Tag Archives: students

For Students Archive

Students: Interested in learning more about studying abroad?

Students who attended the annual Global Opportunities Expo may be ready for the next step in planning for a class or semester abroad. Whether you are interested in discovering more information about Drake’s administered programs abroad, direct exchange programs, or affiliate programs, you may wish to take some next steps:

  1. Speak with your advisor about your aspirations for studies internationally.
  2. Apply for a passport or check the expiration date of your current passport.
  3. Seek further insights from the Study Abroad webpage.
  4. Look for dates of upcoming informational meetings.
  5. Investigate funding for study abroad.

—Submitted by Drake International

Featured Events Archive

Drake Science Colloquium—Life After Drake

What: Drake Science Colloquium—Life After Drake
Rosalie Sterner (AS ’13), Lecture and Reception
When: Friday, Oct. 23, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Harvey Ingham, Room 135
Free & Open to the public

From Rosalie: “In 2013, I graduated from Drake University with a B.S. in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology and Biology and a B.A. in Chemistry. I am now pursuing an M.D. and Ph.D. in a medical scientist training program in order to work toward my long-term goal of becoming a physician scientist. In this talk, I will discuss with you my experiences leading up to my graduation from Drake and the next step of my journey since then. I will explain the massive impact that education has had on my life and provide you with my experiences in the first two years of medical school and beginning of graduate school. I hope to provide current students with relevant insights from my experiences as I pursue the first steps toward building my career after graduating from Drake University.”

—Submitted by John Gitua, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Director of DUSCI

Featured Events Archive

Global Health Consortium Conference, Oct. 14

The seventh annual Heartland Global Health Consortium Conference, “Educating for Sustainable Global Health,” will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Parents Hall of Drake’s Olmsted Center. The event is free for students, faculty, and staff. Registration is required and includes lunch.

The conference will include panels on the following topics:

  • Service learning from the community partner perspective
  • Food insecurity, waste, and “Next Course,” the food recovery program at Drake
  • Social determinants of health
  • Development in a global context: summer internships in Mysore, India
  • A partnership model for service-learning based on authentic, holistic community dialogue
  • Service learning, “voluntourism,” and ensuring that communities benefit as much as students
  • EMBARC and educational aspects of its work
  • Medication use on medical mission trips

Learn more and find a link to register here.

Featured Events Archive

Introducing Drake’s new live mascot

Drake University will unveil its newest live bulldog mascot during a special campus event Thursday. All faculty, staff, and students are invited.

The celebration will begin at noon in the southwest corner of Helmick Commons with remarks from President Martin, Athletic Director Sandy Hatfield Clubb, Live Mascot Director Erin Bell, and Student Body President Kevin Maisto. In case of rain, it will be held at Pomerantz Stage in Drake’s Olmsted Center.

You can learn a little more about the newest, furriest member of the Drake family here. 

Strategic Updates Archive

From President Martin

Thank you to everyone who attended one of the open forums regarding the Campus Climate Assessment earlier this week. While we have room for improvement in order to ensure Drake is an inclusive and welcoming environment, I’m confident this community can rise to the challenge. One step in that direction is that a commitment to inclusivity and diversity is now part of every senior leader’s essential job functions. Also, as mentioned at the forums, members of the Strategic Diversity Action Team will lead small group discussions to determine actionable next steps based on the survey results. I strongly encourage each of you to attend a session—sign up here.

Another topic important to all of us is campus safety. In light of recent serious crimes taking place near campus, I want to emphasize that the safety of students, faculty, and staff is a top priority for the University. Part of fulfilling that responsibility is ensuring the University is engaged in the Drake neighborhood. We have a number of formal commitments to the surrounding community and are working on ways we can continue to enhance the relationship we have with our neighbors.

As to safety on campus, you may have read in Public Safety Director Scott Law’s message in the weekly OnCampus newsletter that we are implementing additional safety measures beyond the resources already available to the campus community. One feature I want to reiterate from Scott’s message is the difference between Bulldog Alerts and Timely Warnings.

  • Bulldog Alerts are issued for situations involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of Drake students or employees. These range from natural disasters to gas leaks to criminal activity.
  • Timely Warnings are issued when a crime is reported that does not involve an immediate threat. There is also a connection between these warnings and those events for which we report statistics to the government, such as homicides, sex offenses, or robberies. The crime can occur on campus, on immediately accessible public property, or at a non-campus location, such as a remote classroom.

There are several exceptions to these general guidelines for both Bulldog Alerts and Timely Warnings. I have every confidence in Scott and his team to expertly address each case quickly, with the safety of the campus community as their top priority.

Finally, please be sure to utilize and engage with our internal newsletter, OnCampus, which goes out to all students, faculty, and staff every Monday. This newsletter serves as a centralized source of relevant information and contributes to an environment of timely, relevant, and transparent communication on campus.

Regards,

Marty

For Faculty Archive

Encourage students to apply for global learning scholarships

The application for Global Learning Scholarships is available today until Thursday, Oct. 15. Please encourage student applications among your advisees who are interested in studying abroad, participating in global service-learning or experiential learning abroad. Priority will be given to students studying abroad in 2016. These are need-based scholarships.

The following is a summary of eligibility requirements:
1. Applicants must be admitted, currently enrolled, degree-seeking Drake students.
2. Applicants must apply for a scholarship before the term they intend to use it.
3. Only complete applications will be reviewed.
4. Students from all majors, including undergraduate, graduate, and law students, are eligible.
5. Applicants must have a college GPA of at least 2.5 at the time of application.
6. Priority is given to students who have financial need.
7. Scholarships are for existing Drake-affiliated, exchange, or faculty-led programs.
8. Students who have not previously received a global learning scholarship may be given priority.
9. A disciplinary check will be done and may affect an applicant’s eligibility to receive this scholarship.
10. Applicants are able to apply for scholarships up to a year in advance.

Complete eligibility requirements, expectations, and the application are available here.

Direct your questions to Maria Rohach, global learning program coordinator, at maria.rohach@drake.edu.

—Submitted by Drake International

Campus Announcements Archive

Fire Drill Oct. 7

Drake University will hold a campus-wide building evacuation/fire drill on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015, at 9:10 a.m. in compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act and in conjunction with National Fire Prevention month. Fire alarms will be activated in all campus buildings to signal the start of the drill. All buildings will be locked down during the fire alarms. During lock down, buildings can be evacuated, but cannot be re-entered. Members and guests of the campus community will need to evacuate all Drake University buildings at this time. Please dress according to weather.

This drill will be coordinated through the Office of Public Safety (271-2222) working with the Office of Environmental Health and Safety (271-3804) and Facilities Services (271-3955). Please report any fire alarm malfunctions or evacuation problems to Facilities or Public Safety. Your cooperation in this very important campus safety exercise regarding the Drake Emergency Response Plan is appreciated and required by law.

As a reminder:

  • Please evacuate when the alarms sound.
  • If it is cold, please wear a coat.
  • Buildings will be locked down during alarms.
  • Buildings can be evacuated but cannot be re-entered until the drill ends.

—Submitted by Chris Nickell, Director, EHS

Strategic Updates Archive

Climate Assessment: Next Steps

We invite you to share your ideas about how we can make Drake a more welcoming and inclusive University. Our Campus Climate Assessment survey, implemented in February 2015, was designed to gauge the experiences and attitudes of current faculty, staff, and students. The public forums held on Sept. 21 and 22 provided our community with the data from that survey. If you were unable to attend one of the forums, a video recording of the presentation, Powerpoint presentation, and the full report are available on the climate assessment site. Print copies of the full report are also available on reserve in Cowles library.

Now, the Strategic Diversity Action Team is hosting small group conversations where we can come up with actionable next steps for campus. Please read the report, sign up for one of the small group sessions, and be a part of change on campus.

—Submitted by Melissa Sturm-Smith, Associate Provost for Academic Excellence and Student Success

For Faculty Archive

Speaking Center now open

Drake University’s Speaking Center in Cowles Library is now open for the fall semester. Students can book appointments online to see a tutor for help in researching, preparing, composing, and delivering speeches and presentations or for support with other situations requiring oral communication skills. Students, faculty, and staff members can also reserve the Speaking Studio to practice and record presentations alone or in small groups.

Location and Hours: The Speaking Center is located in Cowles Library, Room 18, on the lower floor just down the stairs and through the right door of the main entrance. Hours are:

  • Monday/Wednesday 3:30–8 p.m.
  • Tuesday/Thursday 11 a.m.—12 p.m. and 2–5 pm
  • Sundays 2–4 p.m.

Tutors are also available outside those hours on an individual basis, if scheduling allows.

To make an appointment, visit http://library.drake.edu/speaking. Appointments are scheduled for 30 minutes each, and students are encouraged to visit multiple times while preparing for a single event if they wish. Any questions or concerns should be directed to speaking-help@drake.edu.

Speaking Center Services: Speaking Center tutors are students with experience and training in speech pedagogy who are prepared to assist students when selecting and narrowing topics, organizing ideas, drafting and revising an outline, preparing visual aids, and practicing delivery. The Speaking Center’s new location provides access to research and reference librarians who can help students gather resources. Our facilities feature a tutoring room and a speaking studio, where presentations can be recorded and saved by students, faculty, and staff members.

—Submitted by Art Sanders, Associate Provost

Strategic Updates Archive

Drake community safety updates

Des Moines Police Patrol
In response to recent incidents in the Drake community, Drake has contracted for a uniformed Des Moines Police Department officer to be dedicated to the Drake campus in the evenings. The officer will patrol primarily from 25th Street to 34th Street on both Forest and University. The officer will primarily be here from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., seven days a week, for the next few weeks to help serve as a visible deterrent and expedite response time.

Safe Ride
As many of you know, Drake recently introduced the new Safe-Ride program, a Drake-owned bus that provides late-night transportation service in the immediate Drake neighborhood. The service has been very successful and demand in the evenings has exceeded capacity on some weekend nights. In order to increase visibility and provide additional capacity, a second bus will operate Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. It is our hope that students will choose to use the Safe-Ride service for travel around the Drake neighborhood at night. The location of the Safe-Ride bus can be found by visiting www.drake.edu/bus. The bus runs 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday–Wednesday and 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Thursday–Saturday. The two buses will travel opposite circuits around campus to maximize response time.

Drake Guardian App
Drake Public Safety would also like to remind students, faculty, and staff to download the “Drake Guardian” App. This app is available as a free download and enhances safety on campus through real-time, interactive features that create a virtual safety network of friends, family, and Drake’s Department of Public Safety. Features include a panic button that connects you immediately to Drake Public Safety and anonymous texting for crime tip reporting. The app also allows your network to monitor your location when you set a safety timer. For more information, visit the Drake Public Safety site. The app is also available in the App Store and through the Android App by searching for Rave Guardian. Once the Rave Guardian is downloaded and you enter your drake.edu email, the app becomes the “Drake Guardian.”

Timely warnings vs. Bulldog Alerts
The Director of Public Safety or a designee will develop Timely Warning Notices for the University community to notify campus about serious crimes against people that have already occurred on or near campus, where it is determined that the incident may pose an ongoing threat to members of the University community. Timely Warning Notices may be distributed for other crimes as determined necessary by the Director or his or her designee in his or her absence.

Bulldog Alerts are issued for an emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees that is currently occurring on or may imminently affect the campus.

As always, if you see something, say something. If you see something you feel is out of ordinary, no matter how trivial it may seem, contact Drake Public Safety at 811 (emergency) or 515-271-2222 (non-emergency). DPS has 21 sets of eyes, but with the campus community, we have more than 5,000.

—Submitted by Scott Law, Director, Drake Public Safety