The University Book Club (a program of All Staff Council, Cowles Library, and Human Resources) is preparing for its first book discussion of the year. Please email Sara Heijerman or Dan Chibnall if you would like to participate in the first Zoom discussion on Oct. 5 or if you would like to be added to the book club’s email list or Microsoft Teams group.

If you didn’t get a chance to read The Midnight Library, feel free to check the list below to see if another book on this year’s schedule catches your eye.

October 5 – The Midnight Library – Matthew Haig

December 15 – Rising Strong – Brené Brown

January 20 – The Premonition: A Pandemic Story – Michael Lewis

March 3 – Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport

May 10 – The Rose Code – Kate Quinn

July 20 – Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation – John Lewis

We look forward to our discussions with you this year – both in person and virtual discussions are always a lot of fun, and it’s a great way to get to know people from other departments!

— Sara Heijerman, Student Services Center

As a globally engaged institution, Drake University continually seeks cooperation with higher education institutions, government, and non-governmental entities throughout the world. Drake currently maintains 15 active partnerships in 13 countries. Learn more about our global partners.

Faculty and staff are essential for sustaining active collaboration with Drake’s global partners. This collaboration may include providing international academic experiences for students, faculty research and scholarship, teaching and mentoring, joint curriculum development, or other initiatives. We also encourage faculty and staff to seek out new opportunities to engage with international universities and institutions.

Support for Faculty and Staff
In addition to resources and funding available through Global Engagement, Professors Sally Haack (CPHS) and Inbal Mazar (A&S) will be hosting conversations with interested faculty and staff throughout the 2021–2022 academic year.

The first in-person conversation “Establishing and Enhancing Transnational Partnerships” will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 10 a.m. It will be an opportunity to exchange existing ideas about global partnerships work and learn new ones. Registration is encouraged but not required. Learn more and register

If you are interested but unable to attend during this time, please email sally.haack@drake.edu and inbal.mazar@drake.edu regarding additional opportunities to meet.

2021 IDEAS Grant
Professor Haack and Professor Mazar are serving as faculty fellows as part of the 2021 IDEAS Grant Program. Drake was one of 26 U.S. institutions selected from a pool of 132 proposals to receive the IDEAS Grant, awarded by USA Study Abroad and World Learning. Grant funds will be used, in part, to develop new partnerships to support academic, professional, and experiential learning opportunities. Learn more about the IDEAS Grant.

— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Partnerships Coordinator

Faculty and staff are invited to the Provost’s Drake Social Wednesday, Sept. 29, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the patio on the east side of the Olmsted Center. This is a family friendly event.

— Drinda Williams, Office of the Provost

Access and Success is a resource that offers academic coaching, disability services, and tutoring. We also offer workshops and webinars on a variety of topics.

If you have a student who could benefit from coaching in areas such as developing more effective study habits, building a time management routine, or addressing motivation challenges, refer them to Access and Success, and we will help them out.

Our next workshop, Tests and Time, is coming up soon. Check out our website for more information: Access & Success Workshops.

— Michelle Laughlin, Access and Success

In January, ITS began upgrading the campus phone system and moving faculty and staff extensions to Microsoft Teams. Previously, our phone system consisted of a patchwork of four different systems connected by a hub that was more than 30 years old. 

Throughout the year, ITS staff have moved additional extensions in common areas to Teams calling and have continued to decommission older systems. The overall project, however, is still in progress.  

Throughout this transition, faculty and staff have notified us of issues with response delays and dropped calls. If you have already reported an issue to the IT service portal, thank you. Our staff continue to work through these requests. As we troubleshoot issues it is very helpful for us to know when calls are dropped or other issues occur. If this happens, please submit a Calling/Phone Issue at the IT service portal.  

Thank you for your patience and assistance as we work toward this project’s completion. We are dedicated to providing reliable services and expect disruptions to decrease as this work progresses.   

— Keren Fiorenza, acting CITO, Information Technology Services  

The pandemic has rocked the workforce in many ways. One of the struggles we are experiencing—along with many other employers—is getting quality candidates to apply for current openings.

“We have had some great jobs posted recently for entry-level and early-career professionals,” said Julia Gwebu, director of Student Account Services. We are not getting the same number or quality of applicants we have in the past—even for the same positions we’ve recruited for in recent years.”

HR will be examining its recruitment practices and developing more strategic approaches, but that will take time and we have openings now. We are calling on the Drake community to help spread the word about current opportunities.

“With so many jobs available in Des Moines, we could really use a boost from people who already work at and care about Drake,” said Anne Kremer, dean of Admissions.

If you know people who are job-hunting, fit with our core values, care about students, and would contribute to a positive work culture, please encourage them to check out the current opportunities available at Drake. If you have strong connections via LinkedIn, social media, or just connections via email, please share and help get the word out. Below are some sample communications you can modify for your use. Please feel free to include this flyer as well.

Sample Email

Subject Line: Job Opportunities at Drake University

Hello,

I know you have been considering a job change, so I wanted to let you know that Drake University has some positions posted right now that may interest you. You can search for current opening here: https://drake.hiretouch.com/.

We are looking for great people to join the Drake team. I think you would enjoy working here and relate to our core values and mission. If you have questions about working at Drake, I am happy to share my experiences here. If you have specific questions about any of the jobs posted, benefits, etc., feel free to reach out to drakehr@drake.edu.

Thank you,

[Name]

Sample Social Media Post

Hello, friends! If you or someone you know is looking for a new job, please check out the jobs posted at Drake University. You can search for current opening here: https://drake.hiretouch.com/. Right now, there are a variety of opportunities to explore. Please take a look or share with anyone you know who is job hunting. If you have specific questions about any of the jobs posted, benefits, etc., feel free to reach out to drakehr@drake.edu. Go Bulldogs!

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resouces

In an effort to better target communications to both internal and external audiences, ITS and University Communications and Marketing are collaborating to expand myDrake. This team has been developing an internal website (intranet) to house campus-facing information securely, and provide an easier path to navigate to forms, instructions, department news, and other key information for the Drake community. This internal website (intranet) is built on the same platform as the myDrake campus portal and the new navigation page will become available from myDrake on the evening of Sept. 23.

A new link called Department Sites will be added to the Campus Resources section of myDrake and will initially take you to existing departmental sub-sites on www.drake.edu. ITS will be working with departments to move selected content into the new internal website and out of www.drake.edu.

If your department would like to volunteer to be an early adopter, please reach out to Jeff Regan at jeffrey.regan@drake.edu.

— Carla Herling, ITS

Drake University made a change to its travel program earlier this spring switching to Direct Travel as its new travel management partner for all non-athletic departments.  Drake Universityand Direct Travel have been working closely over the past few months to ensure a seamless transition with minimal impact to our travelers and overall travel program.    

As the University begins to allow some travel again, we wanted to take this opportunity to outline how to get set up with Direct Travel.

 A few items to note:

• Existing travel profiles including preferences, loyalty numbers, unused tickets, etc were transferred to Direct Travel
• The phone number is still 877-263-2550
• New agent support email address: corporatealo@dt.com  
• New Direct Travel Itineraries (Direct2U)

Online Booking Tool
Drake University is using Etta powered by Deem as its online booking tool.  Etta provides business travelers an effortless and modern booking experience including enhancements like Deem’s innovative Travel SafetyCheck which presents hotel neighborhood safety scores as well as current and historical COVID related information in the selected area.  Setting up your Direct Travel profile is easy!  Just follow these simple steps.  Watch the training video for step-by-step instructions on how to book your first trip!

In the coming weeks, we will continue to share information about our travel program, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email procurement@drake.edu.  

— Heather Winslow, Administrative Services Specialist