With the new year beginning, here are a five reminders as you book travel:

1. When booking international fares, please contact an agent rather than booking online if there are multiple legs to your trip.
2. When splitting a fare between your P-Card and a personal credit card, please contact an agent.
3. When creating your login profile, please be sure to use only your official Drake University email address.
4. Please enter all of your personal frequent flyer information into your profile so you will receive those benefits.
5. If you are choosing Basic Economy Fare (the no frills fare), you will need to call Short’s rather than book online. Please remember to tell them that you would like Basic Economy.

If you have any questions, please contact jputz@shortstravel.com

—Caron Findlay, Finance & Administration 

The Provost invites faculty and staff to the Drake Social at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 10, on the Ray Promenade. There will be a popcorn bar, lemonade, and warm cider.

This year’s socials will be “family friendly.” Anyone with childcare responsibilities right after work is welcome to bring the young ones along. Partners and spouses are also welcome to attend.

—Drinda Williams, Provost’s Office

Sign up now to receive your flu shot! Human Resources has purchased 300 doses of flu vaccine to be provided at no cost to faculty and staff and administered by Drake CPHS student pharmacists and pharmacist faculty members.

Flu shot clinics will be held in September and October. Those who wish to participate must sign up online for an appointment.

You will be notified of the location of your flu shot appointment via email prior to your scheduled appointment, as some room renovations are currently underway in CPHS.

Please bring your Drake ID Card to your appointment and wear a shirt/blouse that will allow access to your upper arm (this is where the vaccine will be administered).

If you have any questions regarding the flu shots, please contact Nora Stelter, PharmD, Associate Professor, Pharmacy Practice at nora.stelter@drake.edu.

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Faculty, if you teach multiple sections of a course and would like to consolidate your course’s final exams into the same room at the same time during finals week, please email the Registrar’s Office at registrar@drake.edu no later than Monday, Sept. 16.  Requests received after Sept. 16 may not be accommodated.

Find more information on final exams. The full exam schedule, including courses with consolidated final exams, will be finalized by Oct. 1.

—Kevin Moenkhaus, Associate Registrar, Office of the Registrar

Need something to wear on spirit Fridays? From now through Sept. 9, receive free shipping on all orders over $50 through shop.drake.edu.

—Caron Findlay,Finance & Administration

The 2019 All Staff Council Meals from the Heartland volunteer event is Friday, Sept 27, from 1–3 p.m. It’s a wonderful opportunity to package meals for malnourished people in Iowa and around the world, while socializing with fellow staff members from across campus.

Community Service Hours are available to you through Drake University. Remember to wear your Drake gear to the event as we will be sure to take a picture!

Please sign up. We look forward to seeing you at this fun event!

—Sara Hughes, Law School

The Provost invites faculty and staff to the Drake Social on Tuesday, Sept. 10, from 4–6 p.m. on the Ray Promenade. There will be a popcorn bar and soft drinks.

This year the Provost wants the socials to be family friendly. If you have childcare responsibilities right after work, feel free to bring the kids along to the social.

In case of inclement weather, the social will be held in Levitt Hall.

—Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

Koru is an introduction to mindfulness and meditation. It teaches you skills you can use to manage your stress, focus your mind, and gain perspective on challenges you may be facing. Using traditional tools from breathing techniques to guided imagery, you will learn how to let go of the thoughts and worries that can overcome your ability to be present.

Join Christine Urish, professor of Occuptional Therapy, for a four-part series that will meet Wednesdays from 2–3:15 p.m. on Sept. 4, 11, 18, and 25 in the Occupational Therapy building. You must attend all four sessions. Class size is limited to 12 people. Contact Linda Feiden for registration information. There are only two seats left so register today!

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Each month a faculty member, nominated by their dean, is recognized for their efforts to integrate innovative technology into their classroom. August’s digital faculty member of the month is Sandy Henry, professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Read an interview with Sandy below:

What course do you use this technology in? All of them! But mostly in copywriting and content design, strategic message design and advertising campaign strategies

What type of technology (hardware/software) do you use?  How do I pick just one? I never met a piece of technology I didn’t like. All of my classes are hands-on, active courses where the students learn by doing, so tech is integrated throughout. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of in-class collaboration via cloud documents/applications.

In what context do you use this technology (assessment/lecture/group work/etc.)? I’ll put the students into groups, ask them to create a cloud files for all group member and myself. They can accumulate and curate source content, they can write and edit, they can design…the possibilities are endless, and I see what they are doing in real time (plus, the history feature of cloud documents, especially Google, is great for assessment after the fact because it records every action taken in a document, as well as the person who takes it). It’s also easy to add and remove members, so groups can be changed during the process.

How does this type of technology align with your teaching pedagogy? Because my classes are active, hands-on skills classes, this is a natural fit.

Where did you get the inspiration to make a change (colleague/seminar/administration/etc.)? I was inspired to start doing this in the classroom because I was asking students to do it outside of class on group projects and it was working well – it’s natural to them!

How long did it take for you to implement this technology? About five minutes, we all knew how to use it, it was just a matter of explaining the process for the in-class exercise.

Did Drake ITS assist you in implementing this technology? If so, how? No

Are you interested in trying out new technology in your classroom? Want help from ITS? Schedule a technology adoption consultation.

–Jon Hurdelbrink, CPHS; Carla Herling, ITS