As the holiday season approaches, many struggle to balance work, family, and endless tasks, often feeling overwhelmed and disorganized. While responsibility and dependability are crucial skills, few of us have formal training in mastering them, leading to reliance on complex systems that add to the stress.

Everclass: Overcome the Holiday Hustle: Simple Strategies for an Organized Life will focus on simplifying life during the holiday rush by creating easy routines and habits to stay organized and reduce stress. Learn how to align your calendar, to-do list, and priorities without worrying about missed deadlines or commitments.

Join us at 12 p.m. on Thursday, December 12th to discover strategies for surviving the holidays with less stress and more ease! This session will be facilitated by Kristin Economos, Senior Director, Adams Leadership Institute at Drake University.

—Andy Verlengia, Alumni Relations

Deadlines for monthly direct pays and ESFs are:

• 12/10/24 for payroll direct pays and ESFs for the December monthly payroll

Deadlines for biweekly direct pays and ESFs are:

• Pay period 12/2/24-12/15/24 direct pays and ESFs are due Monday 12/16/24 at 10:00 AM
• Pay period 12/16/24-12/29/24 direct pays and ESFs are due Wednesday 12/18/24 at 10:00 AM

Deadlines for student direct pays are:

• Pay period 12/1/24-12/31/24 direct pays are due Thursday, 01/02/25 at noon

Deadlines for the biweekly time sheets are:

• Pay period 12/2/24-12/15/24 timesheets must be submitted by Monday 12/16/24 at 10:00 AM and approved by Monday 12/16/24 at noon. Payment date is 12/20/2024
• Pay period 12/16/24-12/29/24 timesheets must be submitted by Wednesday 12/18/24 at 10 AM and approved by Wednesday 12/18/24 at noon (remember to estimate your hours for the holiday break). Payment date is 1/3/2025.

*Medical, Dental, and Vision insurances for the biweekly payrolls will be deducted on the 01/17/25 and 01/31/25 paychecks*

Deadlines for student time sheets are:

• Pay period 12/1/24-12/31/24 timesheets must be submitted by Thursday 1/02/25 at NOON and approved by Friday, 1/03/25 at NOON

If you will be out of the office, plan ahead to ensure these tasks are completed by the stated deadlines. Instructions to set up a proxy to approve time sheets in your absence are at https://www.drake.edu/hr-internal/managerstoolkit/ under Online Time reporting.

—Lisa Etnyre, Controller

While Harlaxton Manor is abuzz with holiday decorating and awaiting the arrival of Santa, Professor McCarthy and the amazing Drake cohort (never has she met such an enthusiastic group!) enjoyed a Christmas afternoon tea at Petticoat Vintage Tea Room in Grantham, England.

This is the culmination of a fascinating semester of local activities like visiting the parish council and attending monthly meetings of the local history society, along with school trips to places like Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Stonehenge, and personal trips to Ireland, Switzerland, and more. To follow one student’s journey, with some great laughs along the way, read student Samantha Pollack’s blog.

And come meet us at DU England: Drake Semester at Harlaxton. Look for information sessions in the spring semester!

ITS staff will be performing routine maintenance on our Oracle databases on Sunday, Dec. 22 between 7 – 9 a.m. During this time, Drake systems including Self Service, Banner, ProcessMaker, eTranscripts, and TouchNet may be unavailable. This work is necessary to maintain the security of University data.

If you experience issues after the maintenance is complete, contact the ITS Support Center for help by visiting service.drake.edu/its, calling 515-271-3001, or visiting the lower level of Carnegie Hall.

To see the full maintenance schedule, visit drake.edu/its/maintenanceschedule/.

—Becky Klein, ITS

On Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024 2 – 8 a.m., Blackboard will be fully unavailable to all users while required maintenance is being performed on the back-end database. This maintenance is necessary to ensure optimal system security and performance.

If you have questions, contact us by submitting a Blackboard Ultra Request ticket though the ITS service portal (service.drake.edu/its) or by calling the Support Center at 515-271-3001.

—Karly Good, ITS