All posts by Aaron Jaco

News & Achievements Archive

Bulldogs of DU: Dianna Gray

Dianna Gray, College of Business and Public Administration

What do you do?
“As the outreach coordinator, I’m part recruiter, part adviser, and part alumni connector for the graduate programs in the College of Business and Public Administration.”

What’s something you’re currently working on?
“Most people feel an affinity with their undergrad but maybe not their graduate school institution if they’re pursuing it part time. So we do semester kickoffs and events to tie them all together across the four grad programs in the CBPA. We do an annual networking event, and we also started the CBPA graduate association—of which I’m the co-adviser—that is made of students and led by students.”

Why do you do what you do?
“When I went to school, it wasn’t a matter of whether I was going to college, it was a question of where. I knew that I wanted to do something with nontraditional aged-students because both my husband and my mom went back as nontraditional students. While they had good jobs and worked hard, once they got their degrees, it was like boom, their career kind of exploded. I thought, ‘I want to be part of that and help those people.’”

“When you see the names of people that are graduating … it’s rewarding to see you can change somebody’s life by just having a conversation with them and telling them what the advantages of our programs are.”

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC news: Week of Feb. 22

Urban Plains—the 2015 senior capstone website for the SJMC magazine media, news and digital media production students—won the student interactive multimedia “Best of Festival” award at this year’s Broadcast Education Association contest.

The BEA Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student work. There were 1,500 entries from more than 175 institutions. The awards will be presented at the BEA convention in Las Vegas in April.

Urban Plains was previously named best online magazine by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication; best online edition at the Iowa College Media Association contest; first place for multimedia story in the Associated Collegiate Press Awards; and has received multiple awards for individual writing, design, photography, and video in those contests and in
the Telly Awards.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC

HR Information Archive

Free financial consultations

Avoid the tax season blues! As part of your Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Employee and Family Resources offers financial counseling. Drake’s EAP provides you and your family members with one 30-minute financial consultation per issue at no cost. Just call 800-327-4692 to schedule a consultation at locations around the metro. Click here for more information on this service. Questions? Contact Marlene Huertz, assistant director benefits, at x1901.

—Marlene Huertz

Featured Events Archive

Drake Law celebrates Diversity Week Feb. 22–26

Drake Law School will celebrate Diversity Week Feb. 22–26 with various events hosted by Drake Law student organizations. Events include Gender and Sexuality Awareness Day, a discussion with local Muslim students and community leaders, a panel of diverse judges, and a roundtable on refugees and immigration law.

Schedule of events:

Monday, Feb. 22
Gender and Sexuality Awareness Day
9 a.m.–4 p.m., Cartwright Hall, Porterhouse Lounge

Tables will be set up in Cartwright Hall  with information related to various gender and sexuality issues in law and society, including reproductive rights, the wage gap, how to address clients of different genders, and more. There will also be facilitated discussions about the upcoming abortion and religious freedom cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and how Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing may affect the decisions.

Girls Court Information Session
4:30–5:30 p.m., Cartwright Hall, Room 206

Drake 3L Laura McGuire will present on the Girls Court, a gender-specific court designed to better accommodate victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation. McGuire, who has been involved in the process of opening a Girls Court in Polk County, will discuss what the Girls Court is, when it will start, and why it’s important. The presentation will include time for questions.

Sponsored by Drake Law Women and Drake OUTlaws.

Tuesday, Feb. 23
The Muslim Experience in Iowa
4 p.m., Cartwright Hall, Kern Commons

Students are invited to share in a conversation with Muslim students and leaders from the Des Moines community. During the event, the guests will discuss how the past few years of changing political climate has impacted them in Des Moines. Food will be provided.

Sponsored by the International Law Society.

Wednesday, Feb. 24
“We’re All Just a Piece of a Beautiful Puzzle: Do Your Piece”
10 a.m.–3 p.m., Cartwright Hall, Porterhouse Lounge

Various tables will be set up in Porterhouse Lounge. The display will include an interactive element with two puzzles depicting diversity, a variety of photos celebrating differences in people, and candy giveaways containing uplifting messages.

Sponsored by the Black Law Student Association and OWLS.

Thursday, Feb. 25
Diverse Judge Panel
5:30–6:30 p.m., Cartwright Hall, Room 206

This panel will focus on how diversity and the law interact. Various judges will talk about their own experiences and observations with diversity and the law—both on and off the bench. Potential topics include how the judicial system promotes diversity and where it can improve; the role of diversity in judicial elections, elections in general, access to legal education, and jobs; and how diversity will affect the nomination of the next U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Judges confirmed to attend the event include Judge Mary Tabor from the Iowa Court of Appeals, Judge Romonda Belcher from the Fifth District of Iowa, and Deputy Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Michelle McGovern. The judges will speak for about 40–50 minutes, leaving 10–20 minutes available for questions from the audience. Light refreshments will be provided.

Sponsored by the American Constitution Society—Drake Law Chapter.

Immigration and Refugee Reception
6:30–7:30 p.m., Cartwright Hall, Kern Commons

Attend a reception and roundtable discussion on immigration and refugee matters. Local practicing lawyers in the areas of immigration and civil rights are invited to participate in the discussion with students and share their work with refugees, employment law, and other aspects of immigration law. Each table will have prepared questions and topics to discuss. Food will be provided.

Sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.

Friday, Feb. 26
Students are encouraged to get a signature on their activity cards at each event they attend during the week. Students who have attended at least three events can submit their cards to Cartwright Hall, Room 128, by noon on Friday, Feb. 26 to be entered into a drawing to win a $50 prize.

Sponsored by the Student Bar Association.

For more information, visit: www.law.drake.edu/newsEvents/details.aspx?eventID=2016-diversityWeek

—Kayla Choate, Law School Alumni Affairs & Communications Coordinator

Featured Events Archive

Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship event Feb. 22

What: “Kleptomaniacal Chimpanzees, Unripe Figs, and Lousy Knees: Drake Goes to Rwanda” presented by The Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship
When: Feb. 22, 7–8:30 p.m.
Where: Sussman Theater, Olmsted Center

Michael Renner is a professor of biology and psychology and routinely teaches courses in both of these departments as well as the environmental science and policy program. His research is organized around the broad theme of the reciprocal influences between organisms and their environments and has included work in the neuroanatomical and neurochemical influences of environmental enrichment, theoretical models for animal curiosity, and the development of new methods of measuring and quantifying animal behavior. His current projects include optimizing the captive management of endangered species in zoo environments and field studies to model and prevent crop raiding by chimpanzees along the boundaries of the Gishwati Forest Reserve in the Western Province of Rwanda.

Featured Events Archive

Bulldog Bonanza

Below is a list of the home athletic events this week.

Men’s Tennis
Drake vs. Purdue
Feb. 26 @ 5 p.m.
Roger Knapp Tennis Center

Women’s Basketball – Pink Game
Drake vs. Loyola
Feb. 16 @ 7 p.m.
Knapp Center
*First 3,000 fans receive a free Pink T-shirt

Men’s Basketball – Senior Day
Drake vs. Loyola
Feb. 27 @ 1 p.m.
Knapp Center
*Final home game of the regular season, honoring our senior, Karl Madison

Men’s Tennis
Drake vs. Denver
Feb. 28 @ 11 a.m.
Roger Knapp Tennis Center

Women’s Basketball – Senior Day
Drake vs. Bradley
Feb. 28 @ 2 p.m.
Knapp Center
*Final home game of the regular season, honoring our senior, Emma Donahue

For Students Archive

Join advocates for book discussion

Come join confidential advocates from Domestic Violence Services and Crisis Intervention Services every Tuesday, 6–7:30 p.m., at the Wesley House, 2718 University Ave., from Feb. 23 to May 3 for a reading and discussion of Daring Greatly, a book exploring issues of shame and fear. Book will be provided and read during the group. For more information contact Melissa Ulrickson at melissau@stopdvsa.org.

—Alysa Mozak, Coordinator for Sexual Violence Response and Healthy Relationship Promotion

News & Achievements Archive

A&S news: Week of Feb. 22

Students head to National Food Recovery Dialog Conference
On Jan. 4, Laura Leben, senior environmental science major, was awarded $4,280 through the Slay Fund to bring eight members of Next Course – Food Recovery Network to the National Food Recovery Dialog Conference on April 2–4. The conference brings together student leaders and experts in the area of food recovery, food justice, and environmental law and policy to celebrate achievements, engage in workshops and discussions, and listen to speakers.

On April 4, these Drake students will also be attending a national lobby day for food recovery on Capitol Hill and have the opportunity to meet with legislators and discuss the issues of fighting waste and feeding people.