Drake will celebrate Civic Action Week April 4–9! This is a campus-wide week of events for students, faculty, staff, and the broader community to learn, engage, and encourage collective responses to persistent societal challenges.

There will be opportunities to engage each day of the week through service opportunities, career panels, film showings, advocacy events, and more. Many groups are collaborating on events for the week, including Professional & Career Development Services, Student Activities Board, Office of Equity & Inclusion, and more.

The entire Drake community is encouraged to participate in some way. Share your engagement on social media by tagging @drakeservice #drakeserves for a chance to win prizes, including a Griff T-shirt!

Visit the Community Engagement website for more information or contact amanda.martin@drake.edu.

The Office of Community Engaged Learning is a department within the Academic Excellence & Student Success unit.

— Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning

There will be three multi-faculty and student panel discussions on climate change Wednesday, March 30, from 6–9 p.m. in Olin Hall, Room 206. At 6 p.m., Dan Chibnall, David Courard-Hauri, Tom Rosburg, and Nanci Ross will discuss impacts of climate change; at 7 p.m., Amahia Mallea, Jennifer McCrickerd, and Abigail Stepnitz will address Responses; and at 8 p.m., a student panel will focus on advocacy both on and off campus. The event is open to the community, and will be an interactive discussion.

— David Courard-Hauri, College of Arts and Sciences

Art Week Des Moines returns June 17–23 aiming to create stronger value for local artists and our community.

What’s new in 2022?
New this year, the program focuses on neighborhood activations. Concentrating on one neighborhood each day (including the Drake neighborhood) brings art to new and unexpected places with concentrated activity and attention for our artist neighbors.

As always, Art Week Des Moines is open to all artists wanting to showcase their work among the creative expressions growing in Des Moines.

For those interested in exhibiting, organizing, hosting, or making something during art week, share what’s on your mind by filling out this form.

— Ryan Arnold, Director, Community Engagement 

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar is one of the holiest months of the year for Muslim communities. It begins Saturday, April 2, and continues through Monday, May 2.  Eid al-Fatr, the last day of Ramadan, is an official holiday within Islam.

Passover begins the night of Friday, April 15, and ends at sundown on Saturday, April 23, this year. In the Jewish community, this is a very sacred time, and many Jewish people observe the first day of Passover with a Seder meal. Some students may observe the Jewish tradition of not being able to work the first two and last two days of the holiday.

Faculty are required to provide students reasonable accommodations to honor their religious identities. It is especially important we honor this obligation as we communicate celebration, affirmation, and inclusion of all the diversity within the Drake community.

Students need to communicate the accommodations they require at the following link, so we can institutionally support clear communication between individual faculty and their students: https://drake.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d5qfVUKtuTQdg7b.

Any instructor with concerns regarding a given holiday, or the academic implications of a particular student’s religious observance, may seek guidance from the chair of their department, dean of their school, or the Provost.

— Jennifer Harvey, Associate Provost, Campus Equity and Inclusion

When we make it a habit to share pronouns we create an environment where we learn not to assume, based on someone’s appearance, what a person’s gender is or how they want to be referred to in the third person (what pronouns they use). Whether or not any one of us might ourselves be worried we will be misgendered, proactively offering ours is a meaningful practice to cultivate a community of inclusion and belonging.

Great news for our virtual experiences! The most recent upgrade for Zoom makes it possible to add pronouns so they always show up in your profile. Make this change. 

Also, an upgrade to make pronouns visible in Blackboard and Starfish is also coming soon, and we have drafted a proposed policy on pronouns. Take a moment to read the proposal and share your feedback.

— Jen Harvey, Associate Provost, Campus Equity and Inclusion

The Adams Leadership Awards are an annual, campus-wide tradition to celebrate the achievements of student leaders and organizations at Drake University. Each spring we honor students and organizations who have made valuable contributions to the campus community through their outstanding commitment to leadership.

Please consider nominating any Drake students and student organizations who have exhibited strong leadership and excellence throughout the 2021–2022 academic year. Nominations can be submitted by any Drake student, faculty, or staff member. Award categories include:

• Outstanding First Year Student
• Outstanding Student Organization President
• Outstanding Residence Hall Leader
• Oreon E. Scott Outstanding Senior of the Year
• …and many more!

View a full list of awards and the nomination form here. The nomination deadline is Sunday, April 10, at 11:59 p.m.

All award nominees and winners will be recognized at the Adams Leadership Awards ceremony and reception, taking place in Sheslow Auditorium on Wednesday, May 4, at 6 p.m. (Save the date! All students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to attend.)

If you have any questions, please contact Kristin Economos, director of student leadership programs, at kristin.economos@drake.edu. 

— Kristin Economos, Office of Student Inclusion, Involvement, & Leadership

The Iowa Statewide Tornado Drill will take place on Wednesday, March 23, at 10 a.m. The statewide drill allows us to test our planning and readiness and practice seeking appropriate shelter in case of a real tornado. Faculty, staff, and students should participate in the drill by following campus severe weather plans and going to the lowest level of their building, away from doorways and windows. 

March is Severe Weather Preparedness Month in the State of Iowa. Every year on the fourth Wednesday of March, the State of Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department in conjunction with the Governor’s office run a statewide tornado drill. In years past Drake participates in this drill while testing our own procedures and protocols. The University will test its campus notification system, consisting of the sirens located in the blue light phones at the same time the City of Des Moines and Polk County test emergency sirens.

Tornado Facts:

• Tornadoes may strike quickly, with little or no warning.
• Funnel clouds usually last less than 10 minutes before dissipating, and many only last several seconds. On rare occasion, cyclones can last for more than an hour.
• Tornadoes may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms in the funnel.
• The average tornado moves southwest to northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.
• The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 mph, but may vary from stationary to 70 mph.
• Damage paths of tornadoes can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long.
• Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m., but can occur at any time.

Know the Terms. Familiarize yourself with these terms to help identify a tornado hazard:

Tornado Watch: Tornadoes are possible. Remain alert for approaching storms. Watch the sky and stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio, commercial radio, or television for information.

Tornado Warning: A tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. Take shelter immediately! Most injuries associated with high winds are from flying debris, so remember to protect your head.

— Chris Nickell, Environmental Health & Safety

For the next six Fridays (March 25–April 29), Professor Herbert Moyo, Drake’s Spring 2022 Principal Global-Scholar-in-Residence, sponsored by the Principal Center for Global Citizenship within the Office of Global Engagement, will be giving a series of presentations about religion in Africa, focusing especially on traditional African religion and African Christianities in southern Africa.

Among the topics to be covered are:

• African cultural and religious worldviews in general (3/25),
• Messianic African Christianities (4/1)
• Healing in African Zionist churches (4/8)
• Traditional healers and the ancestors (4/15)
• Witchcraft (4/22)
• Protestant Christianity (4/29)

Professor Herbert Moyo is associate professor of theology and religion at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in South Africa. His research focuses on the philosophical analysis of religio-cultural practices among the Nguni in Southern Africa, including African religio-cultural practices, African Christianities, Indigenous African ritual practices, and the marriage between African indigenous religio-cultural practices and Christianities.

Each seminar will be held from 12–1 p.m. in Medbury Honors Lounge.

For more information, please contact Professor Herbert Moyo (moyoh@ukzn.ac.za) or Tim Knepper (tim.knepper@drake.edu).

— Annique Kiel, Global Engagment