May Commencement Ceremonies

The commencement ceremonies for those students graduating at the end of this semester will be held in the Knapp Center on Saturday, May 15 (law) and Sunday, May 15 (undergraduate and graduate), at the times listed below.   Out of respect for the students who have earned their degrees, I strongly encourage you to attend the appropriate event. 

Law:  Saturday, May 14, 7 p.m.

Undergraduate, Sunday, May 15, 10 a.m.

Graduate:  Sunday, May 15, 2 p.m.

If you are planning on attending the undergraduate and/or graduate ceremonies, please RSVP—no later than noon, Tuesday, May 10—to http://2016springcommencementregistration.eventbrite.com

Because the Law School has a separate ceremony, Law faculty should notify your dean’s office directly. 

Learning Symposium

I am pleased to invite you to register for the 2016 Drake University Learning Symposium. There is an exciting array of sessions—from creating inclusive working and learning environments to language across the curriculum, intercultural development inventory, and examining the lived experiences of students of color at Drake, among several others.  The hardest part of registration will be limiting yourself to just two sessions. If you are needing a break from the end of the semester activities, please take 5-10 minutes to register. The Learning Symposium is sponsored through a partnership with the Sheraton West Des Moines and hosted by the Office of the Provost.  

2016 Learning Symposium: “Inclusive Excellence ”
August 19 , 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
Sheraton West Des Moines—1800 50th Street, West Des Moines

Register and select the sessions you would like to attend—space is limited by the size of the rooms: https://2016drakelearningsymposium.eventbrite.com

 We hope you join us at the Symposium to welcome our new provost into the learning community that is Drake University. 

Provost Mobile Office Hour 

Due to the number of events next week, I will be unable to hold my roaming office hour.  My next scheduled mobile office hour is Tuesday, May 3, 10:30 a.m.–noon, Cowles Cafe.

—Joe Lenz, Interim Provost

Director of Sponsored Programs
As you will remember, last fall Jayne Smith resigned her position as director of sponsored programs. Since that time we have conducted a national search for a new director. I am delighted to announce that Mary Wohlford will be the new director of the Office of Sponsored Programs. She has 31 years of experience in higher education administration, and comes to Drake from The Registry, the nation’s premier interim higher education executive search firm. Her most recent assignment for them was as associate vice provost at Suffolk University where, among other things, she worked to rapidly develop extramural funding plans in each of the university’s three colleges and across the institution, dramatically increasing proposal development from $2 million per year to $35 million per year.

She has extensive experience in grants management and sponsored programs in a variety of universities, including Suffolk, Albany State University, Kansas City University, and Des Moines University. She has been a faculty member in health science related fields at Kansas City University; Des Moines University, where she was a tenured associate professor in health administration and public health; and Indian Hills Community College. She has a B.S. in health information management from Stephens College, an M.S. in health care administration from Des Moines University, an M.A. in industrial design and technology from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from Iowa State University. Mary will assume her responsibilities at Drake on July 1. I want to thank Art Sanders and the members of the search committee for their good work in concluding a successful search.

Provost Mobile Office Hour
You can find me this week on Tuesday, April 19, 9:30-10:30 a.m., in the Cowles coffee shop. No appointments needed.

—Joe Lenz, Interim Provost

The Harmon Fine Arts Center building hours will be limited to all faculty, staff, and students April 22-24. The south entrance doors will not be accessible to anyone during the hours listed below:

• Friday, April 22, 5–10 p.m.
• Saturday, April 23, 8 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
• Sunday, April 24, 8 a.m.–6:30 p.m.

The north doors will only be accessible to faculty, students, and staff who have Fine Arts Late Hours Access. If you have any questions, please contact Drake Public Safety at 271-2222. The Fine Arts Box Office will be closed during this weekend. To purchase tickets to The Wild Party, please go to www.drake.edu/theatre/productions/fineartsboxoffice.

—Alina Grimm, Fine Arts Coordinator

US Bank has maintained an ATM in the outer lobby of the Olmsted Center for several years. The activity level has been significantly declining, to the point that a $300 monthly fee will be assessed to Drake to keep the ATM. The bank has agreed to keep the ATM in Olmsted for free if the deposit function is disabled; this means that we can use the machine to withdraw money, but they won’t be stopping by to pick up deposits from the machine.  As an alternative, there is an ATM that does accept deposits from US Bank customers at the US Bank location on 25th Street right next to Drake Public Safety. We are interested in your opinion about this potential change in ATM services. Please email nancy.crittenden@drake.edu with your comments by April 27.

—Nancy Crittenden, Associate Treasurer

If you are interested in helping with this historic event April 28–30, please go online to check out our available opportunities. Questions? Contact Shannon Saunders at shannon.saunders@drake.edu. With your help, this will be another successful year for the Drake Relays!

—Shannon Saunders, Special Assistant to Athletic Director

Due to multiple events on campus and increased community presence for the Drake Relays, it is necessary to establish the following parking restrictions for Drake parking lots from April 24 to May 2. Please review the restrictions listed below—your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Please note: All residential parking lots are still under 24-hour residential permit only restrictions.

Sunday, April 24– Monday, May 2: Reserved—No Parking: Lot #17 (Facilities, 27/Clark)— Reserved for placement and use as Relays athlete warm-up area.

Tuesday, April 26, 10 p.m.–Monday, May 2, 4 p.m.: Reserved—No Parking: Lot 18 South (Studio Arts) and Lot 18 North (West Stadium)

Wednesday, April 27, 8 a.m.–Sunday, May 1, 8 a.m.: Limited Parking—North half of Olmsted Lot #16

Thursday, April 28, 11 a.m.–Saturday, April 30, 6 p.m.: Parking Lots 1 and 2 will be pay lots (Drake Permits valid at no charge until 4 p.m. on Friday in Lot 1).

In addition, on Thursday, April 28, we will be reserving and monitoring lot 2 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the president’s inauguration.

City Street Closures
Thursday, April 28–Saturday, April 30: 27th Street will be shut down for bus traffic from Forest Avenue to Clark Street.

Saturday, April 30: Meek Street will be shut down for the Hammer Throw.

—Scott Law, Director, Drake Public Safety

President’s Inauguration
In three weeks, at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 28, we will celebrate the inauguration of Marty Martin as the 13th president of Drake University. I am writing now to encourage everyone to join us at The Knapp Center to witness this rare and important event, one that has happened, at most, just 12 times in our 134-year history. As a reminder ALL classes will be suspended from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on the 28th. Normal class schedule will resume at 3:30 and evening classes will meet.

It has been 17 years since we last welcomed a new president. We want to make it possible for all members of the Drake community—faculty, staff, and students—to honor Marty Martin at the formal initiation of his presidency, to witness this historic moment, and to celebrate with him the start of something big. There will be pomp, there will be circumstance, there will be a good time had by all.

Provost Mobile Office Hours: This week you can find me on Tuesday, April 12, at Cowles Library Cafe, 1–2 p.m., and on Friday, April 16, at Olmsted Coffee Shop, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

—Joe Lenz, Interim Provost

Over the next few weeks, Drake’s new managed print vendor, LRI, along with Caron Findlay, director, purchasing and business services, will be scheduling meetings with departmental printing representatives to confirm device needs. These meetings will help determine which device model is appropriate for each department. In these meetings, they will also begin the process of scheduling delivery and installation of new devices and coordinating the removal of current Xerox devices. Additional information on the timeline for installation of and training on the new devices will be forthcoming.

—Carla Herling, Web Services Communications and Training Specialist