Drake faculty and staff can enjoy lunch for just $5 at Hubbell Dining this Thursday, March 24, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Bring your Drake Card and enjoy a tasty meal—Hubbell will be featuring Indian cuisine!
—Jennifer Bowersox, Unit Marketing Coordinator, Sodexo
The deadline to register for the Reach the Beach Challenge is this Friday, April 1, at noon.
What is Reach the Beach?
It is a wellness program designed to get you moving. The goal is to get from International Falls, Minn., to Honolulu in four weeks, beginning Monday, April 4.
How does it work?
You simply participate in activities such as walking, bicycling, and group exercise classes and track your progress. Each activity converts to miles on the trail from International Falls to Los Angeles. To make it from Los Angeles to Honolulu you must earn healthy lifestyle points by making smart choices such as wearing a seatbelt and getting enough sleep. Along the way you will receive health tips, recipes, and optional challenges for bonus miles.
Why should I participate?
How do I get started?
Email Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu with the subject line “Reach the Beach”. Make sure to include your contact information. Deadline to register is noon on Friday, April 1.
A packet of information will be sent to you. Read through the packet carefully and start the challenge on Monday, April 4.
Contact Linda with questions.
—Linda Feiden, Assistant Director, Wellness & Engagement
Join us Thursday, March 31, at 10 a.m. in the Olmsted Center, Room 310, for a TIAA Interactive Education Workshop, “Money at Work.”
TIAA Senior Consultant Paige Cook will review the foundations of investing and help you sharpen your investment skills during this workshop. You will discover how to:
Reservations are not required.
—Marlene Heuertz, Assistant Director, Benefits
All full-time faculty, active adjunct faculty and full-time staff will receive an email today from Modern Think LLC, and The Chronicle of Higher Education inviting you to participate in this year’s Great Colleges To Work For Survey. Instructions on how to access this online survey will be included in the email.
Although Information Technology Services has done testing and precautions have been taken so that this email should not be identified as SPAM, if you do not see this email in your inbox, please check both your junk email and clutter folders.
As President Martin expressed in last week’s OnCampus announcement of this survey:
“The data and benchmark information we receive from this survey will be essential to improve our workplace and our culture. As you may have noted, several of the targets on Drake’s Continuous Improvement Plan are directly related to the Great Colleges to Work For survey—for example, Drake earning a place on the survey’s Honor Roll by 2020.”
“The success of the survey depends on your participation. I encourage you to be honest and forthright in your answers. To ensure the confidentiality of your responses, your survey will be processed entirely by ModernThink. We will not receive any information that would enable us to identify the survey response of any one individual.”
If you have not received your email invitation by noon today or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Gary Johnson, director, human resources (gary.johnson@drake.edu; 271-4804), or visit www.ChronicleGreatColleges.com.
—Gary Johnson
Drake recently released its accomplishment rates for the Class of 2015. The responses prove (once again) that Drake is preparing students for professional accomplishments. The following results indicate the percentage of graduates employed or pursuing graduate school within six months of graduation:
To dig into the data further, check out the Accomplishment Rate Breakdown.
Tyler Spoon, database administrator with Information Technology Services, was surprised March 4 at a departmental meeting with the Called to be True Blue Award. He was nominated for the honor by the human resources department, which lauded his excellent customer service, proactivity in responding to issues or requests, high level of expertise, integrity, professionalism, willingness to go the extra mile, and unfailingly positive attitude. In their nomination of Tyler, HR department members wrote:
“Tyler is always very willing to assist and will go out of his way to research and find a solution even if it is not technically in his area. I have never had him reply that it is not his responsibility … He has never made me feel inadequate with my lack of computer knowledge. He follows through with every request HR has sent to him. Tyler is our ‘go-to guy’ on campus.”
Tyler received a certificate and gift card, and is now in the running, along with other True Blue Award winners nominated before Friday, March 18, to win top honors for staff accomplishment at the All Staff Council Sapphire Awards event April 19.
Do you know of a staff member or department that has gone above and beyond to exemplify True Blue spirit? Nominate them today!
—All Staff Council Communications Committee
Thirteen months ago we committed to taking a hard look at ourselves, at our attitudes, assumptions, experiences, and behaviors, testing our claims about being an open and welcoming community against our lived reality and aiming to become a more diverse and inclusive campus. Our responses to the Climate Survey conducted in February 2015 were analyzed and assessed by Dr. Sue Rankin, who presented the results to campus in September and challenged us to select three action steps that were meaningful, measurable, and manageable within 12 months of their announcement. During the fall semester the Strategic Diversity Action Team (SDAT) facilitated 22 Next Steps forums, collecting the ideas and suggestions of more than 300 faculty, staff, and students. In January Jackie Heymann, a junior politics and sociology double-major, together with Associate Professor Renee Cramer (LPS), Associate Professor Michael Couvillon (Education), and Associate Provost Melissa Sturm-Smith, conducted a detailed analysis of the forum responses and survey results, identifying a number of possible next steps. (You can read the full report here: www.drake.edu/secured/climate-survey/ .) These in turn were discussed and prioritized by the entire Strategic Diversity Action Team and presented to President Martin, Provost-elect Sue Mattison, and myself.
Thus, it is both with pride and excitement that I present to campus SDAT’s recommended next steps, attached to this email, and posted on the climate assessment website, www.drake.edu/climate-assessment.
These recommendations will be the object of our attention in the coming weeks and months, but I want to emphasize that we do not have to wait for change to happen. Several of the priorities identified by SDAT are already underway. For instance:
Most immediately, when you return from spring break you will be invited to participate in conversations to adapt and adopt a Drake statement on diversity and inclusion. This is essential to our progress. Our next steps can’t be taken, our ambition to become a welcoming and inclusive campus cannot be realized, unless and until we have a common understanding of what we mean by diversity and inclusion. So please, help us come to terms.
Finally, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the Strategic Diversity Action Team, and to Melissa Sturm-Smith, Renee Cramer, and Michael Couvillon in particular, for their devotion, persistence, vigilance, and passion in bringing this project to this point.
But now the real work for the rest of us begins.
—Joe Lenz, Interim Provost
I am pleased to announce that Drake University will once again participate in the Great Colleges to Work For survey for 2016. The Great Colleges program is sponsored by The Chronicle of Higher Education and ModernThink LLC, a research and consulting firm focusing on workplace excellence.
The data and benchmark information we receive from this survey will be essential to improve our workplace and our culture. As you may have noted, several of the targets on Drake’s Continuous Improvement Plan are directly related to the Great Colleges to Work For survey—for example, Drake earning a place on the survey’s Honor Roll by 2020.
The central feature of the assessment process is a faculty/staff survey distributed to all of our full-time faculty, active adjunct faculty, and full-time staff. Designed specifically for colleges and universities, this confidential and anonymous survey allows us to gather important information from our faculty and staff about what is working well and to learn about areas that need attention.
On March 21, ModernThink will send the survey to all of our full-time faculty, active adjunct faculty, and full-time staff. You will receive an email invitation encouraging you to participate, along with instructions for completing the survey. The survey should take about 20 minutes to finish.
The success of the survey depends on your participation. I encourage you to be honest and forthright in your answers. To ensure the confidentiality of your responses, your survey will be processed entirely by ModernThink. We will not receive any information that would enable us to identify the survey response of any one individual.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Gary Johnson, director, human resources (gary.johnson@drake.edu; 271-4804), or visit www.ChronicleGreatColleges.com.
Thank you for your participation in this survey.
Sincerely,
Marty
Environmental science and policy students present at association meeting
On March 5, the Raccoon River Watershed Association held its annual meeting in Perry, Iowa. Drake environmental science and policy students Andrew Rupiper, Gabrielle Brodek, and Leah Robison as well as Thomas Rosburg, professor of biology and chair of the department, presented.
More information can be found at http://theperrynews.com/large-turnout-for-annual-raccoon-river-watershed-association-conference/
Ann Cravero joins prestigious summer program in Europe
Ann Cravero, associate professor of voice and director of opera theater, was accepted as assistant director to Sherrill Milnes on Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni with the Prague Summer Nights: Young Artist Music Festival this summer. Ann will participate in performances, master classes, workshops, concerts, and recitals in venues and halls in the Czech Republic, including fully staged performances of Don Giovanni in the Estates Theatre and Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi at Simon & Jude Church (semi-staged) in Prague as well as orchestra concerts in Tabor, Dvorak Hall in Prague.
The opportunity to direct alongside whom many consider the greatest singer to portray the role of Don Giovanni (Sherrill Milnes) at the theater that Mozart premiered Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni is a great honor. It should be noted that Sherrill Milnes received his bachelor of music at Drake University. This festival will provide Ann the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest singers and conductors in the field of professional opera, including conductors James Nardolillo and James Burton, clarinetist Walter Seyfarth, violinist Rodney Friend, and coach Scott Rednour. A complete list of faculty can be found online.
Tamales and foreign language
On Thursday, Feb. 25, professors Eduardo Garcia and Lourdes Gutiérrez-Nájera gave a tamales-making demonstration for Alpha Mu Gamma, the Drake chapter (Xi Kappa) of the international honor society for foreign languages.
The goal of the event was to build community, specifically in relation to foreign languages. Social events such as this that are open to all Drake students give the opportunity to educate others about aspects of other cultures and thereby grow the world languages department.
The award-winning Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication is partnering with St. Louis-based Media Now to host its first summer camp for high school students. The four-day “boot camp,” which will be held July 6-9 on Drake’s campus, will introduce students to the professional digital media and communications skills they need to be successful not only in high school but beyond. Workshop topics include editorial leadership, design, narrative storytelling, web and social media, and photo/multimedia. Teachers include high school and college instructors and media professionals from around the country.
The camp is available both as a sleep-over camp and as a day camp. Scholarships are available for students in need of financial assistance. Advisers get a discounted registration fee if five students from their school sign up.
For details on curriculum and fees, and to register, visit https://medianowdrake.com/. Early bird registration deadline is April 1. Regular registration runs through June 1, with a late fee after that.
—Submitted by Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
