All posts by Drinda Williams

Campus Announcements Archive

Follow-up panel April 13: Ongoing war in Ukraine

Please join faculty from the Department of Political Science and the Department of History for a second panel discussion about the ongoing war in Ukraine. This event will be held Wednesday, April 13, from 12:30–1:45 p.m. in the Reading Room at Cowles Library. The Iowa United Nations Association will be streaming the event on Facebook Live.

Panelists include:

  • Amir Busnov (B.A. in International Relations from Drake University): Following his graduation from Drake, Mr. Busnov completed his Masters in International Affairs from the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy. He recently returned from Ukraine where he has been serving as a Monitoring Officer with the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Special Monitoring Mission.
  • Rob Collis (Visiting Assistant Professor of History): Professor Collis specializes in European and Russian history, and has published widely on Russian history.
  • Debra DeLaet (Professor of Political Science): Professor DeLaet has particular interest in the politics of international law and the role of the United Nations in global politics. Her scholarship focuses on human rights and global gender issues.
  • David Skidmore (Professor of Political Science) has a scholarly interest in U.S. foreign policy decision-making. His scholarship focuses on U.S. foreign policy and international political economy.
  • Kieran Williams (Assistant Professor of Political Science): Professor Williams has a special interest in the politics of Central and Eastern Europe. His publications include several works relating to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

This panel will offer a follow-up to the forum we offered last month focusing on the history of the conflict and region. Our follow-up panel on April 13 will be particularly focused on international security and international law concerns related to the war in Ukraine. Panelists will make brief introductory remarks, and a majority of our time will be devoted to audience questions and discussion. Light refreshments will be served.

— Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

Campus Announcements Archive

Hubbell dinning hours during Ramadan

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar is considered one of the holiest months of the year for Muslims. To support our Muslim community, Hubbell will extend dinner service to 8:30 p.m. beginning Saturday, April 2, and continue through Monday, May 2.  To learn more about Ramadan, visit:

livescience.com/61815-what-is-ramadan.html

urdupoint.com/islam/des-moines-ramadan-calendar-sehar-aftar-timing.html

islamiccenterdm.com/

— Division of Student Affairs

Campus Announcements Archive

Nominate students for the Adams Leadership Awards

The Adams Leadership Awards are an annual, campus-wide tradition to celebrate the achievements of student leaders and organizations at Drake University. Each spring we honor students and organizations who have made valuable contributions to the campus community through their outstanding commitment to leadership.

Please consider nominating any Drake students and student organizations who have exhibited strong leadership and excellence throughout the 2021–2022 academic year. Nominations can be submitted by any Drake student, faculty, or staff member. Award categories include:

  • Outstanding Bright College Student
  • Outstanding Transfer Student
  • Outstanding Equity and Inclusion Program
  • Oreon E. Scott Outstanding Senior of the Year
  • …and many more!

View a full list of awards and the nomination form here. The nomination deadline is Sunday, April 10th at 11:59 p.m.

All award nominees and winners will be recognized at the Adams Leadership Awards ceremony and reception, taking place in Sheslow Auditorium on Wednesday, May 4, at 6 p.m. (Save the date! All students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to attend.)

If you have any questions, please contact Kristin Economos, director of student leadership programs, at kristin.economos@drake.edu.

— Kristin Economos, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership

Campus Announcements Archive

Back to Class: Antibiotic Resistance with Andrew Miesner

Hear from Andrew Miesner, PH’07, about his research related to antibiotic resistance on Monday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. via Microsoft Teams. Anyone is welcome to attend, regardless of their affiliation to Drake. Register.

Andrew Miesner, PH’07, serves as an associate professor of pharmacy practice at Drake University and as a clinical pharmacist at Broadlawns Medical Center in the Department of Internal Medicine. Andrew Miesner graduated with his Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Drake University in 2007. His research interests include internal medicine, infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, clinical teaching methods and interprofessional education.

— Courtney Conrad, Alumni Relations

Campus Announcements Archive

Teams calling update and maintenance

On Friday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m., ITS and our service provider, Lumen/CenturyLink will complete the move of campus telephone numbers to voice over IP (VOIP) service. The migration process could last up to four hours during which brief voice outages could occur on each number as it is moved to the new service.

This is the last major milestone in migrating away from Drake’s outdated phone systems to Microsoft Teams Calling. ITS acknowledges the transition to Teams for voice services has been difficult and caused frustration across campus due to poor call quality and dropped connections. We are optimistic that completing migration will address these issues by eliminating the need to route calls through old voice equipment. A pilot group of numbers was moved to the new voice trunk lines late last year and we have seen a marked improvement in voice quality and reliability in that group.

Additionally, ITS staff have been working with a third party vendor over the past several weeks to ensure Drake’s configuration of Teams Calling adheres to Microsoft’s best practices, prepare for the migration on Friday, and facilitate a smooth changeover to the new service. ITS is committed to improving Teams voice quality and trusts this investment will be another factor in improving the reliability of the system.

Thank you for your patience and support during this long transitional period away from our legacy voice system to Teams Calling.

— Chris Mielke, ITS

Campus Announcements Archive

Spring 2022 edition of DUSSJ is online

The Spring 2022 edition of the Drake University Social Science Journal (DUSSJ) is now online. See this year’s excellent lineup of papers: drake.edu/dussj/currentedition/

DUSSJ would like to extend a special thank you to this year’s student editorial board who did an excellent job administering the 2022 edition. The board members are:

  • Samantha Byrnes
  • Molly Green
  • Stephanie Kiel
  • Jacob Lish
  • Ariel Merritt
  • Gabby Neddermeyer

Thank you all for your excellent work!

— Heath Hendersen, Associate Professor of Economics, CBPA

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Submit requests for summer office moves by April 15

Friday, April 15, is the deadline to submit your request to Facilities Planning and Management to get on the schedule for summer office moves. We are moving more than 60 faculty and staff this summer as part of the Meredith and Knapp Center projects. To be able to accommodate move requests outside of these major projects, we will be scheduling the move logistics between July 15 and Aug. 15.  We will work to accommodate your requests in conformance with our campus-wide space-use plan.

Information to include:

  1. Name of person moving
  2. Existing office location (building and room number)
  3. Potential new office location (building and room number)
  4. Additional furniture needs
  5. FOAPAL to support move expenses. Typical moving cost is $500 to $1,000/office (pending moving of furniture)
  6. Signed approval from the respective dean (email approval is acceptable)

Please forward requests to Planning and Design Manager Michelle Huggins at michelle.huggins@drake.edu.

— Michelle Huggins, Facilities Planning and Management

HR Information Archive

HR hires first ever TA/DEI specialist

Human Resources is pleased to announce that it has hired its first ever talent acquisition and diversity, equity, and inclusion specialist. Some of you may already know Marli Jefferson, as she is an existing member of the Drake family. Marli joined Public Safety in 2017, and upon obtaining her master’s, she was eager to take on a new challenge.

Marli Jefferson receiving her diploma following completion of her master’s degree at Drake.

Although diversity, equity, and inclusion are topics we all deeply care about in Human Resources, our department has not yet had a person with the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion in their job title. Make no mistake, DEI is a part of each of our roles. However, we both wanted and needed additional expertise in these areas, as we strive to continuously grow, change, and improve. We are thrilled that Marli brings both expertise and enthusiasm to the table when it comes to DEI. And, if you have been involved in any hires recently, you already know that talent acquisition is a space where we could use some more help.

“I am so happy to continue my professional journey at Drake,” said Marli. “I am excited to bring my expertise but most of all my passion and willingness to learn to this new position. There is tremendous space for modernizing how we approach talent acquisition and further embed DEI principles in the work that we do. I am looking forward to contributing to these efforts.”

In the TA/DEI specialist role, Marli will play a prominent part our talent acquisition strategies and practices—including new employee orientation, search committee training, and student employment. As some of you may have heard, the parent company of Hire Touch, our current applicant tracking system, is going to sunset the program at the end of the year. Marli will be part of the project team searching for Hire Touch’s replacement. Her timing in joining our department could not be better.

We thank you for your Generosity of Spirit as we managed these past several months without a full team. We also want to thank those who served on the search committee as their feedback was incredibly valuable in the vetting process. Drake HR is happy to once again be fully staffed.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources