Category Archives: Archive

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Bulldog Applause: Spotlight on Office of Admission

1 Comment

In December, Drake’s All Staff Council Recognition Committee celebrated staff in Drake’s Office of Admission with a cookie delivery. Here, we learn more about this team of 23 staff members, 39 students, and one very special canine.

Mission: “Our mission is to recruit diverse learners from domestic and international markets for both undergraduate and graduate programs”—Keith Summerville, Deputy Provost, the Windsor Professor of Environmental Science

Staff members: 23, with two more yet to be hired

Student employees: 39 (29 Student Ambassadors who give tours, 10 with administrative duties)

Longest-time employee: A tie between Jo Arbuckle, associate director of admission (32 years) and Leslie Mamoorian, associate director, international and graduate admission, who has been at Drake for 38 years, 32 of them with admission

Newest team member: Another tie! Admission counselors Maggie Coleman and Adriana Slaughter started in September 2016.

Where they travel:
In U.S.: Recruitment is heavily concentrated in the Midwest—Iowa, Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Omaha, and St. Louis—but counselors also regularly travel to Indiana, Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Colorado, with some recent trips to California, Arkansas, New York, Connecticut, and Michigan.
Internationally: Two international counselors (Leslie Mamoorian and Carrie Lewis) travel all over the world, including Malaysia, China, Mongolia, Chile, Israel, Jordan, Honduras, Panama, and Zimbabwe.

News/initiatives/accomplishments

  • Recently welcomed new leadership: Anne Kremer (dean of admission) and Keith Summerville (deputy provost).
  • Griff, Drake’s live mascot, “works” in Cole Hall every Friday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., greeting and doing photo ops with visitors. He has a dog bed for naps underneath the visitor check-in desk, and a trained student “Griff handler” attends to his every need.
  • Began offering targeted campus visit days customized to specific majors or college/schools, including Politics Day, Project Teach, Business BlueChip Expo, STEM@Drake Day, Health Professionals Day, Journalism and Mass Communications Day, and more.
  • They went mobile—campus visitors can now register or view confirmation details about campus visit programs through the Guidebook App.
  • Moved/centralized graduate admission from colleges/schools to the Admission office.
  • Launched the Tuition Guarantee and Drake Commitment.
  • Implementing Slate, a content management system to help with recruitment management.

Let’s hear it for Drake’s admission team, who works tirelessly days, nights, and weekends—from Arizona to Zimbabwe—to share the Drake story with new Bulldogs.

—Jill Brimeyer, University Communications, All Staff Council

For Students Archive

Interning in D.C.?

The Harkin Institute D.C. Experience Scholarship provides financial assistance to a Drake undergraduate student who has secured an internship in a congressional office, government agency, or nonprofit in Washington, D.C. This opportunity is open to students of every major, area of study, and political party affiliation.

The scholarship covers:

  • Travel expenses up to $500
  • Housing accommodations for a 12-week period from May to August 2017 with Washington Intern Student Housing (WISH)

Apply or learn more at drake.edu/harkininstitute/scholarship.

—Erin Austin, Harkin Institute

News & Achievements Archive

Nelson Institute Pressing Global Issues grant awarded

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

News & Achievements Archive

Staff accomplishments

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

Featured Events Archive

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event

Join a free community meal, dialogue, and service project in celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Jan. 26 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at First Christian Church, 2500 University Ave., Des Moines.

Participants will have the opportunity to create and take home a starter kit for growing plants at home. Attendees are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items and toiletries to be donated to the Drake Area Food Pantry.

The project is open to all and is sponsored by Sprout Garden, NextCourse Food Recovery, and Drake’s Office of Community Engaged Learning. Thank you to Iowa Campus Compact for providing a MLK Day of Service grant to support this project.

RSVPs are encouraged: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mlk-day-of-service-tickets-30137583323.

—Amanda Martin, Community Engagement and Service Learning

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive, For Students Archive

Vote Smart to provide many student internship opportunities

Vote Smart is coming to Drake. Vote Smart, a nationally recognized organization that provides non-partisan information about national and state campaigns and elections and legislative activities is moving its operations to Drake. Their offices here will be up and running early in the spring semester. There are numerous opportunities for internships, both credit and non-credit, beginning in the spring semester. For more information contact Professor Jennifer Konfrst (jennifer.gloverkonfrst@drake.edu ), or intern@votesmart.org.

—Art Sanders, Associate Provost