Category Archives: News & Achievements Archive

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Oreon E. Scott Award nominations request

Nominations are being accepted from the University community for the prestigious Oreon E. Scott Award. Given annually since 1949, the Oreon E. Scott Award recipient is considered to be the outstanding senior student at Drake. The Oreon E. Scott Award winner will speak at Commencement.

Scholarship, leadership, service, and involvement are the criteria used by the selection committee. All letters of nomination should discuss in detail the reasons you believe the student, when judged by these criteria, should receive the award. To help in the selection process, please include the student’s résumé with your nomination letter.

The nominated student must receive a baccalaureate degree this spring or summer and have attended Drake for at least four semesters. Pharmacy students with the academic classification of P2 are also eligible for this award.

Visit www.drake.edu/leadershipinstitute/adamsleadershipconvocation/oreonescottaward/ for more information.

Letters of nomination are to be sent to Meghan Blancas, director of student leadership programs, in the Student Life Center by Wednesday, March 30.

—Meghan Blancas

News & Achievements Archive

Drake among top producers of Peace Corps volunteers

Drake University has made its debut on the Peace Corps’ annual Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list, ranking No. 23 among small universities, the agency announced this week. Currently, there are eight Drake alumni serving overseas as Peace Corps volunteers.

This is the first year that the university has made Peace Corps’ Top Colleges list, which categorizes small universities as those with fewer than 5,000 undergraduate students. Since the agency was created in 1961, 269 Drake alums have served overseas. To learn more, visit the Drake Newsroom.

News & Achievements Archive

Bone marrow registry drive

On Friday, March 4, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Olmsted Breezeway, Be The Match On Campus will be holding a bone marrow registry drive. Be The Match On Campus is a new student organization that focuses on holding bone marrow registry drives and spreading awareness of the need for committed, diverse members on the registry. Sign up is free and only requires an ID. The sign up process will include a form and cheek swabs to gather DNA for the registry. If you have any questions, you can contact Be The Match On Campus President, Elena Dietz at elena.dietz@drake.edu.

-Submitted by Elena Dietz

News & Achievements Archive

Glow Fun Run

All students (and their siblings) are invited to improve their personal wellness through participation in a FREE 2K Glow Fun Run across campus on Friday, March 4 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Helmick Commons. All runners receive free glow accessories and a water bottle! Registration begins at 5:30 p.m., and you can check out the Wellness Fair featuring Drake organizations from 5:30 to 7 p.m. For more information, please email wellness@drake.edu.

-Submitted by Kaitlin Brueggen

News & Achievements Archive

Darcie Vandegrift selected as Faculty Fellow

Darcie Vandegrift was selected as part of the inaugural cohort of Faculty Fellows with the Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation (ENACT) program. The Fellows will convene at Brandeis University in late May 2016. She was selected to work on children and youth issues, particularly in the areas of education funding and public health. Students in her Sociology of Childhood, Sociology of Education, and Social Stratification courses will incorporate legislative advocacy into their community engaged learning activities beginning J-Term 2017.

The Fellows program is sponsored by ENACT. Fellows are from colleges and universities located in or near state capitals, and will work to build a national online network of students, faculty, activists and legislators. Faculty Fellows will work on pedagogies to incorporate lobbying and civic engagement into their work with student learning. The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation seeks to be a major voice in addressing challenges to American democracy by engaging young people around the country in civic activism built on knowledge, cooperation, justice and integrity. This new major program of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University is made possible by a generous gift from Ethics Center Board member Norbert Weissberg and his wife, former Board member Judith Schneider.

-Submitted by Darcie Vandegrift, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department Chair

News & Achievements Archive

Drake Mock Trial advances through Regionals

After months of tough practice, one of Drake Mock Trial’s teams was able to advance at the regional level by placing second in the Great Plains Regional Tournament. Because of this, Drake Mock Trial will advance to the Opening Round Championship Series in St. Paul, Minn. Success there would lead Drake Mock Trial to the national competition for a second year in a row.

-Submitted by John Wingert

News & Achievements Archive

Drake Relays Ticket Packages On Sale Now – Faculty/Staff Discount

Drake University faculty and staff members are invited to take advantage of discounted pricing on 2016 Drake Relays ticket pages. Tickets are available at the following discounts:

All-Session Tickets (Thursday-Saturday):
$89.00 each (Regular $95.00)

All-American Tickets (Friday Night & Saturday):
$60.00 each (Regular $65.00)

Gold I Tickets(Friday Day & Saturday):
$66.00 each (Regular $70.00)

Gold II Tickets (Friday Day & Friday Night):
$55.00 each (Regular $60.00)

Don’t miss out on any of the action on the blue oval. Get your tickets today by calling 515-271-3647 or visiting the Drake Athletics Ticket Office Monday-Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Questions? Contact the Drake Athletics Ticket Office at 515-271-3647 or tickets@drake.edu.

— Tom Florian, Assistant Director of Ticket Operations and Donor Management

News & Achievements Archive

Bulldogs of DU: Dianna Gray

Dianna Gray, College of Business and Public Administration

What do you do?
“As the outreach coordinator, I’m part recruiter, part adviser, and part alumni connector for the graduate programs in the College of Business and Public Administration.”

What’s something you’re currently working on?
“Most people feel an affinity with their undergrad but maybe not their graduate school institution if they’re pursuing it part time. So we do semester kickoffs and events to tie them all together across the four grad programs in the CBPA. We do an annual networking event, and we also started the CBPA graduate association—of which I’m the co-adviser—that is made of students and led by students.”

Why do you do what you do?
“When I went to school, it wasn’t a matter of whether I was going to college, it was a question of where. I knew that I wanted to do something with nontraditional aged-students because both my husband and my mom went back as nontraditional students. While they had good jobs and worked hard, once they got their degrees, it was like boom, their career kind of exploded. I thought, ‘I want to be part of that and help those people.’”

“When you see the names of people that are graduating … it’s rewarding to see you can change somebody’s life by just having a conversation with them and telling them what the advantages of our programs are.”

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC news: Week of Feb. 22

Urban Plains—the 2015 senior capstone website for the SJMC magazine media, news and digital media production students—won the student interactive multimedia “Best of Festival” award at this year’s Broadcast Education Association contest.

The BEA Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student work. There were 1,500 entries from more than 175 institutions. The awards will be presented at the BEA convention in Las Vegas in April.

Urban Plains was previously named best online magazine by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication; best online edition at the Iowa College Media Association contest; first place for multimedia story in the Associated Collegiate Press Awards; and has received multiple awards for individual writing, design, photography, and video in those contests and in
the Telly Awards.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC