Drake University Continuous Improvement Plan

Our mission: Provide an exceptional learning environment that prepares students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship. The Drake experience is distinguished by collaborative learning among students, faculty, and staff and by the integration of the liberal arts and sciences with professional preparation.

Our inspiration: Together we transform lives and strengthen communities.

Teaching & Learning

Providing exceptional learning opportunities and programming to fulfill Drake’s mission by meeting the needs of those we serve, including students, alumni, and the many communities of which we are a part.

Objective: Provide an exceptional undergraduate learning and living experience. 95.2%. Undergraduate degree recipients are employed, enrolled in graduate or professional school, or involved in an activity related to their professional goals. Knowledge Rate (aka Response Rate): 94.5%.

Objective: Provide exceptional undergraduate experiential learning opportunities. Professional Preparation: 90.1 percent of graduating seniors reported having an internship or other practical experience.

Provide exceptional undergraduate experiential learning opportunities. Service-learning: 63.5 percent of graduating seniors having a community engaged component as part of one or more of their courses.

Objective: Create and sustain an inclusive campus community. 29.6% of Drake's undergraduates are students of color.

Objective: Provide an exceptional graduate and professional learning experience. 98.6% Graduate Accomplishment Rate

Objective: Infuse global and intercultural learning throughout the Drake experience. 50% of undergraduates study abroad, study a foreign language, or participate in a global academic program.

Objective: Achieve pervasive and continuous assessment of student learning outcomes.

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Innovation & Reflection

Building on our successes and seizing opportunities for improvement through the pervasive assessment of Drake’s educational and operational effectiveness in achieving its mission.

Objective: Advance a Culture of Innovation: New Sports Media and Communication Major.

Objective: Inspire collaborative planning and data-driven decision making. Drake’s annual employee survey shows tremendous strengths such as a caring and compassionate sense of community, flexible and dedicated employees, innovative leaders, and a steady resolve to pursue our institutional mission.

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A review of student work in Environmental Science courses indicated students were gaining fluency with basic concepts, but were not well prepared to employ monitoring techniques for soil and water systems. The department revised learning outcomes and courses to better prepare students to apply their skills and develop preferred qualifications.

“We are committed to our city, we are committed to our neighborhood, and we are putting our resources and our competencies to work in a way that is going to lift up the lives of the children of the Drake Neighborhood and their families.” — Drake University President Marty Martin upon the opening of the Gregory & Suzie Glazer Burt Club on Aug. 23, 2019.

Located on the southwest corner of 25th Street and Forest Avenue, the Gregory & Suzie Glazer Burt Club is only the second Boys & Girls Club in the nation located on a private college or university campus. In addition to providing kids and teens in our community with a safe, supportive place to be after school and during the summer, the Club provides numerous educational and service opportunities for Drake students and further integrates the University with the surrounding neighborhood.

During the 2024 Fall semester, the Safe Ride program transported 10,832 students. In November, Safe Ride had just over 4,000 riders alone!

ITS has digitized and automated 66 complex and high-impact business processes in Finance, Human Resources, Registrar, Athletics, Facilities, Law School, Campus Safety, Residence Life, Information Technology Services, and other administrative departments, significantly increasing user efficiency, productivity, and satisfaction across the campus.

Drake alumnus John Lorentzen, BN ’77, AS ’77, and spouse Penney Fillmer challenged Drake University in late 2017 to increase its commitment to sustainable practices. Responding to the challenge, Drake’s Facilities Planning and Management team identified several projects that would reduce the University’s carbon footprint and save Drake more than $40,000 annually in energy costs. These projects included a new lighting system in the Knapp Center, the installation of LED lights across campus, and solar panels on the Tennis Center, which are scheduled to be installed this summer. Thanks to a generous matching gift from the Lorentzen’s and support from alumni and friends, Drake fully secured the funds needed to make these projects a reality. As a result of this shared vision, Drake is one step closer toward achieving its carbon reduction goal.

Brent and Diane Slay partnered with Drake to create the Slay Fund for Social Justice, which is directed by Professor Renee Cramer. This is the first formal organization on campus dedicated to social justice issues. The Slay’s generosity has provided numerous students with experiential learning opportunities and connected Drake with Des Moines community non-profit agencies. Through support from the Slay’s, Law Professor Brent Pattison was awarded a grant to support an innovative project called #KnowJustice, in which Drake Law School students teach in-need youth about their civil liberties through art. Volunteers from the Drake Law School Legal Clinic facilitate workshops on school policies, juvenile courts, and immigration, and encourage the children to express themselves and illustrate their understanding of what they learned through art.