Category Archives: Archive

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

New Preferred Name Policy goes into effect

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The new Preferred Name Policy offers all students the option to use a preferred first name that will display in many, but not all, University documents. The goal of the Student Preferred Name Policy is a consistent preferred-name experience across University systems and use of one’s preferred name wherever legal name is not absolutely necessary. At this time the preferred name would be used in the following places:

  • Drake ID Card
  • Residence hall roster (for on-campus students)
  • Blackboard listing
  • Class list with photos
  • Adviser list with photos
  • MyDUSIS classmate search
  • Email

You will see changes to students’ first names when the update process is implemented Feb. 6–8. Any student who has indicated a preferred first name on Drake documents (such as the application for admission) will see that preferred name in the documents indicated.

This process and policy is especially important to help us create safe and engaged learning environments for transgender students. Questions? Please feel free to contact Tony Tyler, director of student engagement, equity, and inclusion; Carlyn Marron, assistant director of international programs; or Kevin Moenkhaus, director of student records.

—Melissa Sturm-Smith, Academic Excellence and Student Success

Campus Announcements Archive

Free online training for Drake students, faculty, staff

Lynda.com is an online subscription library offered free to all Drake students, faculty, and staff that teaches the latest software, creative, and business skills through high-quality instructional videos.

With more than 3,700 courses, Lynda.com is designed for all levels of learners and is available whenever you’re ready to learn—even on your mobile device.

Benefits to using Lynda.com include:

  • Unlimited access to courses on a wide variety of technologies and disciplines
  • New courses added every week
  • Tutorials taught by recognized industry experts
  •  Access to exercise files to follow along as you learn
  • Beginner to advanced courses

To get started, visit the Campus Life tab in blueView.

—Carla Herling, Information Technology Services

Campus Announcements Archive

Upcoming Engaged Citizen Experience Conference

Drake will host a free conference examining how local, state, national, and international demographics will change in coming years. Though the theme was chosen long before the presidential election, organizers say the conference is particularly relevant in the weeks after President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order restricting immigration and travel.

The 2017 Engaged Citizen Experience Conference, “Demographic Opportunities and Challenges: Domestic and International,” will be held Friday, Feb. 24, beginning at noon in the upper level of Drake’s Olmsted Center. The event is free and open to the public; advance registration is requested via the conference website. Learn more about the conference in the Drake Newsroom.

Campus Announcements Archive

Donate your old cell phone

Drake Public Safety has partnered with the 911 Cell Phone Bank, a nonprofit organization providing emergency-only cell phones to those who otherwise may not have access to an emergency line when it matters most. If you have an unused cell phone you would like to donate to help those in need, please drop it off at the Public Safety Office.

—Brett Niederhauser, Drake Public Safety

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive, HR Information Archive

Update on Fair Labor Standards Act

Following months of preparation for the new Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime regulations, the injunction issued on Nov. 22, 2016, halted implementation. This created significant uncertainty, particularly on the threshold of a new presidential administration. Drake made the decision to suspend planned changes until more was known about the outcome of the injunction and response of the new administration.

As of the writing of this communication, there has been no change in the status of the FLSA overtime rules. In the injunction lawsuit appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Department of Justice recently asked for more time so the new administration could consider the issue. The Trump administration also issued a freeze on new or pending federal regulations, with various advocacy groups debating over whether the freeze would apply to the FLSA rules made final and published before the freeze.

However, we are working to ensure we are able to respond once an outcome is known. We are analyzing various scenarios including abandonment of the new rules, modification of the new rules, or full implementation of the rules. While this rule affects how we classify job—as either exempt or non-exempt—the work over the course of the past year has also focused on ensuring positions are properly placed in Drake’s staff compensation structure consistent with the Staff Salary Guidelines. (These can be found on the HR tab of blueView under the “Manager’s /Toolkit”.) This analysis will prove useful regardless of the outcome of the proposed FLSA rule.

Anyone with questions about this process or next steps are encouraged to reach out to Gary Johnson at 271-4804.

—Gary Johnson, Director, Human Resources