All posts by Alicia Chilton

Campus Announcements Archive

Live mascot program crowdfunding effort launches next week

Whether you’ve met him ambling across campus, had your photo taken with him at a Drake sporting event, or just follow his adventures on social media (if you don’t, you should) you know the impact that Live Mascot Griff has on the Drake experience and brand. In just four years, the Live Mascot Program has grown into a key focus of Drake’s culture. The Live Mascot provides a sense of community on campus and serves as an ambassador to the broader community for all Drake represents.

In recognition of the program’s importance and impact, a group of Drake community members including students, faculty, and alumni are launching a crowdfunding initiative to ensure that future Drake students will also benefit from having a Bulldog on campus through the Live Mascot Program. Keep an eye out on the alumni social channels for glimpses into the Live Mascot Program and your opportunity to support a program that gives so much to Drake.

This will be the pilot project for a new crowdfunding platform titled “Here’s to the One” being launched by Drake. The program takes its name from Drake’s fight song, “The ‘D’ Song”. The name is a nod to a Drake tradition, but also serves to recognize the many people at Drake who are doing incredible things.

More information on the platform itself will be available in the coming months. If you have any questions about the Live Mascot Program or crowdfunding at Drake, please contact Becca Widmer, director of Annual Giving, at becca.widmer@drake.edu.

—Alicia Chilton, University Communications & Marketing

Campus Announcements Archive

MyDUSIS/MyDrake Planned Outage Sept. 14

ITS is migrating the Oracle Database environment on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. During this time, Ethos Single Sign-On, myDrake, Banner 9 Admin Pages, MyDUSIS, eTranscripts, and many other Drake applications will be unavailable. The migration is necessary as the current server hosting these databases is nearing end of life.

If you experience issues outside of this window, please call the Support Center at 515-271-3001 or visit https://service.drake.edu to report your issue. Thank you for your patience as we continue to strive to provide superior service.

—Carla Herling, IT Communications Manager

Strategic Updates Archive

Update from CITO Chris Gill

It’s been a beautiful start to the new academic year, and I’m pleased to report that the ITS start has been generally smooth, as well. Our team has certainly seen a number of issues with computers, classrooms, and other technology, but most have been minor and quickly resolved.

Sometimes it’s what we don’t experience that tells us that our technology is working well. On August 23, as the return to campus was well underway, CenturyLink experienced a major regionwide Internet service interruption. Before this summer, any CenturyLink outage would have disrupted campus Internet access as well, but last spring we made changes that resulted in a different outcome. Drake still uses CenturyLink but we also have a redundant connection from a second service provider, UPN. When our team became aware of the CenturyLink outage, they disconnected campus from CenturyLink and our Internet access continued as normal through UPN. I can’t promise we won’t experience another Internet outage, but our connection is now more robust than it was last academic year and we know that because of what you didn’t experience.

As always, information security is at the top of my priorities list. Perhaps you saw a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article about a major security incident at Stevens Institute of Technology or reports about a similar incident at Regis University in Denver.

Neither institution is providing much information about the incidents or what they have learned, but two things are clear – these were sophisticated, targeted attacks designed to severely disrupt the business of these universities (who don’t look too dissimilar from us), and these types of attacks are becoming more frequent.

You will be learning about new security initiatives over the coming months. I ask you to help us protect Drake and you by taking information security seriously and remaining vigilant about your online activity. If you would like more information about how to protect your computer and data, please feel free to contact either Peter Lundstedt (director of information security) or me directly.

Beginning last month, Drake is now part of eduroam, a global federation of educational wireless networks. After you connect to eduroam at Drake, your device will then be able to connect to the wireless networks of over 1000 institutions in over 100 countries. Students and employees at other eduroam member institutions will also be automatically connected to eduroam on Drake’s campus.

I encourage you to move to using eduroam soon to avoid any last-minute issues. ITS will be retiring DUStudent on September 13 and DUFacStaff on December 31. After that, eduroam will be Drake’s single primary wireless network. Learn more about eduroam at https://www.drake.edu/its/eduroam/.

Finally, if you’re not already using our self-service support resources, please take a look at the wealth of tips and tools we make available through the IT service portal at https://service.drake.edu/its. You can either browse or use the search tool in the upper right corner to find something specific more quickly.

I hope you have a productive and engaging semester and please feel free to let us know how we can improve our service in support of Drake’s mission.

—Chris Gill, Chief Information Technology Officer

For Students Archive

Help Wanted: Have an Impact on the Drake Experience

Drake Phonathon is hiring for the fall semester. Looking for on-campus employment that will develop the communication and interpersonal skills employers are looking for? We are seeking students to join our growing team at Phonathon. We offer amazing scheduling, flexibility, and a great work environment.  We are looking for dedicated students who want to have an impact on our Bulldog community. To apply, please contact Liz.Seffrin@drake.edu.

—Becca Widmer, Director of Annual Giving

For Students Archive

Switch to eduroam: DUStudent is being retired Sept. 13

The DUStudent wireless network is being retired on Sept. 13. Please be sure to switch to using the eduroam network before Friday.

A few tips on using eduroam:

  • You must log into eduroam using your Drake email address, instead of your Drake ID number.
  • If you’ve previously connected your laptop or cellphone to connect to DUStudent, you’ll want to prompt it to forget DUStudent before connecting to eduroam.
  • Need instructions? See Connecting to the eduroam Wireless Network (How-to). Having issues? Visit the support center in the lower level of Carnegie Hall.

Learn more about the benefits of eduroam at www.drake.edu/its/eduroam.

—Carla Herling, IT Communications Manager

For Students Archive

Apply today: The Adams Leadership Institute

Drake students: Build your personal habits and leadership skills this year through the Adams Leadership Institute.

What is it?
The Donald V. Adams Leadership Institute (DVALI) is a leadership training program offered to all undergraduate students at Drake University. Students who apply and are admitted to the Institute are given access to personalized leadership training, co-curricular skill development, and career preparation that enhance their personal, academic, and professional lives. All students admitted to the Institute complete a three-part leadership training series, designed to equip students with self-awareness, collaboration, and perspective-talking skills that are immediately applicable to their personal relationships, academic coursework, campus activities, and professional goals. In addition, DVALI students participate in a variety of annual events and activities offered exclusively to students in the Institute. This co-curricular leadership opportunity is available to students from all academic disciplines and majors at no additional cost thanks to the generous support of Drake alumni and friends of Dr. Donald V. Adams, Professor Emeritus. A full description of the DVALI leadership training series can be found at drake.edu/leadershipinstitute. All three trainings meet weekly starting the fifth week of the semester and are offered every fall and spring semester.

How do I apply?
Apply online at bit.ly/DVALI19 by Sept. 15. Students accepted into the Donald V. Adams Leadership Institute will be notified by Sept. 20, with the opportunity to start the DVALI training series as early as the fall 2019 semester.

Want to learn more?
Visit drake.edu/leadershipinstitute, or attend an upcoming Adams Leadership Institute information session:

  • Tuesday, Sept. 10 (4 p.m. or 4:30 p.m.)
  • Wednesday, Sept. 11 (12 p.m. or 12:30 p.m.)
  • Thursday, Sept. 12 (5 p.m. or 5:30 p.m.)
  • Friday, Sept. 13 (11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m.)

*All information sessions will be located in the Drake Room (2nd floor, Olmsted Center)

For questions, contact Kristin Economos, Director of Student Leadership Programs, at kristin.economos@drake.edu.

—Kristin Economos, Director of Student Leadership Programs

Campus Announcements Archive

Youth Mental Health First Aid certification

Pi Theta Epsilon, the academic occupational therapy honor society is sponsoring Youth Mental Health First Aid on 11/9/19 at the OT Building, 3003 Forest Ave for interested individuals, $75.00. Seats are limited and registration is required. For more information, contact Christine.Urish@drake.edu

Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent (age 12-18) who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis. Youth Mental Health First Aid is primarily designed for adults who regularly interact with young people. The course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development, and teaches a 5-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations. Topics covered include anxiety, depression, substance use, disorders in which psychosis may occur, disruptive behavior disorders (including ADHD), and eating disorders.

Register here or find more information about mental health first aid.

—Christine Urish, Professor of Occupational Therapy

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Consolidate your course’s final exams

Faculty, if you teach multiple sections of a course and would like to consolidate your course’s final exams into the same room at the same time during finals week, please email the Registrar’s Office at registrar@drake.edu no later than Monday, Sept. 16.  Requests received after Sept. 16 may not be accommodated.

Find more information on final exams. The full exam schedule, including courses with consolidated final exams, will be finalized by Oct. 1.

—Kevin Moenkhaus, Office of the Registrar

HR Information Archive

Welcome new Bulldogs

Please join Human Resources in welcoming our 52 new, full-time employees for the month of August.

Dian Nostikasari /Arts & Sciences, Assistant Professor, Environmental Science
Zachary (Zach) Foltz /Arts & Sciences, Laboratory Assistant, Chemistry
Julia Franklin-Jones /Arts & Sciences, Anderson Gallery Exhibitions & Outreach Manager
Leah Huizer /Arts & Sciences, Assistant Professor, English
Titus Klinge /Arts & Sciences Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Robert Collis /Arts & Sciences, Visiting Assistant Professor, History
Maureen Yuen /Arts & Sciences, Assistant Professor, Music
Eric Barnum /Arts & Sciences, Director, Choral Studies / Associate Professor
Daron Howard /Arts & Sciences, Visiting Assistant Professor, Sociology
Enes Akbuga /Arts & Sciences, Assistant Professor, Mathematics
Arturo Marquez, Jr. /Arts & Sciences, Visiting Assistant Professor, Cultural Anthropology
Blake Gerold /Arts & Sciences, Laboratory Assistant, Chemistry
Margaret (Maggie) Fiala /Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Director, Experiential External Affairs
Jamie Rognes /Pharmacy & Health Sciences, O.T. Shared Lab Facilitator, Mercy One
Kaylyn Maher /Pharmacy & Health Sciences, CPHS Communications Coordinator
Lakshminarayana Tirumala /Journalism & Mass Communication, Assistant Professor, Digital Media
Malgorzata Kolotylo-Kulkarni /Business & Public Administration, Assistant Professor, Info.Mgmnt.& Business Anlytcs.
Ji Eun Park /Business & Public Administration, Assistant Professor, Management
Christopher (Chris) Crawford /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
Tabitha Mabiei /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
Simon Irungu /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
Maribel Rodriguez Ramirez /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
Maria Rodriguez /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
David Pendras /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
Arafa Yata /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
Grace Lado /FP&M, Facility Maintainer III
Briana Cleveland /Athletics, Athletic Trainer
Michael (Mike) Bahl /Athletics, Assistant Director, Game Operations
Ryli Smith /Athletics, 2nd Assistant Rowing Coach
Benjamin Lott /Athletics, Assistant Men’s Tennis Coach
Cole Neary /Athletics, Assistant Director, Bulldog Club
Bronson Yin /Athletics, Assistant Volleyball Coach
Allison Bugg /Office of Admission, Admission Campus Visit Coordinator
Adam Voigts /Finance & Administration, Chief Financial Officer
Stephanie McDaniel /Head Start, Head Start Teacher
Elena Spellman /Head Start, Head Start Teacher Associate
Jennifer (Jenn) Ryker /Head Start, Head Start Teacher Associate
Deborah (Debbie) Merrill /Head Start, Head Start Teacher
Hallie Jarnagin /Head Start, Head Start Teacher
Dana Schmitt /Head Start, Head Start Teacher Associate
Lisa Westerman /Head Start, Head Start Teacher
Skye Stewart /Head Start, Head Start Teacher Associate
Becca Henrichs /Law School, Administrative Assistant
Caroline Kinney /Law School, Administrative Assistant
Miranda Merritt /Public Safety, Campus Public Safety Officer
Phoenix Ford /ITS, Campus Technician
Jason Green /ITS, Campus Technician
Daniel (Dan) Burkett /ITS, Campus Technician
Hayley Ellis /Residence Life, Area Coord. / Uppler Class Experience
Alecia (Allie) Gardner /The Ray Center, Assistant Director, Programs
Christian Law /Postal Mail Operations, Mail Clerk
Herkisha (Kisha) Burkett /UA /Alumni House, Administrative Assistant

—Laura Schwarz, Human Resources

HR Information Archive

Join Weight Watchers at Work

Now is the perfect time to get into the habit of making healthier choices. If your goals include losing weight, then Weight Watchers at Work may be the solution.

Weekly meetings include a confidential weigh-in prior to the meeting, followed by a 30-minute class. Weight Watchers unique mix of face-to-face interactions with a trained leader, group support, accountability, digital tools, and the convenience of meetings in the workplace has been a winning combination for many.  

The cost is $156 for a 12-week renewable series with a minimum of 15 participants and $186 for a 17-week series with 20 or more.  NEW THIS YEAR: Drake University will reimburse the fee for the first 20 employees who register AND attend at least 75% of the classes.  Meeting dates and times to be determined.  

If you are interested in joining a Weight Watchers at Work series, please send an email to Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu. 

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources