All posts by Michelle Laughlin

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Access and Success offers a variety of resources: Coaching, tutoring, workshops, and more

Access and Success is a resource that offers academic coaching, disability services, and tutoring. We also offer workshops and webinars on a variety of topics.

If you have a student who could benefit from coaching in areas such as developing more effective study habits, building a time management routine, or addressing motivation challenges, refer them to Access and Success, and we will help them out.

Our next workshop, Tests and Time, is coming up soon. Check out our website for more information: Access & Success Workshops.

— Michelle Laughlin, Access and Success

For Students Archive

Access and Success offers a variety of resources: Coaching, tutoring, workshops, and more

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Are you needing help getting organized?  Are you struggling in your classes?  Access and Success can help!

Access and Success is a resource that offers academic coaching, disability services, and tutoring. We also offer workshops and webinars on a variety of topics.

If you are interested in any of these resources, check out your Starfish Success Network to get connected quickly and easily. Our next workshop, Tests and Time, is coming up soon. Check out our website for more information: Access & Success Workshops.

— Michelle Laughlin, Access and Success

HR Information Archive

Reminder: Community service leave benefit

Drake University recognizes the importance of community involvement and encourages faculty and staff to participate in volunteer and service activities.  This benefit is an excellent reflection of Drake’s Core Value of Commitment to Mission, which encourages us to serve not just our students, but also our communities.

The Drake University Community Service Leave benefit allows non-bargaining, non-grant funded staff employees to voluntarily participate, with pay, in community service activities that occur during regularly- scheduled work hours, with manager approval.

Full-time staff may receive up to eight hours of paid time to engage in community service leave each fiscal year.  Part-time staff, working 20 or more hours per week, may receive up to four hours of paid community service leave each fiscal year.

If you are looking for a great way to get involved, a list of volunteer opportunities can be found at drake.edu/volunteer.

Please note that employees wishing to provide community service leave must complete a Community Service Leave Request Form.

For more information, please view the Community Service Leave Policy.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Update: Teams calling/phone disruptions

In January, ITS began upgrading the campus phone system and moving faculty and staff extensions to Microsoft Teams. Previously, our phone system consisted of a patchwork of four different systems connected by a hub that was more than 30 years old. 

Throughout the year, ITS staff have moved additional extensions in common areas to Teams calling and have continued to decommission older systems. The overall project, however, is still in progress.  

Throughout this transition, faculty and staff have notified us of issues with response delays and dropped calls. If you have already reported an issue to the IT service portal, thank you. Our staff continue to work through these requests. As we troubleshoot issues it is very helpful for us to know when calls are dropped or other issues occur. If this happens, please submit a Calling/Phone Issue at the IT service portal.  

Thank you for your patience and assistance as we work toward this project’s completion. We are dedicated to providing reliable services and expect disruptions to decrease as this work progresses.   

— Keren Fiorenza, acting CITO, Information Technology Services  

News & Achievements Archive

Flores among five applicants to receive competitive CVS Health Minority Scholarship

Gustavo Flores, a second-year student pharmacist in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, is one of five student pharmacists in the nation among 489 applicants to receive a 2021–2022 CVS Health Minority Scholarship. Flores will receive a $8,000 scholarship and national recognition. The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and CVS Health partner to offer the annual scholarship program. The purpose of the scholarship is to reduce challenges and financial barriers that underrepresented minority students who are pursuing a PharmD degree face and to support them in caring for an increasingly diverse population of patients as part of a health care team.

Flores hit the ground running from his first day in Drake’s PharmD program in 2020 and asserted himself as a student leader and an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. He spent many days volunteering at Drake’s COVID-19 student testing clinic as students moved on campus and volunteered at vaccination clinics throughout the spring 2021 semester. Flores is also the president-elect of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists.

He is a member of the College’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workgroup and was a co-leader for the College’s virtual Spanish Medical Conversation Hours project during the 2020–2021 academic year. Flores is also recognized by his instructors for his passion in giving back to assist Spanish-speaking patients at clinical sites.

“I am honored and thankful to be one of the recipients of the CVS Health Minority Scholarship,” said Flores. “This award will lighten the financial burden of pharmacy school which will allow me to focus on my academics and volunteering within the community. As a first-generation Hispanic student, it is one of my goals to increase representation in the health care community and be an advocate for underrepresented and low-income communities. Once again, thank you CVS Health and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.”

Read more.

— Kaylyn Maher, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Internal department sites coming to myDrake Sept. 23

In an effort to better target communications to both internal and external audiences, ITS and University Communications and Marketing are collaborating to expand myDrake. This team has been developing an internal website (intranet) to house campus-facing information securely, and provide an easier path to navigate to forms, instructions, department news, and other key information for the Drake community. This internal website (intranet) is built on the same platform as the myDrake campus portal and the new navigation page will become available from myDrake on the evening of Sept. 23.

A new link called Department Sites will be added to the Campus Resources section of myDrake and will initially take you to existing departmental sub-sites on www.drake.edu. ITS will be working with departments to move selected content into the new internal website and out of www.drake.edu.

If your department would like to volunteer to be an early adopter, please reach out to Jeff Regan at jeffrey.regan@drake.edu.

— Carla Herling, ITS

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Direct Travel: Drake’s new non-athletic travel partner

Drake University made a change to its travel program earlier this spring switching to Direct Travel as its new travel management partner for all non-athletic departments.  Drake Universityand Direct Travel have been working closely over the past few months to ensure a seamless transition with minimal impact to our travelers and overall travel program.    

As the University begins to allow some travel again, we wanted to take this opportunity to outline how to get set up with Direct Travel.

 A few items to note:

  • Existing travel profiles including preferences, loyalty numbers, unused tickets, etc were transferred to Direct Travel
  • The phone number is still 877-263-2550
  • New agent support email address: corporatealo@dt.com  
  • New Direct Travel Itineraries (Direct2U)

Online Booking Tool
Drake University is using Etta powered by Deem as its online booking tool.  Etta provides business travelers an effortless and modern booking experience including enhancements like Deem’s innovative Travel SafetyCheck which presents hotel neighborhood safety scores as well as current and historical COVID related information in the selected area.  Setting up your Direct Travel profile is easy!  Just follow these simple steps.  Watch the training video for step-by-step instructions on how to book your first trip!

In the coming weeks, we will continue to share information about our travel program, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email procurement@drake.edu.  

— Heather Winslow, Administrative Services Specialist

For Staff Archive

All Staff Council presents: Walking the Dog

Grab your walking shoes and join the All Staff Council in walking the Bulldog Mile every Friday at noon from Oct. 1–Nov. 19.

It’s simple: show up at the start of the Bulldog Mile (sidewalk southeast of the Olmsted Center) and follow the signage and large blue paw prints while enjoying the fresh air and a conversation with a colleague. An ASC committee member will greet you (weather permitting), and walk the Bulldog Mile with you. We look forward to seeing you there!

— Sydni Jennings, Dean’s Office, CPHS

HR Information Archive

Join this year’s Healthiest State Walk

Grab your walking shoes and join this year’s Healthiest State Walk on Wednesday, Oct. 6.

We know that you spend a lot of time working, and it is important to find ways to prioritize staying healthy and active. The Iowa Healthiest State 11th Annual Walk, presented by Delta Dental of Iowa, is a great way to get started, or keep moving.

To mitigate risk, we will not meet as a large group to start the walk together this year. Instead, we are asking faculty, staff, and students to take a break sometime during the day on Oct. 6 and go for a walk. Thirty minutes is ideal, but any amount of time is great. If you are on campus, walk the Bulldog Mile. This one-mile path begins on the sidewalk east of the Olmsted Center. Just follow the signage and big blue paw prints.

As an added bonus, everyone who sends an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu after they complete their Healthiest State Walk will be placed in a drawing for a chance at prizes.

Let’s get moving and “Walk the Dog”—the “Bulldog Mile!”

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources