Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar is considered one of the holiest months of the year for Muslims. To support our Muslim community, Hubbell will extend dinner service to 8:30 p.m. beginning Saturday, April 2, and continue through Monday, May 2. To learn more about Ramadan, visit:
livescience.com/61815-what-is-ramadan.html
urdupoint.com/islam/des-moines-ramadan-calendar-sehar-aftar-timing.html
— Division of Student Affairs
All Staff Council elections close Wednesday, April 13. Use the All Staff Council ballot to vote for your new committee members.
The Adams Leadership Awards are an annual, campus-wide tradition to celebrate the achievements of student leaders and organizations at Drake University. Each spring we honor students and organizations who have made valuable contributions to the campus community through their outstanding commitment to leadership.
Please consider nominating any Drake students and student organizations who have exhibited strong leadership and excellence throughout the 2021–2022 academic year. Nominations can be submitted by any Drake student, faculty, or staff member. Award categories include:
View a full list of awards and the nomination form here. The nomination deadline is Sunday, April 10th at 11:59 p.m.
All award nominees and winners will be recognized at the Adams Leadership Awards ceremony and reception, taking place in Sheslow Auditorium on Wednesday, May 4, at 6 p.m. (Save the date! All students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to attend.)
If you have any questions, please contact Kristin Economos, director of student leadership programs, at kristin.economos@drake.edu.
— Kristin Economos, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership
Hear from Andrew Miesner, PH’07, about his research related to antibiotic resistance on Monday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. via Microsoft Teams. Anyone is welcome to attend, regardless of their affiliation to Drake. Register.
Andrew Miesner, PH’07, serves as an associate professor of pharmacy practice at Drake University and as a clinical pharmacist at Broadlawns Medical Center in the Department of Internal Medicine. Andrew Miesner graduated with his Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Drake University in 2007. His research interests include internal medicine, infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, clinical teaching methods and interprofessional education.
— Courtney Conrad, Alumni Relations
On Friday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m., ITS and our service provider, Lumen/CenturyLink will complete the move of campus telephone numbers to voice over IP (VOIP) service. The migration process could last up to four hours during which brief voice outages could occur on each number as it is moved to the new service.
This is the last major milestone in migrating away from Drake’s outdated phone systems to Microsoft Teams Calling. ITS acknowledges the transition to Teams for voice services has been difficult and caused frustration across campus due to poor call quality and dropped connections. We are optimistic that completing migration will address these issues by eliminating the need to route calls through old voice equipment. A pilot group of numbers was moved to the new voice trunk lines late last year and we have seen a marked improvement in voice quality and reliability in that group.
Additionally, ITS staff have been working with a third party vendor over the past several weeks to ensure Drake’s configuration of Teams Calling adheres to Microsoft’s best practices, prepare for the migration on Friday, and facilitate a smooth changeover to the new service. ITS is committed to improving Teams voice quality and trusts this investment will be another factor in improving the reliability of the system.
Thank you for your patience and support during this long transitional period away from our legacy voice system to Teams Calling.
— Chris Mielke, ITS
The Spring 2022 edition of the Drake University Social Science Journal (DUSSJ) is now online. See this year’s excellent lineup of papers: drake.edu/dussj/currentedition/
DUSSJ would like to extend a special thank you to this year’s student editorial board who did an excellent job administering the 2022 edition. The board members are:
Thank you all for your excellent work!
— Heath Hendersen, Associate Professor of Economics, CBPA
Friday, April 15, is the deadline to submit your request to Facilities Planning and Management to get on the schedule for summer office moves. We are moving more than 60 faculty and staff this summer as part of the Meredith and Knapp Center projects. To be able to accommodate move requests outside of these major projects, we will be scheduling the move logistics between July 15 and Aug. 15. We will work to accommodate your requests in conformance with our campus-wide space-use plan.
Information to include:
Please forward requests to Planning and Design Manager Michelle Huggins at michelle.huggins@drake.edu.
— Michelle Huggins, Facilities Planning and Management
Human Resources is pleased to announce that it has hired its first ever talent acquisition and diversity, equity, and inclusion specialist. Some of you may already know Marli Jefferson, as she is an existing member of the Drake family. Marli joined Public Safety in 2017, and upon obtaining her master’s, she was eager to take on a new challenge.
Although diversity, equity, and inclusion are topics we all deeply care about in Human Resources, our department has not yet had a person with the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion in their job title. Make no mistake, DEI is a part of each of our roles. However, we both wanted and needed additional expertise in these areas, as we strive to continuously grow, change, and improve. We are thrilled that Marli brings both expertise and enthusiasm to the table when it comes to DEI. And, if you have been involved in any hires recently, you already know that talent acquisition is a space where we could use some more help.
“I am so happy to continue my professional journey at Drake,” said Marli. “I am excited to bring my expertise but most of all my passion and willingness to learn to this new position. There is tremendous space for modernizing how we approach talent acquisition and further embed DEI principles in the work that we do. I am looking forward to contributing to these efforts.”
In the TA/DEI specialist role, Marli will play a prominent part our talent acquisition strategies and practices—including new employee orientation, search committee training, and student employment. As some of you may have heard, the parent company of Hire Touch, our current applicant tracking system, is going to sunset the program at the end of the year. Marli will be part of the project team searching for Hire Touch’s replacement. Her timing in joining our department could not be better.
We thank you for your Generosity of Spirit as we managed these past several months without a full team. We also want to thank those who served on the search committee as their feedback was incredibly valuable in the vetting process. Drake HR is happy to once again be fully staffed.
— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources
If you need to rent regalia for the Spring 2022 commencement ceremonies, contact kyle.mcvay@drake.edu by April 6 with your size and degree information.
— Kyle McVay, Bulldog Shop
Drake will be hosting students and faculty from eight other Iowa colleges for the annual Iowa Interfaith Conference April 8–10. The conference includes a Friday evening reception, poster session, and Hindu bhajan at the Mercy Holiday Inn (7–9 p.m.); interactive sessions on interfaith leadership and religious literacy at Meredith Hall, Room 101, on Saturday and Sunday mornings (9 a.m.–12 p.m.); and site visits to a Buddhist temple, Hindu temple, and Islamic mosque on Saturday evening (4–9 p.m.). All meals are included.
For more information, contact tim.knepper@drake.edu or visit comparisonproject.wp.drake.edu/iowa-interfaith-conference-2022/. To register, go to iowainterfaithexchange.com/conference/.
— Timothy Knepper, Professor of Philosophy
