Tag Archives: student accomplishments

News & Achievements Archive

Spanish students create informative video for community partner

The addition of courses for the new Spanish minor has yielded a valuable partnership between Drake students and Primary Health Care, a walk-in clinic located near Southridge Mall.

Students in Professor Inbal Mazar’s Spring semester class, Spanish for Healthcare Providers, shadowed language interpreters to experience the depth and breadth of their health and medical language vocabulary and usage. During this assignment, the 16 students brainstormed various ways they could give back to the organization, in thanks for the opportunity to collaborate with the clinic. They decided to create an eight-minute training video. The video outlines how to be culturally sensitive while explaining patient management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The resulting video is in English with Spanish language subtitles.

The project itself was a collaborative effort between world languages and cultures and James McNab, media producer for Drake, who trained students in video production, and Sally Haack, associate professor of clinical sciences in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The video can be viewed on YouTube and is available on the world languages and cultures page.

If you have questions about world languages and cultures programs, contact Marc Pinheiro-Cadd at marc.pinheiro-cadd@drake.edu, or for questions about the Spanish for Healthcare Providers course, contact Inbal Mazar at inbal.mazar@drake.edu.

—Dorothy Pisarski, Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication

News & Achievements Archive

College of Arts & Sciences news: Week of April 4

William Klipec, associate professor of psychology, recently published a research manuscript that has implications for the treatment of cocaine addiction.

The article published in Behavioural Brain Research is titled “Loss of the trpc4 gene is associated with a reduction in cocaine self-administration and reduced spontaneous ventral tegmental area dopamine neuronal activity, without deficits in learning for natural rewards.” To learn more about William’s research, visit the Drake Newsroom.

In other publishing news, Avery Gregurich and Angela Ufheil, both writing majors, had creative nonfiction published in Oakland Arts Review (Vol. I Winter 2016), an international undergraduate arts journal.

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC news: Week of April 4

Lee Jolliffe authors chapters on free speech
SJMC’s Lee Jolliffe authored one chapter and is first author on another, in the newly issued book An Indispensable Liberty: The Fight for Free Speech in Nineteenth-Century America, edited by Mary M. Cronin, of New Mexico State University.

In the lead chapter of the book, “A Press Ablaze: Violent Suppression of Abolitionist Speech, Press, Petition, and Assembly,” Lee details the wide range of violence used against abolitionist speakers, publishers, preachers, and audiences. Using newly indexed 19th-century newspapers, she has discovered that far more violence was aimed at anti-slavery advocates than previous histories have led us to believe. A number of abolitionist speakers and preachers were murdered in the South, for instance.

In a co-authored chapter on the suffrage movement, “Incremental but Insufficient: Gains Offset by Suppression for Women’s Rights Speakers,” the authors found that jeering and harassment were the primary tools of anti-woman suffrage mobs, but sadly, previously unknown violence was again discovered. Lee’s colleagues in writing this chapter are Sandra Davidson, University of Missouri, and Paulette Kilmer, University of Toledo.

The book is available from Amazon or from www.siupress.com.


SJMC senior chosen to anchor coverage of national broadcasters convention
Broadcast news senior Brenna Paukert has been selected as an anchor for the production team providing live broadcast coverage of the 2016 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show’s StudioXperience in Las Vegas on April 16–22. The NAB Show is the largest gathering of media and entertainment professionals in the world, drawing more than 100,000 attendees.


Learn to shoot better smartphone video
Professor Chris Snider will teach a smartphone video workshop on April 13 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in Meredith Hall, Room 124B. Come learn the basics of shooting great video and test out some accessories to make your smartphone a more powerful video tool. See all the details here.


SJMC hosts high school journalism conference
The SJMC will host a high school journalism conference on campus April 6 that is expected to draw as many as 100 students and their advisers. The daylong conference, which will focus on leadership and innovation, is co-sponsored by the Iowa Newspaper Foundation, Simpson College, and Iowa State University.


Road trip!
SJMC magazine students and faculty will take their annual tour of New York City magazines and meet with industry professionals and Drake alumni on April 6-10. And SJMC students and faculty will take a bus trip to Minneapolis April 3–4 to visit alumni and professionals at Twin Cities-area businesses and agencies.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC

News & Achievements Archive

Arts & Sciences news: Week of March 21

Environmental science and policy students present at association meeting
On March 5, the Raccoon River Watershed Association held its annual meeting in Perry, Iowa. Drake environmental science and policy students Andrew Rupiper, Gabrielle Brodek, and Leah Robison as well as Thomas Rosburg, professor of biology and chair of the department, presented.

More information can be found at http://theperrynews.com/large-turnout-for-annual-raccoon-river-watershed-association-conference/

Ann Cravero joins prestigious summer program in Europe
Ann Cravero, associate professor of voice and director of opera theater, was accepted as assistant director to Sherrill Milnes on Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni with the Prague Summer Nights: Young Artist Music Festival this summer. Ann will participate in performances, master classes, workshops, concerts, and recitals in venues and halls in the Czech Republic, including fully staged performances of Don Giovanni in the Estates Theatre and Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi at Simon & Jude Church (semi-staged) in Prague as well as orchestra concerts in Tabor, Dvorak Hall in Prague.

The opportunity to direct alongside whom many consider the greatest singer to portray the role of Don Giovanni (Sherrill Milnes) at the theater that Mozart premiered Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni is a great honor. It should be noted that Sherrill Milnes received his bachelor of music at Drake University. This festival will provide Ann the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest singers and conductors in the field of professional opera, including conductors James Nardolillo and James Burton, clarinetist Walter Seyfarth, violinist Rodney Friend, and coach Scott Rednour. A complete list of faculty can be found online.

Tamales and foreign language
On Thursday, Feb. 25, professors Eduardo Garcia and Lourdes Gutiérrez-Nájera gave a tamales-making demonstration for Alpha Mu Gamma, the Drake chapter (Xi Kappa) of the international honor society for foreign languages.

The goal of the event was to build community, specifically in relation to foreign languages. Social events such as this that are open to all Drake students give the opportunity to educate others about aspects of other cultures and thereby grow the world languages department.

News & Achievements Archive

Nominate a student for a leadership award today

Nominations for outstanding student leaders and organizations are being solicited. The awards will be given at the Adams Leadership Convocation on Friday, April 22.

The awards are:
Top First-Year Students
Top Sophomores
Top Juniors (P1)
Top Seniors (P2)

Outstanding President/Chairperson
Outstanding Residence Hall Leader
Wanda Everage Peer Mentor Award

Drake Service Awards – individuals and student organizations
Outstanding Student Organization

Outstanding Educational Program
Outstanding Social Program
Outstanding Weekend Alcohol Alternative Program
Outstanding Diversity Program

New this year:
Outstanding Student Organization Officer
Outstanding Student Organization Adviser
Outstanding Collaboration

Criteria and nomination forms for the various awards may be found here.

—Meghan Blancas, Director of Student Leadership Programs

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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

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

News & Achievements Archive

A&S news: Week of Feb. 22

Students head to National Food Recovery Dialog Conference
On Jan. 4, Laura Leben, senior environmental science major, was awarded $4,280 through the Slay Fund to bring eight members of Next Course – Food Recovery Network to the National Food Recovery Dialog Conference on April 2–4. The conference brings together student leaders and experts in the area of food recovery, food justice, and environmental law and policy to celebrate achievements, engage in workshops and discussions, and listen to speakers.

On April 4, these Drake students will also be attending a national lobby day for food recovery on Capitol Hill and have the opportunity to meet with legislators and discuss the issues of fighting waste and feeding people.