Drake Athletics recently launched a brand new Snapchat account! Follow your favorite teams behind the scenes, and participate in fan opportunities exclusive to those that follow us on Snapchat. Add via username (DU_Bulldogs) or by scanning the image below:

—Tom Florian, Drake Athletics

The Nelson Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs announces its financial support for a new interdisciplinary research project to address pressing global issues. “Drake University’s Presence in the Toledo District of Southern Belize: Maximizing Our Impact While Minimizing Our Footprint” has been granted $30,000 for cross-disciplinary work in Belize and at Drake involving the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (CPHS), Data Analytics, and Leadership Education and Development (LEAD). A men’s health assessment will serve as a case study on impact over the course of the two-year project with Belizean partners.

The interdisciplinary research will involve students and the following faculty in CPHS, Data Analytics, and LEAD:

• John Rovers is professor of pharmacy practice and the John R. Ellis Distinguished Chair in Pharmacy Practice in the CPHS, where he teaches in both the pharmacy and global and comparative public health programs. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Toronto and his PharmD and MIPH from MCPHS University and the University of Queensland respectively. His research interests are in medical service trip volunteering experiences in the global south, and drug distribution logistics to under-served areas.
• Daniel Alexander is professor of mathematics and is on sabbatical leave from his duties as associate chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, and co-director for data analytics. His research involves the history of analysis in the late 19th-20th centuries, and Alexander has published two books. He has been named the Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher of the Year and Staknaker Lecturer, and was given The Mathematical Association of America, Iowa Section, Distinguished Teaching Award. He has been at Drake for over 20 years. His PhD is from Boston University.
• Thomas Westbrook directs and teaches Leadership Education and Development (LEAD). He has served in numerous administrative positions including assistant provost. He has published in many leading journals and was awarded the Spirit of Drake Award and the Iowa Distance Education Association’s Point of Presence Award for exemplary programming. Westbrook is an active consultant with numerous corporations and organizations, and his success at blending the theoretical aspects of leadership with practical, performance-based applications has won him praise as a master facilitator.

Previous Nelson Institute-supported Global Pressing Issues grant projects have addressed water quality in rural Uganda and youth narratives focused on refugee and immigrant communities.

The Nelson Institute was established in 2012 with the support of R.W. and Mary Nelson, founders of Kemin Industries. The Institute provides students with hands-on learning experiences that prepare them for international careers and public service. Other Institute activities include Model United Nations, European Union, and Arab League teams; an annual Conference on Global Affairs; a visiting diplomat program; and support for student conference travel.

—Denise Ganpat, Drake International

On Jan. 4, Michelle Laughlin, student disabilities coordinator, presented to more than 500 Des Moines Public Schools administrators, teachers, and professional staff members during their annual Cultural Proficiency Leadership Seminar at the Iowa Events Center. Michelle did a phenomenal job in discussing the inclusion of disability within our understanding of diversity. Dr. Ahart, the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, introduced Michelle before her presentation.

—Jerry Parker, Interim Dean of Students

Drake women’s basketball will host the 3rd Annual Baby Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 12, during halftime of its game versus Bradley. Children 12 months and younger are eligible to compete. This is a crawling-only competition. We invite you to register your baby or encourage friends and family to do so. Be sure to sign up early as space is limited. Registration is open now until all slots are filled. Racers will receive two complimentary tickets to the game for parents/guardians. All contestants will receive a Drake Bulldogs baby bib for their efforts.

Register by clicking here or by visiting www.DrakeTix.com/BabyBowl.

Questions? Please contact Tom Florian, assistant director of ticket sales, at 515-271-4949 or thomas.florian@drake.edu

—Tom Florian, Drake Athletics

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance has placed Drake at No. 39 on its list of the 100 best values in private universities for 2017. For the fourth consecutive year, Drake is ranked in the top 40 nationwide and is the only Iowa university on the private universities list. Read more in the Drake Newsroom.

Two SJMC students finished in the top 10 in the recent national Hearst contest feature-writing competition.

May graduate Cole Norum finished second and senior Molly Longman finished 10th. There were 140 entries submitted to the contest from 74 JMC programs nationwide. The only other institution that had two top-10 winners was Indiana University; Drake was the only private institution in the top 10.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

David Skidmore, professor of political science, is co-author of a new textbook, International Political Economy: The Struggle for Power and Wealth in a Globalizing World. The 522-page work, published by Routledge, was co-written by Thomas D. Lairson, visiting professor of political science at Jindal Global University and emeritus professor of political science at Rollins College. Read more about David in the Drake Newsroom.

Kieran Williams, visiting professor in the Department of Political Science, recently spoke at two events in the Czech Republic in connection with the publication of his biography of the Czech writer and statesman, Václav Havel (1936-2011). On Dec. 16, Williams and Professor David Danaher (University of Wisconsin-Madison) were interviewed at the Václav Havel Library in Prague by the Library’s director, Michael Žantovský, who previously served as Havel’s press secretary and later ambassador to the United States, Israel and United Kingdom. The discussion, conducted entirely in Czech, touched on the ways in which Havel’s life and work can be framed and presented, especially for non-Czech readers. The event was livestreamed on Czech Television’s website.

While in Prague, Williams also delivered a paper in Czech to a conference held at the Czech Academy of Sciences to mark the fifth anniversary of Havel’s death. He spoke on the influence of psychologist Erich Fromm and philosopher Josef Šafařík on Havel in the 1970s, when Havel was writing some of his most famous dissident essays, such as “The Power of the Powerless”. Williams’s biography of Havel was published in London by Reaktion Books and is distributed in the United States by the University of Chicago Press.

Drake will soon be home to one of the world’s leading sources of non-partisan political information, Vote Smart. Learn more about what this means for the University in the Drake Newsroom.