It is with great sadness we share the passing of Harold Dueker Swanson, 91, of La Crosse, WI, who was a biology professor at Drake University for 35 years.

Harold was born in 1930 on a farm near Wichita, Kansas, to Simon and Ottilia (Dueker) Swanson, and grew up there. He died Jan. 1, 2022, and is survived by his wife, Wanda; children Kristin (Alan Hecht), Mark (Nancy Schoenberg) and Celia Swanson; grandchildren Nathan, David (Abby Sterling) and Karin Hecht, and Rachel (Emerson Hardebeck) and Benjamin Swanson.

Harold received his bachelor’s degree from Friends University, Wichita, his master’s degree from the University of Kansas, and his doctorate from the University of Tennessee. He also spent a year in Norway studying on a Fulbright scholarship, where he and Wanda spent the first year of their marriage.

One of his defining characteristics was his insatiable curiosity about the world, as well as the desire to share his fascinations with students, friends and family. Once retired, he and Wanda traveled the world, visiting all 50 states and all the continents except Antarctica.

Due to COVID restrictions, a memorial service will be postponed until a later date. The Schumacher-Kish Funeral & Cremation Services of La Crosse are in charge of arrangements. Online guestbook is available at www.schumacher-kish.com.

Find Harold’s complete obituary here: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/obituaries/dmr119380.

As part of the project to update the former MyDUSIS system that began this past May (new My Information and Employee Dashboard screens), these changes were implemented last week:

On myDrake:

• The MyDUSIS link in the Commonly Used Apps section of myDrake was changed to Self Service and takes you to a new landing page (see navigation guide linked below)
• The My Information link was removed from the Commonly Used Apps section (it is still in the HR section for faculty/staff and the My Drake Profile section for students)
• Other former MyDUSIS-related links have been renamed or removed as Self Service has prominent links to access key functions

In Self Service (formerly MyDUSIS):

• New navigation (see Navigating Self Service (How-to) for details)
• New student profile page (see the Self Service for Students guides)
• New screens for faculty members (see the Self Service for Faculty & Staff guides)
• A new method, Proxy Access, for students to allow parent(s)/guardian(s) access to their financial and academic information (see Authorizing Proxy Access (How-to) for setup details). There will be a transition period through February 1 to provide sufficient time for students to re-enroll parents/guardians and determine their appropriate level of access.

Please remember multi-factor authentication (MFA) is now required for accessing Self Service. Learn more about MFA and see links to guides on how to use it at Multi-factor Authentication Project (FAQ).

— Kris Brewster, ITS

Nominations are being accepted for the Principal Global Citizenship Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to global engagement and internationalization of the campus and curriculum on the part of faculty or staff. The selected awardee will receive a plaque, up to $3,000, and will be announced at the 2022 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 Monday, Feb.14, 2022. 

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:

1. Support Drake University as a global institution by creating linkages to global partners in local, national, and international settings;
2. Develop and/or actively support global and intercultural learning opportunities for Drake students;
3. Develop infrastructure, resources, and partnerships to support internationalization and global engagement.

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 2021 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:

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, 2022 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.

— Annique Kiel, Global Engagement

On Friday (Jan. 7), Iowa’s labor commissioner announced that Iowa submitted official notice that it will not be adopting or enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS).

The ETS requires employers of 100 or more employees to require vaccination or weekly COVID testing of their employees.

Iowa is among 22 states that have an individual state plan for workplace safety, which gives the state the option of writing its own workplace rules for public and private sector workers. But those rules can’t be weaker than what the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires. Iowa Labor Commissioner Rod Roberts said in a news release that the state has determined its existing standards “are at least as effective as the federal standard change.”

Also on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether to reimpose a stay of the ETS. The Court has not yet issued a ruling.

Because of the legal challenge and the position of Iowa’s labor commissioner, Drake will delay taking additional steps to comply with the ETS until there is greater legal clarity.

In the meantime, Drake strongly encourages all employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine—including a booster shot—when advised. Employees who choose to get vaccinated should provide proof of vaccination through Drake’s secure online form. If you have previously provided proof of vaccination and have since received a booster shot, please upload a photo of your updated vaccination card, noting the completion of your booster, by selecting “submit proof of booster.”

Questions about the ETS or Drake’s decision to delay implantation can be directed to drakehr@drake.edu.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources; Chris Nickell, Environmental Health & Safety

Need some information regarding Drake’s students or faculty? You can find it on the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) website. Databook 2021 is updated (aside from student outcomes and staff information) and uploaded.

— Christine Marchand, Institutional Research

Bulldogs United in Learning Drake (BUILD) is a learning and development series available to faculty and staff who wish to enhance their professional skills, improve their wellbeing, and expand their boundaries.

The Spring 2022 BUILD schedule is available in the Learning and Development section on myDrake. To register for any class, please send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.

Upcoming January classes include Leading Hybrid Teams on Jan. 19 from 10–11 a.m. with Alanah Mitchell, associate professor of information systems, and the two-part workshop S.T.A.R.T. Standing Against Racism Together on Jan. 20 and 27 from 1–3 p.m. with Jennifer Harvey, associate provost for Campus Equity and Inclusion, and Jazlin Coley, director, Equity and Inclusion. Both programs will be held in the Olmsted Center 310/311 conference rooms.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Getting a grip on finances is important to everyone’s overall health and wellbeing. Join us beginning Jan. 31 for a four-week program that will challenge participants to avoid unnecessary expenses and help form a personal financial plan through a series of worksheets.

To register, please send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

As ofJan. 1, 2022, the rate per mile is 58.5 cents per mile. 

Drake reimburses mileage for use of personal automobiles by employees for actual miles driven during business travel. The reimbursement rate is based on the current standard mileage rate issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

Effective Jan. 1, 2022, the standard mileage rate issued by the IRS for the use of a car is 58.5 cents per business mile driven, up from 56 cents in 2021.

The standard mileage rate is evaluated annually by the IRS and is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.

If you have any questions regarding the reimbursable mileage rate, please visit the IRS website or contact Accounting at accounting@drake.edu.

—Jenifer Baugher, Accounting

For this message, I asked two of Drake’s Learning Technology experts, Clayton Mitchell and Karly Good, to help me understand—and communicate about—the limits to course storage that many faculty may begin encountering as we build our course sites for Spring 2022.

Here’s what I learned:

In the past year, Blackboard started charging clients for storage.  This is a change from the past and was a surprise to all Blackboard clients when it occurred with little notice.  Being good stewards of University money, we are being mindful of the amount of storage used for courses, so that we do not increase our financial responsibility for Blackboard.

This is potentially frustrating (ie: if you run out of storage space, and don’t understand why!), but easy to avoid and remediate.  Here are important things for instructors to know:

1. Videos usually take up the largest space usage per course.  Fortunately, Drake has a platform, Panopto, that is better suited for maintaining and streaming videos.  Use Panopto to avoid using storage in BlackBoard.
2. The storage costs also impacted the amount of time we can keep a course on Blackboard.  We no longer keep a course available on the LMS for longer than two years.  We do maintain archives for a longer period of time with a maximum of about five years.  Plan ahead, if you anticipate teaching a course that may have been archived (or no longer remains available).
3. We can’t restore Blackboard courses with a size above 2GB.  Keeping courses small will allow us to maintain their course content long term via archival processes and restorations upon request.

As you begin copying courses for spring, know that there will be variations on that process.

• If you are copying from Original course view, please use the correct instructions and start in the course from the past that currently contains the content.
• If you are copying from Ultra course view, the process starts from the future/empty course and pulls content in from past courses. You have more granularity about what you copy with the new process. (Don’t copy items that are broken – this will help clean up courses with transition errors.
• Here is a link to instructions that will help you efficiently copy courses:  Instructions for copying courses.
• Please remove any repeated links referring to the Support Center after you copy content.

As always, there are great resources published by our learning technologists, on the ITS webpages, to help you with the process of course copying, content. management, and storage maintenance. Here is the link to the Academic Technology Resources library.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost