Wellness is hiring GroupX instructors and personal trainers. No experience is needed to teach GroupX, certification is required for personal training. If you are interested or have questions contact wellness@drake.edu

Several intramural deadlines are approaching:
Trivia: Deadline Oct. 27—sign up before it begins that day
Badminton Doubles: Deadline Nov. 7
Badminton Singles: Deadline Nov. 6
Super Smash Bros: Deadline Nov. 6

— Emily Madsen, Recreational Services

Looking for a spot on campus where you can study between classes, or need a place to participate in a virtual class? Check out the flex spaces below to accommodate your needs. Flex spaces are first-come, first-serve. They cannot be reserved in advance. Upon arrival, students should check-in using the QR code on the flex space sign. Students are responsible for wiping down their space before and after use with provided sanitizing wipes.

Note for Cowles Library: Students are requested to limit their visit to 75 minutes, if possible. Cowles will be monitoring capacity and will post at the entrance when the library is at capacity.

The School of Education is pleased to offer two talent development courses in Spring 2021. These courses are part of the talent development (TD) concentration and are applicable to all majors at Drake. The talent development concentration prepares students for successful careers as trainers, instructional designers, and ultimately, training or talent development managers and directors. Talent development professionals design courses and teach inside organizations such as Principal Financial, Nationwide, and Pioneer.

Since these courses are cross-listed with graduate courses, undergraduate students will network with current talent development professionals. Experienced graduate students in talent development courses are asked to mentor undergraduate students in their projects and share real-world experience and expertise.

Learn more about this growing field on this page published by the Department of Labor. For details about the concentration, visit the Talent Development page. For additional information regarding the field of talent development, criteria for taking these courses, or pursuing this concentration, please contact Cris Wildermuth.

Both courses will be taught online and involve asynchronous work and synchronous meetings. The two Spring 2021 courses are:

TD 112: Technology and Learning (3 credit hours)
Do you like technology? Would you like to become more proficient in useful presentation, collaboration, and learning technologies? In this highly interactive course, you will learn how to use multiple free or low cost online applications to create more attractive presentations, add animation to your projects, instantly transform your text into beautiful videos, and more! Students also learn how to run webinars (presentations online) and discuss best practices for virtual meetings and collaboration. Ethical and legal considerations related to the use of technology in the workplace are also addressed.

TD 112 : Four Zoom meetings, 6–8:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, March 9, April 6, and May 4.

TD 114: Designing, Developing and Delivering Learning (3 credit hours)
Bring your creative juices to this course! You will learn how to design, develop, and facilitate effective learning experiences for adult learners.  Design and development topics include writing instructional objectives, selecting appropriate training methods, and designing and developing instructional games and simulations. Facilitation topics include the rationale for selecting various facilitation methods and approaches for engaging learners. And, since we are in a time of virtual teaching and learning, you will also learn how to move all those “learning goodies” into the virtual world! You don’t think it can be done? We will show you how we do it!

TD 114: Six Zoom meetings, Feb. 12–13, March 12–13, and April 23–24. The times of the meetings are Fridays between 6 and 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

— Cris Wildermuth, School of Education

During the Spring 2021 semester, two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to students doing unpaid internships with a non-profit organization. This scholarship is intended to remove the financial impediment of unpaid internships and encourage students to become civically engaged.

Applications are due Dec. 11. Learn more.

— Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning

This is a reminder that registration for Spring 2021 classes opens Monday, Nov. 2.

Additionally, first-year students will become eligible to register for J-Term 2021 classes at the same time they become eligible to register for Spring 2021 classes.

Calling all undergraduate women in student leadership roles! You are invited to apply for the Deni Druehl Naumann Women’s Leadership Scholarship.

The scholarship was established by Deni Druehl (JO’78) and Michael Naumann in April 2014 to recognize undergraduate women at Drake University who inspire, have passion, and positively impact the lives of others around them. Applicants to this scholarship must exhibit a commitment to contribute their leadership skills and talents to Drake activities such as (but not limited to): the Adams Leadership Institute, the LEAD concentration, recognized campus student organizations, and/or University sponsored activities, e.g. Panhellenic Council, Residence Life, and/or Student Senate.

The selected scholarship recipient will be awarded $2,500 to be disbursed during the 2020–2021 academic year. The scholarship is not automatically renewed each year, but previous recipients are eligible to apply each year following their initial award.

To apply for the scholarship, please submit an application by Friday, Oct. 30 at 5 p.m. Candidates will be notified of their selection status by Nov. 15.

Please submit the following information in the application form:

• Name, primary major, Drake GPA, and anticipated graduation term (i.e. Spring 2022)
• Essay questions:
  1. Describe your most meaningful leadership experience and/or role on campus as a leader at Drake. What, specifically, did you learn as a result of this experience?
  2. Please indicate how you hope to continue positively impacting the Drake community as a student leader and how this scholarship may help you do so.

For questions, contact Kristin Economos, director of student leadership programs, at kristin.economos@drake.edu.

— Kristin Economos, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership

As in past years, the Global Citizen Forum (March 2021) will feature the Nelson Student Research Symposium, giving Drake University students the opportunity to share their research related to international and global topics.

Call for student research presentations
The theme is “International Perspectives on Racial Justice.” While research presentations that support the theme are encouraged, all global topics from any academic discipline are welcome. Drake undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit a research paper for the symposium.

Below are a few reasons why students should consider submitting their research papers for the symposium:

• It is a great opportunity to practice presentation skills and obtain useful feedback.
• It is a platform for students to share the outcomes of their research on a global topic of interest.
• It is a great addition to students’ resumes, especially for graduate school.

Submission details
Deadline: February 18, 2021
Please submit your paper or concept to Dr. Jimmy Senteza (jimmy.senteza@drake.edu) by the deadline listed above for consideration. The email should bear the subject line, “2021 GCF submission”. Dr. Senteza will respond to the author(s) about the opportunity to present at the conference within one week following the submission deadline. At that time, presentation guidelines will be provided for accepted papers.

Please contact Dr. Senteza with questions.

— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Partnerships Coordinator

Applications are live for Summer 2021 travel seminars. Priority deadline for applications is Dec. 15. Start an application today!

Additionally, information sessions for each of the Summer 2021 travel seminars will be held Oct. 6. For session times and zoom links, please visit the Campus Calendar (calendar.drake.edu). For more resources on each of these travel seminars, visit the Global Engagement website.

Summer 2021 travel seminars: 

England: Theatre History in London
Germany & Poland: Heritage and Holocaust
Spain & Morocco: Exploring the Intersection of Ethics and Culture
Uganda: Sustainable Development in Africa

To apply for a travel seminar, visit Terra Dotta, Drake’s online application portal. Use your Drake ID and password to login.

For questions about a specific travel seminar, contact the course instructor. For general study abroad questions or issues with Terra Dotta, contact studyabroad@drake.edu.

— Nathan Jacobson, Global Engagement

— Kevin Moenkhaus, Office of the Registrar

Drake Global Engagement is seeking student participants for a virtual exchange with students in Uganda.

This coming November, Drake will host International Education Week with virtual events held throughout the week to celebrate Drake’s global engagement and international programs. (More information about IE Week will be shared soon in OnCampus.)

During IE Week, we will host a virtual exchange event between students at Drake and our global partner institution in Uganda, Makerere University Business School. This informal event will allow students to meet and learn about our cultural differences and similarities. 

If you’re interested, please complete this survey by Friday, Oct. 9. The survey only takes five minutes and allows us to gauge availability and decide on discussion topics. Registration and virtual event details will be shared soon.

Thank you for your participation, and feel free to share with other Drake students. Questions may be directed to global@drake.edu.

— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Partnerships Coordinator