Category Archives: Archive

Strategic Updates Archive

Great Colleges to Work For Survey: Last call

Thank you to everyone who has already completed their Great Colleges To Work For survey. The survey will close after the end of the business day on Friday, April 15, so you still have time to participate. Please take this opportunity to provide your feedback and comments.

The survey was distributed by email invitation to all full-time faculty, currently active adjuncts, and full-time staff. The email includes a unique username and password for each participant. Despite efforts by Information Technology Services, some faculty and staff have reported that their survey invitation ended up in their Clutter folder. If you have not received your survey invitation in your email inbox, please check your clutter and junk mail folders.

If you have not received your survey invitation or have other questions about the Great Colleges To Work For survey, contact Gary Johnson, director, human resources, at gary.johnson@drake.edu or 515-271-4804.

—Gary Johnson

News & Achievements Archive

Office of Student Financial Planning continues leadership tradition

Something a bit unusual happened at the installation of the 2016–2017 president of the Iowa Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (IASFAA) this year. On April 8, the gavel passed from the outgoing president to the new president, but the gavel did not travel from one Iowa school to another—it remained at Drake University’s Office of Student Financial Planning (OSFP). Kristi Fuller, assistant director, Drake OSFP and 2015–2016 IASFAA president, installed Chris Ditter, associate director, Drake OSFP, as 2016–2017 IASFAA President.

Kristi and Chris continue a long tradition of Drake leadership in IASFAA. Both Susan Ladd, director of the Office of Student Financial Planning, and former director John Parker served as IASFAA presidents.

—Susan Ladd

News & Achievements Archive

School of Education news: Week of April 11

Angela James lecture
Faculty, staff, and students are invited to a lecture by South African scholar Angela James, who will present on service-learning research at University of KwaZulu-Natal, one of Drake’s strategic partners in South Africa. The lecture will take place April 20, 9:30–10:45 a.m. in Room B-13 in the School of Education building.

Diversity Statement
The SOE had finalized our diversity statement:

“The Drake University School of Education is committed to diversity and inclusivity. As members of the School of Education, we strive to work toward an affirming learning and teaching environment. We do so by seeking to educate culturally responsive professionals who are able to work effectively with all stakeholders. Aligned with our commitment to academic reflection, collaborative learning and social justice, we seek to facilitate the development of our students as reflective practitioners, critical thinkers, and public intellectuals.”

This is posted online at www.drake.edu/soe/about/mission/

—Catherine Gillespie, Associate Dean, Professor of Education and Mary Collier Endowed Professor

News & Achievements Archive

College of Arts & Sciences news: Week of April 11

Phillip Chen receives prestigious foundation grant
Phillip Chen, professor of drawing and printmaking at Drake, recently received the 2015/2016 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. The foundation has awarded Phillip $20,000, for his work in printmaking. This is his second major art grant after receiving the Louis B. Comfort Tiffany Award in 2006. Learn more about the grant and Phillip in the Drake Newsroom.

Students present at the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies undergraduate student conference
Three students in the law, politics, and society program (Phoebe Clark, Alexandria Porter, and Alliyah Greaver) were selected to present research papers at the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies undergraduate student conference at Iowa State University’s Memorial Union on April 9. They each presented papers on the topic “Transforming Gender and Society.” Professor Nathaniel Holdren has been working throughout the semester with the students in preparation for their abstract submissions and paper research. The conference featured presentations and discussions by students from around the state.

News & Achievements Archive

“Music is Out of This World”

Sigma Alpha Iota annually hosts a Free Day of Music for kids between ages 5 and 12. “Music is Out of This World” will be held Saturday, April 16, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church (3223 University Ave., near Drake’s campus). During this time, the kids will move between “space stations” learning about different aspects of music, visiting our instrument planetarium, making an intergalactic musical instrument, and learning a space-themed song and dance to perform for their adoring fans.

Guardians, family, and friends are welcome to join us at 11:30 a.m. to watch the performance of the songs and dance they learned throughout the morning. A snack will also be provided during their time with us, so please note in the registration form if they have any dietary restrictions.

Registration will be open the day of the event, but for planning and food purposes, we encourage you to pre-register. You can learn about our event and register a child or children at https://sites.google.com/site/saifreedayofmusic2016/home. We hope that you can join us on our Out of This World adventure! If you have any questions, please email sigmaalphaiota.pichapter@gmail.com.

—Taylor Donaldson

Featured Events Archive

TEDxDrakeU explores “Transformation”

The TEDxDrake Club is inviting all members of the Drake community to our annual TEDxDrakeU event this Friday, April 15, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Reading Room of Cowles Library. The theme this year is “Transformation.”

TEDxDrakeU is a student-led initiative, inspired by TED talks, with the firm belief that every individual has a thought-provoking and unique story to tell. Generally, TED talks are given by some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers. TEDx events have a similar vision but are much more locally focused. With this in mind, you will have the opportunity to listen to inspiring and maybe even unexpected ideas shared by professors, students, and community members. In having a theme of “Transformations,” the various lectures will explore transformations that occur physically, mentally, socially, or otherwise.

Tickets are being sold all week in the Olmsted Breezeway and in Hubbell from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 when bought in advance and $7 at the door. As mentioned, the event is open to students, staff, and faculty.

We hope to see you on Friday! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at tedxdrake@gmail.com or on facebook.com/tedxdrakeclub.

—Kerstin Donat

Featured Events Archive

Keys to Excellence Piano Series

Daniel Shapiro will present the next concert in Drake’s Keys to Excellence Piano Series. The concert is free and open to the public and begins at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 18 in Sheslow Auditorium. Shapiro will also present a master class for piano students at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 17, in Sheslow Auditorium.

Shapiro continues to gain recognition as a leading interpreter of Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven, and as a teacher and coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has given critically acclaimed recitals and concerto appearances across the United States and in Brazil, Europe, Korea, and China. To learn more about Shapiro and Keys to Excellence, visit the Drake Newsroom.

Featured Events Archive

Cavalcade of Choirs

Don’t miss Cavalcade of Choirs, a concert featuring all four of Drake’s choruses, on Sunday, April 24 at 3 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium. This free concert will include works by contemporary American composers as well as works by Michael Haydn, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arvo Pärt, and folksongs from Latvia and Finland.

—Aimee Beckmann-Collier, the Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Conducting

Featured Events Archive

“Secular Death”

Please join us for the fourth spring event of our 2015–2016 series on death and dying—a lecture from Amy Hollywood on “Secular Death.” The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held on April 14 at 6 p.m. in Sussman Theater (lower level of the Olmsted Center). Note that the time is an hour earlier than usual Comparison Project events.

Amy Hollywood is the Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies and the chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. She is the author of The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart, which received the Otto Grundler Prize for the best book in medieval studies from the International Congress of Medieval Studies; Sensible Ecstasy: Mysticism, Sexual Difference, and the Demands of History; and Acute Melancholia and Other Essays. She is also the co-editor, with Patricia Beckman, of The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism. Professor Hollywood is currently exploring the place of the mystical, often re-described as enthusiasm, within modern philosophy, theology, and poetry.

Professor Hollywood will offer a performance and meditative talk about how we imagine our own deaths and the deaths of others.

—Tim Knepper, Professor of Philosophy

Featured Events Archive

Documentary screening: Suffering in Silence

Join Drake University alumnus and director David Heineman for his documentary screening of Suffering in Silence, about campus sexual assault, today, April 11, 7–9 p.m. in Meredith Hall, Room 101. David will do a talk-back after the screening. It is free and open to the public.

—Alysa Mozak, Coordinator for Sexual Violence Response and Healthy Relationship Promotion