The final film in the Engaged Citizen Documentary Film Series will be shown on Tuesday, April 26, at 7 p.m. in Meredith Hall, Room 101. The film, Behind the Rainbow, is a look at the transformation of the African National Congress from a liberation organization to South Africa’s ruling political party. We are honored to welcome Kesh Govinder, a faculty member at Drake’s South African partner institution, University of KwaZulu-Natal, to facilitate the post-film discussion. Find more information about the film online.

—Art Sanders, Associate Provost

Two professors from Drake’s international partner, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa, are visiting the Drake campus following a fall visit by Drake Professors Sally Beisser and Laura Kieran to the UKZN campus to present, collaborate, and work with students and faculty with a grant from Drake International. The two visiting professors will be here April 17–23 in order to reciprocate. Open presentations are as follows:

Professor Angela James will present on “Service-Learning in UKZN” in the School of Education, Room B-13 from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20.

James and professor Thabi Ntombela will present on “The Impact of Apartheid on Living and Learning in South Africa” in Meredith Hall, Room 106 at 7 p.m. on April 20.

Questions should be directed to Sally Beisser at sally.beisser@drake.edu or Laura Kieran at laura.kieran@drake.edu.

—Sally Beisser, Professor of Education

Softball
Drake vs. Wichita State (Doubleheader)
April 23 at 12 p.m.
Ron Buel Field
*Faculty Staff Weekend—All Drake University faculty and staff receive up to four (4) free tickets with a valid Drake Card (ID) all weekend! Please show your Drake Card at the gate.

Football Spring Game
Drake Exhibition Game
April 23 at 1 p.m.
Drake Stadium
*FREE ADMISSION*

Women’s Tennis
Drake vs. Bradley
April 23 at 1 p.m.
Roger Knapp Tennis Center

Women’s Tennis
Drake vs. Illinois State
April 24 at 10 a.m.
Roger Knapp Tennis Center

Softball
Drake vs. Wichita State
April 24 at 12 p.m.
Ron Buel Field
*Faculty Staff Weekend—All Drake University faculty and staff receive up to four (4) free tickets with a valid Drake Card all weekend! Please show your Drake Card at the gate.

The TEDxDrake Club is inviting all members of the Drake community to our annual TEDxDrakeU event this Friday, April 15, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Reading Room of Cowles Library. The theme this year is “Transformation.”

TEDxDrakeU is a student-led initiative, inspired by TED talks, with the firm belief that every individual has a thought-provoking and unique story to tell. Generally, TED talks are given by some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers. TEDx events have a similar vision but are much more locally focused. With this in mind, you will have the opportunity to listen to inspiring and maybe even unexpected ideas shared by professors, students, and community members. In having a theme of “Transformations,” the various lectures will explore transformations that occur physically, mentally, socially, or otherwise.

Tickets are being sold all week in the Olmsted Breezeway and in Hubbell from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 when bought in advance and $7 at the door. As mentioned, the event is open to students, staff, and faculty.

We hope to see you on Friday! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at tedxdrake@gmail.com or on facebook.com/tedxdrakeclub.

—Kerstin Donat

Daniel Shapiro will present the next concert in Drake’s Keys to Excellence Piano Series. The concert is free and open to the public and begins at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 18 in Sheslow Auditorium. Shapiro will also present a master class for piano students at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 17, in Sheslow Auditorium.

Shapiro continues to gain recognition as a leading interpreter of Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven, and as a teacher and coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has given critically acclaimed recitals and concerto appearances across the United States and in Brazil, Europe, Korea, and China. To learn more about Shapiro and Keys to Excellence, visit the Drake Newsroom.

Don’t miss Cavalcade of Choirs, a concert featuring all four of Drake’s choruses, on Sunday, April 24 at 3 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium. This free concert will include works by contemporary American composers as well as works by Michael Haydn, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arvo Pärt, and folksongs from Latvia and Finland.

—Aimee Beckmann-Collier, the Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Conducting

Please join us for the fourth spring event of our 2015–2016 series on death and dying—a lecture from Amy Hollywood on “Secular Death.” The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held on April 14 at 6 p.m. in Sussman Theater (lower level of the Olmsted Center). Note that the time is an hour earlier than usual Comparison Project events.

Amy Hollywood is the Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies and the chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. She is the author of The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart, which received the Otto Grundler Prize for the best book in medieval studies from the International Congress of Medieval Studies; Sensible Ecstasy: Mysticism, Sexual Difference, and the Demands of History; and Acute Melancholia and Other Essays. She is also the co-editor, with Patricia Beckman, of The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism. Professor Hollywood is currently exploring the place of the mystical, often re-described as enthusiasm, within modern philosophy, theology, and poetry.

Professor Hollywood will offer a performance and meditative talk about how we imagine our own deaths and the deaths of others.

—Tim Knepper, Professor of Philosophy

Join Drake University alumnus and director David Heineman for his documentary screening of Suffering in Silence, about campus sexual assault, today, April 11, 7–9 p.m. in Meredith Hall, Room 101. David will do a talk-back after the screening. It is free and open to the public.

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

The Drake Theatre Department and the Office for Sexual Violence Response and Healthy Relationship Promotion presents “Messages: A Lived Experience Play about Sexual and Relationship Violence” on Tuesday, April 12, 7–9 p.m. in Sussman Theatre, Olmsted Center. This play is based on five interviews with survivors of sexual and relationship violence in Iowa and was co-written by John Graham, associate professor of theatre arts, and Wendy Gourley. The performance is open to the Drake and general public.

This project was generously supported through a Slay Grant Social Justice Award: The V.O.I.C.E.S. Project.

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