Category Archives: Archive

Changes to mileage reimbursement rate

Drake reimburses mileage for use of personal automobiles by employees for actual miles driven during business travel. The reimbursement rate is based on the current standard mileage rate issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

Please note that the IRS has recently issued the 2017 standard mileage rate. Effective Jan. 1, 2017, the standard mileage rate is 53.5 cents per business mile driven, down from 54.5 cents for 2016.

The standard mileage rate is evaluated annually by the IRS and is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.

If you have any questions regarding the reimbursable mileage rate, please visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/Standard-Mileage-Rates or contact Accounting at accounting@drake.edu.

—Jennifer Baugher, Accounting

J-Term Group X class schedule

The J-Term Group X (Group Fitness) class schedule runs Jan. 3–20. The schedule can be found at www.drake.edu/recservices/groupexercise/ 

These classes are free to all our Drake students/faculty/staff. All classes are held in the Fitness Studio at the Bell Center and you just need to present your Drake Card upon entrance.

Registration for classes is not required, but it is recommended. Registration holds a spot for you in class, as some of our classes do meet capacity.

Registration can be completed in one of two ways:
1. Download the “Rec*It Fitness” app, create a profile, and join the class
2. Visit www.imleagues.com, create a profile, and join the class

The Spring 1 Group X schedule will run Jan. 23–March 9 and will be released mid-January.

2017 Baby Bowl

Drake women’s basketball will host the 3rd Annual Baby Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 12, during halftime of its game versus Bradley. Children 12 months and younger are eligible to compete. This is a crawling-only competition. We invite you to register your baby or encourage friends and family to do so. Be sure to sign up early as space is limited. Registration is open now until all slots are filled. Racers will receive two complimentary tickets to the game for parents/guardians. All contestants will receive a Drake Bulldogs baby bib for their efforts.

Register by clicking here or by visiting www.DrakeTix.com/BabyBowl.

Questions? Please contact Tom Florian, assistant director of ticket sales, at 515-271-4949 or thomas.florian@drake.edu

—Tom Florian, Drake Athletics

2017 Bulldog Bus Trip—women’s basketball

Join Drake Athletics on a bus trip to Cedar Falls to cheer on the Bulldogs as they face off against in-state rival Northern Iowa! Each package includes transportation and a ticket to the game. Seats will be located in the section behind the Drake bench. Please note that the bus will depart from the Knapp Center at 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, and return to Des Moines immediately following the game. A full itinerary will be provided in advance of the trip. Space is limited and filled on a first come, first served basis.

Reserve your spot by calling Tom Florian at 515-271-4949. You can also visit the Drake Athletics Ticket Office. Deadline to order is Friday, Jan. 20!

Questions? Please contact Tom Florian, assistant director of ticket sales, at 515-271-4949 or thomas.florian@drake.edu.

—Tom Florian, Drake Athletics

SJMC news: Jan. 9

Two SJMC students finished in the top 10 in the recent national Hearst contest feature-writing competition.

May graduate Cole Norum finished second and senior Molly Longman finished 10th. There were 140 entries submitted to the contest from 74 JMC programs nationwide. The only other institution that had two top-10 winners was Indiana University; Drake was the only private institution in the top 10.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Faculty Accomplishments: Jan. 9

David Skidmore, professor of political science, is co-author of a new textbook, International Political Economy: The Struggle for Power and Wealth in a Globalizing World. The 522-page work, published by Routledge, was co-written by Thomas D. Lairson, visiting professor of political science at Jindal Global University and emeritus professor of political science at Rollins College. Read more about David in the Drake Newsroom.

Kieran Williams, visiting professor in the Department of Political Science, recently spoke at two events in the Czech Republic in connection with the publication of his biography of the Czech writer and statesman, Václav Havel (1936-2011). On Dec. 16, Williams and Professor David Danaher (University of Wisconsin-Madison) were interviewed at the Václav Havel Library in Prague by the Library’s director, Michael Žantovský, who previously served as Havel’s press secretary and later ambassador to the United States, Israel and United Kingdom. The discussion, conducted entirely in Czech, touched on the ways in which Havel’s life and work can be framed and presented, especially for non-Czech readers. The event was livestreamed on Czech Television’s website.

While in Prague, Williams also delivered a paper in Czech to a conference held at the Czech Academy of Sciences to mark the fifth anniversary of Havel’s death. He spoke on the influence of psychologist Erich Fromm and philosopher Josef Šafařík on Havel in the 1970s, when Havel was writing some of his most famous dissident essays, such as “The Power of the Powerless”. Williams’s biography of Havel was published in London by Reaktion Books and is distributed in the United States by the University of Chicago Press.

“The Night Before [Insert Holiday]” art exhibit

“The Night Before [Insert Holliday]” is an exhibition of books and objects globally contextualizing Clement C. Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” more popularly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

A patron lent the Department of Art more than 200 distinct copies of the poem, all illustrated by different artists. Lenore Metrick-Chen’s class, Art and Public Interfaces, rose to the challenge to find a way to deconstruct and re- contextualize this collection—turning a predominantly white heteronormative col, including Santa Claus himself, into an inclusive, diverse exhibition. Students reached out to Drake’s multicultural student organizations, and with their assistance, this exhibition attempts to interpret the celebration of Christmas in the context of people of different backgrounds.

The exhibit extends beyond the glass display cases, using the walls of this area to contextualize the Christmas book within the religions and holidays of the world. The exhibit will run through mid-February.

—Lenore Metrick-Chen, Department of Art