All Drake faculty and staff are invited and encouraged to nominate a colleague for the 2023 Madelyn M. Levitt Distinguished Community Service and Employee Excellence Awards.

Madelyn M. Levitt established the Distinguished Community Service Award to recognize the outstanding contributions of Drake faculty and staff to the Drake community. The criteria to be eligible for this award can be found here.

The Employee Excellence Award is presented to a staff member who demonstrates exceptional commitment to excellence in the performance of their duties. The criteria to be eligible for this award can be found here.

To nominate a colleague, submit a letter of nomination to Human Resources. Nomination letters may be sent through campus mail or electronically to drakehr@drake.edu.  The subject line should read “Madelyn M. Levitt Award Nomination”.  The letter should detail specific examples of how the nominee exemplifies each of the applicable criteria. Additional letters of support are not necessary. Nominations are due to Human Resources by Friday, March 3.

For additional information, please contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

February is American Heart Month—a great time to be reminded about the importance of practicing heart-healthy habits. Not so fun fact: every 36 seconds in the U.S. someone dies from cardiovascular disease, and heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States.

Do you know your risks? Risk factors include smoking, inactivity, high blood pressure, obesity/overweight, high cholesterol, and family history of heart disease. Although you can’t fix family history, no matter your age, you can take simple steps to lower your risk for a heart attack or stroke.

Know your numbers. Get your annual physical and review your medical conditions with your primary care physician. This includes controlling your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels and weight.

Choose healthy foods and beverages. Add some heart-healthy recipes into your day and reduce the amount of sodium, sugar, and bad fats from your diet.

Get moving. Regular physical activity is a must for all ages. It could be as simple as walking more and sitting less. And don’t forget to add some resistance training. Moving your body has benefits beyond a healthy heart. It can help reduce stress, keep your joints healthy and improve brain function.

If you smoke – QUIT.  There are several online resources to help you reach this goal.

If you want to get started toward a healthier heart but don’t know where to begin, follow this 28-Days Toward a Healthy Heart chart.  These small steps could make a giant leap in your health!

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

The DU Well Mystery Challenge begins Wednesday, Feb. 8, and combines a team step competition with solving a series of whodunit mysteries and riddles.  This four-week challenge is a fun way to improve you wellbeing in 2023.

Put together your team of 2–6 players and send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu today to register.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

If you worked and were you paid by Drake in 2022, your W-2 is available online through myDrake’s Employee Dashboard. To access and print your W-2, look to the “Taxes” section of the Employee Dashboard.  Within this section, click “W-2 Wage and Tax Statement” and select the tax year for 2022.  Instructions are available for your reference.  If you have questions, contact Human Resources at 515–271–3133.

— Debra Wiley, Human Resources

We are excited about our upcoming spring term faculty/staff DU Well schedule. Programs include:

DU Well Mystery Challenge (Feb. 1-28)
Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 13-17)
Do It for a Day! (March 20 – April 16)
“Walk this May” Challenge (May 1-28)

DU Well strives to help you do well for yourself and others.  This includes feeling good and having energy to get things done, having a strong support system, managing your financial resources, learning new things, finding ways to enhance your mental wellbeing, and being involved with your community.

Read more about these opportunities on myDrake under Employee Wellness Programs. Then dip your toe in the water or jump all in! Now is a great time to start something new.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

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 2023 Spring Term 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.

BUILD classes are a great way to capture valuable information in a quick format and network with other faculty and staff across campus.  If you are interested in more in-depth training on topics, such as Excel (a very popular BUILD class), you are encouraged to look into Drake University’s tuition benefits programs such as the tuition waiver program.  Even if you are not looking to pursue a degree, you may register as a non-degree/guest student and take up to 9 credit hours (undergraduate only) per academic term.  You will need to complete the Non-Degree Seeking Student Registration Request Form.  For Spring 2023 the last day to submit your registration form is Wednesday, Jan. 18.

For more information, please contact the Office of the Registrar.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

The Jobs@Drake page is live. Check it out: https://jobs.drake.edu/.

Moving forward, new job openings will be posted here. Any positions currently open will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, as we slowly transition from HireTouch. HireTouch will officially sunset on Dec. 31. We’ll likely use most of December, up until the winter break, to train, work out bugs, and post jobs on the new system.

We will be contacting search chairs of current searches to assess their positions. From Thanksgiving through the start of the new year is a tough time for recruitment—which makes this an ideal time to move to a new ATS. Whenever possible, we are encouraging staff positions to be held until the first week of January, as we do not expect robust job applications coming in over the next month. If you cannot wait, no problem. If you can wait, we think that is a better strategy.

Open faculty positions will require a case-by-case assessment, depending on where the search is and whether the search committee wants to continue to actively solicit additional applications.

Last week, Drake HR facilitated three introductory sessions for managers, the last of which was recorded. Anyone interested in viewing the recording can access it on our Recruitment and Selection page. This is also where we are posting Jobs@Drake guides and a series of short “how to” videos (these are still in the works and will be likely be updated in the first few weeks and months of using Jobs@Drake, as we get to know the system better). Please check this site regularly for on-demand resources and information about Jobs@Drake. We’ll be enhancing our recruitment resources on this page, too. For example, check out the behavior-based interview questions!

Naturally, anyone with questions or in need of support should just contact us. While we have a new generic email for recruitment matters (jobs@drake.edu), you are welcome to contact us directly.

• Marli Jefferson will be supporting Drake Head Start; Facilities, Planning, and Management; and Public Safety (in addition to student employment, which will continue to be supported by Handshake).
• Maureen De Armond will assist with all other staff and faculty positions.
• Debra Wiley will be nearby to lend support as we learn this new system. She’ll also remain point for background checks as Marli and Maureen get through the initial wave of new job postings.
• Kris Brewster and Tyler Spoon will remain on the project for ITS support.

More opportunities for large group, small group, and 1:1 training are coming. We’ll be reaching out to key groups and individuals. If you are excited to get into the new system, let us know. We can make time with you right away.

— Kris Brewster, ITS; Maureen De Armond, HR

Time is running out for open enrollment! If you need to change your benefit elections, update your spouse/dependents, enroll or re-enroll in a Flexible Spending Account, add on the new Avēsis vision hardware coverage…do it today! The Benefits Portal is available through my.drake.edu (see the top tile under Human Resources on the left-hand side of the screen).

Open enrollment ends on Nov. 30, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. sharp.

The new Plan Year starts Jan. 1, 2023. If you have not enrolled in benefits for 2023 yet, please don’t wait until the last minute. If you have any questions or problems navigating the benefits portal, reach out to us at drakehr@drake.edu or contact Marlene directly at marlene.heuertz@drake.edu.

Thank you! We appreciate the questions, comments, and suggestions that we have been receiving all month. If you have additional feedback for us about the benefits offered by Drake University, how benefits are managed, or the communications and events we offered during Open Enrollment, please let us know! Your opinions matter and we want to hear them. You can reach out to us via email or use our short “how are we doing” survey to offer anonymous feedback.

Whether it is praise, constructive criticism, or a new idea, we would love to hear from you.

— Marlene Heuertz and Maureen De Armond, Human Resources

Give yourself the gift of healthier habits this year with the DU Well Holiday Challenge.

This 5-week program includes healthy steps you can build on each week and continue through the new year.  Each week you will receive an email newsletter with that week’s challenge, along with supporting tools to help you succeed.  You will also be given a personal success tracker to track your progress throughout the challenge.  For those interested in maintaining their weight over the holidays, there’s a section to record your weight.  This is completely optional, but a great way to help keep you on pace.  And of course, there will be prizes!

To get started, send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu.  Deadline to register is Monday, Nov. 28.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources