Drake Wellness is again making massage therapy available to Drake faculty, staff and students in the Wellness Center. Special Drake rates are offered at $30/30 minutes, $50/60 minutes, $75/90 minutes. Add-ons are also available. Contact massage therapist, Anne Boal directly at 515-988-8760 or anneboalwellness.com to schedule an appointment. Extended morning and afternoon appointment times are available.
—Anne Boal
The Adult Literacy Center at Drake University is seeking volunteers eager to change the lives of local adults by helping them achieve basic literacy (reading, writing, and/or speaking) skills. A tutor training will be held Friday, April 22, 5–8 p.m., and Saturday, April 23, 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m., at the School of Education.
Volunteers will learn about characteristics of adults who lack literacy skills, the potential causes for adult illiteracy, and skills for delivering multisensory reading instruction. Registration is required and can be completed by contacting Anne Murr at anne.murr@drake.edu or 515-271-3982.
Learn more about the Adult Literacy Center in the Drake Newsroom.
Are you going to a Spanish-speaking country this summer or next semester? Would you like to begin learning a few words in Spanish for an upcoming study abroad semester or travel seminar? Do you want or need to keep up your foreign language fluency? Drake’s Department of World Languages and Cultures wants to help.
Spanish Conversation Table is scheduled for Mondays, 1–2 p.m., and Fridays, 2–3 p.m., in Meredith Hall, Room 204. All levels of Spanish speakers are welcome. The group warmly supports all participants with an opportunity to practice Spanish; no long-term commitment is required to attend. A native speaker facilitates the conversation in Spanish in an informal setting.
For further information, contact Associate Professor Eduardo Garcia Villada at eduardo.garcia@drake.edu.
—Drake International
Drake Broadcasting System will be airing the Drake Relays student-run broadcast on The College Channel and 94.1 The Dog again this year! Tune in April 29 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and April 30 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on The College Channel to watch the Relays from home!
—Brenna Paukert
Rodney Carter, PH’76, dean of the School of Pharmacy and professor of pharmacy practice at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, was selected to receive the 2016 Lawrence C. and Delores M. Weaver Medal of Honor, the highest honor given by Drake University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. As part of this honor, he will deliver the 2016 Weaver Medal of Honor Lecture on Wednesday, April 27, at 2 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium. Faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to attend the lecture, which is free open to the public. To learn more about Carter, visit the Drake Newsroom.
William Klipec, associate professor of psychology, recently published a research manuscript that has implications for the treatment of cocaine addiction.
The article published in Behavioural Brain Research is titled “Loss of the trpc4 gene is associated with a reduction in cocaine self-administration and reduced spontaneous ventral tegmental area dopamine neuronal activity, without deficits in learning for natural rewards.” To learn more about William’s research, visit the Drake Newsroom.
In other publishing news, Avery Gregurich and Angela Ufheil, both writing majors, had creative nonfiction published in Oakland Arts Review (Vol. I Winter 2016), an international undergraduate arts journal.
Lee Jolliffe authors chapters on free speech
SJMC’s Lee Jolliffe authored one chapter and is first author on another, in the newly issued book An Indispensable Liberty: The Fight for Free Speech in Nineteenth-Century America, edited by Mary M. Cronin, of New Mexico State University.
In the lead chapter of the book, “A Press Ablaze: Violent Suppression of Abolitionist Speech, Press, Petition, and Assembly,” Lee details the wide range of violence used against abolitionist speakers, publishers, preachers, and audiences. Using newly indexed 19th-century newspapers, she has discovered that far more violence was aimed at anti-slavery advocates than previous histories have led us to believe. A number of abolitionist speakers and preachers were murdered in the South, for instance.
In a co-authored chapter on the suffrage movement, “Incremental but Insufficient: Gains Offset by Suppression for Women’s Rights Speakers,” the authors found that jeering and harassment were the primary tools of anti-woman suffrage mobs, but sadly, previously unknown violence was again discovered. Lee’s colleagues in writing this chapter are Sandra Davidson, University of Missouri, and Paulette Kilmer, University of Toledo.
The book is available from Amazon or from www.siupress.com.
SJMC senior chosen to anchor coverage of national broadcasters convention
Broadcast news senior Brenna Paukert has been selected as an anchor for the production team providing live broadcast coverage of the 2016 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show’s StudioXperience in Las Vegas on April 16–22. The NAB Show is the largest gathering of media and entertainment professionals in the world, drawing more than 100,000 attendees.
Learn to shoot better smartphone video
Professor Chris Snider will teach a smartphone video workshop on April 13 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in Meredith Hall, Room 124B. Come learn the basics of shooting great video and test out some accessories to make your smartphone a more powerful video tool. See all the details here.
SJMC hosts high school journalism conference
The SJMC will host a high school journalism conference on campus April 6 that is expected to draw as many as 100 students and their advisers. The daylong conference, which will focus on leadership and innovation, is co-sponsored by the Iowa Newspaper Foundation, Simpson College, and Iowa State University.
Road trip!
SJMC magazine students and faculty will take their annual tour of New York City magazines and meet with industry professionals and Drake alumni on April 6-10. And SJMC students and faculty will take a bus trip to Minneapolis April 3–4 to visit alumni and professionals at Twin Cities-area businesses and agencies.
—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC
Protect your information—and your identity—with a free shred event sponsored by Information Technology Services (ITS)
When: Monday, April 18, 12–3 p.m.
Where: North end of Olmsted lot
Bring your documents for on-site secure shredding by Iron Mountain—free for all Drake faculty, staff, and students. Shred any documents you’d like to have securely destroyed, including personal documents, homework assignments, and old files in the office. As a bonus, the first 25 people to bring a bag or box of documents to shred will receive a free encrypted flash drive.
—Submitted by Peter Lundstedt, Information Security Manager, ITS
What do you do?
“I am the student success coordinator and Crew Scholars staff director. Along with an amazing staff, I work with students on study skills, time management; pretty much anything they need to learn how to do, we can teach them how to do it. The Crew Scholars program is the bulk of everything I do, and I also work with the STEM Explorers program.”
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
“I always joke with my students, my two favorite times are when you come here on your first day and when you leave. When they graduate, it means we did our job. Graduation is my absolute favorite time of year.”
What do you hope your students take away from you?
“I hope they’re doing everything they’re doing for the right reasons, that it’s genuine. I don’t believe in ‘fake-it-till-you-make-it’ mentality, and so I tell students, anything you do, make sure it aligns with your passions. Be the author of your own life, don’t let anybody else write your chapters.”
What do you do in your free time?
“I like being around people and I host a monthly breakfast club at my house. Growing up in New Orleans, I learned to cook at a young age. I was cutting up seafood when I was four. So I like to cook for people. My signature dish is shrimp or crawfish étouffée.”
This past year Drake University teamed up with “I Have a Dream” Foundation to adopt the first grade class at Findley Elementary’s Dreamer Academy. “It’s never too early to start thinking about college” is the name of the game, and we hope you can join us in supporting this partnership!
Our adopted first grade classes will make their visit to campus this coming Tuesday, March 29. The 55 kiddos will arrive at Olmsted around 9:45 a.m., have lunch at the Field House at noon, and depart campus around 1 p.m. We have a host of events planned for them thanks to the organizing committee (Catherine Gillespie, Shelley Hurst, Amanda Martin, Laurel Haxton, and Jasmine Barr).
Volunteers are still needed for the day, please visit our website to see what’s available and share this with other students, faculty, and staff!
—Renee Sedlacek, Interim Director of Community Engagement & Service-Learning
