The call for Drake Research Grants and Undergraduate Assistantship Grants for 2017–2018 are now available. Details and proposal information can be found online.
—Art Sanders, Associate Provost
Category Archives: For Staff Archive
Attention current and future FYS instructors
FYS Lunch/Discussion
Our final FYS Lunch/Discussion is on Friday, Dec. 2, at noon in the Medbury Honors Lounge. While these meetings are designed for those currently teaching FYS, we welcome those with an interest in possibly teaching FYS in the future as well. If you would like us to provide lunch for you go to: http://tinyurl.com/DecFYSLunch2016 by Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 10 a.m. and let us know your lunch preferences.
Planning for 2017 First Year Seminars
The schedule for FYS 2017 will be developed early in the spring semester. If you are interested in teaching FYS, visit www.drake.edu/dc/facultystaffresources/fysresources/. There you will find information about FYS, including past syllabi, and the form for submission of an FYS proposal. If you have questions, contact arthur.sanders@drake.edu.
—Art Sanders, Associate Provost
Another phishing simulation coming soon
A few weeks ago, we sent out phishing simulation emails to 500 random faculty and staff members. We’re happy to say that nearly everyone who received a phishing simulation email either didn’t open the email, or didn’t click the link. Great job, everyone!
Later this week, we’ll be sending out the next phishing simulation email to another random 500 faculty and staff members. Again, if you receive the email and open the attachment, you’ll be sent to an informational page. If you receive an email you suspect is phishing, simulated or not, please forward it as an attachment to informationsecurity@drake.edu.
Participating in training like this is an effective and risk-free way to learn about the dangers of phishing and help protect individual and campus data. If you have questions or concerns, please contact informationsecurity@drake.edu.
Learn even more about how to secure your digital life by visiting our blog at its.drake.edu/category/security-blog/.
And don’t forget you have just a few days left to enter the ITS phishing contest at its.drake.edu/phish!
—Peter Lundstedt, Information Security Manager
Nominate a professor or mentor for Drake awards
Nominations for the Drake Teacher of the Year and Drake Mentor of the Year will be due in early February. Faculty, staff, or students wishing to nominate an individual for one of these awards will find directions at www.drake.edu/acad/honors/
—Art Sanders, Associate Provost
Donating to those in need this holiday season
The holiday season is fast approaching, and inquiries on where donations are needed have come to the All Staff Council. Due to some changes in the needs of our community partner, ASC will not be organizing an official holiday food drive this year.
However, should you have the desire to donate, we encourage faculty and staff to contribute to the Drake Area Food Pantry coordinated by Cross Ministries and IMPACT. It’s located in the IMPACT building on University Avenue. More information can be found here: http://crossministriesdm.org/foodpantry.html
United Way of Central Iowa also publishes a Holiday Helping Hand Guide with a list of volunteer and donation opportunities across the Greater Des Moines metro. View or download the guide here: www.unitedwaydm.org/holiday-helping-hand
As always, thank you all for the great work that you do at Drake; we appreciate you all, and wish you a happy holiday season.
—All Staff Council, Special Events and Community Service Committee
Thinking about teaching a J-Term course?
A reminder: We will have two sessions for those new to teaching J-Term classes or considering teaching J-Term classes in the future to have conversations with experienced J-Term instructors. The session for on-campus J-Term classes is Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 3:30 p.m. The session for J-Term travel seminars is Monday, Dec. 5, at 3:30 p.m. Both sessions are in CR 310, on the second floor in Olmsted.
It is time to consider offering a J-Term 2018 on-campus class. Schools and colleges will be assembling the J-Term 2018 schedule early in the spring semester. You should use whatever process your school/college uses to schedule classes. If it is a new class that needs AOI approval, once it has been approved by the appropriate department/school/college you should submit the appropriate AOI request form to the University Curriculum Committee. The only difference in the process for J-Term—compared to a normal semester—is that once the class is scheduled, we ask that you provide that information to Associate Provost Arthur Sanders so that we can put the information on the J-Term website.
—Art Sanders, Associate Provost
Staff appreciation lunch and drawing
The Faculty/Staff $5 Appreciation Lunch hosted by Sodexo was held on Wednesday, Nov. 9. The All Staff Council Recognition Committee held a raffle in connection with the event to help encourage staff to attend and to let them know that they are appreciated for all of their work on campus. More than 80 staff members participated in the raffle, and five were drawn to win various Drake items: Tom Heger, Facilities; Joseph Bedwell, ITS; Susan Dittmer, Law; Craig Blaker, ITS; and Linda Judd, Ray Society. Prizes were donated by the Drake University Bookstore.
A big thank you to everyone! We love the staff at Drake and recognize that, without you, things would not run as smoothly as they do.
Keep an eye out for next semester’s Faculty/Staff Appreciation Lunches in Hubbell, and we’ll see you there.
—Submitted by All Staff Council Recognition Committee
ITS phishing season is still underway
Visit its.drake.edu/phish to go phishing with ITS until Dec. 1. Faculty, staff, and students are invited to take a quiz to learn more about how to identify phishing emails and fraudulent websites. Taking the quiz enters you for a chance to win a Bluetooth speaker or headphones.
Learn even more about how to secure your digital life by visiting our security blog at its.drake.edu/category/security-blog/
—Carla Herling, ITS
Seeking volunteers for poverty simulations
This week, the Office of Community Engaged Learning will be holding two Poverty Simulations for 110 pharmacy students. We are looking for volunteers to fill roles during the both simulations.
The simulations will be held:
Thursday, Nov. 17, 1*–4 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 18, 1*–4 p.m.
*We ask that volunteers come 30 minutes before the simulation starts in order to complete training for the experience. The simulation will conclude by 3 p.m., but you are welcome to stay for the debriefing and reflection from 3 to 4 p.m.
The poverty simulation is meant to help sensitize participants to the struggles people in poverty face on a daily basis. During the simulation, participants role-play the lives of low-income families, from single parents trying to care for their children to senior citizens trying to maintain their self-sufficiency on Social Security. Time is represented by four 15-minute periods, each representing one week. The task of each family is to provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities during the simulation while interacting with various community resources (e.g., bank, pawnshop, childcare center, school, employer, grocery store, etc.) that are staffed by volunteers. Afterward, participants and staffers conduct a debriefing.
Click here to see a list of the Community Resource Volunteer roles.
If you are able to help with the Thursday poverty simulation please sign-up by Nov. 15 using our Volunteer Sign-Up Form.
—Renee Sedlacek, Community Engagement and Service-Learning
Thinking about teaching a J-Term course?
We will have two sessions for those new to teaching J-Term classes or considering teaching J-Term classes in the future to have conversations with experienced J-Term instructors. The session for On-campus J-Term classes is Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 3:30 p.m. The session for J-Term travel seminars is Monday, Dec. 5, at 3:30 p.m. Both sessions are in CR 310, on the second floor in Olmsted.
—Art Sanders, Associate Provost