The spring and fall 2016 editions of Urban Plains—the website created by Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication news, magazine and digital media production seniors—has captured first place in the large group category of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts Interactive Multimedia competition. It is the second year that Urban Plains has won the award. This year, Drake tied for first with a team from Elon University, among the 174 institutions represented in this year’s competition. Prizes will be awarded during the annual BEA convention in Las Vegas in April. The competition bills itself as the world’s largest digital media and broadcast contest for faculty and students.

In addition, Drake students won a record 31 awards in the recent Iowa College Media Association contest, including recognition for writing, design, info graphic, photography, editing, and video.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC

MUBS Visiting Student Group
The third group of visiting students from Makerere University Business School (MUBS) is on campus until Feb. 12 for a week-long seminar on leadership. The contingent includes seven students and three faculty members. This group worked closely with many Drake students who traveled to Uganda last summer and will continue to engage with them, and those traveling to Uganda this summer, throughout the week. One of the highlights of the visit is that the group was introduced to the Iowa House Assembly by Rep. Zach Nunn, AS’02, and others on Feb. 6.

2017 Global Faculty Program at Monterrey Tec
Tom Swartwood was selected to participate in Tec de Monterrey’s Global Faculty Program and will travel to Guadalajara March 6–10 to take part. Tom’s goals for the visit include partnering with Tec entrepreneurship faculty to include virtual interactions between the two schools’ entrepreneurship students during an Innovation Week, which Tom has modeled after Tec’s program.

—Kirk Martin, Drake International

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) has extended its accreditation of two specializations within Drake’s counseling program. Learn more in the Drake Newsroom.

Ten members of the Drake community were named to the Des Moines Business Record’s Forty Under 40 class for 2017. You can see the list of Drake honorees in the Drake Newsroom.

A student-led initiative through a 2016 Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) Capstone project resulted in adoption of a pilot program aimed at reducing waste and improving efficiency by eliminating paper towel dispensers in Crawford Hall. Instead, energy-efficient Dyson V-Blade hand dryers were installed. In order to measure the success of this pilot program, the student group will be conducting a student survey at the end of the spring semester to determine if the waste reduction effort is sustainable.

The LEAD program at Drake seeks to bring positive social change to Drake’s campus and community by aligning students’ values with the University’s. This past semester, student groups set out to make Drake a more environmentally sustainable campus and to foster habitual environmental living within our Drake community. They chose to bring this initiative to life because they believe it is vital to the future success and excellence of Drake’s students and faculty, as well as the environment as a whole. The initiative aligns directly with the University’s mission statement and commitment to acting as engaged global citizens and champions of environmental sustainability. Their capstone outlined four main ways to address these facets of the University’s mission statement:

• Replace paper towels with hand dryers in campus building restrooms
•  Start a yearly “Blue Goes Green” education and awareness week on campus
•  Establish a monetary incentive for using reusable cups in campus coffee shops
• Implement a mug wall into campus coffee shops with reusable mugs that can be checked out by students

A survey was completed with responses from 170-plus students and faculty members in strong support for the implementation of hand dryers and other sustainable initiatives. Focus group sessions were then held in October with Drake students to dive deeper and gauge their feelings about the hand dryer initiative. The same ideology stood out: They all wanted to see Drake become a greener campus.

During the week of Nov. 7, 2016, students hosted a week of education to coincide with their current projects. The three activities included:

• Educating their peers on the importance of environment sustainability
• Informing them on how they can make sustainable choices while living on campus
• Communicating current green initiatives

Through a variety of activities both in-person and via social media, the week was a success. The multimedia campaign on social media included videos, shared photos, and an engagement contest. Students were interested and engaged with messages, and we received positive feedback throughout the week.

They also collaborated with President Marty Martin to produce promotional and educational videos that can be seen below:

Moments with Marty #1: https://youtu.be/GMsdsc-3ehY
Moments with Marty #2: https://youtu.be/ZK1ZeV9eniE

The student group is passionate about the hand dryer initiative at Drake and eliminating paper towel waste. This will be a huge step forward for Drake in cutting operating costs and making our University more sustainable.

—Manny Toribio, Facilities Planning and Management

Drake is among the nation’s best colleges for students seeking great academics, outstanding career preparation, and generous financial aid according to The Princeton Review. The University is one of 200 schools the education services company profiles in its new book, Colleges That Pay You Back. Learn more in the Drake Newsroom.

Steve Blaylock, locksmith in Facilities Planning and Management, received the Custodial/Maintenance of the Month award from the National Association of College and University Residence Halls, Inc. (NACURH) for the month of November. He was honored for his outstanding work on campus. Steve was nominated for his never-ending care for the welfare of the students residing in Ross Hall. His dedication to going above and beyond to resolve an issue extends to his approach with all members of the Drake campus. We extend our congratulations to Steve and are proud of his accomplishments.

Hard work and dedication are a standard in Facilities Planning and Management. In September of this year, the Facilities Grounds Department was nominated for the award, and although they did not win, we wish to express our gratitude for their efforts. In 2015 the custodial team for Crawford Hall was also nominated for their outstanding work.

—Venetta Hammond, Facilities Planning and Management

Last week, five Drake students received notification that they have been recommended as semi-finalists in the 2017–2018 Fulbright U.S. Student Program award competition. The semi-finalists are seeking awards to teach English (ETA) or conduct research (S/R); Drake’s semi-finalists are: Lara Cox (ETA Nepal), Ankita Dhussa (S/R India), Elena Dietz (ETA Indonesia), Nathan Jacobson (ETA Bulgaria), and Kelly Leatherman (ETA Malaysia).

The semi-finalists have been recommended by Fulbright’s U.S.-based National Screening Committees. The National Screening Committees typically recommend up to two times the number of candidates as there are grants available for a particular award. The semi-finalists’ applications will now go to the host country commissions for their consideration. The students will learn whether they receive an award between March and June of this year.

—Karen Leroux, Department of History

Sophomore Lauren Oreto is among 20 college students from Iowa and California who were selected for the first class of the Principal Community Scholars Program. The recipients were selected by Principal, Iowa Campus Compact, and California Campus Compact after being nominated by faculty or staff and going through a rigorous review process. The scholars proposed a project designed to engage their peers and their institutions in meeting community needs.

Lauren has proposed developing a program that enhances literacy in science and math for youth around the community. Oreto will receive a $1,000 scholarship from Principal upon completion of the service project. Learn more about Lauren and her project in the Drake Newsroom.

—Amanda Martin, Community Engaged Learning

At the January Board of Trustees meeting, President Martin announced that Steve Scullen, professor of management and international business, will serve as Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) beginning in the Spring 2017 term.

Steve has been a member of the College of Business faculty since 2004. He is a three-year letterman in football and track & field. He served as a coach on the track-and-field team in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s.

The role of the FAR is to serve as the liaison between the institution and the athletic department, maintaining the appropriate balance between academics and intercollegiate athletics. As FAR, Steve will serve on the Intercollegiate Athletic Council, represent Drake on the Missouri Valley Conference Joint Committee, and represent the institution on NCAA matters.

As we welcome Steve to this new role, we want to acknowledge how grateful we are to Dean Renae Chesnut for her 17 years of service as Faculty Athletic Representative.

—Megan Franklin, Drake Athletics