All Drake faculty and staff are invited and encouraged to nominate a colleague for the 2026 Madelyn M. Levitt Distinguished Community Service and Employee Excellence Awards.

The Employee Excellence Award is presented to a staff member who demonstrates exceptional commitment to excellence in the performance of their duties. The Distinguished Community Service Award recognizes the outstanding contributions of Drake faculty and staff to the Drake community. The criteria to be eligible for each of these awards can be found here.

To nominate a colleague, submit a letter of nomination to Human Resources. Nomination letters may be sent through campus mail or electronically to drakehr@drake.edu.  The subject line should read “Madelyn M. Levitt Award Nomination”.  The letter should detail specific examples of how the nominee exemplifies each of the applicable criteria. Additional letters of support are not necessary, but welcome. Nominations are due to Human Resources by Monday, March 2.

For additional information, please contact Linda Feiden at linda.feiden@drake.edu.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Bulldogs United in Learning & Development (BUILD) provides faculty and staff learning opportunities throughout the academic year to enhance professional skills, improve wellbeing, and create conversation.  BUILD is a great platform for learning new ideas as well as an opportunity to collaborate with others from across campus.

The Spring 2026 schedule is available online and registration is open.  Please take a moment to check out the classes on the Drake HR BUILD Offerings webpage, including detailed descriptions.  There is an online registration link to a Qualtrics survey that makes signing up easy.

Most classes are only an hour in length, and many are facilitated by our own faculty and staff.  This is a great way to invest in yourself, support your colleagues, and take in the culture that Drake has to offer.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Managers, please encourage your new employees to attend the first available NEO after their employment. Either the manager or new employee can RSVP by emailing linda.feiden@drake.edu. Please put “NEO” in the subject line of the email.

The next available NEO session will be held Tuesday, Feb. 24, from 9-11:30 a.m. in the Scripps Meeting Room 301 (3^rd floor) in the Johansen Student Center.

— Linda Feiden, Human Resources