Every semester, The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement offers a small, intimate group of Drake students the opportunity to meet with local, state, and national leaders for food and conversation. This student lunch and reception series provides undergraduate, graduate, pharmacy, and law students with the networking opportunity of meeting informally with a leader in policy, government, business, and nonprofit industries.
For the third event in this series this semester, we will bring Senator Joni Ernst to the institute for lunch on Wednesday, Oct. 19. The event is from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in The Harkin Institute office at 2429 University Ave.

Apply here by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, for the opportunity to have lunch with Senator Ernst.

Senator Joni Ernst has dedicated her life to Iowa and her country, having served in the military for more than 23 years and now in the U.S. Senate. She was elected as the first woman to serve in federal elected office from Iowa and also became the first female combat veteran elected to Senate. Senator Ernst was raised on a farm in Montgomery County and graduated from Iowa State University, where she joined ROTC. After graduating, she joined the U.S. Army Reserves, and in 2003, she served as a company commander in Kuwait and Iraq, leading 150 Iowa Army National Guardsmen during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In November 2015, Senator Ernst retired as Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard. She served in local and state government positions before running for the U.S. Senate in 2014. Senator Ernst prides herself on bringing her small-town Iowa values of hard work, service, and sacrifice to Washington, D.C.

—Erin Austin, Harkin Institute