With the 2020 Drake Road Races and Grand Blue Mile moving virtual you are now able to participate from anywhere and on your own time schedule between Sept. 27 and Oct. 7. Registration remains open for both races.
Drake Road Races registration includes a performance 1/4 zip and commemorative finishers medal. To register for the Drake Road Races 5k, 10k, or half marathon visit DrakeRoadRaces.org.
For a more family-friendly race, sign up for the Grand Blue Mile at GrandBlueMile.com.
The 2021 Global Citizen Forum will be held virtually in March and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in higher education. In preparation of the conference, the planning committee needs your input.
Please complete a five-minute survey designed to gauge the interest of faculty and staff to participate in the conference as presenters or attendees. Responses will be collected through Sept. 18.
Thank you for your participation.
— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Partnerships Coordinator
The Drake University Constitutional Law Center is pleased to announce Stephen Gardbaum as the 2020 Constitution Day speaker. Gardbaum will present “The Counter-Playbook: Resisting the Populist Assault on Separation of Powers.” The Constitution Day Lecture is scheduled for Sept. 17, 2020, at 3 p.m. and will be delivered virtually.
Gardbaum holds the Stephen Yeazell Endowed Chair in Law at UCLA School of Law. An internationally recognized constitutional scholar, his research focuses on comparative constitutional law, federalism, and the foundations of liberal legal and political theory. His numerous articles on constitutional law have appeared, among other places, in the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, International Journal of Constitutional Law, and American Journal of Comparative Law. His widely-reviewed book The New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism: Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2013) explores a novel approach to protecting rights in democracy. His scholarship has been cited by the U.S. and Canadian Supreme Courts.
Gardbaum received a B.A. with first class honors from Oxford University, an M.Sc. from London University, a Ph.D. in political theory from Columbia University, and a J.D. from Yale University.
The Drake University Constitution Day Lecture is held annually to commemorate the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787, and to recognize all U.S. citizens.
This Q&A is part of a new story series—Voices of Drake—that highlights the diversity, ambition, and passion of the incredible people that make up our campus community. This first story in the series is designed to celebrate and shine light on Latinx Heritage Month, Sept. 15–Oct. 15, and spotlight Angelica Reyes, president of La Fuerza Latina.
Angelica Reyes, Drake University senior and president of La Fuerza Latina.
Tell us about yourself. I am a senior at Drake double majoring in international relations and digital media productions. I’m also a first-generation college student. I grew up in the Des Moines area. I enjoy traveling a lot, bike riding, photography, hiking, and sometimes cooking.
What is La Fuerza Latina, and how did you get involved? La Fuerza Latina is a Latinx organization created to provide community and a safe space for Latinx students on Drake’s campus. I became involved with LFL my sophomore year. I found it to be the one group on campus that made me feel welcome and at home.
What has La Fuerza Latina meant to you during your time at Drake? LFL has meant a lot to me these past few years because as an individual, this organization has helped me to learn more about myself and embrace my Latinx roots. The organization has also provided me with so many opportunities that have connected me with people from all over the U.S. Overall, LFL has become a big part of my college experience.
What does a robust and active La Fuerza Latina mean to the Drake community? A robust and active LFL means several things. For one, having a multicultural organization like LFL within the campus community means having a place at the table. In other words, we are recognized, seen, and heard. Not only that, but we are showing and providing individuals with spaces in which they can see themselves and thrive in.
How, if at all, does your role as president of LFL connect with your studies at Drake or your future career plans? Being president of LFL isn’t the easiest task, but the connections I make and the people I meet are what makes it worth it. I’ve learned many leadership skills and have developed strong connections with local and national organizations. Having had these kinds of opportunities has helped me to see where I want to be in my career. I enjoy meeting people who are working to make a difference in their community, and it’s so cool to learn their stories and why they do what they do.
What are you excited about for the future of La Fuerza Latina or the Drake community more broadly?
I am excited to see the organization grow. These past few years we’ve really worked to build a solid foundation for LFL and I feel like our Latinx community is slowly but steadily growing on Drake’s campus. During my term as president, we’ve worked to create several partnerships with businesses, organizations, and schools as way of supporting our own community. I hope that LFL continues to work and empower our younger people to pursue higher education.
Who have been some of your important mentors during your time at Drake? One person that comes to mind is Kenia Calderon, an LFL and Drake alumna. I remember meeting her when I visited Drake for a college fair event. At the time, I was a senior in high school and unsure of whether I wanted to go to college. During the fair, I had the opportunity to sit down with her and learn more about Drake and LFL. Since then, she’s played a major role in my life as a role model and friend. The biggest lessons Kenia has taught me is to never give up and believe in something worth fighting for.
What would you like the broader Drake community to know about LFL? I would like the broader community to know that LFL is more than a student organization. We have an array of talented students who are always working to help their Latinx community.
This year is a year like no other. What advice would you like to give to a first-year student at Drake? As a first-gen college student, I would tell first-year students that it’s okay to be unsure of where you are now. You may have a lot of people counting on you to be the first to break barriers but understand that mistakes will be made, and that’s okay. Trust me, we weren’t built to be perfect, but we were never taught to give up. You’ve made it this far, and that’s something to celebrate. You’re conquering systems that were never created equal. Just remember you are capable, don’t let others convince you otherwise.
Drake Online Design Dialogues will resume Sept. 24 at 11:30 a.m. The sessions are open to all. Following the first dialogue on Sept. 24, sessions will be held the third Thursday of the month at 11:30 a.m. via Zoom. Sessions will be facilitated by Christina Trombley and the Instructional Design and Technology staff of Drake Online and Continuing Education.
September’s discussion will allow for open dialogue regarding your experiences with teaching online the first few weeks of fall semester. You can also send specific questions to christina.trombley@drake.edu and we will provide a demonstration.
Drake University is excited to announce that Amazon Business with Business Prime is now available for Drake purchases. Drake has had an Amazon Business account for a number of years, but the addition of Business Prime is new. Amazon Business can simplify your purchasing process and allows you to take advantage of Amazon’s wide product selection and competitive prices for business purchases.
Shopping through Amazon Business is as user friendly as on Amazon.com. Additional benefits include:
Access to millions of additional products, available only to Business customers
Business Prime offers FREE and fast shipping across millions of products
Business-specific pricing, including quantity discounts on eligible items
Access to a specialized Amazon Business Customer Service team at 888-281-3847
Effective immediately, Amazon Business with Business Prime is accessible to Drake faculty and staff for Drake purchases. With the addition of Business Prime, purchases for Drake purposes using a personal Amazon Prime account will no longer be allowed and Drake will not reimburse for Drake purchases using a personal Amazon Prime account. Drake also will not reimburse for any personal Prime memberships. Drake’s Amazon Business account should not be used for personal purchases.
Existing Amazon Business accounts will now have access to Business Prime. Any other faculty and staff that have a need for an Amazon Business account should contact Heather Winslow at heather.winslow@drake.edu or 515-271-1982.
Or, create an idea of your own and post about it on social media.
Anyone who posts about their service on social media and tags @drakeservice using #DrakeServes will be entered into a drawing to win a #DrakeServes T-shirt featuring Griff. Learn more about the day of service. For questions, contact Amanda Martin at amanda.martin@drake.edu.
The Nelson Institute at Drake University is proud to announce a new, three-year initiative focused on building the intercultural capacity of our campus community. To that end, the Nelson Institute is sponsoring the “Facilitating Intercultural Learning” program, a development opportunity for select faculty from across campus. The endeavor is designed to create intercultural self-awareness and to prepare faculty to begin integrating intercultural learning into their courses, programming, or other work. It is a 12-week cohort training and coaching program, with a new cohort of faculty coming in each semester. This initiative will allow Drake to continue to foster intercultural learning and development in service to our students and local, national, and international constituents.
The Facilitating Intercultural Learning program is designed to help participants engage more effectively with difference by developing four core intercultural competencies:
Increasing awareness and understanding of their own characteristic ways of making meaning and acting in familiar and unfamiliar contexts;
Increasing awareness and understanding of others’ ways of making meaning and acting in familiar and unfamiliar contexts;
Responding mindfully in contexts that disorient or challenge them;
Bridging cultural gaps in those contexts: Shifting perspective, attuning emotions, and adapting behavior in effective and appropriate ways.
The Nelson Institute plans to sponsor a cohort of up to eight faculty each semester in fulfillment of this initiative. Participating faculty will receive a $1,000 stipend upon completing the program and will be designated as “Nelson Fellows.”
For the inaugural cohort, the program will begin on Sept. 22, 2020. We are inviting interested faculty to send a brief expression of interest to Dr. Jimmy Senteza (Jimmy.Senteza@drake.edu), director of the Nelson Institute, by noon on Sept. 16, 2020. Please highlight how you think this might benefit your work at Drake University, and contribute to your overall intercultural development.
— Annique Kiel, Executive Director of Global Engagement and International Programs
The 2021 Global Citizen Forum will be held virtually in March and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in higher education. In preparation of the conference, the planning committee needs your input.
Please complete a five-minute survey designed to gauge the interest of faculty and staff to participate in the conference as presenters or attendees.
Thank you for your participation.
— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Partnerships Coordinator
As part of our continued commitment to providing a safe and respectful environment for the entire Drake community, the Title IX Office has prepared a short online training series that explains recent policy revisions that have been adopted to maintain compliance with new federal Title IX regulations and provides information about employee sexual misconduct reporting requirements.
The Title IX Office asks that all Drake employees complete this trainingno later than Wednesday, Sept. 30. The course is available through Blackboard and can be accessed via my.drake.edu. Upon selecting the Blackboard link under “Commonly Used Apps,” employees can access the training via the left hand menu under the “Courses” tab by clicking on the course entitled “Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Violence Prevention” and selecting the “Title IX Training” module and following the instructions within the course.
— Jessica Morgan-Tate, Title IX Coordinator/Equity and Inclusion Policy Specialist
