Drake Honorary Degree and Drake Medal nominations are being accepted through March 31, 2023. There is a new form for nominations. Completed nominations can be sent to Carrie Koenigsfeld, committee chair, at carrie.koenigsfeld@drake.edu.
— Madison Bemus, Provost’s Office
It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of Mary Alice Hill, retired human resources director. Mary Alice passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, Jan. 26, at her home in Clive. Mary Alice was a valued, dedicated, respected, and talented member of the Drake community who will be deeply missed by those who had the privilege of calling her a colleague and friend.
During Mary Alice’s time at Drake, she led enhancements to several HR programs, including staff recognition, professional development, and employee wellness. However, it is her kindness, thoughtfulness, positive attitude, and smile that will be remembered most.
Scott Raecker, executive director of The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center, said it best: “Mary Alice was the epitome of our Drake Core Values in action. She always brought her best self to work, assumed the best in everyone, was always looking for All In opportunities for our campus, and had a tremendous commitment to our mission. Mary Alice transformed lives and strengthened not only our Drake community but the broader Des Moines community.”
A funeral service will be held on Friday, Feb. 10, at 11 a.m. at Lutheran Church of Hope, 925 Jordan Creek Parkway in West Des Moines. The service will be livestreamed from http://hopeonline.tv/specialevents.
Please share your memories of Mary Alice at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com as hearing stories about her is greatly appreciated by her family. Or, if you are attending the service, please bring a written note. You can read Mary Alice’s obituary here.
— Venessa Macro, Chief Administration Officer
Cowles Library, with support from the Office of the Provost, is excited to announce another opportunity for full-time Drake faculty interested in using open educational resources (OER) in their courses. OER can benefit students in many ways, including saving money and expediting access. The Drake Faculty OER 2023 Grant Program is offering stipends between $500 and $1,500 to participants who complete the program, which involves adopting, adapting, or creating an OER to use in one or more of your courses. Learn more.
— Andrew Welch, Cowles Library
Drake faculty and staff who exemplify the Core Value All in This Together will be recognized at the next Provost’s Drake Social on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the Cline Hall Atrium beginning at 4 p.m.
To nominate a colleague, please use the Qualtrics form. Feel free to fill out multiple forms. All those nominated will be recognized on a rolling display at the event.
What do we mean when we say we’re All in This Together at Drake? We look for colleagues who embrace robust communication, and who value transparency, collaboration, and teamwork.
When you nominate colleagues, be prepared to describe how each colleague meets these descriptions. Several nominees will be chosen at random for prizes.
Refreshments will include wine, beer, soft drinks, and an assortment of light snacks. This is a family friendly event. Please feel free to bring your children and partner!
— Madison Bemus, Provost’s Office
Drake Intercultural Community Exchange (DICE) is excited to launch the Spring 2023 application for hosts and community members.
This volunteer program matches faculty and staff (and their families) with incoming international students for a term (or longer), with the goal of fostering meaningful connections beyond the classroom.
DICE hosts would be expected to reach out to their student two or three times a semester to grab a meal, participate in a shared interest, or meet up at DICE/ISSS-sponsored events. Participating as a DICE volunteer is open to ALL Drake faculty and staff. The only requirement is that you have a strong interest in developing an inclusive community and the desire to make our international students feel welcome.
If you are interested in becoming a DICE host, please complete our online application: http://drake.qualtrics.com/DICE_HostApplication
Applications will be accepted until Thursday, Feb. 16.
If you have any questions about the program, please send inquires to Jorona Johnson, international student advisor, at jorona.johnson@drake.edu.
— Jorona Johnson, Global Engagement
Nominations are being accepted for the Principal Global Citizenship Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to global engagement and internationalization efforts on the part of faculty or staff. The selected awardee will receive a plaque, up to $3,000, and will be announced at the 2023 Global Citizen Forum in March. A screening committee will review all nominations and make recommendations to the Provost. Nominations should be submitted to Bonnie Ehler at bonnie.ehler@drake.edu by Tuesday, Feb.14, 2023.
A letter of nomination should be submitted recommending an individual for the award and explaining the context and manner in which the nominator has come to know the faculty or staff member. This letter should speak to the following qualifications:
Pursuant to the University’s mission to develop “responsible global citizens,” explain how the nominee has made outstanding contributions at Drake toward realizing the following:
The nominee must be a faculty or staff member with at least four years of service at the University. The nominee cannot have won this award within the past five years. Faculty and staff members who report directly to Global Engagement are ineligible.
Nominees who indicate a willingness to be considered will be invited to submit a resume or C.V. and a statement discussing their contributions to the above goals. Up to three letters of support from unit or institutional leadership, faculty, staff, or students will be accepted (this is optional).
Any individual who was nominated for the award in 2022 may be re-nominated if the nominator resubmits a letter offering the individual for consideration this year. Files of previous nominees are maintained for one year. If a faculty/staff member is re-nominated, the nominator will be invited to review the file from the previous year to ensure that the nomination is as current as possible.
Past recipients include:
2022 – Debra Bishop, Professor of Practice in Management & International Business
2021 – Sally Haack, Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Clinical Sciences
2020 – Jody Swilky, Ellis and Nelle Levitt Professor of English/Writing Workshop
2019 – Pramod Mahajan, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
2018 – Tim Knepper, Professor of Philosophy/Comparison Project Director
2017 – John Rovers, Professor of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
2016 – Ellen Yee, Professor of Law/Director of International Programs
Nomination letters are due by Feb. 14, 2023, and should be sent as an attachment to bonnie.ehler@drake.edu. Questions may be directed to Annique Kiel, executive director of Global Engagement and International Programs, at annique.kiel@drake.edu.
— Bonnie Ehler, Global Engagement
Professor Faber McAlister (Speaking Center) and Professor Megan Brown (Writing Center) invite faculty to refer students to these—hours and details for each, below:
The Speaking Center is open for Spring 2023.
Social Distancing and remote learning have reduced or altered opportunities to practice oral communication techniques that we all need in a variety of situations. Drake University’s Speaking Center is here to support students, faculty, and staff in our shared efforts to develop and advance these crucial skills.
Students can book appointments to meet with a tutor or the Director for help in preparing, composing, and delivering speeches and presentations—or even to get advice for initiating difficult conversations and participating in interactive discussions.
Location and Hours: The Speaking Center will be holding appointments in our new tutoring space downstairs in Cowles Library, room 039. Please follow the signs through the tutoring areas back to the SW corner to find our new location. Tutoring appointments are currently available Monday-Thursday afternoon.
To make an appointment: Visit http://library.drake.edu/speaking to schedule a personal meeting with a tutor. Please enter a note if you need virtual appointment. Virtual Tutoring Sessions are held on Blackboard Collaborate Ultra at the following link:
https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/7989fbe8f9314fa98d680dca692582e9
Appointments are scheduled for 30 minutes each, and students are encouraged to schedule multiple times while preparing for a single event if they wish. Any questions or concerns should be directed to speaking-help@drake.edu.
Speaking Center Services: Speaking Center tutors have experience and training in speech pedagogy and are prepared to assist students when selecting and narrowing topics, organizing ideas, drafting and revising an outline, preparing visual aids, and practicing delivery. The Speaking Center’s staff also facilitates access to research and resources that can help speakers and presenters, and can address a variety of oral communication issues.
THE WRITING CENTER OPENED MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6
WHAT WE DO: The Writing Center’s trained peer tutors advise and assist students at any stage of the writing process:
We are a free service for all Drake students, including graduate students and those in professional programs.
HOW TO SIGN UP TO VISIT: Please go to https://library.drake.edu/writing-center/ to book an appointment with a tutor—instructions for booking and visiting are available on the site as well. Appointments are approximately 30 minutes, and students can sign up for more than one session if they wish. They may also request that a tutor keep a regular time slot available for them if they would like to come in each week.
WHERE WE ARE: Reminder: the Writing Center has moved! We are still on the lower level of Cowles Library—please follow signs to find our new, larger, more comfortable space. We offer hours daily, from mornings to late afternoon/evening (including weekends). Students with health concerns can request an appointment on Zoom.
FOR FACULTY AND STAFF: If you refer a student to the workshop or require all students to visit, please let us know via email (megan.brown@drake.edu). Ask students to bring their assignment prompt/instructions to the Writing Center, as well as any writing they have done so far. When students are referred, or required, to visit, the tutor will email you to let you know that your student has attended and briefly describe what work was done. When students attend on their own, we do not inform professors unless they specifically ask us to do so.
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS please contact Prof. Megan Brown, Director of Writing (megan.brown@drake.edu).
— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost
Deputy Provost 2:10 (two articles with a read time of 10 minutes) is a communication series by Deputy Provost Renée Cramer sharing important scholarship, teaching, and development opportunities.
I am so excited to highlight the work of some of our Fall 2022 FYS instructors, who created amazing experiences for our entering first year students. Janalyn Phillips (CPHS) taught The History of Hip Hop; not only did her students listen to great old school hip hop, they spent a class session making graffiti to commemorate the ethos of the era. See the group art photo below.
And, almost any time I walked campus last fall, I ran into Chuck Sengstock’s (SOE) FYS Photography: Capturing Moments out an about … capturing what it felt like to be newly on campus and enrolled in college. I love the flickr accounts from students Blythe Kelly, Chase Stephens, and Kate Hagemeier that Chuck shared with me; the students featured here gave permission for you to look, too.
What excites me most about the courses Janalyn and Chuck taught last fall is that they are courses that follow their passions, not their professions. Like so many of our FYS offerings, these faculty help meet our mission by providing an opportunity for our students to develop their whole selves, to participate in a liberal arts curriculum, and to meet other entering first years who share a common interest in something as meaningful as the music they love, or how they see the world.
If you’re teaching an FYS next fall, I hope you take inspiration from these two courses. And if you want to talk about teaching an FYS later on down the road, please reach out! But also: when you see your colleagues doing cool things with students in their classes, please let me know – I’d love to feature them in a coming installation of Look What Your Colleagues Have Done!
— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost
Deputy Provost 2:10 (two articles with a read time of 10 minutes) is a communication series by Deputy Provost Renée Cramer sharing important scholarship, teaching, and development opportunities.
The new partnership between Drake and Uwill will significantly improve the well-being of our students as they will have increased access to mental health services. However, helping our students access this service will require all of our support. Please see the recommendations below to help ensure that students have access to this platform:
For questions, contact Kayla Bell-Consolver, director, Drake Student Counseling Center
— Kayla Bell-Consolver, Drake Student Counseling Center
In Access & Success we have been connecting with students who have completed disability documentation to receive accommodations for the spring semester. When accommodations are confirmed, the Access & Success team raises the accommodation notification flag in Starfish to alert instructors. Additionally, students are expected to follow-up with instructors to discuss accommodations.
Faculty can view current student accommodations by class in Starfish using the following steps (view example):
Common accommodations might include test taking accommodations (such as extended time, distraction reduced testing location), flexibility in attendance, and note taking. When note taking accommodations are requested, instructors can support students by making an announcement and/or sending a message to their class requesting a peer take and share notes. These notes are intended to be supplemental to the notes created by the student requesting accommodations.
For any questions, please contact Michelle Laughlin, director of Access & Success, by phone 515–271–1835 or email Michelle.Laughlin@Drake.edu.
— Laura Shell, Access and Success Coordinator