Category Archives: Archive

For Students Archive

Wellness updates

Rec Services updated its group exercise schedule and added two new classes: HIIT on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and Express Abs on Fridays at 11:45 a.m. Also, a quick 30-minute workout is offered at 12:15 p.m. any day of the week. These classes are lower intensity and perfect to help break up your day and get your body moving.

Did you know Rec Services is hiring? If you’re interested in teaching an exercise class or working in the wellness field, email wellness@drake.edu.

IM registration deadlines:
Sand volleyball: Wednesday, March 31
FIFA: Wednesday, March 31

— Emily Madsen, Rec Services

Campus Announcements Archive

Go All In

All In is a time to celebrate Drake and the Bulldogs who empower the Drake experience. Join us April 8–9 for our annual 24-hour giving challenge and celebrate all we have accomplished in this last year and cheer on what is to come.

Here are a few ways you can join in: 

Bulldog Shoutouts: Recognize a fellow Bulldog who has made an impact on you with a video shoutout to be shared during All In. Sign up here. Deadline for submission is April 1. 

Mark Your Calendar: RSVP to the All In Facebook event. 

Show the World You’re All In: Add the All In Facebook frame to your profile picture.   

Students: Follow the Student Alumni Association on Facebook and Instagram for fun things happening on campus (at a social distance) and virtually during All In. 

Follow Along: Watch the All In website to find out about matching gift challenges for academic units, programs, scholarship support, and more. During the giving challenge (noon–noon, April 8–9), tune in and see all the support that’s coming in for our campus community! 

— Alicia Chilton, University Communications and Marketing

Campus Announcements Archive

Spring 2021 edition of DUSSJ now available

The Spring 2021 edition of the Drake Undergraduate Social Science Journal (DUSSJ) is now available online. Please see here for the current edition.

DUSSJ would like to extend a special thank you to this year’s student editorial board: Camryn Huyser, Aimsley Kadlec, Kathleen McCracken, Rosalind Carey, and Pawel Barnas. We had an extraordinary number of submissions this year and we appreciate your hard work in reviewing each of them.

— Heath Henderson, Assistant Professor of Economics

Campus Announcements Archive

Griff Gives Back pet food drive

The sixth annual Griff Gives Back pet food drive is underway! Griff II is collecting donations of adult dog and cat food to benefit The Pet Project Midwest, a local pet food pantry, in the weeks leading up to the Beautiful Bulldog Contest and Drake Relays.

How to donate

His goal this year is 10,000 pounds to benefit area pets in need. Let’s assist Griff II, in his first year at the helm, with reaching his goal! Thank you!

— Erin Bell, University Communications and Marketing

Strategic Updates Archive

Standing in solidarity

President Martin sent the following message to campus Monday, March 22, in response to the tragic murders in Atlanta.

Dear students and colleagues,

The murders in Atlanta of eight individuals, six of whom were women of Asian heritage, has sparked a national conversation about the growing tide of hate and violence in our country directed towards individuals of Asian and Pacific Island decent. On Friday, President Biden and Vice President Harris traveled to Atlanta to acknowledge the tragic loss of life, to meet with community leaders, and to call on all of us to not remain silent in the face of attacks on our colleagues, friends, and fellow citizens. Speaking from Emory University, President Biden said, “Our silence is complicity. … We have to speak out. We have to act.”

Drake University is blessed to have a vibrant Asian and Pacific Islander community on our campus, among our alumni, and across Greater Des Moines. These students, graduates, colleagues, and friends enrich our educational and formational mission by bringing perspectives and experiences that expand and enhance everyone’s understanding of the world and how we can make it a better place. These members of our community deserve, like everyone else, to be able to make their way without fear of being targeted because of the bigotry of others. Let us all take a moment this week to express our love and support for our Asian and Pacific Islander friends, colleagues, and community members. To say to them that we stand with you against those who seek to harm you or in any way deny your rightful place in our collective community.

Please know that there is help for anyone who is struggling because of the events of last week or any other hate incidents that have occurred all too frequently over the last year. For our students, appointments can be made with the University Counseling Center at 515-271-3864 or with Drake’s spiritual counselor, Ted Lyddon-Hatten, who can be reached by email at ted.lyddon-hatten@drake.edu. For staff and faculty, the Employee Assistance Program is available by calling 515-244-6090. In addition, the Crisis Text Line is always available by texting “HELLO” to 741741.

I close with a quote from Grace Lee Boggs introduced to me today by Professor Kevin Lam in our School of Education. “Love isn’t about what we did yesterday; it’s about what we do today and tomorrow and the day after.” (2011)

Peace,
Marty

Strategic Updates Archive

Reminder: Please complete the Great Colleges survey

Full-time faculty and staff received an email yesterday from ModernThink with an invitation to participate in this year’s Great Colleges to Work For survey. Thank you to those of you who have completed the survey already. If you haven’t, please take time to complete it. It is easy, quick, anonymous, and the primary tool used by the University to gather feedback on our workplace culture.

Instructions on how to access the survey are included in the email.  The survey period ends Friday, April 2. For further questions, contact Nate Reagen.

— Nate Reagen, President’s Office

Campus Announcements Archive

New minor in adult learning and talent development

The School of Education is proud to announce a new minor in adult learning and talent development.

Do you like designing or running presentations? Do you enjoy teaching but would rather teach adults, working at for-profit or non-profit organizations? Do you like to investigate and solve problems? Training and Talent Development professionals come from all majors and often start their careers with a bachelor’s degree.

The adult learning and talent development minor requires 12 credit hours in creative and “out-of-the-box” courses such as designing learning, learning and technology, and performance consulting. Students will also complete a practical capstone, a project they may add to their portfolio and show future employers.

The six remaining credit hours come from approved electives. We especially recommend elective courses in psychology, digital media, technical writing, leadership, and human resource management.

For additional information, contact Cris Wildermuth at cris.wildermuth@drake.edu or SOE’s website. 

— Cris Wildermuth, Associate Professor of Education

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Module 5 now available in Learn Ultra Instructor Orientation course

In Blackboard Learn, as a part of the Courses list in the Assorted Dates area, you will find the Blackboard Learn Ultra Instructor Orientation course. This course was created to help you prepare to use Blackboard Learn Ultra before its Fall 2021 launch. If you have several active courses, you may need to search for the course by title or expand your course listing to see more than 25 courses per page.  

Each week, for the next four weeks, you will be notified of a new module to complete. This series of modules will be the final self-paced portion of the Blackboard Learn Ultra user training to prepare for the transition to Learn Ultra Courses. Modules 1–4 were released last fall and are still available if you haven’t yet completed them. This spring we are releasing Modules 5–9 (9 is optional) to prepare you for creating and using Ultra Courses. By completing this orientation course, you will gain insight into the experience your students will have when we switch to the Ultra Course View in Fall 2021. These Orientation course activities won’t be graded or reviewed.  

In addition, on November 3, 2020, you should have been provided access to Ultra Course View sandboxes in your Courses list in the Assorted Dates area or under the Sandboxes group of courses. These sandboxes provide a space for you to experiment with new features while you complete modules in the Orientation course. If you don’t have sandboxes available, please request them by submitting a Blackboard Site Creation request and asking for “Ultra Sandboxes”. 

In next week’s OnCampus we will share more information about Module 6.  

— Karly Good, ITS 

HR Information Archive

Human Resources shares Wellness Interest Survey results

Thank you to everyone who responded to the Faculty and Staff Wellness Interest Survey in January. We appreciate your time and value your feedback on how to provide employees with the programs, presentations, and activities best designed to meet your needs.

Based on the overall results of the survey, the most highly requested programs and presentations are mindfulness programs, healthy cooking/healthy eating, wellness challenges, walking and running clubs, and stress management programs.

Top-rated, stand-alone events include CPR/first aid, flu shots, CPHS health services (health coaching and bone density screening), chair massages, and fitness assessments.

The survey showed that most employees receive information on wellness programs through OnCampus and the HR Monthly, prefer participating over lunch or after work during the work week, and prefer programs that run 30-45 minutes. The primary barrier to participation is lack of time and inconvenient time or location.

The comments included in the survey were also helpful. Several employees requested group sports (pickle ball and volleyball), a self-defense class, and continued online webinars and fitness classes for those working remotely.

These results will provide us with areas to focus on in the coming academic year. Next steps include:

  • Create a Wellness Advisory Council of faculty and staff to address the needs across campus
  • Work with groups such as Head Start to address their remote worker needs
  • Bring back services such as chair massages and CPR/first aid classes when it is safe to do so
  • Use the results to help drive future wellbeing topics

Thank you again for participating in this survey. If you have any feedback on these next steps or other suggestions, please feel free to contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources