Category Archives: News & Achievements Archive

SJMC journalism students cover DM school board election

Students in SJMC professor Jill Van Wyke’s junior-level public affairs reporting class started the academic year off at a sprint with comprehensive coverage of the Des Moines school board election. The students’ stories, posted on the SJMC’s Drake Digital News website, included candidate profiles, coverage of a community forum, district demographics, and past voter turnout. The class also plans to live-blog the election results tonight.

Kathleen Richardson, School of Journalism & Mass Communication

 

Division of Student Affairs promotes Joe Campos to associate dean

The Division of Student Affairs/Student Life promoted Joe Campos from community standards officer to associate dean of students on Sept. 1.

In his new role, Joe will serve as the University’s liaison to the student body. He will provide leadership assistance to the dean of students, evaluate division policies pursuant to student life, provide support to students and families during crisis situations, keep the dean informed and connected to student organizations, and much more.

Joe graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and minor in psychology, and a master’s in educational leadership policy study.

He has more than 10 years of experience in higher education working with diverse student groups. Before coming to Drake, he served as the residence director of administration at the University of Illinois–Chicago and the assistant director of student conduct at Iowa State University.

Joe will play a vital role in enhancing the Drake experience for students, while upholding the values and responsibilities of the University.

Please congratulate Joe on his new position. He can be reached at 271-4199 or joe.campos@drake.edu. Or, stop by his office in Old Main, Suite 205.

— Jerry Parker, Dean of Students

CBPA welcomes new faculty and celebrates promotions

This summer, four new faculty members joined the College of Business and Public Administration. The college also celebrated the promotions of four professors.

Meet CBPA’s new faculty members:
Douglas Bujakowski, assistant professor of actuarial science and risk management, comes to Drake from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a graduate of Ohio State University with degrees in actuarial science and economics. He received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in risk and insurance.

Doug is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He enjoys adventure sports and has participated in skydiving, canyoneering, flyboarding, mountain climbing, and whitewater rafting. His other hobbies include ping pong, running, and strategy games.

Anna Clark, assistant professor of public administration, comes to Drake from Texas Women’s University. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Denver. She continued her education at the University of Texas at Dallas where she received her master of public administration and doctorate of public affairs.

Before academia she worked as a baker’s apprentice, ran a law office, and sold cars. She grew up near Denver, Colo. She loves ethnic food and would welcome any suggestions for local Thai, Indian, Greek, or Lebanese restaurants.

Lendie Follett, assistant professor of business analytics, previously taught at Iowa State University where she also received her BS, MS, and doctorate in statistics.

In her free time, Lendie likes to cook delicious food, read good books, and go bird watching. She has two highly intelligent cats named Franklin and Ginger.

Denise Hill, associate professor of practice in public administration, is already a member of the Drake family. Previously, she taught in Drake’s Law School where she also received her JD.

Before law school, she completed her bachelor’s in political science and communications at Wartburg College and her master of public administration in state and local government at Drake.

Denise is an expert in health law, policy, compliance, and ethics. She was the 51st Youth Governor of New York State during the term of Mario Cuomo. The following year, she interned for Gov. Terry Branstad. Before discovering her passion for teaching and law, she was an athletic trainer during her first two years of college.

Promotions:
Congratulations to Deb Bishop, promoted to professor of practice in management and international business; Andy Norman, promoted to professor of marketing; Rick Long, promoted to associate professor of practice of finance; and Sean Severe, who achieved tenure and was promoted to associate professor of economics.

—Dianna Gray, College of Business and Public Administration

Facilities Planning and Management completes key projects over the summer

During the summer months, Facilities Planning and Management works hard to complete key construction and repair projects in time for the beginning of the fall semester. Many of these initiatives are part of the regular capital improvement budget, while others are made possible through gifts or grants. In each and every case, we take seriously our commitment to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us. Below is a list the activities you may notice as we begin a new academic year.

Projects completed or nearing completion:

• New roof at the Legal Clinic
• New windows in Goodwin-Kirk walkways
• Upgrade to south dining facility at Hubbell
• Installation of camera on the Ross parking lots
• Repair to the roof at Morehouse
• Wall repair and painting at Morehouse
• New chiller east of the Campus
• Elevator upgrades at Knapp, Aliber, Cowles, Cartwright, Old Main, Carnegie, and the Occupational Therapy building
• Replacement of the Aliber skylights
• Carpet replacement projects at Carnegie, Old Main, and Fine Arts
• Stucco repair and painting at Alumni House
• Lighting upgrades at Cartwright, Opperman, and Knapp
• Door replacement on the south-end of the Fine Arts Center
• Renovation of Law Review area in Cartwright
• Completion of Science Connector Building
• Completion of Collier-Scripps Hall
• Steamline repairs at the Olmsted Center and Cowles Library
• Lighting upgrades
• Door replacement at Fine Arts Center

Future projects:

• South electrical switch at Fine Arts Center
• Ray Promenade
• Renovation of the south end of 3206 University (soon to be Human Resources)
• Renovation of Ray Institute (soon to be Drake International)
• Many other department moves across the campus

Each year we update a comprehensive deferred maintenance and repair list and share it with key leaders and departments across campus. This process helps us prepare for the planning of the next summer’s work. A special thank you to all the members of the Facilities Planning and Management team who helped complete these projects.

— Jolene Schmidt, Facilities Planning and Management

Drake expands commitment to sustainability

Drake recently became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education to further campus efforts toward building a healthy and sustainable campus. Through membership in AASHE, Drake will receive support in advancing its sustainability initiatives throughout the institution and in the community.

“AASHE counts on the support of progressive institutions like Drake University to fulfill its mission of facilitating leadership to transform our planet,” said AASHE Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser. “As the gateways to knowledge, higher education institutions have a unique opportunity to make sustainability part of everyone’s agenda. I welcome Drake University to our family of colleges, universities, associations and businesses driving the transformation to a sustainable world.”

AASHE enables higher education institutions to meet their sustainability goals by providing specialized resources, professional development, and a network of peer support. Membership covers every individual at an institution, so the entire campus community can take advantage of member benefits by using their Drake email to create an account under the membership tab at www.aashe.org.

“We are happy to have Drake University join AASHE and take an active role within this community as we all work to advance sustainability,” shared Meghan Fay Zahniser. “We invite students, faculty and staff at the institution to visit our site and create an AASHE account. This will allow everyone to take advantage of the member only resources, free webinars and discounts to our annual conference. AASHE also offers extensive online resources and discussion forums for professional development and sharing knowledge.”

AASHE hosts the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a comprehensive campus sustainability rating system that enables institutions to measure their progress and learn from others, www.aashe.org/stars. With STARS as a roadmap, institutions can select meaningful and appropriate pathways to sustainability while conserving valuable resources, combating global warming, and building healthier communities. Drake will be assessing the campus this fall to determine the STARS rating and sharing that information in a future OnCampus article.

— Kevin Moran, Facilities Planning and Management

Faculty accomplishments: Aug. 29

Last month, Associate Professor of English Lisa West participated in the weeklong Council of Independent Colleges Seminar on Landscape and Identity at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Conn. The seminar focused on art history and the use of visual culture in teaching, with the thematic focus on British and American landscape art of the 18th and 19th centuries. The Council of Independent Colleges is a group of independent liberal arts colleges and universities that organizes events, seminars, and activities to improve leadership on the university level, institutional visibility within communities, faculty development, and the contributions of higher education to society. West has been teaching at Drake for 15 years. She received her doctorate degree from Stanford in English and American Literature.

— Lisa West, Department of English

University Communications endows scholarship

The Office of University Communications has endowed a scholarship after reaching its $25,000 threshold in Fiscal Year 17. Funded mostly by personal donations, the Marketing and Communications Endowed Scholarship (which was named before the office changed names to University Communications) will benefit undergraduate students who demonstrate financial need and are studying graphic design, marketing, or communications. Students interested in the scholarship will apply through financial aid directly.

The idea to create the scholarship came from staff member Tim Schmitt, GR ‘08,’10, who has worked in the communications office for 12 years. He got the idea for the scholarship while working on an article about the difficulty some students have affording a college education.

“I decided that rather than just discussing the problem, I should take real action,” Schmitt said. “I realized that the people I work with shared my concerns and I also realized that, collectively, we could do more than just wring our hands over the problem and do something to make a difference.”

Once the idea for a scholarship was brought forward the entire staff responded enthusiastically and committed to making it happen.

The scholarship was funded almost entirely by personal donations from the employees in the office. The office initiated various fundraisers throughout the endowment process, which took approximately five years. They ran some silent auction fundraisers through a Facebook page, organized benefit concerts from bands that consisted of Drake faculty and staff, held food challenges, and ran office garage sales.

— Niki Smith, University Communications

Des Moines Corporate Games Drake Results

Fifty Drake University faculty and staff competed against 10 other “large division” companies in this year’s Des Moines Corporate Games. It was a great way for faculty and staff to get to know colleagues from around campus and be active.

Drake brought home a number of medals including first place in men’s golf 4-person best shot, second place in sand volleyball, second place in women’s 3-on-3 basketball, and third place in kickball. Drake teams also won medals in a variety of individual events. A big thank you to everyone who participated. Way to show your Drake pride!

—Linda Feiden, Human Resources

Academic Excellence and Student Success welcomes new team member

Academic Excellence and Student Success is pleased to welcome Josh Wallace as the new academic success and retention specialist. Josh also serves as the staff director of the Crew Scholars Program in partnership with Jennifer Harvey, faculty director. Josh’s office will be located in Medbury Hall, Room 219. Josh is available for individual appointments with students seeking assistance with academic transition issues such as time management, study skills, note-taking, reading strategies, and more. Josh will provide presentations for classes and student organizations on these topics.

— Melissa Sturm-Smith, Academic Excellence and Student Success