All posts by Matthew Mitchell

Campus Announcements Archive

DSM Future Forward Plan: Input and opinions needed

Your opinions are valued AND needed for the Downtown DSM Future Forward plan. This is a community-driven vision and action plan, to help position Downtown Des Moines (DSM) for short-term recovery and long-term vitality and vibrancy.

On the DSM Future Forward project landing site you will be able to participate in public engagement at your convenience. Mapping activities, a schedule of in-person events, and an online survey are just some of the ways you can share your hopes, dreams, and concerns for Downtown Des Moines. Those ideas will translate into themes that will carry through the process and find their way into the final vision and action plan. The importance of public engagement cannot be stressed enough and we truly want to hear from everyone who interacts with Downtown Des Moines in some way—be that through live, work, or play. This diverse community deserves to see itself reflected in the future planning for this city and, specifically, this Downtown. Let’s make Downtown Des Moines a vibrant and exciting place for ALL people. Together.

Specifically, you can help by filling out the Online Questionnaire and share your ideas and concerns in the Interactive Map.

Please visit the project page at:  https://rdgusa.mysocialpinpoint.com/downtown-dsm-future-forward/share/4032f187.

The DSM community input period will conclude on Jan. 29, 2022.

— Matthew Mitchell, Associate Professor of International Business

Campus Announcements Archive

Call for presenters: Student Organizations Presidents’ Summit

Apply now to become a presenter at the Spring 2022 Registered Student Organizations Presidents’ Summit on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 4 p.m. in the Olmsted Center.

Student Life is seeking presenters to educate student leaders on a topic that will benefit them and the campus community. Applications will be reviewed and selected by Student Life staff. Proposals are due by Jan. 7 at 5 p.m.

View the application

— Isaac Newsome, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Proposals for FY23 Global Partnership Grants

Office of Global Engagement is now accepting proposals for FY23 Global Partnership Grants.

Drake University has established formal partnerships with multiple institutions abroad. Joint faculty and staff projects with our global partner institutions may be eligible for financial support through the Global Partnership Grants. Please contact Annique Kiel for more information or to get connected with a global partner institution.

Eligibility and criteria
Full-time faculty and staff are eligible to apply for Global Partnership Grants for activities taking place during FY23. Preference will be given to proposals that:

  • identify a specific set of activities with distinct outcomes with one (or more) of our partner institutions
  • demonstrate specific impact on Drake curriculum, students and current global partnerships
  • advance Drake’s global engagement with existing partners in new ways
  • support involvement by individuals who have not previously been globally engaged
  • are financially supported by the school, college, or department of the individual submitting the proposal
  • align with internationally or globally focused unit objectives and/or the University’s Continuous Improvement Plan

Application process:

  1. Discuss the proposed activity with your unit director or dean prior to submission to help determine its strategic value and if it aligns with the unit’s global engagement priorities. The discussion will help determine the unit’s interest and ability to support the proposal with financial resources.
  2. Submit the online application via Qualtrics, which includes a description and budget (*see note) for the proposed activity. Deadline: Jan. 7, 2022
  3. Deans/directors will review all proposals for their unit with the Global Partnerships Coordinator and the Executive Director of Global Engagement for prioritization and to make collaborative funding decisions. Final award decisions are expected to be announced in February 2022.

*Note, Global Engagement grant funds are not typically awarded for stipends for Drake faculty and staff; however, stipend requests may be considered for funding by your unit’s Dean/Director on a case-by-case basis. The College of Arts & Sciences will not fund stipends.

Learn more about Drake’s global partner institutions and other opportunities for funding global projects at drake.edu/global.

— Bonnie Ehler, Global Engagement

News & Achievements Archive

CBPA virtual business team selected as 3rd place winner by Google sponsor

Congratulations to our CBPA BUS-120 (Communication Leadership for Virtual Teams) student teams who participated in the University of Southern California-Marshall School of Business, Virtual Business Professional Project.

CBPA student Zack Gray and his team were selected as 3rd place winners by our Google sponsor. Additionally, CBPA student Zach Drummond and his team were also selected to be one of the top three teams reviewed by our SpaceX sponsor. Additional CBPA students participating in this project were Sophia Dehl, Chaz Hancock, Hunter James, Mike Lopez, and Jacob Richard.

VBP project coordinators placed each of our CBPA students on a virtual, globally-distributed team comprised of 4–5 other students selected from 28 countries. In all, 85 teams participated in the VBP project’s consulting challenge—to analyze the social media branding of one of three corporate sponsors—Google, Netflix, and SpaceX. In recognition of their hard work, students who completed the project received a digital badge that may be shared on their favorite social media feeds.

— Lynn McCool, College of Business & Public Administration

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Called to be True Blue awards announced

We are pleased to announce the winners of Called to be True Blue awards for the Fall 2021 semester.

  • Marietta Jackson, Sodexo Manager
  • Ann Guddall, Academic Affairs Business Manager
  • Erica Hartschen, Assistant to the Vice President
  • Sheri Gavin, Budget and Office Manager, CBPA and SJMC
  • Nate Reagen, Chief of Staff
  • SJMC Staff
  • Elizabeth Kozor, Director of Campaign Communications
  • Kara Blanchard, Assistant Dean for Admissions & Financial Aid, Law School
  • Kerry King-Jordan, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life
  • Ted Lyddon-Hatten, Spiritual Counselor
  • Isaac Newsome, Director of Student Life
  • Kevin Grady, Coordinator for Registered Student Organizations
  • Amanda Martin, Assistant Director, Community Engaged Learning and Service
  • Maggie Fiala and Jeannie Nielson, Experiential Education, CPHS
  • Shawn Madson, Director, System Engineering, IT
  • Cowles Library Access Service Team

A staff member who is called to be True Blue is someone who: 

  1. Epitomizes the values of leadership, teamwork, and integrity, and exhibits their commitment to the Drake community
  2. Has shown others what it takes to get a task or project done, and accomplishes that by working well with others
  3. Is able to be honest and fair in the situations they face
  4. Does all of these things for the betterment of Drake and its values and goals.

To nominate someone, please go to this link – https://www.drake.edu/asc/recognition/calledtobetrueblue/

— Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Cookie decorating with All Staff Council

Join the All Staff Council in celebrating this joyous time of year while decorating festive cookies! Lynne Cornelius will be showing us her expert decorating skills starting at 3 p.m. on Dec. 17 via Teams. Join the event here (and look for it on the University Calendar).

This is a virtual, family-friendly event for decorators of all ages. We will raffle off a dozen cookies to a lucky participant.

Please contact ascspecialevents@drake.edu with any questions or comments.

— ASC Events and Community Service Committee

Campus Announcements Archive

Nominations open for Adams Leadership Awards

Nominations are open! The Adams Leadership Awards are an annual, campus-wide tradition to celebrate the achievements of all student leaders and organizations at Drake University. Each year, 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 fall 2021 semester. Nominations can be submitted by any Drake student, faculty, or staff member.

Award categories include:

  • Outstanding First Year Student
  • Outstanding Student Organization
  • 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. Nominations will be open through the spring semester, but don’t wait – nominate fall 2021 events and student leaders today before you leave for the semester break!

— Kristin Economos, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership

Campus Announcements Archive

Self Service changes coming in January

Drake is continuing to roll out updates as part of the project to update the MyDUSIS system to Self Service. The next round of updates will be coming in the second week of January.

In January, instead of seeing the MyDUSIS button in the Commonly Used Apps section of myDrake, you will see a Self Service button. When you click on it, you’ll land on a new navigation screen. ITS has created a guide, Navigating Self Service (How-to) to help you prepare for this change and learn how you customize this new screen.

In addition to these navigation changes you’ll also be required to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to access Self Service, and there will be new screens for both students and faculty members. Watch OnCampus and our other communication channels for further information and instructions.

— Kris Brewster, ITS

For Students Archive

Announcements impacting federal student loan borrowers

Over the past several months the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has issued several announcements and resources that are of interest to federal student loan borrowers.

The COVID-19 emergency relief for federal student loans, including the loan repayment/collection pause and the 0% interest rate, will expire on January 31, 2022. Learn more about what to expect here.

On Oct. 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education announced a temporary period during which borrowers may receive credit for payments that previously did not qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Learn more about this here.

Federal student loan servicers Navient, PHEAA (FedLoan Servicing), and Granite State have announced plans to stop servicing federal student loans. Borrowers currently assigned to these servicers can learn more about the USDE’s transition plans here.

— Ryan Zantingh, Student Financial Planning

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

GCTWF focus area: Attending to our culture

You may recall that three focus areas were identified from the 2021 Great Colleges to Work For (GCTWF) survey results. One of the focus areas seeks to facilitate re-connection and attending to our culture. One of the many wonderful suggestions that came from our focus group discussions was the need to bring back new employee orientation. As we hire new people, we should be setting standards and sharing values. New employees benefit from opportunities to ask questions and meet other new employees. New employee orientation simply needs to be brought back and not just resurrected but rebuilt to be better than before.

Sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it?

We are working on the agenda and organizing it around Drake’s Core Values. We are thrilled to share that every member of the President’s Council has committed to taking turns being a speaker at the orientation sessions. Human Resources is working with key departments across the institution to assure the new employee orientation experience is robust, informative and, well, fun. It should not just be a learning event, but one that builds community–and culture. As a new employee, part of the benefit of attending orientation is to meet people outside of their work areas and, hopefully, make some new work friends.

Every new program benefits from a pilot or two, so we are planning on scheduling pilot sessions in early 2022 where we will invite newer employees to attend. These will be folks who never got to attend new employee orientation. This will be a great opportunity to make up for that missed opportunity, while also getting valuable feedback on the material and format. If you are not a newer employee but you would like the opportunity to attend a pilot and provide feedback, let Maureen know.

We’ll be looking to have a pilot in late January and another in early to mid-February. We’ll “go live” in early March. Our hope is that we’ll be in a place with COVID-19 where we can have the pilots be in-person, but we will plan for virtual orientation if that’s the safer route to go at that time.

If you have ideas or suggestions on how to help cultivate Drake’s culture, we would still love to hear from you. Please reach out to Nate or Maureen.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources; Nate Reagen, Office of the President