Friendly reminder that this organizational view of institutional leadership is a great way to get to know the leadership structure here at Drake. Instead of a boring text, you will find photos of each leader. This can always be found on the Office of the President page and is maintained by the President’s Office. Bonus feature: if you click on a person’s image, you will be directed to their corresponding web page to learn more.  It is a handy tool, especially if you are new to Drake!

— Nate Reagen, Chief of Staff, President’s Office

DU What Matters—that’s the theme of this year’s Campus Climate Survey. At Drake we seek to create an environment characterized by openness, fairness, and equity for all students, faculty, and staff.Please take the Campus Climate Survey to help us better understand the current climate at Drake University. The survey is open through Nov. 26 and should take about 20–30 minutes to complete. Your participation is an opportunity to DU What Matters.

Take the survey

This confidential survey is designed to gauge the current attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of students, faculty, and staff at Drake. We will use survey responses to identify opportunities for making improvements and taking tangible steps toward creating a more positive and inclusive campus climate. Please be assured that all of your answers will remain confidential, and the results will be reported in the aggregate. 

Creating change
Five years ago, when we collected data through the last climate survey, a host of positive steps were taken to make our campus community more inclusive and equitable. Here is a list of the top ten initiatives to come out of the project:

1. Creation of the Bulldog Foundations course
2. Creation of the Equity Action Partners
3. Adoption of the preferred name policy
4. Adoption of the employee leave policy
5. Creation of Drake’s Commitment to Equity and Inclusion statement
6. Requiring Haven training on equity and inclusion for all incoming students
7. Development of the Flight program
8. Overhaul of the EthicsPoint reporting platform
9. Development of the CORE pipeline program
10. Overhaul of the Title IX office

Win a prize!
When you complete the survey, you will be directed to a different page to submit your name into a drawing for a variety of prizes. The two sites are completely separate, so please be assured that confidentiality of survey responses will be protected. Prizes include: 

• Drake parking pass
• Starbucks gift cards
• Drake apparel
• Pizza party for residence hall floor/office
• $200 in funding for a research assistant
• Drake Relays tickets
• Basketball tickets
• Griff socks

The Campus Climate Survey has been acknowledged as an exempt study by the Drake Institutional Review Board. Additional information about the project is available at drake.edu/duwhatmatters. Thank you in advance for your contribution to the future of Drake University.

— Erin Lain, Associate Provost for Campus Equity and Inclusion

It’s next week! The 2019 United Way Campaign will be held from Monday, Nov. 11, through 3 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15. You may read about the campaign and see the full list of incentives by visiting drake.edu/unitedway.

“United Way of Central Iowa ensures we’re able to prioritize the highest quality of youth programming,” shared Kendra Allen, director of the Burt Boys and Girls Club.

Remember, 100% of funds raised stay within central Iowa and support programing like Character Counts. “The donations impact our community’s youngest children through their early childhood educators and have direct connections to their families and caregivers,” stated Scott Raecker, executive director of The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center.

There will be a happy hour campaign kickoff Friday, Nov. 8, at 3:30 p.m.—watch for a special invitation from President Martin.

— Ryan Arnold, Director, Community Engagement

Have you visited Drake’s Continuous Improvement Plan site lately? It highlights our objectives, key metrics, and success stories that illustrate some of the ways we, as a campus community, are living out our mission and inspiration every day.

Watch a video of students collaborating to solve complex coding problems, all while enjoying pizza at Professor Tim Urness’ home. Or, read how Drake has met its 25% carbon reduction goal two years ahead of schedule. These stories, which can be found by clicking on the “+” on each objective box, not only bring a greater understanding to the plan’s objectives, but also showcases our collective success.

As a reminder, Drake has a balanced approach to strategic planning across four main commitment areas. We continually assess priorities to drive purposeful action through our Continuous Improvement Plan.  Within the commitment areas of the plan, you will find each of our objectives supported by key metrics. 

The site also highlights University-level initiatives, such as the Burt Club, Nelson Development project, University Avenue Streetscape project, and more.  Thank you for taking the time to learn more about how our mission and inspiration drive action through our Continuous Improvement Plan.

— Nate Reagen, Chief of Staff

Drake’s Campus Climate Assessment Survey begins next Tuesday, Nov. 5, and we are looking for 100 volunteers to help spread the word and encourage participation. Click here to sign up for a volunteer opportunity. Volunteers are needed to hang door hangers, manage pop-up stations, and handout cupcakes. Volunteers will receive a free T-shirt.

To learn more about the 2019 Campus Climate Assessment, visit the DU What Matters website

— Erin Lain, Associate Provost for Campus Equity and Inclusion

Mark your calendars and being considering your contribution—the 2019 United Way Campaign will be held Monday, Nov. 11, through 3 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15. More information will be shared next week!

— Ryan Arnold, Director, Community Engagement

Over the summer, a 128.02 kW solar array project was completed on the roof of the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. This project comprises of 346 solar panels that produces 165,900 kWHours a year. Over the last year, every light in the tennis center and parking lot were changed to LED, which also included replacing the court lights with a more efficient fixture using 75% less energy and providing twice as much illumination ensuring the courts meet NCAA standards for competitions. With the reduction of electricity use from lighting upgrades, the project engineer determined that 346 solar panels were sufficient to produce enough electricity through renewable energy that would equal the amount used in the building for the entire year making it a “net zero” building. Over the next 25 years, the solar array will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2695 metric tons, equivalent to 371 homes’ energy use for one year, or 2,894,737 pounds of burned coal, or 6,497,619 miles driven in a passenger car.

The solar panels started to produce electricity on Sept. 10. To view the dashboard and learn more about the system performance and amount of energy created per day along with the environmental benefits of this project using renewable energy, visit Roger Knapp Tennis Center Solar Project. 

Using renewable energy sources is particularly important for Drake University in achieving the goals of the University’s Climate Action Plan, https://www.drake.edu/sustainability/.  Solar power is one of the cleanest, most reliable forms of renewable energy available.  This project was made possible through a generous gift from John Lorentzen and Penny Fillmor and our food service partner Sodexo.

— Kevin Moran, Executive Director, Facilities Planning and Management

The overall results of the 2019 Great Colleges to Work For survey are available.  Thank you to the 566 employees who participated!  As a reminder, this is our primary (and annual) employee survey administered in the spring. These results have been shared with each unit leader on campus, for their respective areas. We are also sharing the University results, as a whole, to be transparent on what is working well and what needs improvement. You’ll also note in the presentation for the coming year, our focus areas are:

1. Strengthening the internal cascade of communication
2. Continued focus on authentic recognition
3. Continued clarification on employee benefits

At the same time, we celebrate the strengths of our active contributions to the community, positive supervisor relations, and our employees’ sense of autonomy.  Further questions?  Please contact Mary Alice Hill or Nate Reagen.

— Mary Alice Hill, Director of Human Resources, & Nate Reagen, Chief of Staff