It is with great sadness that we share that Professor Emeritus of History Julian Archer passed away on Nov. 23. Julian was an accomplished history professor who served Drake for 42 years.  In addition to his role as a faculty member, he lead multiple alumni travel excursions and was a long serving member of the Bucksbaum Committee. Julian will be deeply missed by his colleagues and by generations of students. He was preceded in death by his wife Jane. A memorial is being planned for next spring. Our deepest condolences go out to his children, Jane, Elisabeth, and Laird.

The upcoming winter break provides our Facilities Planning and Management team and contractors time to complete projects. One of these projects is the replacement of the second corridor flooring in Meredith Hall. This work will occur from Dec. 18, 2023, to Jan. 22, 2024. During this time, faculty, staff, and students will not have access to the second floor. Stairwell and elevator access from the first floor to the basement level will be maintained.

— Rob Ebel, Project Manager, Facilities Planning and Management

ITS will be performing routine Oracle Database maintenance from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. Several Drake systems, including Self Service, ProcessMaker, eTranscripts, and Banner, will be unavailable during this window. For a full schedule of maintenance dates for 2023, please see https://www.drake.edu/its/maintenanceschedule/.

— Tyler Spoon, ITS

At the end of January 2024, the existing campus-wide cable service for all residence halls, academic, and administrative buildings will be discontinued. In addition to increasing costs for the service, Mediacom has limited ability to support the aging analog equipment, which has resulted in extended service outages. In its place, a new high-speed internet connection will be dedicated to residence halls to provide better streaming capacity in student rooms. The addition of this internet connection will be transparent to students as it will simply provide additional capacity on the “eduroam” and “DUEntertainment” networks. 

Departments in academic and administrative buildings may request that digital cable connections be installed at an additional cost to the department. ITS will centrally manage the billing account, and monthly charges will be expensed to departmental budgets. Please contact Alicia Mann, ITS Budget and Office Manager, at alicia.mann@drake.edu with questions regarding department digital cable installations. 

— Alicia Mann, ITS

Construction on Morehouse Hall will begin this month. The former residence hall will be transformed into a lively student center that will serve as a gathering place and home base for more than 150 student-led campus organizations.

Eleven million dollars has been raised for the project, and total construction costs are expected to be 100% donor-funded. The project is made possible in large part by the many donors who have contributed to The Ones: Drake’s Campaign for the Brave and Bold. The revitalization project is estimated to be complete in January 2025, just in time for the Spring 2025 semester. Read more about the project.

We will continue to share updates on the progress of this project.

— Heather Winslow, Capital Projects, Facilities Planning and Management

Join Drake professors Chris Porter and Chris Snider for a virtual lunch and learn about generative AI tools on Dec. 15—with a holiday theme. Porter and Snider will introduce tools for creating text, images, video and more. Sign up here.

— Chris Snider, Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication

During Finals Week, only same day, urgent appointments will be scheduled. To schedule, call us at 515-216-5100 the day of or the day before you would like to be seen.

Please also visit us at Meredith Hall, Room 203, from 1–3 p.m. during Bulldog Balance to have on campus relaxing, engaging, and soothing activities. You deserve a break!

Visit drake.edu/counselingcenter/ for more information.

— Kayla Bell-Consolver, Broadlawns Drake Counseling Center

Gear up for the last two weeks of the semester, Bulldogs! Bring your favorite blanket for a deep rest reset with our Yoga Nidra workshop on Dec. 5. This workshop helps promote stress relief and rejuvenation just in time for finals week. Need to rally before finals? We’ve got you covered for that too! Light up the night with our Holiday Glow Light party on Dec. 8. Sign up for these, as well as our regularly scheduled classes, on the Drake Rec App and invite your friends! Our last GroupX class of the semester will be Barre Fusion on Wednesday, Dec. 13, we hope to see you there!

— Gail Witte, Rec Services

For nearly 35 years, the Chronicle of Philanthropy has been the premier source of news, information, analysis, and opinion in the rapidly growing nonprofit world.

The Chronicle’s special reports, popular webinars, and free briefings provide indispensable information from top nonprofit experts.

You can register with your Drake email address to directly access content at philanthropy.com.

— Erin Menardi, Cowles Library

Building schedules will change for the holiday break. Following commencement weekend, we will adopt “administrative hours” for most campus buildings while classes are not in session (most buildings will be open from 7:30 am – 4:30 pm, December 18 – 20).

Doors will be locked for the winter break from December 21 – January 2, with J-Term students and campus employees returning to campus on January 3 to their normal building schedules/hours.

Faculty and staff will still be able to utilize their authorized access plans over the break (for example, 24/7 access to their office building), but extended hour student plans will be shut off during this time.

Please contact Public Safety (515-271-2222) if you have a door access emergency during Winter Break, or contact the Student Services Center (515-271-2000 or studentservices@drake.edu) if you have a general card access question or concern.

— Sara Heijerman, Student Services Center