American Advertising Awards winners
Five advertising students won awards, including Student Best of Show, at the annual Des Moines American Advertising Awards competition on Feb. 25.

In the student competition —

• Kelsea Graham: one silver and one gold
• Jeff Hersheway: one silver
• Brooke Vaske: one gold
• Bailey Zander: one gold and Student Best of Show

Sam Fathallah won a silver award for work he did during an internship with The Meyocks Group, which was entered in the professional category.

SJMC students nominated for Midwest Emmys
SJMC students have been nominated for Emmy awards in the Upper Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences:

• Hannah Bigot, Ethan Fickau, A.J. Thiede, Lauren Baker, and Brooke Haesemeyer were nominated for public service announcements.
• Anna Steenson was nominated for public affairs.
• Steenson and Bigot were nominated for best editing.

Additionally, Steenson was awarded the Academy’s Carol Rueppel Leadership Scholarship.

The awards ceremony takes place March 31 in Minneapolis.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC

In February, seven Drake employees attended a Campus Training and Technical Assistance Institute in Fort Worth, Texas.  Drake is one of four central Iowa schools making up the consortium that received a three-year grant of $510,000 through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), which hosted the Institute.

Three Public Safety employees along with the interim dean of students, community standards officer, Title IX coordinator, and violence prevention coordinator attended the three-day institute to learn about strategic planning and community response as well as specific tracks on law enforcement, prevention, and student conduct. The schools will work individually as well as collectively within the consortium to strengthen and formalize education, policies, procedures, and messaging to prevent and respond to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

—Katie Overberg, Title IX Coordinator

New data affirms that Drake does an exceptional job of preparing its alumni for professional success. Ninety-nine percent of students who graduated from Drake during the 2015–2016 academic year had a job, were enrolled in graduate or professional school, or were engaged in internships or other activities related to their professional goals within six months of completing their studies, according to a University assessment completed this month. Learn more in the Drake Newsroom.

Drake OTD student accepted to prestigious program
Emily Nadolny, a Drake occupational therapy doctoral candidate from Willmar, Minn., recently was chosen to attend the highly selective Second Annual Summer Institute for Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy. Learn more about Emily in the Drake Newsroom.

CPHS alumni honored
The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences honored four outstanding alumni during the college’s annual Pharmacy and Health Sciences Day, held Thursday, Feb. 23 in Sheslow Auditorium.

Drake alumni Marc Baumert and Grant Knowles received the college’s Young Alumni Achievement Award, issued each year to alumni who graduated within the past 10 years. Nancy Bell and R. Mathew Hosford received the Alumni Achievement Award. Three of the alumni—Baumert, Bell, and Hosford—work in the Des Moines metro area; all have demonstrated remarkable loyalty to their alma mater and extraordinary professional success. Learn more about these remarkable alumni in the Drake Newsroom.

The Drake University National Alumni Board will recognize eight exceptional alumni with awards for professional achievement and loyalty to their alma mater. The 2017 National Alumni Awards ceremony is set for Thursday, April 27. See the list of recipients in the Drake Newsroom.

The School of Education’s gifted and talented endorsement has been approved by the State of Illinois. Thanks to Professor Sally Beisser’s hard work and persistence, teachers from Illinois can now take this endorsement online and know that it will automatically be approved to be added to their licenses.

—Catherine Gillespie, SOE

The U.S. Department of State announced that Drake will again serve as a host institute for the Mandela Washington Fellowship program, which cultivates vital personal and professional connections between Africa and Iowa. Drake first hosted the prestigious program in 2016. Learn more in the Drake Newsroom.

Drake is now accepting applications for its new compliance and risk management program, beginning in fall 2017. The program, offered through Drake Law School and Drake’s College of Business and Public Administration, includes a professional certificate, a Master of Jurisprudence, and a Master of Laws. Read more in the Drake Newsroom.

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