Cowles Library is one of 25 libraries nationwide selected to participate in Let’s Talk About It (LTAI): Women’s Suffrage, a grant designed to spark conversations about American history and culture through an examination of the women’s suffrage movement.

During the spring semester, five conversations will be held, each focusing on one grant-nominated book. Each discussion will be led by one Drake faculty member and one Drake student. The programming is sponsored by Cowles Library, Department of History, and Women’s and Gender Studies Program and further builds on the discussions around the traveling exhibit, Toward a Universal Suffrage:  American American Women in Iowa and the Vote For All, on display in the Cowles Library Reading Room from February 21–March 7.

As part of the grant, Cowles Library will receive the following books:

• The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Voteby Elaine Weiss
• Women Making History: The 19th Amendment Book, essays compiled by the National Park Service
• Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones
• Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells by Michelle Duster
• The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

The first discussion in the Drake series will be on Elaine Weiss’s The Woman’s Hour:  The Great Fight to Win the Vote. It will be co-facilitated by Professor Rachel Paine Caufield and Emma Brustkern on Wednesday, March 2, at 5:30pm in the Cowles Library Reading Room.

Celebrating its 40^th anniversary in 2022, Let’s Talk About It is a reading and discussion program that involves groups of people reading a series of books selected by national project scholars and discussing them in the context of an overarching theme. The format for a Let’s Talk About It program involves a ten-week series. Every two weeks, a discussion group meets with a local humanities scholar to discuss one of the five books in the theme.

LTAI: Women’s Suffrage is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). To explore resources from past LTAI themes, visit the project website.

For more information on the series please visit researchguides.drake.edu/suffrage  or contact any member of the LTAI:  Women’s Suffrage Planning Committee:  Jill Allen, Hope Bibens, Carrie Dunham-LaGree, and Karen Leroux.

— Hope Bibens, University Archives and Special Collections

The J-Term class Race, Art, and Personhood curated the exhibition “Decolonize: The Black Imagination: An Exhibition of Stacey Robinson’s Afrofuturism Art.” Please join us on Friday, Feb. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at FAC, Room 336, or via Zoom for an artist talk. Stacey Robinson will be our guest via zoom to discuss his Afrofuturist and the ideas that motivate them. His knowledge of Black/ American history is profound. Audience participation and questions are welcome.

Zoom link :https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82092958830

— Lenore Metrick-Chen, Art and Design

Drake University will be celebrating NIRSA Recreational Sports and Fitness Day on Tuesday, Feb. 22. Come to the Bell Center to enjoy a variety of activities and prizes for students. Some activities include pop-a-shot, log rolling, badminton, volleyball, basketball, mini-golf, and a prize wheel. Join us in the Bell Center on Feb. 22 for your chance to win, have some fun, and celebrate Rec Day!

— Emily Madsen, Rec Services

I am deeply saddened to share that our former Drake colleague Theresa Graziano passed away on Nov. 15, 2021. Memorial Services will be held Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. A visitation will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with the service starting at 11 a.m. at St. Augustin Catholic Church, located at 545 42nd Street in Des Moines.

Theresa served Drake and our students for more than 20 years within the Office of Residence Life and the Division of Student Affairs. Theresa enjoyed working with students, meeting families at orientation, and serving on various campus and community committees. One of our former students may have said it best when they wrote a message in remembrance of Theresa saying, “There are few people who can get you in check and make you feel loved all in the same moment. Theresa was one of the brightest spots in my time at Drake.” Theresa was a wonderful person and colleague. Her spirit lives on, shining brightly, through all of the lives she touched. We extend our sincerest condolences to her family, friends, and the many employees and students who were graced by her kindness. Our sincere sympathy goes out to all of Theresa’s family.

Read Theresa’s full obituary

— Jerry Parker, Chief Student Affairs Officer

This is a final reminder that the deadline for student paper (or concept) submissions for the Spring 2022 Nelson Student Research Symposia is Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. This year, the symposia seeks student presentations focused on the theme “what it means to be a changemaker in their discipline and how their discipline is addressing a contemporary global issue or societal challenge.” I encourage students to submit papers that they have written for their coursework during the past fall, J-Term, or other terms for presentation at the Spring 2022 symposia. Please keep in mind that while research presentations that support the theme are encouraged, all global topics from any academic discipline are welcome. Information regarding the submission and participation can be accessed here or https://www.drake.edu/nelsoninstitute/students/researchsymposia/callforproposals/.

— Jimmy Senteza, CBPA

Ambassador Terry Branstad began office hours as part of his role as Ambassador in Residence here at Drake University on Monday, Feb. 7.  Ambassador Branstad will be available to meet with faculty and students and speak to classes and student organizations. This is an exceptional academic opportunity to hear the perspective, reasoning, and experiences of someone who helped shape Iowa and U.S. history.

If you would like to meet with him personally to ask questions about the many experiences he has had throughout his career, please use Starfish to schedule an appointment.

If you would like him to speak to your class or your organization’s event, please complete this Qualtrics survey and you’ll receive a notification after it has been reviewed.

— Sara Hughes, Law School

There is a national shortage of blood supplies, and you can help! Staff can use Community Service Leave time to donate blood, if you are an eligible donor. Some local donation sites include LifeServe Blood Centers and the American Red Cross. Thank you for the gift of life!

— Lauren McCarthy, Office of the Registrar

View hours of operation for the Spring 2022 semester for the Bell Center, Bell Center pool, Underground Fitness, and tennis center.

Join entrepreneurship and innovation fellows on campus for National Entrepreneurship Week, starting Feb. 14.

• On Tuesday, Feb. 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., we’ll be in the Innovation Studio (124C Meredith) making buttons and stickers. Bring a design or create one while you’re there.
• Wednesday, Feb. 16, we’ll be in the Innovation Studio from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to make buttons, stickers, vinyl heat transfers (bring a T-shirt!) and more.
• The final event for the week will be on Thursday, Feb. 17 on the top level of Carnegie. Learn about the vintage printing press and make your own bulldog print from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

If you want to use the vinyl cutter for stickers or designs for the heat transfer machine, download the software.

To learn more about National Entrepreneurship Week and other programming, visit natleshipweek.org/events.

— Stephanie Cardwell, Buchanan Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership