Get a clearer picture of retirement by focusing on tomorrow’s needs, today. Paige Cook, Drake’s TIAA field consultant, will help you understand the benefit of time in regards to saving—the essential features of retirement investments. Registration is not required.
Date: April 5
Time: 10–11 a.m.
Location: Olmsted Center, Room 310
—Marlene Heuertz, Human Resources
Weight Watchers’ unique mix of face-to-face interaction with a trained leader, group support, accountability, digital tools, and the convenience of meetings in the workplace has been a winning combination for many of your co-workers at Drake.
Weekly Monday meetings include a confidential weigh-in from 12:15 to 12:30 p.m., followed by a 30-minute class. Classes are held in Opperman Hall, Conference Room 262.
The cost is normally $156 for the 12-week renewable series but Weight Watchers is holding a special limited time offer. Everyone who joins during the week of March 27 (or renews) will receive a 12-week renewable series for $132.60. That is a 15 percent discount off the regular price. A minimum of 15 participants must join or renew this week to receive the reduced rate.
If you are interested in attending our Weight Watchers at Work series, please contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.
—Linda Feiden, Human Resources
Tuesday, March 28, is American Diabetes Association Alert Day®. One in three American adults is at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Closer to home, 23 percent of our faculty and staff who completed a wellness screening last year had a blood glucose level greater than 100 mg/dl which means they are either pre-diabetic (blood glucose 100–125 mg/dl) or diabetic (blood glucose 126 mg/dl or higher).
The only way to know for certain whether you are diabetic or pre-diabetic is through a blood test. But anyone can take a quick survey to find out if they are at risk. On March 28 the American Diabetes Association invites you to take a quick (and anonymous) one-minute survey/test to find out if you’re at risk. By understanding your risk, you can take the necessary steps to help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.
So make sure to mark your calendar for American Diabetes Association Alert Day on March 28 and click HERE to take your type 2 diabetes risk test. Then learn more about this disease, how to prevent it, and how to fight back to help transform your life.
—Linda Feiden, Human Resources
Single-session tickets to the 108th Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee are now available! As a reminder, faculty and staff can take advantage of discounted pricing by visiting or contacting the Drake Athletics Ticket Office at 515-271-3647 or tickets@drake.edu.
The book club selection is available for checkout at Cowles. Our next book will be Lab Girl by Hope Jahren; this book just won a National Book Critics Circle Award, so it should be a great summer read. Cowles Library has books available for checkout on a weekly basis (hint: ask for the book on reserve at the circulation desk).
Contact Sara at ascspecialevents@drake.edu if you have any questions, would like to receive future book club info directly to your email, or would like to RSVP for the discussion. We are planning to meet Thursday, July 20, at 4:45 at Eatery A—hopefully on the patio—we’ve had a lot of fun at these, please feel free to join us.
If you can’t make the discussion, we hope you’ll enjoy the book recommendation—we’ll also be looking for book selection ideas for the next fiscal year, so feel free to send any book suggestions our way.
Drake Book Club—previous selections:
The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson
Thirteen Ways of Looking – Colum McCann
The Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown
The Nest – Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Hidden Figures – Margo Lee Shetterly
Bottomland – Michelle Hoover
Lab Girl – Hope Jahren (current selection)
—ASC Special Events Committee and Cowles Library
Sara Heijerman and Dan Chibnall
(Current Book Club Contacts)
This is the final week to cast your vote in the All Staff Council (ASC) election. Voting closes on Friday, March 31. There is a large candidate pool this year, so every vote is important!
If you have not already done so, please take a few minutes to choose your representatives for ASC. Check your Drake email account for your personal voting link. (Each link is unique as employees may only vote once.) Paper ballots are also available in the Facilities office; please submit completed ballots to Brenda McNear.
Good luck to all the candidates. Watch OnCampus in April for election results!
—Cheryle Anania, Office of the President
Nominations are now being accepted for the Madelyn M. Levitt Distinguished Community Service Award and the Madelyn M. Levitt Employee Excellence Awards. These awards will be presented at the All Staff Council Sapphire Awards Event. Nominations are due Friday, April 14, at 4:30 p.m. No late nominations will be accepted.
Madelyn M. Levitt Distinguished Community Service Award
Madelyn M. Levitt established the Distinguished Community Service Award to recognize outstanding contributions of Drake faculty and staff to the Drake community. Criteria for the award include:
The nominee must be a current faculty or staff member with at least five years of service at Drake.
Madelyn M. Levitt Employee Excellence Awards
The Employee Excellence Award is presented to up to two staff employees who demonstrate exceptional commitment to excellence in the performance of their duties. Criteria for the award include:
Nominees must be a current staff member with at least one year of service at Drake.
NOMINATION PROCESS
Submit a letter of nomination to the Levitt Award Committee c/o Human Resources. Nomination letters may be sent via campus mail or electronically to drakehr@drake.edu.
A nomination letter detailing specific examples of how the nominee exemplifies each of the applicable criteria is desirable. Additional letters of support are not necessary. A review committee will make award recommendations to the President’s Council. Nominations must be received by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 14.
—Laura Schwarz, Human Resources
It’s time to submit your course material requests for Fall. The deadline for submitting your materials is April 15, 2017. Receiving your list of materials as soon as possible allows us to source the most affordable books for your students and provide top dollar for students selling books back at the end of this term. With our Online Adoption Tool, selecting your course materials is fast and easy.
Access the Online Adoption Tool:
Are You a New User?
Download 6 Ways to Help Students Save on Textbooks to learn about Follett’s different types of course material purchasing options. If you have any questions about the Online Adoption Tool or how to save students money, please contact me anytime.
—Donna Hallstrom, Drake Bookstore
Adams Leadership Convocation award nominations due this week
Nominations for various leadership awards will close midnight this Friday, March 31. Take the time to submit a nomination for an individual or organization that has gone above and beyond in their contributions to campus!
—Meaghan Baeza, Student Leadership Programs
With the University’s fiscal year-end (June 30, 2017) approaching, below are recommended guidelines for efficient and effective year-end processing of purchases.
Accounting for departmental expenses:
In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, Drake is required to report transactions in the proper fiscal period. For that reason, expenses are recorded in the period when goods are received and/or services are rendered. In short, items expensed to a FY17 budget will need to be received before June 30, 2017. Factors such as budget allocation, invoice receipt, or payment issuance would not have an impact on the application of expenses within a fiscal period.
Exceptions to this general rule apply when a benefit of service or receipt of item extends into multiple fiscal years. In such cases, the following guidelines will be applied.
The University’s guidelines for year-end purchases are subject to external audit. As you make purchases during this period leading up to and overlapping our fiscal year end, it is important to note when the goods or services were received so they are expensed according to reporting requirements. If the timing of receipt is not clearly noted on the invoice, it would be beneficial to help call the receipt date to accounting’s attention by clearly marking the appropriate fiscal year for the expense, based on the above guidelines, on the pay request.
Please contact accounting at x2125 or accounting@drake.edu with any questions you might have.
Year-end timeline:
In order to facilitate efficient and effective year-end processing, the following timeline is recommended for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017.
| Deadline | Action | Additional Information |
| June 1 | Initiate final FY17 purchase orders | Please contact Caron Findlay at x2424 or caron.findlay@drake.edu with any questions you have regarding purchase orders.
Please contact Monita Jackson at x3918 or itspurchasing@drake.edu for computer order requests.
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| June 15 | Complete FY17 purchases with vendor | All purchases should be completed by this date in order to allow for settlement of the transaction and receipt of the goods or services by June 30.
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| Clear outstanding FY17 Travel Advances | Please contact accounting at x2125 or accounting@drake.edu with any questions you have regarding outstanding travel advances.
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| June 23 | Review FY17 account activity through May | All accounts should be reviewed in Banner on a timely basis throughout the fiscal year. Any corrections for July through May activity should be submitted to accounting by this date.
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| Submit all FY17 payment requests | All payment requests for FY17 should be submitted to Accounting.
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| June 30 | Review and submit all FY17 purchasing card statements | All FY17 purchasing card statements should be reviewed and submitted to Accounting with required documentation.
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| July 14 | Submit requests for FY17 restricted or endowed spending transfers.
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All requests for restricted or endowed spending should be submitted to Kathy Veach at kathy.veach@drake.edu.
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| Final review of FY17 account activity | At this point, only June transactions should need to be reviewed. It is highly recommended that prior months’ activity be reviewed as stated above in the timeline. Any corrections should be submitted to accounting by this date. |
—Heather Travis, Finance and Administration