Financial Aid and Human Resources have teamed up to enhance and clarify Drake’s policies and resources relating to Tuition Exchange Eligibility and Drake’s Tuition Waiver. The updated policies are posted now.  If you have any questions to pose or comments to share, you can click here to provide such feedback on either or both policies.

Tuition exchange eligibility
The big change is a great one: Drake has removed the one-year of service requirement to make it easier for new employees to access this benefit. This change results in tuition exchange eligibility more closely mirroring the Tuition Rebate Waiver policy. We hope this new standard will mean more Drake employees, and their dependents, will be able to take advantage of this great benefit without delay.

Additional edits to the Tuition exchange eligibility policy update language to reflect the application processes currently used by our two exchange partners: Tuition Exchange, Inc. (TE) and Council of Independent Colleges and Universities Tuition Exchange Program (CIC-TEP). Of particular note is the elimination of the “points system” that was used to determine which employees are approved by Drake for “export” through tuition exchange. Because Tuition Exchange, Inc. eliminated its Balance Sheet requirement (which required approximately equal imports/exports), schools are no longer limited in the quantity of students they can approve for export. Accordingly, Drake will approve for export all applications from eligible employees.

Tuition waiver
This policy has been renamed and will be referred to as the Tuition Waiver Policy, as the word rebate created confusion. Name change aside, most of the edits are minor, but the policy does now place greater emphasis on the need to submit applications for the Tuition Rebate prior to class registration. Although late applications have historically been approved, delayed submissions create administrative hardships and can impact employees’ payroll deductions. These problems can easily be avoided if applications are submitted in a timely manner.

One important change to note: the limitation on the number of dependents that can use the Tuition Waiver at one time (two dependents) no longer includes dependents who are utilizing tuition exchange. We hope that this change will also allow more Drake employees and their families to take advantage of this wonderful benefit.

A new resource page has been developed for Drake Tuition Benefits. Questions related to tuition waiver policy can be directed to maureen.dearmond@drake.edu. Questions related to the application process for Drake’s tuition benefits can be directed to ryan.zantingh@drake.edu.

— Ryan Zantingh, Student Financial Planning/Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

Every Tuesday in OnCampus the Deputy Provost shares two informative articles with a read time of 10 minutes.

Using generous support from donors who have created restricted and endowed accounts, Academic Affairs is able to offer financial support for faculty development in pedagogy, research, and creative activities.  This year we are focusing on supporting projects that facilitate direct student engagement with scholarly and creative endeavors; enable our faculty to reimagine pedagogy as we enter a post-pandemic teaching environment; and permit faculty to remain connected to their disciplines and fields of study through conferences and workshops.

Find more details at: drake.edu/fsdo/grants/ and reach out to renee.cramer@drake.edu with questions.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost for Academic Affairs

I have been in the role of Deputy Provost for three months now, and I am almost beginning to wrap my arms around the job and what it entails. I want to use a bit of space here, to help faculty know how my office can support them, what my priorities are, and how I’ll be managing communication streams.

This role combines much of the work done so excellently by Art Sanders as associate provost and Craig Owens as director for teaching excellence. As such, my office tackles faculty development and support across the areas of teaching/pedagogy, scholarship/creative activities, university-wide service, and work-life integration. I’ve already, this fall, had the honor of welcoming and orienting our new faculty, as well as chairs new to their roles in their departments. I have a small part of Keith Summerville’s role as deputy director of enrollment management in that I am working with our deans and graduate council to develop some strategic enrollment goals and plans around our graduate offerings, and sometimes, to my delight, Annie and her team ask for my help in representing Academic Affairs at undergraduate admissions events.

The other half of the role involves what I’m calling strategic initiatives. To my mind, this includes all the ways that we deliver on our core mission and vision from key parts of our curriculum (FYS, J-Term, AOIs, and Honors) to the ways we approach foundation and grant support as faculty and as an institution.

Of course there are intersections to these roles, and much of the faculty development around pedagogy that I have planned is in direct response to the findings that DCAC has shared me with around how we deliver our AOIs and what I’m learning from my engagement with Kevin Saunders and his team in OIRA regarding student perceptions of their educational experience.

As you have needs, thoughts, and ideas about all of these areas, please feel free to reach out to me.

A word about communication. For the most part, I will be using OnCampus to highlight development and grant opportunities (I will also place them on the University calendar). In order to avoid flooding folks with emails, it feels important to have a central place to access information—and OnCampus works well. Every Tuesday, I’ll have a Deputy Provost 2:10—two items that should take you around 10 minutes (at most) to engage.

As October progresses, the website for my office will be up-to-date, and these 2:10 messages will also be posted there. For smaller groups of faculty (those engaged in reading groups and the like) I will send emails with reminders/zoom links/details. Please get used to checking OnCampus for important announcements and information from the Deputy Provost’s Office.

Finally, Nicki Kimm will be joining the office as administrative support specialist, on Oct. 4. You’ll often hear from her, on my behalf, in scheduling and wrangling and assembling folks for meetings. Now, have a good rest-of-your-Tuesday!

— Renee Cramer, Deputy Provost

As we near the mid-term, those of us who haven’t yet explored BlackBoard Ultra’s gradebook function will want to do so. The gradebook in Ultra is significantly different from previous iterations—and it takes a bit of getting used to. This is true in terms of how items are weighted or categorized, and in terms of how the gradebook connects to Banner for grade submission.

Please remember that information about this transition, specifically to creating tests and assignments and using the assessment tools and gradebook, can be found on pages 15–18 of this guide. You can find more resources on the BlackBoard learning site, linked to from ITS.

Another area of technology stress that many faculty are encountering, comes with the various changes in and quirks of the LockDown Browser.  There are some excellent reasons to use this technology—and some excellent reasons not to—and I hope we can have some extended campus conversations about those bigger questions as the semester goes on. When faculty do choose to use this tool, though, for whatever reasons, it is especially important to use best practices for building an online exam, as well as best practices for distributing that exam. It can also be helpful to provide students with information tailored to them as the users of LockDown Browser often have questions that faculty might not be readily able to answer.

Remember, too, our Instructional Technology experts are ready to help with your pedagogical needs. The ITS Ticketing System is the best (most efficient, fastest) way to get a request to the team.

— Renee Cramer, Deputy Provost