Dr. Richard Deming is the Medical Director of Mercy One Cancer Center, and his compassion and desire to create positive change, and his ability to help others find joy will be an enduring legacy with the lives and organizations he has touched.

Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Deming and his gift to The Ones Campaign, we are pleased to announce the availability of grants of up to $2,500 for faculty teaching community-engaged learning courses or student organizations whose proposed initiatives aim to advance social change and ultimately spark joy for those impacted by the work.

Criteria:
—Spark joy for those being served and those who are serving
—Projects should have a long-term impact; addressing systemic challenges preferred
—Be tied to a CEL course or student group/organization working with off-campus partners

Funds can be used on supplies, equipment, food, etc.

We are currently accepting applications for the 2023–2024 academic year.

Ready to spark joy and ignite change? Read more about the criteria and apply.

Contact Amanda Martin, amanda.martin@drake.edu and Ryan Arnold, ryan.arnold@drake.edu with any questions or to discuss an idea.

— Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning

The Des Moines Corporate Games are a great way to have fun with co-workers, celebrate your health, skills, and knowledge, and represent Drake while doing so.

We need help filling upcoming teams with June deadlines.  Please consider joining us.

Track & Field.  Deadline to register is June 7 before 10 a.m.  Events are held Tuesday, June 13, at the Drake stadium beginning 5:30 p.m.  Events include 100 meter dash, 400 meter run, 800 meter run, long jump, shot put, and a couple relays. All ages welcome.

Dodgeball.  Deadline to register is June 7.  Event held Wednesday, June 21, at 6 p.m. at Pioneer Columbus Community Center. Need at least two more men and women—more are welcome.

Kickball.  Deadline to register is June 7.  Event held Saturday, June 24, at Savage Softball Fields beginning at 9 a.m. Need at least four more men and five more women—more are welcome.

Trivia.  Deadline to register is June 14. Event held Tuesday, June 27, at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown. Check-in at 5:30 p.m. and competition begins at 6:30 p.m. Opening for up to three more men or women.

Bowling (coed, women’s, men’s). Deadline to register is June 28.  The coed team plays Tuesday, July 11, and the men’s and women’s teams play on Wednesday, July 12, at Bowlerama Lanes, beginning at 8 p.m. Five players per team. Plenty of openings on all teams.

In addition to the team events, there are several individual events coming up in June that you may be interested in, including yoga (June 17 at Gray’s Lake Park at 9 a.m.) a virtual fitness walk (anytime from June 16–19), and a virtual fitness class (June 29).  If you are not into sports, they also have an opportunity for you to donate blood or package meals at Meals from the Heartland.

Signing up is easy—email Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu if you are interested in participating in any (or many) of the events above.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Staff upgrade requests and limited market adjustments are included in the fiscal year 24 budget.  Managers will be notified in the next week if their requested upgrades were approved. If so, job upgrade adjustments will be effective July 1, 2023. A limited pool is also available for some staff market adjustments. In addition to our standard formula for assessing market adjustments, we are also faced with a potential change in the law that could inform market adjustment decisions.  

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced over a year ago that they would be proposing a new a new salary threshold for overtime eligibility. The anticipated proposal was originally supposed to be published last April, then last October, and it has most recently been pushed to this current month of May.  

If the DOL raises the salary threshold for exempt (salaried) status, employers will need to evaluate whether to increase a position’s salary to meet the threshold or adjust positions to non-exempt (hourly) status.  Clearly, without knowing what the new salary threshold will be, we cannot project what we will be able to do for each impacted position.  

We hope the coming months will bring with them answers—what the new threshold will be, when it will take effect, and what our approach to the new threshold will be.   

The waiting game will impact the decisions we need to make regarding staff market adjustments. As soon as we have more concrete information to share we will. Please know we understand this is a topic of both great interest and importance to staff. If the Department of Labor does not issue a new threshold by early June, we will determine whether to proceed with limited market adjustments effective July 1. Watch for additional information about this process from Human Resources.

At present, we are not far enough into the budget process to have any substantive update regarding staff merit adjustments. Going forward, the plan is to roll out any merit increases as of January 1 of the relevant fiscal year (January 1, 2024, for the next fiscal year).  

Please note that faculty salaries are being actively reviewed by the Provost’s Office, with support from Drake HR. Faculty fall under a different exemption category under the FLSA, so a change to the hourly threshold will not impact anyone holding a faculty position. Faculty market salary letters will be sent in June from the Provost’s Office, and faculty promotion salary letters will come from their respective deans. 

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

Don’t be fooled by the name, the ‘corporate games’ are a great way to have fun with co-workers, celebrate your health, skills, and knowledge, and represent Drake while doing so! Here are the events we need broad participation in:

• Yoga
• Cycling tour ride
• Cross country races (4K & 8K)
• Road race (5K)
• Duathlon
• Triathlon
• Blood donation
• Meals from the Heartland

You don’t need to be an elite athlete to participate in any of the above.

For those of you looking for athletic competition in a team setting, we still need people for:

• Women’s 3 on 3 basketball (register by May 24^th!)
• Pickleball (co-ed, women’s) (register by May 24^th!)
• Track & field events (by age bracket, don’t worry!  Even 60+ age brackets!)
• Dodgeball
• Bowling (co-ed, women’s, men’s)
• Golf (men’s & women’s)

Sign-ups are easy – just email Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu if you are interested in signing up for any (or many!) of the events above.

We’ll see you out there!

— Nate Reagen, Office of the President

The All Staff Council Governance Committee congratulates each of the newly elected members of the Drake University All Staff Council!

Governance/Policy Committee

• Suzanne Wisslead

Recognition Committee

• Madison Bemus
• Kristine Plagman
• Amber Welsh
• Betsy White

Special Events/Community Service Committee

• Dillon Beckmann
• Ellie Bullock
• Tiffany Hach
• Lila Johnson
• John Kippes

Special Interests Committee

• Kris Brewster
• Teresa Downs
• Mady Nachtman

Chair Elect

• Kevin Saunders

— Sara Schilling, On behalf of All Staff Council

At its April meeting, the Drake Board of Trustees voted to approve the newest cohort of tenured and promoted faculty, the Sammons Endowed Professorship of Actuarial Science, the inaugural Flapan Professorship of Biology, and Troyer fellow.  Our colleagues’ hard work and passion as educators are truly extraordinary.

College of Arts & Sciences:

• Vira Babenko, associate professor with tenure
• Adam Case, associate professor with tenure
• Jerry Honts, professor and inaugural Flapan Professorship
• Erin Horst, associate professor with tenure
• MaryAnn Huey, professor
• Shauna Kaplan, associate professor with tenure
• Vince Kenney, associate professor with tenure
• En Li, associate professor with tenure
• Kieran Williams, associate professor with tenure

College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

• Stacy Gnacinski, associate professor with tenure, Troyer Research Fellow
• Cassity Gutierrez, professor
• Jon Hurdelbrink, associate professor with tenure
• Abebe Mengesha, professor
• Shankar Munusamy, professor
• Nate Newman, professor
• Jamie Pitlick, professor of pharmacy practice

School of Journalism and Mass Communication

• Lakshmi Tirumala, associate professor with tenure

School of Education

• Tonia Land, professor

Zimpleman College of Business

• Doug Bujakowski, associate professor with tenure, Sammons Professorship of Actuarial Science
• Lendie Follett, associate professor with tenure
• Alanah Mitchell, professor

— Sue Mattison, Provost

All are welcome to join for an open house to celebrate the contributions of Renee Sedlacek Lee, director of Community Engaged Learning, and wish her well in her new role at Workiva, where she will start at the end of May. The Open House will be Wednesday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the lower level lobby of Cowles Library and people are welcome to come and go as they are able. Food and beverages will be available.

Renee said, “It has been an absolute pleasure serving as the Director of Community Engaged Learning since 2017 and working to build the capacity and infrastructure of CEL at Drake since 2013.”

— Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning

You are invited to join us at the next Provost’s Drake Social on Thursday, May 18, in Shivers Hospitality Suite, adjacent to the Knapp Center, beginning at 4 p.m.

During this event, faculty, and staff who celebrated (or will be celebrating) a milestone service anniversary or retirement between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, will be highlighted. Their names will be scrolled on video screens around the room. There will be cake, soft drinks, wine, beer, and light snacks. President Martin will speak at 4:30 p.m.

Please take a moment to stop by and congratulate your co-workers.

Be advised: this event falls on the same day as the State Track Meet, so on-campus parking may be limited. Please allow yourself ample time to find parking before the event.

— Madison Bemus, Office of the Provost

May 11, 2023, marked the end of the federal COVID-19 national public health emergency. Drake has adjusted its COVID-19 guidance to reflect the expiration of the PHE as indicated below.

• Masking: Masks are not required on Drake’s campus. Individuals who choose to wear a mask based on their own circumstances are encouraged and supported to do so. Changes in this positioning will be predicated on community transmission levels.
  
• Test Availability: PCR tests will no longer be available to Drake from the state of Iowa Department of Public Health as a state testing site. Students will be able to obtain tests at the Student Health Center.
  
• Test Benefit for Faculty and staff: Drake’s medical plan will no longer pay the full cost for COVID-19 testing services or the purchase of over-the-counter COVID-19 tests as of May 12, 2023. Employees will be responsible for paying the required office visit co-pay amount for testing services as well as the full cost for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests.

Note: If you are on Drake’s medical plan and  wish to get tested for COVID-19 at a pharmacy, you will be required to submit a claim form to Wellmark for reimbursement. The service will be processed per the plan’s cost-share amount. Medicap and Hy-Vee Pharmacies can submit claims for testing services directly to Wellmark.

• Employee vaccination benefit: Drake’s medical plan will continue to provide COVID-19 vaccinations at no cost. If you have questions about these changes, please contact Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield customer service at 800–362–2230.
  
• Reporting Positive COVID-19 Tests: Faculty, staff, and students with a positive test will no longer be required to report test results to the University. Everyone, however, should refer to the CDC for guidance after a positive test and consult with their provider for appropriate care.

• Relocation Procedures for Residential Students: As of the conclusion of the Spring 2023 semester, the University has discontinued relocation procedures of on-campus students who test positive for COVID-19. This means an isolation room in Ross Hall will no longer be offered as a temporary housing option. Prior to move-in this fall, residential students will be provided additional information about what to do should they test positive for COVID-19.

As always, the University will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation carefully and adjust these measures as needed. Although the official public health emergency has ended, please remain vigilant about protecting yourself and others.

For questions on Drake’s COVID-19 guidance, contact Scott Law at scott.law@drake.edu.