If you are looking for a way to motivate yourself to get up and move more, join this year’s Walktober step challenge.Drake is competing with Des Moines University and Wesley Life to see which site’s competitors can achieve the highest average step total during the month of October. The winning site claims the Walktober traveling trophy for a year and bragging rights. Drake won the trophy last year and we want to keep it here!
You are welcome to register as an individual, or create a team (adding a little internal competition to our already external one). If you would like participate, please send an email to linda.feiden@drake.edu. If you are putting together a team, please include your team’s name, team captain, and team members (4-6 people per team). This event is open to all faculty, staff, and students. Registration deadline is Friday, Sept. 29.
Cowles Library is excited to announce an opportunity for full-time Drake faculty interested in learning more about using open educational resources (OER) in their courses. After successfully offering these grants last fall, the Provost’s Office is generously supporting them again this fall. These open resources replace costly textbooks and are beneficial to students in your courses in so many ways. The Drake Faculty Open Education Grant Program is offering $500 stipends to participants who complete the program, which comprises a workshop, self-paced learning modules, and peer discussion.
This program will be limited to six (6) participants in fall 2023, and participants must complete all required components to receive their stipend. We expect the time commitment for the program to be ten to twelve (10-12) hours, which includes the virtual kickoff workshop on Friday, October 6, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Deadline: Applications are due by Wednesday, Sept. 27. Individuals will be notified of the status of their application by Monday, Oct. 2. Grants will be awarded based on representation of a wide range of disciplines and the alignment of application responses to the proposed content of this program.
Please join President Marty Martin, Emeritus President David Maxwell, and the Board of Trustees in celebrating the life and leadership of Madeleine “Maddy” Maxwell on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 4:30–6 p.m. at the Patty and Fred Turner Jazz Center.
Maddy passed away June 14. Emeritus President David and Maddy Maxwell led the University from 1999–2015. As the University’s first lady for 16 years, Maddy worked tirelessly to bring the campus and community together. She was a true servant-leader, and she lived a life devoted to transforming lives and strengthening communities. Maddy’s joyful spirit, boundless energy, and deep commitment to students will serve as inspiration for generations of graduates and community friends.
Please RSVP by Sept. 29 to Erica Hartschen aterica.hartschen@drake.edu or 515-271-4990. Parking for the celebration can be found off Forest Ave across from the Knapp Center.
The Office of Alumni Relations reaffirms Drake’s commitment to diversity by recognizing and nurturing different identities. In 2020, we committed to fostering community between our diverse students and alumni. Starting this week, Alumni Relations will host two receptions to welcome our LGBTQ+ and BIPOC students to campus for another great year! These welcome receptions serve to create community among diverse students, alumni, faculty, and staff. For students, this is an opportunity to meet individuals like you who have been where you are. And of course, there will also be refreshments (and Griff…shhh)!
On Tuesday, Sept. 12, from 7–8:30 p.m., we welcome all LGBTQ+ students, alumni, faculty/staff, and allies to the Reading Room in Cowles Library for Rainbow Welcome. And then, next week on Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 6:30–8 p.m., we welcome all BIPOC students, alumni, faculty/staff, and allies to the Alumni House for the BIPOC Student/Alumni Welcome.
The All Staff Council Special Interest Committee explores initiatives, questions, and/or concerns through research, planning, and collaboration with appropriate offices on campus.
To help ensure that the work of our committee is aligned with staff needs, please share any suggestions, concerns, or other feedback you’d like us to look into using this form. If you’d like us to respond to your feedback directly, please include your name and contact information, otherwise let us know your thoughts anonymously.
The Special Interest Committee chair is Erica McGowan. Additional members of the committee are Laura Shell, Diana Newman, Alicia Mann, Kris Brewster, Teresa Downs and Mady Nachtman.
Check out the Fall 2023 schedule for the Drake Observatory. Events take place Friday nights from Sept. 15–Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. and are free and open to the public. For more information, visit: https://www.drake.edu/observatory/.
The Observatory is honored to host astronaut Dr. Peggy Whitson on Sept. 22. The Observatory is teaming up with Capital City Pride of Des Moines to make this event possible.
Faculty and staff are invited to join us for the next Provost’s Drake Social, on Wednesday, Sept. 27, in the Cowles Library Reading Room, beginning at 4 p.m.
Refreshments will include wine, beer, soft drinks, and light snacks. This is a family friendly event. Feel free to bring your children and partner.
The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is partnering with Hy-Vee Pharmacy to offer flu vaccinations on campus in Harvey Ingham, Room 107 (Johansen Lab), for Drake faculty, staff, and students.
The flu vaccinations are available through a scheduled appointment (strongly preferred), or on a walk-up basis. Walk-up vaccinations will require additional time on the day of vaccination for completion of paperwork and processing. Signing up at least two days in advance is highly encouraged.
Prescription insurance is required for this flu vaccination clinic. (We are unable to accept cash/credit card payments for services at this clinic). Most insurance plans cover the cost of a flu vaccination.
You will need the information from your prescription insurance card to complete the sign-up process.
You must complete this online consent form at least two days prior to your scheduled flu vaccination appointment.
COVID vaccines will not be available at this clinic, only flu vaccinations.
The Broadlawns Community Clinic at Drake is also providing flu vaccinations this fall (and other primary care, urgent care, mental health services, etc.).
Drake will host the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest Sept. 15–16 at the Olmsted Center. This annual contest is put on by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of Interior and the winning art will be reproduced as a stamp to be sold nationwide, with proceeds going to support wetland conservation. To date, proceeds from stamp purchases have earned $1.2 billion and protected more than six million wetland and wildlife refuge acres. Submitted artwork from across the country will be on display at the Olmsted Center on Friday, Sept. 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend the contest to see the artwork. A panel of five noted art, waterfowl, and stamp authorities will judge the competition.
Jay N. “Ding” Darling
The contest is coming to Drake as part of its legacy with Darling. In 1934, Darling created the nation’s first Federal Duck Stamp under an appointment with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 1949, the tradition of inviting artists from around the United States to submit their designs began, and with it, a vital contribution to America’s wetlands and wildlife refuges.
The first duck stamp designed by Darling.
Today, Drake University works to inspire the next generation of conservationists through Darling’s work, serving as the home of the Jay N. Darling Institute. Drake established the institute in 2021 with a mission of providing educational and scholarly expertise for rural communities to improve access to quality health care and education, nutritious food, unimpaired natural resources, and ongoing economic and cultural opportunities. Drake is also a proud steward of a significant portion of Darling’s artwork and papers. His inspirational artwork will be on display during the Duck Stamp contest.
Drake is proud to be a sponsor of the 38th annual Des Moines Civil & Human Rights Symposium: “Level Up for Justice.”
The symposium will be held on campus at the Olmsted Center on Friday, Oct. 27, from 8 a.m.–4 p.m. The kick-off event will be on Thursday, Oct. 26. Drake students, faculty, and staff are invited to register and attend for free at https://LevelUpSymposium2023.eventbrite.com. Select the general admission ticket option, and use the promo code DrakeTicket2023.
About the Event
Everyone begins the game of life from different starting points, and many people from marginalized communities often start with additional barriers. How can we adequately equip ourselves to create equitable outcomes? How can individual players get involved in “multiplayer” work? No matter where we are in our own journey for social justice, this year’s Civil & Human Rights Symposium aims to provide ways we can advance to the next level and find solutions where everyone wins. The symposium is organized into three tracks based on that belief:
Process Your Power: Women’s Rights,
Dynamics of Disability Rights,
Voices from our Youth: LGBTQ+ and Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices
Additionally, there will be two panel discussions facilitated by members of the City of Des Moines Youth Advisory Board centered around the importance of youth mentorship and environmental justice/climate action.
