Kimberly Wayne, a current Drake doctoral student, received the Diversity Champion Award at the Iowa Women of Innovation Awards on Nov. 10. Kimberly is the executive director and chair of Jewels Academy, a nonprofit that facilitates and STEM workshops for underrepresented girls in 4th–12th grade so they can gain a positive opinion about science, technology, engineering, and math.
—Submitted by Jan McMahill, Dean, School of Education
The University of Nebraska Press recently published Associate Professor Jennifer Perrine’s manuscript, “No Confession, No Mass.” Jennifer’s manuscript won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry for 2014. Jennifer is also the author of In the Human Zoo, recipient of the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize, and The Body Is No Machine, winner of the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Poetry.
On Saturday, Nov. 7, the Des Moines Symphony accompanied Michael Cavanaugh on the music of Billy Joel at the Des Moines Civic Center. Cavanaugh was personally picked by Billy Joel to play him in the Broadway hit musical “Movin’ Out.” Drake faculty performing with the symphony that night were regular members Clarence Padilla (clarinet), Bob Meunier (percussion), Jennifer Bloomberg (oboe), Sue Odem (oboe), Tim Gale (bassoon) and Ashley Eidbo (double bass). In addition, faculty members Leslie Marrs (flute), Jim Romain (sax), and Dan Peichl (horn) joined as substitutes and extras giving Drake nine musicians who played at that concert.
Teri Koch, professor of librarianship, participated in a panel on “The Importance of Outreach in Shared Print Projects” at the Charleston Conference. This conference is the preeminent gathering of librarians, publishers, resource managers, and vendors, in Charleston, South Carolina, that focuses on issues in book and serials acquisitions. Teri discussed the Central Iowa Collaborative Collections Initiative, a ground-breaking shared collection among Drake University and five other Iowa colleges and universities.
Art and Design Professor Phillip Chen is one of only four artists whose work was selected for permanent installation in the John and Mary Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building at The University of Iowa. Application standards were notably high, requiring no fewer than ten artworks in museum collections, exhibitions in at least five museums, and national grants or fellowships. The four finalists are: Phillip Chen, Viola Frey, Susan Hettmansperger, and Charles Ray. Phillip’s artwork is also included in the Art Institute of Chicago’s current exhibition, “Homegrown: The School of the Art Institute in the Permanent Collection,” through Feb. 15, 2016. His recent print, “Federgeist,” has been selected for exhibition at the International Print Center New York, Nov. 19–Jan. 2016, and at Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 13–Dec. 13.
The most recent volume of dsm magazine (Nov/Dec) featured a story on the book project about the religions of Des Moines that Tim Knepper, professor of philosophy, is writing with a local photographer.
Since the story was written, the book has been picked up by Carol Spaulding-Kruse’s Drake Community Press, which partners local book projects with Drake curricular and extracurricular opportunities and donates the proceeds of the sale of the book to local nonprofits. Students will be doing much of the work for the book: research, writing, editing, layout/design, fundraising, community building, marketing and advertising, documentary work, and web design. Most of the content collection and writing will occur next semester in a class that Carol and Tim are co-teaching.
Drake PR students win national honor
Drake Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) was named a Star Chapter at the recent PRSA national conference in Atlanta.
The world comes to Meredith Hall
Students in SJMC Professor Grace Provenzano’s Advanced Video Production class recently met with a group of Russian print, broadcast, and online journalists who were visiting Des Moines as part of the Friendship Force. The Russians met the next day with SJMC Dean Kathleen Richardson, retired SJMC media law professor Herb Strentz, and retired Des Moines Register editorial page editor Randy Evans to discuss open government and First Amendment issues. The Russian visitors were impressed by the SJMC students’ engagement and questions, which they said were better than questions they had been asked by professional journalists on their trip!
—Submitted by Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism & Mass Communication
The Drake University Wind Symphony CD “Distant Celebrations,” which was released in December 2014, is eligible to be nominated for a Grammy Award in four categories: Album of the Year, Best Engineered Classical Album, Classical Album Producer of the Year, and Best Orchestral Performance.
This is the sixth time a Drake Wind Symphony CD has received Grammy Nomination Eligibility Status.
—Submitted by Robert Meunier, Professor of Percussion/Director of Bands
A new ranking by The Economist of all U.S. four-year, non-vocational colleges and universities places Drake University 17th in the nation for value.
The Economist applied an original mathematical formula to the federal Department of Education’s data on college graduates’ mid-career earnings to identify the “gap between how much money [each college’s] graduates earn and how much they might have made had they studied elsewhere.” Out of 1,283 colleges, Drake ranked 17th for return on investment—just below Georgetown University and directly above Rensselaer Polytechnic University.
The Brookings Institution released its own value rankings this week, using the same federal scorecard data but a different mathematical formula. The rankings—which were much broader than The Economist’s, and included two-year colleges as well as four-year colleges—placed Drake in the top 100 four-year schools tied with Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Colgate and Syracuse among others.
The University Bookstore is now owned by Follett. A services and general feedback survey is available at www.campusstorefeedback.com/ until Nov. 25. All students, faculty, and staff are welcome to participate.
—Submitted by Nancy Geiger, Student Information Analyst
Improve your personal wellness by participating in the GLOW RUN on Friday, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. in Helmick Commons hosted by Residence Hall Association and Drake Wellness. The first 60 registrants will receive a free water bottle and glow accessories! This 2K on-campus run will help you improve personal fitness and help you gain awareness of Drake Wellness Center services before the holidays begin. Register by emailing wellness@drake.edu or by completing the waiver.
SJMC students once again made an impressive showing, including two first-place awards, in two national contests whose winners were announced Oct. 30-31.
In the Associated Collegiate Press awards:
In the College Media Association Pinnacle Awards:
The awards were announced at the National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas. Drake’s competition included publications from Northwestern, Stanford, and Temple, among others.
Also at the convention, Associate Professor Jill Van Wyke led three sessions on livestreaming with Periscope, ethics and accuracy in breaking news, and live-blogging.
—Submitted by Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
We’re excited to welcome seven new staff members to the Bulldog family:
Nathan Bleadorn, Office of Admission
Mary Jane Blystone, Drake Technology Services
Kathryn Overberg, Finance & Administration
Carmen Gomez, Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Sarah Hoffman, Drake Athletics
Brett Lovelady, Facility Services
Petra Lange, School of Education
—Submitted by Human Resources
Sarah McCoy, assistant professor of graphic design, is featured in the November/December issue of Midwest Living .
Katherine Lincoln, University archives associate, has earned the Society of American Archivists Digital Archives Specialist certification. The certification is earned through a sequence of required coursework and comprehensive examinations. It is built around the core competencies needed to understand, organize, preserve, and develop digital archives containing electronic records across multiple generations of technology.
Wade Leuwerke, associate professor of education and department chair, and two longtime colleagues recently published a textbook on college student success. Connections: Empowering College and Career Success is a textbook that helps first-time and returning college students develop the skills, attitudes, and behaviors critical for success in college and into their career. The book empowers students to take responsibility for their education through increasing self-regulation, critical thinking, positive thinking, goal setting, and intentional career planning. The authors also created the Academic and Career Excellence System (ACES) a norm-referenced, self-assessment of non-cognitive and college skills. Students utilize ACES and the text to determine strengths and build personal success plans to bolster skills critical for strong performance in college and beyond. Learn more about Wade and his book in the Drake Newsroom.
Anne Murr, coordinator, Drake Adult Literacy Center, received the Outstanding Educator Award from The Learning Disabilities Association of Iowa (LDA IOWA). LDA is dedicated to identifying causes and promoting prevention of learning disabilities and to enhancing the quality of life for all individuals with learning disabilities and their families. The award is given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the field of education to children, youth, and/or adults with learning disabilities.
Renee Cramer, associate professor and chair of law politics and society, published a new book about the cultural obsession with celebrity pregnancies. Pregnant With The Stars, published by Stanford University Press, examines the American fascination with, and judgment of, celebrity pregnancy and exposes how our seemingly innocent interest in “baby bumps” actually reinforces troubling standards about femininity, race, and class, while increasing the surveillance and regulation of all women in our society. Read more about Renee’s book here.
