The Office of Community Engaged Learning is proud to announce four recipients of the 2023 President’s and Engaged Campus Awards from the Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact (IAMNCC) in recognition of their outstanding commitment to community engagement and civic responsibility. This year, 86 awardees were selected from 55 colleges and universities across the two-state network.

The following Drake recipients were recognized at an in-person ceremony on April 13, 2023, at St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, MN.

• Matthew Williams, a senior majoring in accounting, was recognized with the Presidents’ Student Leadership Award. Williams has been an advocate for people with disabilities and involved with Easter Seals his entire life. On campus he has built a community of students, faculty and staff dedicated to developing the resources needed to create a more inclusive campus environment.
• Alejandro Hernandez, Dean of the Zimpleman College of Business was recognized with the Presidents’ Civic Engagement Leadership Award. Dean Hernandez has led a rebrand of the college focused on ‘Business as a Force for Good’, launched the Dean’s Honor Roll for Social Impact, and created a new Social Impact Research and Outreach Award to recognize faculty and staff contributions to improving society through their research and service.
• Homeward, Polk County’s homelessness planning organization was recognized with the Presidents’ Community Partner Award. Following up on a one-time community-engaged learning course partnership, Homeward worked with Drake University to commission a first of its kind community engaged research project to provide a platform for 157 people experiencing homelessness to tell their stories and the findings are being used to inform local public policy.
• Elizabeth Talbert, assistant professor of Sociology was recognized with the Engaged Campus Award for Community Collaboration. Dr. Talbert has spent the last two years building relationships with affordable housing agencies, the staff that run them, and the people who are served (or not) by them. What began with a sociology methods service-learning project morphed into a collaboration involving Talbert, Dr. Matthew Record, assistant professor of Public Policy and American Politics, 8 students, and the members of the Polk County Homeless Coordinating Council to examine why individuals face barriers to shelter and permanent housing in the Des Moines community.
• Sprout Learning Garden and Food Forest received Honorable Mention for the Engaged Campus Award for Emerging Innovation. Sprout, located at 1300 30^th Street, is home to more than 60 food-producing trees and shrubs, hundreds of edible perennial plants, pollinator-attracting flowers and natives, three permaculture swales, a half-acre learning garden, gathering spaces, and a walking trail.

Additionally, Marguerite Stoffel, a third-year business student, was selected for the 2023 National Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellowship!  One of her key projects on campus has been supporting the administration of the Dean’s Honor Roll for Social Impact and serving as an ambassador to business college students on how to meaningfully engage with the community.

Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact (IAMNCC) is a network of 55 colleges and universities committed to strengthening the capacity for civic engagement and campus-community partnership in the service of

Contact: Renee Sedlacek Lee, Director of Community Engaged Learning, 515-271-2454, or renee.sedlacek@drake.edu.

Renee Sedlacek Lee, Community Engaged Learning

Drake Law School recently earned an outstanding top 20 ranking from preLaw Magazine’s list of “Best Law Schools for Practical Training.” Law schools were graded based on key offerings such as clinics, externships, simulation courses, and moot court participation. The annual rankings were featured in the Spring 2023 issue of the magazine.

“At Drake Law, we like to say that ‘practice makes professional,’” said Drake Law Dean Jerry Anderson. “Our mission is to create ‘complete professionals’ – graduates who not only know what the law is, but how to use it in the real world to serve their clients and their communities. This recognition shows we are succeeding in that goal.”

Drake Law School provides numerous experiential learning opportunities to students, beginning in their first year with two intra-school moot court competitions and the unique First-Year Trial Practicum. Drake is the only law school in the country where all first-year classes shift to a campus courtroom for a week, enabling students to view an actual state or federal trial. The Trial Practicum dissects every phase of a trial, from jury selection to verdict. Not only do students witness a trial, but they also have opportunities to discuss the proceedings with the presiding judge, lawyers, and jurors.

Drake Law’s legal clinics give students the opportunity to build valuable professional experience by working with clients in real-world situations. Clinics include the Children’s Rights Clinic, Criminal Defense Clinic, General Civil Practice Clinic, Transactional/Entrepreneurial Clinic, Refugee Clinic, and Wrongful Convictions Clinic.

As the only law school in the capital city of Des Moines, Drake Law students have countless opportunities to participate in internships, externships, and clerkships. Students have served as legislative interns, drafted legislation, tried and won felony jury trials, interned for the Iowa Supreme Court, worked for government agencies and nonprofits, and more.

Drake Law students also develop practical skills in interschool competitions at the regional and national levels. The Law School sponsors nine Moot Court, Mock Trial, and skills teams, which annually are among the best in the nation.

Professor Suzan Pritchett, Director of Clinical and Experiential Education, oversees much of Drake Law’s practice-based training. She sums up the Law School’s approach: “Many law schools like to say they teach students to think like a lawyer. We teach them to be one.”

About Drake Law School

For over 150 years, Drake Law School has helped launch successful careers, providing a legal education that emphasizes experiential learning backed by a solid foundation in legal theory. As the only law school in the capital city of Des Moines, students gain unparalleled access to internships, externships, and clerkships. Drake Law graduates leverage the experience gained from hands-on learning and are ready to put the law in action from day one, joining an alumni network of 6,000+ who use their law degree in all 50 states and across the globe—in every facet of the legal profession. Learn more about a legal education at Drake.

Taylor Johnson, Law School