All posts by Linda Feiden

HR Information Archive

What’s for dinner?

Did you know that the average person will consume 3,000 calories on Thanksgiving dinner and gain one to four pounds between now and the end of year? That may not sound like a lot, but most individuals don’t lose the weight, which can add up over the years.

The good news is that you can still enjoy a great meal, and a day with family and friends. Here are a few tips that may make the day even better.

Eat breakfast. You may think it’s better to save calories for the big dinner but eating a small meal in the morning can help you control your appetite. Include some protein and fiber such as an egg with a slice of whole wheat toast or a bowl of oatmeal with nuts and fruit.

Be active. Take a walk early in the day, just before dinner, or after dinner. Go outside and play touch football with family, instead of watching it on TV. Start a new family tradition that includes activity like a scavenger hunt. The goal is to stay active.

Choose water. Limit your intake of alcohol and sweetened beverages. Try some fruit infused water instead. If having a cocktail, choose a glass of wine over a higher calorie mixed drink.

Lighten up. If you are the cook, make your recipes healthier with less fat, sugar, and calories. Try some new recipes or healthy substitutes. If you are the guest, bring a healthy dish to share, and make healthier choices. For example, opt for grilled veggies over a green bean or sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie over pecan pie, and go easy on the gravy.

Watch your portions. If you can’t resist some of the fattening delicacies, survey the choices and select small portions of the foods you enjoy the most and may only get at the holidays. Another tip – use a smaller plate and avoid having seconds.

Slow down. Savor the food you are eating by putting down your fork between bites. Eating slowly and tasting each mouthful is a great way to enjoy your meal and feel satisfied with one plateful of food.

Focus on family and friends. Thanksgiving is not just about food. It’s a time to celebrate relationships with family and friends. Focus more on spending quality time together and the day will be a success, even without that extra helping of pie!

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

HR Information Archive

Register today for DU Well Healthy Holiday BINGO

Don’t forget to register for DU Well Healthy Holiday BINGO. This five-week program runs from Monday, Nov. 29, 2021 through Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. The goal is to fill up a blank BINGO card (or two), between Thanksgiving and the New Year, with healthy activities completed from a provided list. This is a great way for you and your family to have fun while making healthy choices.

In January, participants will be invited to meet virtually to play BINGO for prizes with their completed cards. You are welcome to fill out the BINGO card without playing the BINGO games as well.

To register, please send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Campus Announcements Archive

Call for proposals: Spring 2022 Registered 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.

Find more details and the application form.

— Isaac Newsome, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership

HR Information Archive

Drake employees with student loans: Check out the Limited PLSF Waiver

In the September HR Monthly email, we reminded employees that as a not-for-profit Drake University is a qualifying employer for public service loan forgiveness (PSLF). Employees who have Federal Direct Loans and have made at minimum 120 payments on the Federal Direct Loans (after Oct. 1, 2007) may be eligible for the remaining loan balance to be forgiven. Only payments made under certain repayment plans may be counted toward the required 120 payments, and loans must not be in default to be forgiven.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) expanded the types of loans and loan payments that count toward that 120 payment total. The DOE is calling the temporary expansion the “Limited PSLF Waiver” program. The waiver program will temporarily relax several rules governing the PSLF program.

Previously, only Direct federal student loans, and certain types of repayment plans based on a borrower’s income, would count towards a borrower’s student loan forgiveness term under PSLF. However, for most of 2022, the DOE will count past payments on non-Direct federal student loans, such as FFEL loans and Perkins loans (previously not eligible for PSLF relief), towards the 120 “qualifying” payments that a borrower must make to get student loan forgiveness.

The Limited PSLF Waiver will also allow payments made under any repayment plan to count as well; previously, only payments made under income-driven repayment plans and a 10-year Standard plan could qualify.

Visit a page explaining the PSLF form. Access the most current version of the form (expiring 08/31/2023).

Maureen in Human Resources can complete page two and sign it on behalf of Drake. If you want to complete the form you have three easy options to get HR’s assistance:

  • Come by HR any time and drop off the form. We can let you know when it is ready for pick up.
  • Set up a time to meet with Maureen and have page two completed while you wait.
  • Email drakehr@drake.edu requesting assistance. We can email you a pdf of page 2 completed with your information—minus your social security number (we don’t email those).

If you have outstanding student loans and think there is even a possibility that you could qualify for the loan forgiveness program, we encourage you to look into this opportunity for loan forgiveness. For more information, visit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness information on the Federal Student Aid website.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

Campus Announcements Archive

Guitars Under the Stars

Please join the department of Physics and Astronomy for a unique event on Saturday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m. at the Drake Municipal Observatory that combines classical guitar music and astronomy. The event, which is free and open to the public, will consist of a classical guitar concert by members of the Heart of Iowa Classical Guitar Society (HICGS) and a tour of the historical Observatory. Classical and contemporary works for guitar will be performed. We are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Drake Municipal Observatory opening and the 10th anniversary of the HICGS foundation. Everyone is welcome to join in an evening of music and science. The Drake Municipal Observatory is located at 4898 Observatory Road in Des Moines.

— Athan Petridis, Physics and Astronomy

Campus Announcements Archive

Drake Environmental Action League clothing swap

Dust off your old clothes and bring them to the Drake Environmental Action League’s Clothing Swap on Dec. 3 from 11 a.m.–3:30 p.m. in Parents Hall. We will be accepting donations of clothing and accessories in good condition. Each item will be worth one DEAL Dollar, which can be redeemed for other clothing and accessories, each worth one DEAL Dollar. DEAL Dollars may also be purchased for $1 each with all proceeds going to local non-profits. Extra clothing items will be donated to Central Iowa Shelter and Services, Dress for Success, Animal Lifeline, and more.

Email deal@drake.edu with any questions. Hope to see you there.

For Faculty Archive

J-Term 2023 travel seminar proposals due Dec. 2

As a reminder, J-Term 2023 travel seminar proposals are due Thursday, Dec. 2, through Qualtrics.

A travel seminar is a short-term, faculty-led study abroad (or domestic) program. This is an opportunity to teach a course that integrates an academic experience with intercultural and experiential learning while traveling. To learn more about the travel seminar process, please contact Nathan Jacobson, education abroad coordinator, at nathan.jacobson@drake.edu.

To submit a proposal, visit: drake.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cIRcgl8JH4b6n1Y.

— Nathan Jacobson, Global Engagement

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Next steps: Great Colleges To Work For Survey

As we’ve shared in prior OnCampus articles, one of our focus areas this year is to attend to our culture.  This is based on feedback from the Great Colleges To Work For survey and given that we are adjusting to working in an ongoing pandemic.

We recently invited all of campus to participate in focus groups to discuss ideas of how to attend to our culture and what’s possible yet this academic year. Through these sessions, we were able to gain valuable insights and feedback as to what’s important and possible. Thank you to those that participated!

As a summary, here’s what we discussed and discovered:

  • Culture Varies by Department: It’s clear that culture and perceptions of culture can vary tremendously depending on the area where people work.
  • Internal Growth: There are areas that have reputations for good culture—Advancement, the Admission Office, the Ray Center were three that came up. What are those areas doing well and how can we replicate it? Where we have strong leaders who can teach, train, or speak about leadership, are we over-looking and under-utilizing these internal assets?
  • Leadership Training and Tools: As we look at leadership training and development, building culture has to be part of this. Leaders create culture. Are we teaching leaders how to create culture?
  • Improved New Employee Orientation (and Onboarding): It’s a priority for HR to reinstate new-employee orientation. In addition, we’ll discuss some complimentary ways we can build on that orientation from others outside of HR as well.
  • Intentionality: We discussed that culture has to be intentional, proactive, and routine. We spent some time in both sessions talking about making time to build relationships outside of our immediate work areas. We can also think about an annual communication plan for culture and values. How do we routinely sprinkle culture/values/mission/inspiration into our communication practices?
  • Socializing Matters: We need to bring back regularly scheduled social events—and make them part of our routine.
  • Networking Cohorts: We’ll explore creating more opportunities for cross-departmental cohorts including mentoring programs.
  • Increase Visible Recognition of Achievement: We need a greater culture of recognition and stronger utilization of the recognition tools we already have (such True Blue Awards).
  • Communicating Across Departments: We heard about department-to-department silos and the need to enhance communication, horizontally across departments.

As there are many ways to tactically implement the above, we’ll be reviewing these outcomes of the focus groups at an upcoming President’s Council meeting and circling back with both managers/supervisors and all of campus on specific next steps.

In the months ahead, you’ll start to see more opportunities to engage in our culture and be a part of making Drake a great place to work.  Speaking of, here’s a great example!

Thanks for reading and all you do to attend to our culture.

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

News & Achievements Archive

Drake named recipient of Enduring Programmatic Contributions award

The Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) was started over 40 years ago to provide financial support to promote and advance the field of behavior analysis. The three primary manners by which SABA achieves this are (a) supporting students, (b) globally promoting the science, and (c) providing a platform of recognition for our most impactful and inspiring leaders.

2022 SABA Awards
Each year, SABA recognizes five distinguished individuals or institutions of our field by honoring them and their impact with awards. The opening ceremony of the 2022 Association for Behavior Analysis International convention in Boston will recognize and celebrate these outstanding individuals and institutions and their accomplishments:

Deisy de Souza for Distinguished Service
Steve Higgins for Scientific Translation
Vincent Carbone for International Dissemination
Martha Hübner for Effective Presentation in Mass Media
Drake University for Enduring Programmatic Contributions

We congratulate each of these awardees for their sustained energy and efforts in promoting the field of behavior analysis. Read SABA’s full announcement.

— Maria Valdovinos, Professor of Psychology

Campus Announcements Archive

Campus printing update

Last week, new printers were installed in Medbury Hall, Cline Hall, and the Occupational Therapy building. Our staff is working hard to match up the number and type of machines that are delivered with the machines needed in a given area. We try to replace all department/building machines simultaneously to avoid any confusion from using both old and new printers, but this is made more challenging by ongoing supply chain issues.

Our partners at LRI continue to coordinate installation and training with department contacts as machines arrive. Our project team will continue to adjust our rollout schedule whenever machines arrive and update the list at Printer Locations (FAQ).

Get instructions on how to use the features of the new printers in the Printing category of our IT service portal. Learn more about the overall printing project by visiting our FAQ page at drake.edu/its/printing/.

— Kris Brewster, ITS