All posts by Morgan Garner

Drake Community Action Board applications open

If you have an interest in community engagement and meaningful service, you are a prime candidate to be an executive member of the Community Action Board (CAB). CAB is rooted in a philosophy of collaboration and inspiring an engaged, active community.

Positions available include VP Marketing, VP Educational Programming, VP Collaborative Outreach, VP Finance, VP Neighborhood Relations, and VP Community Programming. Apply here.

Morgan Garner, Community Action Board

Planned Banner/DUSIS outage April 20

ITS is making updates to Banner/DUSIS. As a result, access to myDUSIS, Banner, eTranscripts, Banner INB, Job Submission, Workflow, and some myDrake functions will be unavailable between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 20. Faculty, staff, and students will still be able to log into myDrake, but a few functions will be down, mostly between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. This work is being done to keep our Banner system up to date with the latest patches and upgrades.

We appreciate your patience while we perform this necessary work. If you continue to have any issues after the planned maintenance window, please contact the Support Center at 515-271-3001 or visit service.drake.edu/its to report your issue.

Carla Herling, ITS

Orthodontia expenses are FSA eligible

Orthodontia expenses can be reimbursed through Drake’s Health Care Flexible Spending Account. Although the reimbursement process can be somewhat challenging, the tax savings can be very beneficial.

Reimbursement for orthodontia expenses aligns with the payment/treatment schedule established by your orthodontist.  Should you pay for orthodontia in full prior to treatment, the reimbursement schedule will align with the treatment months.

To learn more about this FSA benefit, contact Advantage Administrators at 800-383-1623, or visit their web site at  www.AdvantageAdmin.com.

Marlene Heuertz, HR Benefits Specialist

Athletics event staff help needed

Drake Athletic Operations is hiring for their Event Staff team to help at the Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee. Help is needed to monitor parking lots, setup/tear-down, and more. Shifts are broken into four hour time slots but can be flexible to your schedule. These are paid positions with lunch, snacks, and drinks provided.

If you are interested and available to help, please contact Zach Elsbecker, assistant director of athletic facilities, at zachary.elsbecker@drake.edu.

Zach Elsbecker, Assistant Director – Athletic Facilities

Submit course material requests for fall

Reminder: The deadline for submitting your course material requests for the fall semester was yesterday, April 15. If you have not yet submitted your materials, please do so as soon as possible. Receiving your list of materials now allows us to source the most affordable books for your students and provide top dollar for students selling books back at the end of this term. With our Online Adoption Tool, selecting your course materials is fast and easy.

Access the Online Adoption Tool

  1. Visit www.drake.bkstr.com.
  2. Go to Books in the top navigation and under the Information heading, click Online Adoptions.
  3. If you need additional training to use the Online Adoption Tool, please contact me.

Are You a New User?

  1. Follow the steps listed above.
  2. Click on New? Register Here and complete the required fields.
  3. Enter 1623 in the Bookstore Supplied Password field.

Download the 6 Ways to Help Students Save on Textbooks to learn about Follett’s different types of course material purchasing options. If you have any questions about the Online Adoption Tool or how to save students money, please contact Donna Hallstrom at donna.hallstrom@drake.edu.

Donna Hallstrom, University Book Store

Drone policy and procedures

As a reminder, the University has an UAS (drone) policy and approval process. Drake is within five miles of the Des Moines International Airport. This proximity to the airport creates a no-fly zone unless several approvals are obtained to meet FAA regulations. Those requirements can be found online, as well as the B4U Fly Map App.

There is also a formal Drake UAS approval process to fly on campus that must meet FAA regulations and requirements. View the Drake approval process.

For questions, contact Kelly Foster or Donna Blunck.

Donna Blunck, Director, Risk and Insurance

Participate in the Des Moines Corporate Games

The Des Moines Corporate Games is an eight-week company based competition (June 1–July 31) that promotes teamwork and company pride. Events range from team-based to individual and competitive to recreational. Whether you are a trivia buff or a triathlete, there is an event for you. 

All activities are held in the evening and on weekends, and are free (except for golf cart rental). You may participate in one or more events and they are open to all full-time and regular part-time employees, interns, and retirees. Drake is competing against other local companies for a chance to win individual and team medals as well as the Corporate Games trophy, so we need as many people as possible to be a part of these games and show our Drake pride. 

For registration information, email linda.feiden@drake.edu.

Events: Bags, 3-on-3 Basketball, Basketball Shooting, Blood Donation, Bowling, Burst Your Thirst Online Challenge, 4K & 8K Cross Country Race, Cycling Tour Ride, Disc Golf, Dodgeball, Duathlon, Fitness Walk (Ames & Des Moines options), 4-Person Best Shot Golf, Meals from the Heartland, 5K & 10K Road Race, Sand Volleyball, Spikeball, Track & Field Competition (held on the Drake Blue Oval), Triathlon, Trivia Challenge, Tug of War, Ultimate Frisbee, Yoga, and Zumba (Ames & Des Moines options).

Linda Feiden, Human Resources

All In Giving Challenge results

With 1,680 donors coming together to collectively give over half a million dollars, this year’s All In is one for the record books.

Featuring a new site with live countdown, results tracking in real time, nationwide and international heatmaps, and an extensive slate of matching gifts or challenges covering almost every area at Drake, the community of alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends showed up and went All In.

The day also brought lots of great social media traffic with then and now photos, Drake stories, and fun videos featuring Drake “celebrities,” students, and of course–Griff!

Thank you so much to those of you who took this opportunity to share, celebrate, and support Drake with your gift during the All In challenge. One more very important result is the winner of the Provost Mattison pie raffle. A winner was randomly selected from all faculty and staff members who gave and this year’s lucky recipient of a homemade apple pie is Dustin German, Assistant Director of Ticket Sales and Community Engagement in the Athletics department. Congrats Dustin and thank you to Provost Mattison for offering up your baking expertise each year.

Becca Widmer, University Advancement