Drake Wellness is offering a wide variety of GroupX classes throughout J-Term. Classes include yoga, pilates, muscle mix, barre, zumba, and more. Check out the schedule. — Drake Wellness

Starting tomorrow, Jan. 17, at 9 p.m. and lasting until 11 p.m., all Banner (DUSIS) services will be unavailable. Access to blueView, MyDUSIS, DUSIS (INB) Forms, Workflow, eTranscripts, Job Submission, and ODBC (Microsoft Access) will be unavailable. This outage will allow ITS to perform necessary maintenance to the Banner/DUSIS system.

If you continue experiencing issues after this window, please call the Support Center at 515-271-3001, or report your issue using the Service Portal at service.drake.edu/its.

— Carla Herling, ITS

Numerous injuries result from slips and falls on icy sidewalks, parking lots, roads, and other outdoor locations. Here are 10 tips to reduce injuries from wet and icy surfaces.

1. Snow removal and salting of slick areas can help. However, many times, total elimination of the hazard is impossible.
2. Be aware of your surroundings.Anticipate the fact that you are apt to fall at any moment when walking on ice. Often ice will appear in the morning, in shady spots, or where the sun shines during the day and melted snow refreezes at night.
3. Wear appropriate footwear. Footwear should have low heels with soles constructed of a slip-resistant material. Don’t wear footwear that is not able to grip the surface on which you are walking.
4. Be careful when shifting your weight. When stepping off a curb or getting into a car, shifting your weight may cause an imbalance and result in a fall.
5. Adjust your stride. Take shorter steps and walk with your feet spread further apart laterally so that your center of gravity is maintained directly above your feet at all times.
6. Plan ahead. While walking on snow or ice, walk consciously. Instead of looking down, look up to see where your feet will move next to anticipate ice or an uneven surface. Occasionally scan from left to right to ensure you are not in the way of vehicles or other hazards. Be careful about what you walk under. Injuries can result from falling snow/ice as it blows, melts, or breaks away from buildings.
7. Listen. While seeing the environment is important, you also want to listen for approaching traffic and other noises. Avoid listening to music or engaging in conversation that may prevent you from hearing oncoming traffic or snow removal equipment.
8. Take steps slowly. When walking down steps, be sure to grip handrails firmly and plant your feet securely on each step.
9. Don’t take shortcuts. A shortcut path may be treacherous if it is located where snow and ice removal is not possible.
10. Watch out for wet entryways. When you get to your destination, be sure to look at the floor as you enter the building. The floor may be wet with melted snow and ice. Try not to track snow into buildings. Wipe your feet off at the entrance so others won’t slip and fall on melted snow.

— Chris Nickell, Environmental Health & Safety

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

Olson Global Service-Learning match grants are now available for projects taking place this spring or during May Term. Applications are due Feb. 16. Click here to apply.

Match grants will be awarded to student global service-learning projects with faculty/staff support where funds or in-kind donations have been appropriated or raised but where additional funds would be beneficial. The Olson Global Service-Learning match grant funds are designated to enhance global service-learning projects by providing additional funds that would otherwise not be accessible. Global service-learning at Drake is defined as the intersection of service-learning, immersion in global contexts, and intercultural education.

Requirements:

• Funds or in-kind donations of at least $500 already raised
• Projects have a strong global service-learning emphasis
• Student applicants have demonstrated faculty/staff support

Please note: Individual mileage or personal costs will not be reimbursed.

Examples of projects:

• Your class or organization is collecting books for a local refugee organization to donate for the holidays. You have already collected 100 books with a value of $500 but would like to purchase 100 more for $500.
• Your class developed a public health program abroad to educate the public on oral hygiene and are providing the participants with a hygiene kit. You have received donations of toothbrushes and other items totaling over $500, but you need an additional $500 to purchase toothpaste and floss.

For questions, contact Amanda Martin, community engaged learning program coordinator, at amanda.martin@drake.edu.

— Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning

Water shutdown

Drake will experience a water shutdown tomorrow, Dec. 20. The shutdown will last approximately seven hours. The shutdown will begin at 10 p.m. tomorrow, and the water will be back on at approximately 5 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21. The buildings included in the water shutdown are Howard Hall, Old Main, Sheslow Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, Harmon Fine Arts Center, Turner Jazz Center, Opperman Law Library, The Knapp Center, Cartwright Hall, Jewett Residence Hall, Collier-Scripps Hall, Olin Hall, Fieldhouse, Bell Center, and Facilities Planning and Management .

Power outage

Facilities Planning and Management needs to make minor repair to an electrical switch located near Aliber Hall.  Electricity will be shut off to Aliber Hall and Olmsted Center on Friday, Dec. 22, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

—Jolene Schmidt, Facilities Planning and Management

Blackboard will be migrating to a different kind of environment without much change to its users. In order to complete the migration, Blackboard will be unavailable from Dec. 23 to 27. Please be sure to plan accordingly for this migration timeline. After the system is available, faculty may generate course materials and finish their preparations for J-Term and spring courses.

Our move to Blackboard’s SaaS (Software as a Service) will make new tools available and position Drake to provide better online offerings for years to come. The planned migration from managed hosting, which is housed on Blackboards servers, to SaaS, hosted on Amazon Web Services data centers, will occur during winter break to have the least amount of impact.

Once the migration takes place, we will continue running the current experience on Blackboard known as version 9.1. By moving to SaaS, we gain some major benefits from the new environment, which will also allow us to make future upgrades and patches to our environment with little to no downtime.

—Karly Good, ITS

Drake reimburses mileage for use of personal automobiles by employees for actual miles driven during business travel. The reimbursement rate is based on the current standard mileage rate issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

Effective Jan. 1, 2018, the standard mileage rate issued by the IRS is 54.5 cents per business mile driven, which is up from 53.5 cents in 2017.

The standard mileage rate is evaluated annually by the IRS and is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.

If you have any questions regarding the reimbursable mileage rate, please visit the IRS website or contact Accounting at accounting@drake.edu.

—Jenifer Baugher, Accounting