around campus!” – Sara Heijerman

“A shout-out to the IT Department: You are so knowledgeable and quick to respond.  I joke that I try to provide you all job security, but in truth, you make everything happen and you provide everyone else job (and other) security!  Thank you so much for all you do!” – Julie Olinger

“A shout-out to Suzanne Wisslead:  Thank you for all your guidance, support and patience!  I truly appreciate you.” – Julie Olinger

“A shout-out to the Grounds crew: Not only do you keep the grounds beautiful, but you also do an amazing job with snow removal, garbage, and event preparation.  Thank you for all your behind-the-scenes contributions!” – Julie Olinger

“A shout-out to Dr. Cris Wildermuth: I know Cris in several capacities: 1) Her reputation of excellence in teaching from her students in her graduate program. 2) Her YouTube webinars (always with Drake recognition) she offers on various technological skills. When she knew I was going to participate, she made sure I had access via captioning (I am Deaf) which she did herself for several situations.  She also used auto-speech recognition captioning and went back to the video to edit the captions! 3) Her blog (again supporting Drake) which she offers freely to share countless leadership and networking knowledge & skills. 4) Her participation in my ASL and Deaf Culture classes – she is my technology partner and has helped me learn about so many wonderful teaching technology tools. 5) Her beliefs in making student learning meaningful, fun, accessible, understandable, with rigor.  Sadly, Cris will be leaving Drake for new adventures in Florida at the end of this semester. She will be leaving a huge hole, as she is indispensable with her knowledge, ideas, passion, and influence. Those who have worked with her or learned under her have truly been wonderfully impacted in an enormous way that we will never forget Cris and her many amazing contributions.” –  Polly Brekke

Have you ever thought about something special you’d like to do or an amazing place you’d like to visit? It is easy to let the years go by without taking the initiative to do big things that really make you happy.

If you are ready to make a change, join the Bucket List Challenge. The goal is to create your personal bucket list, pick at least one item from your list, set a date, and check it off.

Are you ready? Send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu to participate.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources