The Fall 2022 Sussman lecture is Monday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Sussman Theater (lower Olmsted Center).

Michael J. Nelson will be giving the hybrid Fall 2022 Sussman Lecture “The U.S. Supreme Court: Yesterday and Today”. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Both in-person and virtual tickets are available online here. ASL/CART will be provided.

About the Event

In this talk, Nelson will discuss how the Supreme Court has changed over the past few decades in terms of its composition and its workload: there is now a perfect congruence between the ideology of the justices and the party of the presidents who appointed them, and the Court is deciding far fewer cases than in decades past (and using a different process to do so). We’ll talk about the consequences of these trends for the Court’s public standing, the development of American law, and calls to reform the federal judiciary.

About the Speaker

Michael Nelson is a 2009 graduate of Drake University with degrees in Politics and English and a concentration in Business Law. He is currently a Professor of Political Science and Social Data Analytics and Affiliate Law Faculty at Penn State. His research and teaching focus on law and courts, especially the public’s relationship with the judicial branch. He is the author of over thirty peer-reviewed articles and four books and has received three grants from the National Science Foundation. His most recent book, Judging Inequality (Russell Sage Foundation Press), received the C. Herman Pritchett and Virginia Gray awards from the American Political Science Association for the best book published in the fields of Law and Courts and State Politics and Policy.

About the Sussman Lecture Series

Established by Richard Sussman, AS’51, in memory of his late wife Lila, the Sussman Lecture Series takes place twice a year and invites notable public figures to discuss timely topics. Past speakers have in the Sussman Lecture Series include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, NASA Chief Historian Bill Barry, Microsoft Chief Accessibility Officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi.

— Lila Johnson, Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement

The U.S.-China Symposium at Drake University will take place Nov. 17 in Olmsted.

John Pomfret is an award-winning journalist and author of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present. He will deliver a lecture on U.S.-China relations at the symposium. This event is free and open to the public. Register at drake.edu/branstad. 

The symposium will be hosted by Ambassador-in-Residence Terry Branstad, former U.S. Ambassador to China and Governor of Iowa. This annual event will convene experienced professionals, academics, and other experts to speak on various topics related to China and U.S.-China relations.

“I am extremely pleased to welcome John Pomfret to Drake for the inaugural U.S.-China Symposium,” said Ambassador Branstad. “John brings extensive experience and knowledge of the relationship between the United States and China, and his book The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom provides the most complete overview of the history between our nations and was considered required reading for all of the diplomats stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. I look forward to his engagement with the Drake community this fall.”

In addition to speaking at the symposium, Pomfret will join the Ambassador Branstad’s Fall 2022 book club discussion on Nov. 17 at 11:30 am. Participants will read The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom. All Drake students, faculty, staff, and alumni are welcome to participate. Books will be provided at no cost to the first ten students to register.

To register for the book club, please email ambassador@drake.edu.

About John Pomfret

Raised in New York City and educated at Stanford and Nanjing Universities, John Pomfret is an award-winning journalist who worked with The Washington Post for decades.

Pomfret was a foreign correspondent for twenty years, including seven years covering China – in the late 1980s during the Tiananmen Square protests, then from 1997 until the end of 2003 as the bureau chief for The Washington Post in Beijing.

Pomfret is the author of the best-selling Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China (1996). His book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present (2016) was awarded the 2017 Arthur Ross Award by the Council on Foreign Relations.

— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Engagement

Ray Walton, an accomplished leader and business executive with public and private sector experience, has agreed to be the interim director of the Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement at the invitation of Drake University, The Harkin Institute’s National Advisory Council, and Sen. and Ruth Harkin.  

The appointment comes following the conclusion of Joseph Jones’ tenure as executive director of the Institute. Joseph served as executive director starting in August 2016, and since that time, the organization experienced tremendous growth in programming and research and celebrated the opening of the Tom and Ruth Harkin Center on Drake’s campus. 

Ray’s connections to Senator Harkin and his commitment to Iowa are strong. Early in his career, Ray served as a staff member for then-Congressman Harkin. He spent more than two decades in several leadership roles at General Growth Properties, until 2008, when Governor Chet Culver appointed him director of the state’s Department of Administrative Services. Ray previously served in a similar capacity as interim director of the Culver Center at Simpson College. 

We are pleased to welcome Ray into this interim role as the search for the next permanent executive director progresses. 

If you have not lately, I’d encourage you to review Drake’s Continuous Improvement Plan site. As a reminder, this is our strategic plan and lists out all of the objectives in each of the plan’s commitment areas.  Please take time to explore how each of those objectives are embodied in many ways across our campus life. You can do so by clicking on the “+” in each objective area or the “Learn more” link to see more on student, faculty, and staff successes.  

In addition, you’ll see more information on all the major initiatives the University has underway as well. This site is continuously updated and can be also found any time by going to the drake.edu home page, clicking on ‘Campus Links’ at the top and selecting “Strategic Plan”. Thanks for your review and engagement.

— Nate Reagen, President’s Office

Join Drake and the Greater Des Moines Partnership as they host Charles Evans, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, for an economic update on Wednesday, Aug. 10, from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. at Sheslow Auditorium. This timely and relevant discussion will provide an expert perspective on the effects of recent monetary policy on regional and U.S. economic activity. 

The conversation will feature a question-and-answer session with Evans moderated by Robert Palmer, who serves on the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Advisory Council and is General Counsel to the Iowa League of Cities.

Register for the event. 

More about Charles Evans and the Chicago Fed
The Chicago Fed is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks across the country. These 12 banks — along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. — make up our nation’s central bank. As head of the Chicago Fed, Evans oversees the work of roughly 1,400 employees in Chicago and Detroit who conduct economic research, supervise financial institutions and provide payment services to commercial banks and the U.S. government.

Evans has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago since September 2007. In that capacity, he serves on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policymaking body. Before becoming president in September of 2007, Evans served as director of research and senior vice president, supervising the Bank’s research on monetary policy, banking, financial markets and regional economic conditions. His personal research has focused on measuring the effects of monetary policy on U.S. economic activity, inflation and financial market prices, and has been published in peer-reviewed journals.

One of the University’s chillers is not working properly causing some campus buildings to be warmer than normal. Facilities Planning and Management (FPM) is working with a contractor to repair the chiller as quickly as possible. An update will be provided to building contacts once more information is available.

The buildings affected include: Olin Hall, the Science Connector Building, Collier-Scrips Hall, Fitch Hall, Medbury Hall, Knapp Center, Shivers Practice Facility, Cline Hall, Harvey Ingham Hall, Hubbell Dining Hall, Aliber Hall, and Cowels Library.

FPM is working to relocate several classes and events taking place across campus this week due to the high temperatures and reduced cooling capacity.

For questions, contact Kevin Moran at kevin.moran@drake.edu.

— Kevin Moran, Facilities Planning and Management

The following message was sent from President Martin to the campus community on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.

As communicated to campus yesterday, the University is experiencing a strong rise in reported cases of COVID-19 among our student population. As of this message, we are aware of 107 confirmed student cases, 20 of whom are isolating in Ross Hall. We expect these numbers to rise in the coming days as more test results are received. In recognition of the situation, to include where we are in the semester, we are taking steps to stop further spread of COVID-19 on campus with the explicit goal of protecting in-person commencement exercises.

Classes and final exams. Faculty are empowered to choose whether the remainder of classes and finals are in-person or online. Faculty are also empowered to require masks and/or distancing in the classroom for the remainder of the spring term and exam week.

All Drake University extracurricular and co-curricular events will either be postponed, moved online, modified, or canceled as decided by event organizers. Some of the events immediately impacted by this decision include the cancellation of today’s Provost’s Social and the postponement of the Faculty Honors Luncheon and the Senior Wine and Cheese celebration. Additionally, tonight’s Student Senate Inauguration and tomorrow’s Adams Leadership Awards ceremony will be moved online. Further information will be forthcoming from the organizers of all the events impacted by these changes.

Remote work. Managers should consider allowing staff to work remotely for the next two weeks where practicable. Individual departments and managers will determine and communicate changes regarding remote work based on departmental needs.

Masks are strongly recommended when in shared indoor campus spaces. Well-fitting, N95/KN95 masks remain the best protection against transmission. KN95 masks are available to students, faculty, and staff and can be picked up in the Student Life Center in Olmsted (one per person, while supplies last).

With everyone’s help and compliance with the above, we can stem the current spread of COVID-19 on campus and preserve an in-person commencement experience for our graduating seniors. Thank you for your continued commitment to the health and safety of our campus community.

— Marty Martin, President