Drake held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this weekend to celebrate the University’s first new academic buildings since 1993: Collier-Scripps Hall and the Science Connector Building. Thank you to all of the faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters who attended the event. For those who couldn’t make it, check out a video of the ceremony and read the news release.
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
Data2X announced the winners of the Big Data for Gender Challenge, a competition that offers funding to research teams with innovative solutions to filling global gender data gaps. Through this challenge, Heath Henderson, assistant professor of economics, and a team of researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute, Food and Agriculture Organization, and Makerere University Business School were awarded $100,000 for their project: “Gender and Mobile Money Networks.” The project seeks to use transaction-level data from mobile money users in Uganda to examine gender-related differences in mobile money access and usage.
Data2x is an initiative hosted by the United Nations Foundation that seeks to promote women’s empowerment by informing policy through improved collection of sex-disaggregated data and gender statistics.
—Dianna Gray, College of Business & Public Administration
More than 250 central Iowa high school students attended a day-long summit at Drake designed to help them identify, prevent, and advocate against sexual assault and gender-based violence. Participants will leave the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Leadership Summit with developmentally appropriate skills for preventing verbal, physical, and emotionally harmful behaviors, including bullying, domestic abuse, and sexual assault. They’ll also be equipped with the ability to pass their knowledge on to classmates.
The Summit, which is the first such summit to be held in central Iowa, was co-hosted by Drake and University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Violence Prevention. Drake offers MVP training for its own students as part of a robust set of services aimed at reducing gender violence and sex-based discrimination, and the University is proud to take a leadership role in extending that training to local high school students. The event will take place throughout Olmsted Center today.
Many students start dating, or start thinking about dating and sex, in middle school or high school. Therefore, it’s important to begin providing bystander training and education on violence prevention, especially in the context of dating and interpersonal relationships, long before students arrive to college.
Drake students and staff members joined other community members to facilitate breakout sessions on topics, including:
For more information about the MVP Summit, or if you are interested in joining Drake’s MVP team, contact Tess Cody at 515-271-4141 or tess.cody@drake.edu.
—Tess Cody, Violence Prevention Coordinator
Drake student work is once again among the finalists for the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker awards, the top awards in college journalism. The finalists and categories are:
Online Finalists:
Urban-Plains.com
DrakeMagazine.com
Magazine Finalists:
Drake Magazine
The Annual
Best Infographic Finalist:
Linzi Murray, JO’17, Drake Magazine
Best Magazine Cover Finalist:
Maddie Hiatt, magazine and graphic design junior, Drake Magazine
The winners will be announced at the Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Association annual convention in Dallas on Oct. 25–29.
—Kathleen Richardson, SJMC
When one of Trent Grundmeyer’s students moved out of state, he found an innovative way for her to continue her education despite being thousands of miles away: a robot named Trebek. Trebek is on wheels and has an iPad attached to it with a speaker and webcam. The student controlled it from her home and had the capability to hear, speak, and interact with the class, similar to if she were physically present.
Grundmeyer was selected as ITS’ Digital Faculty Member of the Month. See a brief interview with Grundmeyer below.
What course(s) do you use this technology in?
In what context do you use this technology?
Simulation, group discussions, reflections, remote participation. Remote participation is achieved through the use of a robot named “Trebek.” Watch a video and WHO news story about Trebek.
How does this type of technology align with your teaching pedagogy?
I’ve always tried to integrate technology in the classroom to improve instructional practices, retention and be able to maximize instructional time. The technology I utilize is designed and leveraged to help students meet the course objectives.
Where did you get the inspiration to make a change?
I try to stay current on education technology trends and tools through social media, networking, social media, and other means.
How long did it take for you to implement this technology?
I always reflect after each class and try to continue to try to implement technology when it fits my criteria.
Are you interested in trying out new technology in your classroom? Want help from ITS staff? Schedule a technology adoption consultation.
—Erin Ulrich, CPHS, and Carla Herling, ITS
Daniel Connolly, dean of the College of Business & Public Administration, completed his first publication under the Drake name, “2017 Customer Engagement Technology Study: Targeting Experience.” His collaboration with a colleague from UNLV and Hospitality Technology included a study on the trends and adoption of technology in the hospitality industry to support customer engagement and customer experience. The study was published in August 2017.
Ina Purvanova, associate professor of management and international business, collaborated with three students, Michelle Raymer, Marissa Reed, and Melissa Speigel, as well as three MPA alumni, to publish the paper, “An Examination of Generational Stereotypes as a Path Towards Reverse Ageism,” in the August 2017 issue of The Psychologist-Manager Journal. The publication was a result of a MPA Capstone project that piqued Purvanova’s interest.
Anna Clark, assistant professor of public administration, conducted a study along with co-author, Evgenia Gorina, on the effects of emergency financial management on small Michigan cities. Municipal financial indicators were traced for three fiscally-stressed cities across more than a decade and examined the roles of state-appointed emergency managers in addressing the cities’ financial woes. The paper, “Emergency Financial Management in Small Michigan Cities: Short-term Fix or Long-term Sustainability?,” went to press in the fall 2017 issue of Public Administration Quarterly.
Alanah Mitchell, associate professor of information systems, and Liping Zheng, associate professor of economics, presented the paper, “Examining Longhand vs. Laptop Debate: Evidence from a Replication,” at the Americas Conference on Information Systems in Boston.
Lynn McCool, assistant professor of practice in business communications, published a textbook titled Professional and Written Business Communication in a collaboration with Great River Learning. The textbook is designed to be an interactive, digital experience and is specifically designed to meet the needs of the CBPA undergraduate students. This fall, Drake students are using the text in BUS-074: Professional Written Communication.
—Dianna Gray, CBPA
Drake has been accepted into the CFA Institute’s University Affiliation program. An Affiliated University means that its curriculum is closely tied to the practice of investment management and is helpful to students preparing for the CFA program exams.
—Dianna Gray, CBPA
The Central Iowa chapter of Public Relations Society of America recognized graduate and undergraduate students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication for their public relations work for local clients.
Master of Communication Leadership capstone students won a PRIME Award in the Community Champion category for their YMCA Supportive Housing Campus Plan, and undergraduate students in the PR Planning class won a PRIME Award in the student category for their USDA Farm to School Communications Plan.
The awards will be presented at the annual PRSA conference on Oct. 25 in Des Moines.
— Kathleen Richardson, SJMC
Drake Law School is pleased to announce the following new professorships:
The faculty were chosen based on their outstanding scholarship and national recognition in their respective fields.
—Kayla Choate, Law School
