SJMC journalism and PR students won awards or nominations in the national College Media Association and Associated Collegiate Press contests, PR News annual contest, and PRIME Awards.

Associated Collegiate Press awards:

Three Drake publications won Pacemaker awards, the top award in college journalism. Drake Magazine and the Annual won magazine Pacemakers, and Urban Plains, the senior SJMC journalism capstone website, won an online Pacemaker.

Other ACP awards include:

• Honorable Mention, multimedia story of the year, sports: Urban Plains, Melissa Studach
• 5th place, Design of the Year, newsmagazine/special section cover: Drake Magazine, Maddie Hiatt
• Honorable Mention, Design of the Year, infographic: Drake Magazine, Linzi Murray

College Media Association awards:

• Four-Year Feature Magazine of the Year: Second Place, Drake Magazine
• Best General News Story: Second Place, Molly Longman, Drake Magazine 
• Best Magazine Cover: Second Place, Maddie Hiatt, Drake Magazine
• Best Magazine Contents Page/Spread: Third Place, Maddie Hiatt, Drake Magazine
• Best Arts and Entertainment Story: Honorable Mention, Sydney Schulte, Urban Plains

PR News annual contest:
Two seniors were named finalists: Maddy Gildersleeve was nominated as Student of the Year and Sarah Mondello was nominated as Intern of the Year.

PRIME Awards in the Central Iowa Public Relations Society of America competition:

Community Champion Merit Award
Drake Master of Communication Leadership Capstone: YMCA Supportive Housing Campus Plan
Students: Jill Brimeyer, Alexis Davis, Thomas Lehn, Aimee Schmidt, Seth Stevenson

Student Merit Award
Drake PR Planning Class: USDA Farm to School Communications Plan
Students: Kelly Marble, Jasen Emamian, Reed Fischer, Miranda Jama, Kate Havens, Becca Hawkins, Tess Nissen

Excellence Award for Outstanding Student Member
Student: Savana Morrison

Kathleen Richardson, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Drake faculty of the College of Business and Public Administration awarded scholarships to five students to take the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1 exam in 2018.  Drake is able to award these scholarships because it is an Affiliated University of the CFA Institute. Drake obtained this designation because its undergraduate finance program incorporates at least 70 percent of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge and places emphasis on the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)® designation is the most respected and recognized investment credential in the world with almost 140,000 charter holders worldwide. To become a CFA Institute charterholder, candidates must pass three rigorous exams and complete four years of professional work experience.  The pass rate for each exam is about 35–40 percent.

Congratulations to the following scholarship recipients:

• Davis Heck, finance (and first semester MBA)
• Maggie Mueller, finance
• Amelia Quek, finance
• Ali Smith, finance
• Kahmun Yap, finance

—Dianna Gray, College of Business and Public Administration

The Drake chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America was recently recognized as a Star Chapter at the 2017 PRSSA National Conference in Boston.

—Kathleen Richardson, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Professor Robert Stensrud was awarded the Collier Baker Endowed Professorship, a four-year award that carries a stipend and research fund, by the Drake Board of Trustees on Oct. 7. He plans to use the award to continue research on the Clubhouse model of employment and training for special needs populations.

Stensrud is serving his 30^th year as a professor in the Leadership and Counseling Department of the School of Education. He has served as department chair from 1991 to 1995, redesigning the counseling specializations that have become national accredited by two major governing boards. He was the director of the School of Education’s Collaborative Leadership in Education, which included the oversight of an $8 million budget. From 1989 to 1999, he was director of the National Rehabilitation Institute, and in 1994, he received the Outstanding Program Award from the U.S. Department of Education Rehab Services. Since coming to Drake, Stensrud has received $15.7 million to support the training of rehabilitation counselors, research on disability, and projects serving the Drake and Greater Des Moines communities. To date, he has written more than 60 refereed publications on disability, health care, and employment.

—Janet McMahill, School of Education

Deborah Kent, associate professor of mathematics, is a finalist for a state award that recognizes innovation in STEM education.

The Technology Association of Iowa announced that Kent is one of five educators in the running for a 2017 Women of Innovation Award in the category of Academic Innovation and Leadership.

Students in Kent’s courses benefit from her strategic approach to incorporating classroom technology into the educational experience.

“Mathematical ideas must be powerfully integrated with technology in the modern world and I work hard to do this in the classroom,” Kent said. “I use technological tools to support the strengths of traditional thinking and to enable students to do things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.”

For example, Kent recently introduced a Numerical Linear Algebra course in which students used MATLAB, a high-performance language for technical computing—including data analytics and algorithm development. The MATLAB software empowers students to manipulate and visualize large data sets.

The award nomination also recognizes Kent’s national reputation for excellence in mathematics writing and her emphasis on teaching students effectively to communicate technical information.

See the news release for more.

The Chi Chapter of Gamma Iota Sigma (GIS) at Drake received the following outstanding and notable awards at the 46th Annual GIS International Conference in Dallas on Sept. 28–30. Gamma Iota Sigma is an international risk management, insurance, and actuarial science collegiate fraternity.

The Edison L. Bowers Award
The highest honor a chapter can receive. The award recognizes the GIS chapter that demonstrated an exceptional, well-rounded, and organized program throughout the past academic year.

Superior Chapter Award
Recognizes chapters that have excelled in all areas of chapter management.

Black and Gold Award
Presented to any chapter for single achievements or events considered exceptional and possible only through extensive planning, organization, and participation by a significant number of the chapter’s members. This award was received for the Paint Your Future service event and Mock Career Fair event.

Individual member awards:

Kate McCoy – Alan C. Williams Award
Recognizes the individual member of GIS that sets the best example for all other members and is the best “ambassador” to the insurance, risk management, and/or actuarial science industries at the international level as well as at the local and regional levels. This is the highest honor that can be bestowed on any member of GIS, and it is only presented when there is a worthy recipient.

Trevor Carlson – Thomas J. Miles Actuarial Award
Recognizes an individual member of GIS that best represents the qualities of scholarship, leadership, character, and service exemplified by Dr. Miles.

—Dianna Gray, College of Business and Public Administration

The World Food Prize Foundation announced in September that Lauren Blum, a third-year pharmacy student from Groveland, Ill.; Madeline Cheek, a senior writing and anthropology major from Barrington, Ill; Caroline Hogan, a junior public relations major from Edina, Minn.; Sarah Schroeder, a senior strategic political communications major from Waukee, Iowa; and Gustav Swanson, a junior international business and marketing major from Chicago, Ill.; are among the 15 students to be selected as The World Food Prize’s George Washington Carver Interns for the fall 2017.

The students will work alongside an individual staff mentor at the Foundation to plan and execute many of the Foundation’s events and programs. They will help to plan the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, guide the Global Youth Institute, stage the Iowa Hunger Summit, and welcome Laureates, government officials, business leaders, and research scientists from more than 40 countries.

Read the news release for more information.

Eric Ferring, tenor and 2014 Drake alumnus, was recently accepted as a an artist in the Ensemble of the Ryan Opera Center with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Eric, a former student of Leanne Freeman-Miller and a 2014 Drake graduate with a degree in vocal performance, is the first Drake music alumnus accepted into this internationally renowned professional company.

This summer he was an apprentice artist with the Sante Fe Opera, the top summer apprenticeship program in the United States. Also, for the past two years, he has been a full-time resident artist at Pittsburgh Opera.

During his time at Drake, Eric was a member of the Drake Choir under the direction of Aimee Beckmann-Collier, professor of conducting, and starred in several roles with the Drake Opera Theater, led by Ann Cravero, associate professor of music.

Eric is the first singer from Drake, since Sherrill Milnes, who is on his way to having a professional operatic career. His success is a reflection of Drake’s excellent voice/opera program.

—Leanne Freeman-Miller, Department of Music