Category Archives: News & Achievements Archive

News & Achievements Archive

Drake students to present at 1 Million Cups Des Moines

Lorentzen Student Hatchery businesses will present at 1 Million Cups Des Moines on Wednesday, Aug. 19:

1 Million Cups Des Moines meets from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Science Center of Iowa. If you’re free, come down to support our students!

Three other Lorentzen students presented last week:

  • Kai Asberry, Snippster, on-demand tailoring service
  • Alexi de Lathouder and Brayton Deprey, Settled In, concierge service

1 Million Cups (1MC) is a free, weekly, national program designed to educate, engage, and connect entrepreneurs. Developed by the Kauffman Foundation, 1MC is based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and network over a million cups of coffee.

The Lorentzen Student Hatchery was founded by John C. Lorentzen, BN’77, AS’77. The Hatchery will begin recruiting for summer 2016 participants in October 2015.

News & Achievements Archive

Interested in a free lunch?

Budget managers, administrative assistants, and other staff and faculty are invited to join Sodexo on Sept. 3 at noon in Conference Room 310-311, Olmsted Center, for a lunch-and-learn to find out about Sodexo’s new Simply to Go Catering Program and the online ordering process through Catertrax system. RSVP to Brett Lindman at 271-3518 or brett.lindman@sodexo.com by Thursday, Aug. 27.

—Submitted by Caron Findlay, director, purchasing and business services

News & Achievements Archive

Eleanor Zeff publishes book

Eleanor Zeff, associate professor of politics and international relations and University coordinator for post-graduate international scholarships, recently published The European Union and the Member States. She co-edited the book with Ellen Pirro, a lecturer in political science at Iowa State University. The book looks at the relations between the current 28 member states of the European Union (EU) to each other and to the overarching Union administration. It is the third book in the series, which started when there were only 15 member states.

She also recently joined the executive board of the Iowa International Center (IIC).

Eleanor specializes in studying European and EU politics and the politics of democratization and developing areas. She publishes on African politics, women in politics, teaching issues, and European politics.

News & Achievements Archive

Spike’s Kids Club—faculty/staff discount

Drake Athletics is excited to offer children of all Drake faculty and staff $15 memberships to Spike’s Kids Club. Spike’s Kids Club is open to children 8th grade and under and provides free admission to ALL home athletic events (excludes Drake Relays and post-season play). Additionally, membership includes an official membership card, T-shirt, email updates on upcoming promotions, birthday card from Spike, and admission to exclusive club parties. Enter the promotional code FACSTAFF at purchase.

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

Submitted by Drake Athletics

News & Achievements Archive

Drake to host nationally televised Democratic presidential candidate debate

Drake University and the Iowa Democratic Party will host a live, nationally televised debate among Democratic presidential candidates in Sheslow Auditorium on Nov. 14. The event broadcast by CBS News and KCCI, in conjunction with The Des Moines Register, will be the Democratic National Committee’s only sanctioned presidential candidate debate in Iowa prior to the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 1.

Additional details of the Nov. 14 debate, including time and moderators, are forthcoming from Drake, CBS News, and the Democratic National Committee. Drake will be working with the DNC, the Iowa Democratic Party, and the debate’s media partners over the coming months to determine how tickets will be distributed. The University will communicate that information to faculty, staff, and students as it becomes available.

In addition, Drake is also set to host a pair of presidential candidate forums focused on issues of concern to minorities. The Brown and Black forum for Republican presidential candidates will be held Dec. 3, and the Brown and Black Forum for Democratic presidential candidates will be held Jan. 11, both in Sheslow Auditorium.

News & Achievements Archive

Physics researcher, professor receive National Science Foundation grant

Principal Investigator: Oleg Zatsarinny
Co-PI: Klaus Bartschat
Project Title: Development of a general ad effective program B-spline R-matrix program for charged-particle and photon collisions with atoms, ions, and molecules
Project Summary: This research will consist of the further development of a highly successful suite of computer programs to calculate accurate atomic data for a wide variety of electron- and photon-driven processes. This work will support many experimental projects, ranging from industrial plasma modeling to fundamental research performed at next-generation light sources. The results will be published in high-impact peer-reviewed professional journals. They will be presented at international scientific meetings, and the next version of the computer code will be written up and made available to the public. A post-doctoral researcher as well as undergraduate students will be trained through developing and testing individual modules of the package, thus giving them a first glimpse of supercomputing.
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Award Amount: $182,172 (Year 1: $72,465)

Submitted by Sponsored Programs

News & Achievements Archive

Athletics: Drake faculty/staff days

All Drake University faculty and staff are eligible to receive four complimentary tickets to Drake volleyball’s home opener match against Western Illinois, tomorrow (Sept. 15) at 6 p.m. in The Knapp Center. Tickets may be picked up p at the Drake Athletics Ticket Office Monday–Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or at the ticket window on game day. Must show valid Drake Card (ID) at time of pick up.

Faculty and staff can also get free tickets to the following fall athletic events:

Women’s Soccer
Drake vs. Iowa State
Sept. 20, 1 p.m.
Cownie Soccer Complex

Men’s Soccer
Drake vs. Missouri State
Oct. 3, 7 p.m.
Cownie Soccer Complex

More information is available at www.DrakeTix.com/promotions
Questions? Call 515-271-3647 or email tickets@drake.edu.

—Submitted by Tom Florian, Assistant Director, Ticket Operations and Donor Management

News & Achievements Archive

In memoriam

Retired Drake public relations professor Ronda Menke Haas died on Tuesday, Aug. 4, after a sudden and brief illness. She was 64 years old.

Ronda retired in 2013 after teaching in the Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication for 23 years. She was a mentor, a friend, and an inspiration for generations of public relations students and for her fellow SJMC faculty members. Ronda had the warmest heart and the highest standards. Her focus on ethics especially has had a profound impact on her students and on the public relations community nationwide. Ronda led a full, interesting life.

We offer our sympathies to Ronda’s husband, Marty Haas; her son, Jason Menke; daughter-in-law Tamara; and grandchildren Andrew, Kennedy, and Carter.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 5 p.m. at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in West Des Moines, with a reception to follow.

Donations in her memory can be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund or to the Drake PR Professional Preparation Fund in honor of Ronda Menke Haas. The fund was set up to help pay for public relations graduates’ PR certification exam.

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