Online Subscriptions
Cowles Library is pleased to continue offering Drake students, faculty, and staff online access to The New York Times. With our subscription you can access it on your computer and tablet via a web browser and via The New York Times app on your phone. To get started, visit http://researchguides.drake.edu/nyt.

Cowles Library also continues to offer electronic access to The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Chronicle of Philanthropy. For information on setting up your digital access, please visit https://blogs.library.drake.edu/2015/07/24/chronicle-of-higher-education/

Annual Report
Cowles Library is proud to present the 2015–2016 Annual Report. This document provides a record of what we feel have been our outstanding accomplishments for the past year in the key areas of knowledge, learning, and community.

—Claudia Frazer, Professor of Librarianship and Coordinator of Digital Initiatives Library

We value your opinion: Be part of dining program at Drake by completing the Drake Dining Survey. You will be entered into a drawing for one of two $100 American Express Gift Cards. Utilizing an independent online research questionnaire, the Drake Dining Survey will allow us to better understand your needs and work toward future solutions that will better serve the Drake community.

All Drake students, staff, and faculty are invited to complete the survey. One entry per person. Survey ends Sept. 28.

Now is your chance to have your voice heard. We will make positive enhancements to the dining services provided based on your feedback and input! CLICK HERE TO BEGIN SURVEY

If you have any questions please contact Jennifer Bowersox with Sodexo at -515-271-2995 or Jennifer.Bowersox@sodexo.com.

—Caron Findlay, Director, Business and Purchasing Services

ITS has now completed our initial technical work on the campus wireless network.

Our goals were to:

• Improve Wi-Fi coverage gaps within buildings
• Improve overall network performance and reliability
• Upgrade to the latest wireless technologies to future proof our investment

Now that the new equipment and access points have been installed, we need your help! Your input is critical to help us tune the system and provide the best Wi-Fi experience possible.

If you’re finding locations with poor performance or coverage, please let us know at its.drake.edu/wifi-form. Please provide as many details as possible so we can address concerns quickly and accurately.

Thanks for your help!

—Carla Herling, IT Communication Manager

Drake recently installed two electric car charging stations on the campus. One is located in the Olmsted Center parking lot. The other is located in parking lot just to the north of the Opperman Law Library. Drake will be installing two additional electric car charging stations on campus in the future. A generous donation from John Lorentzen and Penny Fillmer made this project possible.

—Jolene Schmidt, Director or Operations and Support Services 

In order to better serve our students, faculty, staff, community partners, and neighbors the former Office of Community Engagement & Service-Learning has been restructured and split into two offices. The Office of Community Engaged Learning, directed by Renee Sedlacek, will serve as the one-stop shop for resources related to connecting students, courses, and scholarship to the community and is part of the Office of the Provost.

The Office of Neighborhood & Community Relations, managed by Nick Valdez, will connect residents, local businesses, community based organizations and government entities to University resources and partner networks. Supporting global service-learning with domestic partners will be a function within the Office of Community Engaged Learning while global service-learning abroad and on J-Term will be supported by Maria Rohach in Drake International. For a full view of our community engagement staffing structure please visit our website.

—Melissa Sturm-Smith, Associate Provost for Academic Excellence and Student Success

Chrystal Stanley has been named director of Professional & Career Development Services (PCDS). Chrystal has fulfilled several roles during her 16-year tenure at Drake—most recently she served as the professional & career development and academic achievement coordinator. This promotion will allow Chrystal to focus her time on providing direction for PCDS and helping students accomplish their professional goals. Chrystal specializes in serving students in the College of Arts and Sciences, and her office was recently relocated to Room 280 in the Fine Arts Center.

Responsibility for academic achievement will now be fulfilled by Bryan Thomas, academic success and retention specialist. Bryan is starting his third year at Drake, and in addition to coordinating tutoring services and individual academic support appointments, he also serves as the staff director for the Crew Scholars program. Bryan’s office is located on the third floor of Old Main. Please see the Academic Achievement website for more information. Tutoring schedules will be posted after the second week of classes.

—Melissa Sturm-Smith, Associate Provost for Academic Excellence and Student Success

The move of the University Bookstore to Olmsted Center has led us to focus on enhancing student study and gathering spaces. We have been working with a student representative team along with a professional furniture design team over the summer to modify current furniture settings and create spaces to match student needs and preferences. Our student representatives sent a survey to determine what functionality students wanted to experience in Olmsted Center. To that end, we have a refreshed furniture plan, which includes reconfiguring current furniture and purchasing new seating options and tables to fill in areas of need. Watch for the new furniture to arrive sometime in October.

Additionally, the Olmsted lower level TMR (conference) rooms will remain open during designated times when they are not in use. This will enable students to utilize these rooms for collaborative or private study spaces.

We are excited as we begin this new school year with these enhancements to Olmsted Center!

—Caron Findlay, Director, Business and Purchasing Services