Drake International is excited to welcome incoming international students to Drake for the spring semester. To prepare them for the journey ahead and success at Drake, the department has developed a new orientation program that will acclimate them into our community. The program is more comprehensive than in years past and involves the participation of several departments. View the orientation schedule, and help us provide a warm welcome to these students.

— Jacquilline Nagila, Drake International

The Office of Finance is researching the benefits of using a centralized travel firm to manage and enhance travel for faculty, staff, and students. A team has been gathered and is working to send a request for proposals to seven firms in February. Teresa Krejci is sponsoring the initiative; the team is comprised of Caron Findlay (chair), Renae Chesnut, Joe Campos, Dave Haskin, Maria Rohach and Jeni Baugher. The hope is that through a dedicated vendor relationship, Drake will receive the lowest possible rates for travel, easy reuse of unused tickets, one stop shopping for all travel needs, risk management for travelers, and comprehensive reporting capabilities. We plan to communicate our progress in OnCampus, and there will be additional opportunities for input as the initiative takes shape. If you have questions regarding this project, contact Caron Findlay at caron.findlay@drake.edu.

— Caron Findlay, Finance and Administration

Each month ITS offers a different Tech Tuesday session designed to provide you with resources to use technology more efficiently in your job (and possibly your life). All sessions are held in the Dial Center Large Conference Room from 2 to 2:50 p.m. with time allotted for a Q&A and cookies. Attendance counts toward BUILD credit. Sign up for one or all four of the upcoming sessions.

Tuesday, Feb. 13: Tech Troubleshooting
Instructor: ITS staff

What do you do when your tech acts up? Learn what steps to take, where to go for troubleshooting information, and how and when to bring in help.

Tuesday, March 6: Keeping your Identity Safe
Instructor: Peter Lundstedt, director, Information Security & Compliance

Six months after the Equifax breach, how do you protect your identity when exposure is common?

Tuesday, April 10: Getting Help with Microsoft Office
Instructor: ITS staff

Spreadsheets lacking? Email out of control? Find out where you can learn more and start on the path to becoming a Microsoft Office pro.

Tuesday, May 8: Video Conferencing
Instructors: Karly Good and Clayton Mitchell

Need to connect face to face with someone off campus? Learn about the video conferencing tools available to faculty and staff.

— Carla Herling, ITS

The Office of Finance and Administration wants to remind campus of the resources available for contracts and legal services. Information about the following resources can be found on its website.

• Contracting policy
• Contract Overview
• Contract Process—Approval and Retention
• Checklists
• Independent Contractor Determination
• Templates

A contract review session is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 31, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Olmsted Center, Rooms 310 and 311. This informational session will include a review of the contracting policy, who has authority to sign, what to look for in a contract, and answer any questions you might have.

If you plan to attend, please email Kelly Foster at kelly.foster@drake.edu to RSVP.

— Kelly Foster, Finance and Administration

This is the last week of J-Term GroupX classes. Classes include yoga, Pilates, muscle mix, pound, barre, Zumba, and more. Check out the schedule today. Don’t forget you can register for classes through the free IMLeagues app or at www.imleagues.com.

— Drake Wellness

Helpful information regarding campus card access.

Faculty and staff

• Automatically granted 24/7 access to the building that their office is in and access to other academic buildings for the purpose of meetings and classes.

Students

• A student’s major or class schedule determines their building access.
• Certain majors are granted extended access to buildings related to their field of study.
• Students living in the residence halls receive automatic access to their residence hall, and the ability to access other halls during the day.

Additional access

• Additional card access is available when needed, and includes an approval process and manual update. Speak to your manager or main building contact, email studentservices@drake.edu, or submit an ITS help ticket to request additional access or research a card issue.
• Once approved, it may take up to five days for card access to be enabled. Please be aware that access is based on a specific approval process, and may not be granted.

Lost cards

• Cardholders are notified by email if their lost card is turned in to the Student Services Center.
• If you lost your card and would like to freeze all activity until it is found, contact the Student Services Center or freeze the card yourself in the eAccounts portal. You can also add Bulldog Bucks and check card balances in the portal. Frozen cards need to be turned back on by SSC staff, if found.
• Replacement cards can be purchased in the Student Services Center for $25. The lost card will be deactivated automatically upon printing of a new card.
• If your card stops working, make sure you are registered for Spring classes. Cards will not function if you are not a current student or employee. Also, make sure there are no cracks in the card. Cracked cards cannot communicate with door readers, and need to be replaced at the Student Services Center.

— Scott Law, Campus Public Safety and Operational Services

Online Programs has been busy working on the development of an infrastructure that will support the launch and persistence of new online programs. This work has resulted in several different work teams and processes. This information will be readily available once our website is complete, but in the meantime, here are some updates that campus might find helpful.

Several work teams have been organized to ensure that progress continues in the overall leadership and growth of the programs. The seven teams are responsible for specific areas of online programs, including leadership, program analysis and development, infrastructure, online teaching support, program assessment, student success, and alumni relations. Teams are co-chaired with other areas of campus to build synergy.

A process has been developed to launch new online programs. In working with the colleges, schools, and enrollment management, it became apparent that we needed a structured method for online program ideas to be analyzed and developed. The Program Development and Analysis Team, comprised of deans and associate deans, the deputy provost, and executive director of online programs will oversee this process. The process lays out the steps for launching an online program. Faculty and staff are encouraged to work with their department and school leadership on all submissions. The process and necessary forms are available from the Online Programs office until the website is completed.

Finally, Preview Week started yesterday, Jan. 22. Preview Week allows online students to view their online classes a week before the start of the semester. This allows students to view syllabi and look at deadlines and due dates to prepare them for upcoming weeks. This is a best practice in online learning, designed to facilitate student success by allowing students time to become better organized. It also affords adult students ample time to drop a course if they find the workload does not fit in their schedule.

If you have any questions, comments, or would like a copy of any of the documents mentioned, please contact me at christina.trombley@drake.edu or extension 2506. The documents will also be available on the Provost’s website soon. Classes begin on Jan. 29. We are ready to welcome our first online students to Drake!

— Christina Trombley, Online Programs

Do you know of a Drake student, faculty or staff member, or alumnus who is doing great work in the community? Nominate them for an Engaged Campus Award, given out by Iowa Campus Compact. Nominations are due March 30.

Awards for students and student groups:

Student Leadership: a student leader with demonstrated accomplishments in engaging students in meaningful service and civic engagement.

Network Choice Award: student organizations or student-led projects can be nominated for online voting in late April that will allow our network to select a winner.

Awards for individuals:

Civic Mission Leadership: a faculty or staff member who has demonstrated leadership for higher education civic engagement and has worked to give voice to the civic mission of higher education.

Community Leadership: an alumnus of a member institution making strong contributions to their community and demonstrating the values of the civic mission of higher education.

Emerging Leadership: a new person in the field who is making unique and innovative contributions that demonstrate strong future potential.

Awards for groups or projects:

Emerging Innovation: a recent project, program, or initiative making unique and innovative contributions that demonstrate strong future potential.

Community Partnership: a campus-community partnership or collaboration that is deep, reciprocal, and transformational.

Awards for AmeriCorps members:

National Service Member of the Year: individual full-time, part-time, and summer AmeriCorps and VISTA members (in IACC programs) who have made significant contributions to building a community partner or campus department’s capacity.

It is highly recommended people review the rubric when writing award nominations. Award winners will be honored at the Engaged Campus Awards and Summit May 9 at Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

— Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning

Facilities Planning and Management launched a new service request system in October, moving from InSite to TeamDynamix. As of Jan. 11, campus partners submitted more than 1,700 service requests through the new system, and approximately 1,500 of those are complete.

The move to TeamDynamix not only made sense financially, but it provided the framework for a unified tracking service across campus. This change aligns with our Continuous Improvement Plan initiative aimed at continually examining campus processes.

The new system supports our departmental commitments, which are:

1. Ensure that we meet promised response and resolution timeframes.
2. Collaborate to find reasonable and supportable long-term solutions.
3. Strive to understand issues and requests before beginning work.
4. Confirm that the request was completed to your satisfaction and in a professional manner.
5. Improve communication related to project schedules and staffing.
6. Work as a team to provide facility-related services on behalf of Drake.

These commitments assure that we achieve our Scorecard objectives.

In addition to the Survey of Administration Services, we plan to use the Satisfaction and Performance Survey, provided through TeamDyanmix, to measure our performance. Click here to view the survey results.

— Manny Toribio, Facilities Planning and Management

National Girls and Women in Sports Day recognizes the extraordinary progress sparked by Title IX and the ongoing effort to ensure access to sports for girls and women. Thanks to a generous donation to Drake Athletics, Drake Women’s Basketball is offering a free clinic Sunday, Feb. 4, at 12 p.m. at Shivers Basketball Practice Facility. The clinic is designed to get local girls involved in sports and expand their opportunities in life.

Clinic registration is now open to all local girls eighth-grade and under. Registration will close on Friday, Feb. 2, or once all spots are filled. Space is limited and participant slots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so be sure to register early.

Clinic participants will receive a free t-shirt and four complimentary game tickets to the Drake Women’s Basketball game against Missouri State at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 4.

Registration and information is available at www.DrakeTix.com/ngwsd.

— Ryan Harris, Athletics