Every Tuesday and Thursday in June, Gail Witte will be teaching Functional Fitness from 12:15–12:45 p.m. Functional Fitness is a dynamic and versatile training program designed to improve your everyday life through exercises that mimic real-life movements. By focusing on movements that you perform daily, such as lifting, pushing, pulling, and twisting, Functional Fitness aims to enhance your strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility. This approach not only builds muscle and burns fat but also increases your overall mobility and reduces the risk of injury.

— Gail Witte, Recreational Services

Construction on the Johansen Student Center (formerly Morehouse Hall) is continuing as planned.  Significant upgrades to the main electrical service to the building are part of the project. To bring the new Johansen Student Center electrical equipment on-line, there will be an electrical shutdown on June 11 from 6 p.m. to midnight for the following buildings: Olmsted Center, Aliber Hall, Meredith Hall, Cowles Library, and the Johansen Student Center (Morehouse). No access or use of these buildings will be permitted during this time.

— Heather Winslow, Capital Projects, Facilities Planning & Management

Due to required maintenance for the end of the fiscal year, Admin Pages, Touchnet, and portions of Self Service will be unavailable from 12 p.m. on Sunday, June 30, through 12:01 a.m. on Monday, July 1.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you experience issues after the maintenance is complete, contact the ITS Support Center for help by visiting service.drake.edu/its, calling 515-271-3001, or visiting the lower level of Carnegie Hall. 

— Heather Travis, Finance

The Department of Theatre Arts is pleased to announce that the winning playwright for this year’s Neighborhood Playwrights Series is Karen Schaeffer. Karen’s winning entry, HEAD VOICES, was selected by a committee comprised of Drake Theatre students and faculty. HEAD VOICES will be produced as a staged reading Friday, Sept. 13, and Saturday, Sept. 14, in the Turner Jazz Center as the first production of our 2024–2025 Main Stage Season. The reading will be directed by Drake Associate Professor Erin Degner.

This is Karen’s second win in the NPS competition. Her play PROLOG (co-written with her son, Alex Schaeffer) was the winning entry in 2023.  Congratulations to Karen and we hope you will join us for the reading of HEAD VOICES in September.

— Josie Poppen, Theatre Arts

Parking permit sales for the upcoming academic year will begin Monday, July 8.  Please visit https://www.drake.edu/publicsafety/parking/ and select “Online Parking Registration” to register for your pass. Please make sure to have your license plate number available at the time of registration.

Permits will be available on a first come, first serve basis, and we ask that all permit sales be done online. The payroll deduct process can also be completed online, and is available to full-time, benefit-eligible part-time, and adjunct employees. Credit/debit card is also accepted for any pass purchase. An email confirmation will be sent to you when your pass is ready to be picked up at the Student Services Desk in Olmsted, please bring an ID for verification.

Resident passes: $400 (blue, 24/7 parking)

Premium passes: $290 (yellow, Olmsted lot; red, Ray Promenade lots)

Perimeter passes: $130 (all orange and purple lots)

Evening/Weekend passes: $100 (valid from 4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Monday through Friday, and all day on weekends)

Passes are valid from August to August, and will be available to pick up in the Student Services Center (Olmsted) in August.

Please visit drake.edu/map to see where the lots are located, and contact studentservices@drake.edu for questions.

— Sara Heijerman, Student Services Center

The Iowa State High School Track & Field Championship brings thousands of High School athletes, and guests to the Drake campus.   This year the Championships occur on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of finals week.

As a reminder, parking and travel on and around campus will be impacted during finals week from Thursday, May 16—Saturday, May 18.

It is highly recommended that if you are coming to campus from off grounds, that you use public transportation, if possible.  If you do plan on driving, give yourself plenty of time to find parking.  Please remember that cars that are parked on the grass, illegally in handicap spaces, or blocking operations will be towed without notice.

All valid commuter permits will be honored throughout the week and may be used in any commuter lot with the exception of lot 16 (Olmsted) and lot 13 (Ray Promenade) regardless of color throughout the day and in all commuter lots after 4:30 p.m.

Only residential permits are valid in residential lots. 

Thursday, May 16 – Saturday, May 18 – Forest Avenue will be fully closed from 27^th Street to 29^th Street and will allow for only limited access from 24^th to 27^th Streets and from 29^th to 31^st Streets, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day (5 p.m. on Saturday).  No street parking is allowed along Forest Avenue.

Thursday, May 16 – Saturday, May 18 – 27^th Street will be closed to through traffic between Forest Avenue and Clarke Street between 7 a.m.–7 p.m. (5 p.m. on Saturday).

Thursday, May 16 – Saturday, May 18 – Lot 18 S (Studio Arts) will be closed/no parking allowed.

Thursday, May 16 – Saturday, May 18 – Clarke Street will be posted No Parking from 27th Street to 25th Street.

Residential Students needing to move out of the Quads have received separate information in regard to move-out.  All residential students should familiarize themselves with restrictions that will be in place for move-out on Thursday and Friday.

— Scott Law, Executive Director, Public Safety & Operational Services

Don’t be fooled by the name, the ‘corporate games’ are a great way to have fun with co-workers and represent Drake while doing so.

For those of you looking for fun in a team setting, we still need people for these events:

• Pickleball
• Track & Field – many events on the Blue Oval!
• Dodgeball
• Ultimate 4’s (new event)
• Bowling
• Women’s Ping Pong (new event)
• 4-Person Best Shot Golf
• Disc Golf

If you prefer individual events, we have lots of options:

• Fitness Walk (in-person and virtual option)
• Cycling Tour
• Yoga
• Virtual Interval Class
• 4K and 8K Cross Country Races
• 5K Road Race

The Des Moines Corporate Games even offer an opportunity to donate blood or volunteer at Meals from the Heartland, as well as an online hydration program called Burst Your Thirst.

You don’t need to be an elite athlete to participate in any of the above.  Just a desire for some fun.

Sign-ups are easy – just email Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu to receive a set of registration instructions.  ALL Drake faculty and staff, student employees, interns, and retirees are invited and encouraged to join Drake’s team.

We’ll see you out there!

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Will you be traveling abroad over the summer? Make sure to notify ITS before you go so we can ensure your access will continue uninterrupted. Submit an Account/Security Request before you leave and you’ll be set. Even if you have submitted a notification in the past, a new request is necessary this summer.

Also, remember that the eduroam wireless network is available at more than 33,000 locations worldwide. Check to see if your destination is on the list at https://eduroam.org/where/.

— Jeremy Calvert, ITS

Due to the July 4th holiday, payroll deadline will be moved up.

Instructions to set up a proxy to approve time sheets in your absence are at https://www.drake.edu/hr-internal/managerstoolkit/ under Online Time reporting.

The deadlines for the biweekly time sheets and direct pays will be:

• June 17–30 hours paid July 3, 2 p.m. Thursday, June 27, for employees and 3 p.m. that day for approvers. Please note that employees will need to estimate their hours for June 27–30.

The deadlines for student time sheets and direct pays will be:

• June 1–30 hours paid July 12, 12 p.m. Monday, July 1, for students and 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 2, for approvers.

— Lisa Etnyre, Payroll Coordinator