You are reminded that submissions for Fall 2025 First Year Seminar (FYS) course proposals are now open and that the deadline for receiving all course submissions is Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. Whether you have a new concept in mind or wish to revisit a previous topic, you are invited to share your vision. Additionally, you are invited to participate in the proposed FYS learning communities. Click here to browse information and submission guidelines for the Fall 2025 FYS call.

— Jimmy Senteza, Deputy Provost of Academic Affairs

Drake’s annual career fair is coming up in just a couple of weeks, and we need help from our faculty and staff colleagues to ensure it’s a success for our Class of 2023 and Class of 2024 alumni, current students, and employer and graduate/professional school partners. 

There are several ways you can help: 

Encourage Participation: Date, time, and location are below. Please distribute these details via email with recent alumni, students, and advisees; post them in your course syllabus; print and post a promotional flier outside your office; share an announcement and reminders in class and during appointments; shout it from the rooftops!

University Career Fair

Thursday, Feb. 13
Olmsted Student Center
3–6 p.m. (3–3:30 p.m. is reserved for recent alumni and graduating students) 

• Students are highly encouraged to register in advance and registration is now open on Handshake. 
• Follow @drakecareer on Instagram for additional event information and updates 

Volunteer: We still need a number of volunteers to help with event set-up, student check-in and registration, employer check-in, and especially event tear-down and clean-up. It’s a great opportunity for faculty and staff to connect with students outside of our usual areas, meet our employer and graduate school partners, and go “all in this together!” If you and/or colleagues from your college/school or department are interested in volunteering, please sign up for a shift on the Career Fair Volunteers SignUpGenius.  

Save-the-Dates: February is a busy month in Career Services! In addition to our career fair, we have two additional, campus-wide events to help support students’ career and professional development. Please also help us to promote: 

Resume Reviews

Thursday, Feb. 6
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Olmsted Student Center Conference Rooms (Upper level)  

This is a drop-in, in-person opportunity for students to meet with our Career Services staff, employer partners, and other faculty and staff volunteers for feedback and input on their resume or CV in preparation for the career fair. No appointments necessary! 

Get LinkedIn with Drake Alumni: A Networking Breakfast

Friday, Feb. 28
8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Olmsted Student Center, Parents Hall South 

Join Career Services, the Office of Alumni Relations, and 20–25 alumni guests for breakfast, networking, and a keynote address from Drake alumna and Senior DEI Associate at the Weitz Company, Shekinah Fountain, on using LinkedIn as a tool for professional networking and career engagement. All students must register on EventBrite. Space is limited. Thanks to our event sponsors: Principality Group of Wells Fargo Advisors. 

—Jill Batten, Strategic Director of Advising & Career Services

In January, the Center for Teaching & Learning will offer four sessions of a workshop called “Kickstart Your Semester: Strategies for Effective Course Planning.”

Each hybrid session will be offered on campus in Howard Hall and virtually through Zoom.

All faculty and staff are invited to connect with colleagues to reflect on your goals for the spring, organize your calendar, and consider how you might use generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot for support.

Session dates include: Wed, Jan 15 (1:00-3:00 pm); Thurs Jan 16 (10 am-Noon); Tues, Jan 21 (1:00-3:00 pm), and Wed, Jan 22 (10:00 am-Noon).

RSVP using this Qualtrics form

The Offices of Finance and Financial Aid would like to thank everyone for taking the time to complete the Administrative Services Survey earlier this fall.  We have gained valuable feedback to help us maintain and improve the services we provide to students, faculty, and staff.

Ratings for nearly every question improved over the prior year ratings.  Each of the departments within Finance individually scored between 4.4 and 4.8 on the 5-point scale.  The overall satisfaction with the services provided by the Offices of Finance and Financial Aid score was 4.62 compared to 4.42 in 2023.  While there is always room for improvement, the unit’s staff are clearly doing their best to meet our service-oriented objectives to:

• Ensure our constituents are engaged and informed
• Ensure integrity and transparency
• Process university resources timely and accurately
• Improve service excellence

The comments included in the survey were very helpful.  We appreciate the many positive comments that recognized outstanding service provided by staff.  An item for improvement that we noted and plan to work on over the next year is to review our rules and processes for unnecessary complication and difficulty in navigation.  Another is to ensure that we are timely in our communications and responses.  Like most areas of campus, reductions in staffing within the Finance and Financial Aid functions have put additional pressure and expectation on the existing staff and we request continued grace as we work to streamline and continually improve our operations.

Thank you again for participating in the Administrative Survey and please know that your input is reviewed and analyzed by the entire staff of the Offices of Finance and Financial Aid.

– Adam Voigts, Chief Financial Officer

The March 24th Provost’s Social will serve as a celebration of faculty research and scholarship, showcasing the incredible contributions made by the Drake academic community. This event will provide an opportunity for us to recognize and honor the achievements of our faculty in advancing knowledge across a variety of fields.

Please help us to prepare by submitting this form with information about books you have authored, co-authored, or edited within the past two years, as well as peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and notable papers.

Your contributions are an essential part of our academic success, and we look forward to sharing them with our colleagues!

– Madison Bemus, Academic Affairs Operations Specialist

The Sponsored Program Administration and Research Compliance (SPARC) office would like to extend our thanks to everyone who completed the Survey of Administrative Services this year. The SPARC team has taken the time to review the responses and commit to enhancing our support for the Drake Community.

The assessment of the SPARC office is difficult to compare to previous years due to the number of transitions that took place over the last few years. However, the survey was able to provide helpful feedback for the current SPARC staff.

The mean overall satisfaction score for services provided by the SPARC office was 4.38 on a five-point scale. Areas of highest satisfaction include professionalism and courteous nature of the interactions with staff (4.79 and 4.77, respectfully) and the provision of valuable grant administration services (4.38). Room for improvement was indicated in funding opportunity identification (3.67) and budget development and up-to-date information (4.08, 4.13, respectfully). Respondents did comment about the significant staff transitions but expressed optimism about moving forward.

Since I started at Drake in May, I’ve also taken the opportunity to meet with Deans, Directors, and Faculty individually and in groups to discuss the experiences, concerns, and hopes for the services we provide. With all this input, we are updating processes (i.e. online proposal routing form, indirect cost waiver request form) and educating the faculty about the services the SPARC office provides.

The SPARC staff are committed to helping you identify grant opportunities, assisting in writing and submitting grant applications, and managing grants once they are funded. We aim to guide you through the entire grant process from start to finish.

Our website offers a wealth of information on grant applications, as well as IRB and IACUC applications. We’ve recently added a News & Updates section to keep you informed about the latest grant-related information, and we’ve launched a new podcast, SPARC’ing a Conversation, featuring interviews with Drake grantees.

In November, we hosted our first grant networking event, providing faculty with the opportunity to discuss project ideas and potentially identify collaborators. We plan to continue hosting these networking events, along with educational workshops and webinars, in the new year. Keep an eye out for future announcements. We can also provide individualized education to colleges and other units upon request.

The SPARC team looks forward to strengthening our relationships with the Drake Community and fostering a supportive, service-oriented grant-seeking environment.

—Lori Byrd, Sponsored Program Administration and Research Compliance

Writing in Your Academic Field: Spring 2025

Written communication is important in almost any academic field, but the genres and accepted conventions of writing vary from discipline to discipline. In this project, we will discuss ways to integrate writing instruction into courses for which written communication is not necessarily the primary learning outcome, as well as courses that require students to communicate in field-specific ways (for instance, lab reports or business memos).

Instructors who participate in this project will have a one-semester commitment that will include:

• Working with the Director of Writing, Megan Brown, on the development of a writing assignment, writing activities, or a writing project for one of their spring classes.
• Attending hour-long meetings of all participants in the program in February, March, and April (or early May) 2025.  These meetings may be structured as two sessions each month, with half of the group at each session, to facilitate more in-depth discussion.
• Requiring all students enrolled in their class to attend tutoring sessions at the Writing Center at least twice during the semester.

After completing the project and attending the final meeting, participants will receive a $500 stipend.

Participation is limited to 10 individuals.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Madison Bemus (madison.bemus@drake.edu) by Monday, January 6.

If you have questions, please contact Megan Brown (megan.brown@drake.edu).

—Megan Brown, College of Arts & Sciences