Drake University Blue Magazine - Spring 2022

D R A K E U N I V E R S I T Y A LU M N I I N S I D E R

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THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

THI S UNI VER SIT Y

my life twice JO '76 GR '01 LW '02

changed LETTER FROM DEAN RICHARDSON

Kathleen Richardson, JO'76, GR'01, LW'02, was an editor at The Des Moines Register for 20 years. She has been a faculty member and administrator in the Drake SJMC since 2001 and has been SJMC dean since 2014.

This university changed my life twice.

First as a baby-faced 17-year-old, away from home for the first time.

At Drake I found lifelong friends, faculty mentors, a career, a calling— and a husband!

I returned to campus 20 years later as a middle-aged mother of three, seeking reinvention. Again, I found support, wise counsel and a new career that became as rich and meaningful as the first.

In a few short weeks, another 20 years down the road, I’ll walk away from my second stint in Meredith Hall, this time packing up from the dean’s office in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Many things about Drake have changed since I first arrived on campus, but the essential elements of the institution have remained constant over time: People, place and purpose.

I was a journalism student during the Watergate hearings, the women’s movement, and the waning days of the Vietnam War. Our professors sent us novice reporters up to the Statehouse and out into Iowa’s small towns and farm fields. We talked to government officials, farmers, retired coal miners, shopkeepers, and beekeepers.

The college careers of our current seniors have been marked by political upheaval, worldwide pandemic and racial reckoning. They, too, have wrestled with the issues of their day—in their on-campus and remote 2

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Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew… It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 5–8 P.M. DURING DRAKE RELAYS

A RU N D H ATI ROY Indian author

classrooms; in late-night residence hall conversations; through political volunteerism and street activism.

My Drake mentors inspired in me a keen sense of place, a profound affection and respect for Iowa and its people. They also instilled a commitment to building and sustaining community, a responsibility for the public good. These personal and civic values continue to be at the heart of everything we do at Drake. We empower our students to make a difference and give them the confidence and tools to do it.

Or, as another alumna once told me, our Drake education “ultimately will stand for my personal belief that, given a chance, an Iowa farm kid can change the world.”

As we pass through the pandemic portal to whatever lies beyond, we walk lightly, but equipped with the passion and purpose we nurtured at Drake.

Kathleen Richardson, JO'76, GR'01, LW'02 SJMC Dean

It will be the last event in our iconic home, Meredith Hall, before the building is closed for renovation.

It’s not too late to contribute to the fundraising campaign and see your name on the donor wall when the building reopens in spring 2023.

Contact me (Kathleen.Richardson@ drake.edu) for more information about the project. And please join us in April to raise a toast to our distinguished history and our next exciting chapter!

Register for the SJMC Relays Reunion today!

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S E VE N PR IOR ITIE S .

ON E VI S ION .

Creating Access to Opportunity UNIVERSITY FOR ALL

Transforming Every Day PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

Educating for a Digital World DIGITAL PROFICIENCY PLATFORM

Revitalizing Democracy CENTER FOR PUBLIC DEMOCRACY

Leading With Purpose EVERY BULLDOG A CHANGEMAKER

Strengthening the Heartland JAY N. DARLING INSTITUTE

Enhancing Student Experience UNIVERSITY CENTER

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PROG R E S S DO E S N’T HAPPE N OVE R N IG HT. It takes a collective, sustained effort across the entire University to transform lives, strengthen communities, and ensure Drake continues to give students an overall experience superior to that offered by competing institutions.

Even as we build for the future, we continue to fuel our colleges, schools, and athletic programs every day.

Together, we help provide the education and experiences that allow Drake students to pursue excellence and transform their lives in ways that will positively impact their communities for decades to come.

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At the heart of every transformation is a relationship. Teachers, parents, peers, mentors, role models—they all create change through relationships with others. Donors to Drake’s scholarship funds are the catalysts for these relationships.

THAT CREATES TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERIENCES Here are just a few examples of how donor generosity has transformed lives and strengthened communities ...

Creating relationships that pay it forward “I like to say I was born to be a Bulldog,” said Kyle Tekautz, a senior double majoring in public relations and strategic political communications. “When I was born, my parents brought me home from the hospital, and I had an English bulldog brother by the name of Earl. Since I’m an only child, Earl was kind of like my sibling.”

K Y LE TE K AUTZ CLASS OF 2022

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Tekautz’s journey to Drake began with a high school friend and role model in Fargo, North Dakota. His friend’s decision to attend Drake inspired Tekautz to explore the university.

His visits, which included meeting Drake’s live mascot, Griff, sealed the deal. During his Welcome Week and orientation at Drake, Tekautz discovered his desire to pay his experience forward, as a campus ambassador.

“I knew right from the beginning, as a first-year student, that I wanted to be a part of the student ambassador program,” he said. “So, I sent the director of new student and parent programs an email and said, I want to be a part of the program. I want to be a peer mentor.”

Tekautz applied, was selected, and led his first group of prospective students in August 2019. Being an orientation leader positioned Tekautz to help transform the lives of others.

“I ran into one of my students this fall, and they said, ‘Thank you for being a great orientation leader. You’re the reason I chose Drake. You’re the reason I felt good about coming to Drake.’ That was a big moment for me as a peer mentor,” he said.

Tekautz said none of the transformations—both in him and in the students he interacts with—would have happened without the generosity of scholarship donors. Among Tekautz’s financial aid was a Drake Presidential Scholarship.

“I would say to Drake scholarship donors that they create transformational experiences for students from diverse backgrounds, some of whom may not have much family support,” he said. “Donor support helped me develop who I am as a person, as a student leader, and as a professional.

I cannot thank them enough for that.”

Receiving the gift of time “I didn’t feel super connected to any of the other universities that I visited,” said Stephanie Kiel, who is from the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area. “By the time I had come to Drake, I had lost hope that I would feel it when I got on campus. But from the second I walked onto Drake University’s campus, I knew it was the place for me. Every interaction I had with the students, faculty, and staff just solidified that Drake University would become my home.”

Despite her love for Drake, Kiel said she probably wouldn’t have been able to enroll without significant financial help.

Fortunately for Kiel and Drake, she won a Drake National Alumni Scholarship. Not only did the scholarship make it possible for Kiel to enroll at Drake, but it also gave her the bonus gift of time to focus on her studies and her student experience. Kiel doesn’t have to spend as much time working, or trying to reduce cost by graduating early.

STE PH A N I E K I E L CLASS OF 2024

“Now I can go through four years and have the full Drake experience,” said Kiel, who is pursuing a triple major: politics, economics, and law, politics, and society (LPS).

“I can take my time and be sure I am engaging intellectually with everything Drake has to offer. This University is fantastic, and I’m able to capitalize on everything Drake has to offer because I have the time to.”

Along with using the Drake experience to transform herself, Kiel helps strengthen and expand Drake’s connections to the community. Through her involvement in the Student Alumni Association, Kiel has helped connect Drake students with hundreds of members of the surrounding community.

Kiel says her transformation and community connection wouldn’t happen without everyone who supports Drake through donations, large and small.

“I would say to alumni and others who give that your donation really does make a difference. I’ve interacted with so many people who have received scholarships that allow them to come to this university, be fantastic members of the Drake community, and perpetuate this pursuit of excellence.

The people in Drake University now are the next great era.

Your dollars go toward that, and we’re so grateful for it.”

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CREW SCHOLARS CHANGES THE B R I A N O R E LL Á N A C L A S S O F 2 024

A thriving Drake student, inside and outside the classroom, Brian Orellána was going to drop out before a Drake staff member convinced him otherwise. Now he’s a leader on campus and helping students find community. When you give to The Drake Fund, you are supporting the personal connections and campus activities that are essential to the Drake experience.

It takes a paragraph to list Brian Orellána’s campus leadership positions. In 2020, the Donald V. Adams Leadership Institute at Drake University bestowed him with the Outstanding First Year Student Leader Award. He says he wants no student to feel alone at Drake.

At the end of the day, there are connections everywhere, Orellána said.

Orellána didn’t always feel this way. If not for the Crew Scholars program, his college dream might have ended after just a few months.

“I thought I was just going to go work in a factory or something like my parents,” Orellána said. “I did not want to be here anymore.”

After an incredibly tough first semester at Drake, the firstgeneration college student had his bags packed to return to his native Texas, prepared to give up on his college dreams.

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The director of Crew Scholars, a campus program for students of color, heard about Orellána’s troubles and convinced him to meet with her. Orellána didn’t hold back.

He said he felt unable to express his Latino culture. He was homesick. He didn’t like his major. He didn’t like his roommate.

Within a few days, Orellána was in a new dorm room.

The Crew director helped him switch his major to mathematics secondary education, and he resolved to get more involved.

Within months, Orellána had gone from packing his bags for Texas to packing his schedule with Drake activities.

He’s now an alumnus of the Engaged Citizens Corps, a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, a math tutor, a violence intervention prevention partner, a Community Engagement Peer for Equity & Inclusion in the Office of Community Engaged Learning & Service, a Community Outreach Senator in the Drake Student Senate, an orientation leader, a peer mentor academic consultant, and vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Student Alumni Association.

Orellána hopes to become student body president one day. He has a campaign slogan ready to go: “A better Drake is possible if we choose it.”

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Deans’ Updates Jerry Anderson DRAKE LAW SCHOOL

Q How are Drake Law School students connecting to the community?

Our location near the center of state government gives our students remarkable access to internships with a wide variety of legal employers, from government agencies to nonprofit groups to the Iowa Supreme Court. Every Drake Law student can graduate with real experience on their resume.

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Our Legislative Practice Center, for example, includes an innovative four-course sequence including two internships at the Capitol. If you go over to the Legislature while it’s in session, you will see our students—and our graduates—all over that beautiful building. Learning how to navigate in that arena proves to be invaluable—just ask one of the many Drake Law alumni who either serve in the legislature or executive branch or engage with it. Center Director Julie Smith does an amazing job curating those experiences and mentoring those students, ably assisted by adjunct professors Tim Coonan, AS'96, LW'02 and Sydney Gangestad, LW'13.

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Q What are some of the

positive outcomes of that connection to community for the students?

The community?

We are celebrating our 50th year of clinical legal education at Drake Law, and we now have six separate clinics, ranging from Children’s Rights to Wrongful Convictions. Each of those clinics provide outstanding professional growth opportunities for our students, while also filling a small part of the enormous need for legal services in our community.

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Q What inspiring moments have recently taken place in the Law School?

Our Entrepreneurial/Transactional Clinic recently assisted a local nonprofit group that helps the homeless; they took care of some legal needs that allowed the organization to leverage their work and increase their services. Our Refugee Clinic students are helping to reunite an Afghani family torn apart by the conflict there. Those are just two examples. Every single day, a Drake student attorney provides some essential help to someone in need.

There is no better way for our students to get a window on how powerful the law can be, for individuals and for society.

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Q What are you shaping Drake Law School students for post-graduation?

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These real-world experiences, whether it’s a clinic or an internship, are the only way students can develop into “complete professionals” who know their way around a courtroom as much as a codebook, and who understand how to interview a witness or counsel a client. They also let the students see first-hand the power of the law and tremendous need for legal services in our community.

Kathleen Richardson SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM & MASS COMMUNICATION

Q What inspiring moments have taken place recently in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication?

When SJMC was planning its centennial celebration a few years back, an advertising class came up with our slogan: “Empowering voices since 1919.” The students clearly realized that their Drake SJMC education was giving them the tools to not only make a difference in their world, but to help others tell their stories.

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Q How are Journalism & Mass Communication students connecting to the community?

Many SJMC classes do creative and strategic work for community clients, especially nonprofits and small businesses. They design websites, shoot videos, and create advertising, public relations, and lobbying campaigns. This year’s clients include Historic Valley Junction in West Des Moines, ChildServe, Des Moines Refugee Support, Anawim Housing, and the Urban Experience. The pandemic has actually expanded our horizons: Classes have served clients in Cedar Rapids, Chicago, and Montana. In addition, SJMC students in the beginning reporting and writing class for years have read for IRIS, the free radio reading service for print-disabled Iowans as a service-learning assignment.

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Q What are some of the

positive outcomes of that connection to community for the students?

The community?

Q What is the most inspiring moment you’ve recently witnessed in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication?

Over the past few years, faculty rose to the challenge of teaching effectively in remote and hybrid fashion, and in supporting their students during difficult times. Students responded with gratitude for their teachers’ fortitude and compassion. As one student wrote of her SJMC teacher, “He is an incredible person and professor. I would not have made it without him. It is one thing for a professor to say I’ll be there or I’ll help or I hope everything is OK. Compared to this professor, who actually does care, does check on all of his students. He wants all his students to succeed in being professional writers and takes it seriously, which is what we all need.”

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These projects provide students with hands-on, applied education and great portfolio pieces, while providing valuable support to our community partners. The work also helps students understand the role of excellent, ethical communications professionals in serving the public good.

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Q What are some of the

Alejandro Hernandez COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Q How are students, faculty,

and staff in the College of Business & Public Administration connecting to the community?

As I think about the work our students, faculty, and staff are doing to deliver on our college’s strategic pillar of distinguishing ourselves through service and thought leadership, I am reminded of a perceptive statement made by Laxman Narasimham, CEO of global consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser. At the height of the pandemic in the fall of 2020, he marveled at how people were responding to the challenge and said, “There is a renaissance underway, it is just not visible.” To make our renaissance visible, we recently recognized students for taking the initiative to make their communities a priority through the Dean’s Honor Roll for Social Impact. We also recently announced the first winners of the CBPA Social Impact Research and Outreach Awards. This new program recognizes college faculty and staff who tackle pressing issues facing society through their scholarship, as well as their work in the community and around the globe.

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positive outcomes of that connection to community for the students?

The community?

By providing hundreds of hours of intellectual and human capital to our communities to support a range of programs and activities, I have no doubt that our students recognized by the Dean’s Honor Roll for Social Impact are making an impact. I also believe that the commitment modeled by these students will encourage other business and public administration students to make a positive societal impact through community involvement.

We know students who volunteer emerge with higher selfesteem and increased resilience, and I am glad that service is part of how we prepare our students for personal and professional success.

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Q What are key areas of progress you most want to celebrate?

I want to underline the work of our faculty and staff lifted up in the CBPA Social Impact Research and Outreach Awards. The winning outreach and research initiatives are notable in that they seek to improve the lives of people—ranging from children in Iowa to leaders in Africa—and bring attention to the challenges of pressing issues including climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. This recognition of our College’s positive contributions to the world we live in is central to Drake’s commitment to ensuring that a business education can serve as a force for good.

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Renae Chesnut COLLEGE OF PHARMACY & HEALTH SCIENCES

Q How are students in the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences connecting to the community?

Students in our College are passionate about community service. We nurture their passion and dedication through curricular requirements and volunteer service including vaccination and health screening clinics, care-giver training, high school sporting event athletic training services, and the development of educational resources for community partners. By giving back to the community, students become well-rounded professionals with an affinity for service and excellence.

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Q What inspiring moments have taken place recently in the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences?

As we near the one-year anniversary of our College administering 10,000 COVID vaccinations to Polk County, Iowa, residents, the most inspirational moments were walking into The Harkin Institute on campus and seeing our PharmD students educating and caring for patients as they administered the COVID vaccinations. Throughout that time, we asked students what it meant to them to help protect patients against the life-threatening virus, and we asked patients what it meant to them. Their responses were nothing short of inspiring and heartwarming. I was so proud to see the impact that we had on combating the virus and easing the worries of patients. And students were inspired to be part of the solution.

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Q What are you shaping students for post-graduation?

Our mission is to prepare today’s learners to be tomorrow’s healthcare leaders. As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve and innovative career pathways emerge, graduates must be equipped with tools to lead in the future of the industry. We strive to prepare students for this future by equipping them with the communication, teamwork, problem solving, and innovative skills needed to lead. That takes form in a variety of ways within the College, including the Drake Entrepreneurial Leadership Tools for Advancement (DELTA) Rx Institute, the Student Leadership Development Series, and leadership development in the curriculum. We also established an environment of interprofessional collaboration across our PharmD, OTD, MAT, and Health Sciences programs, and offer dualdegrees with programs such as our Master of Science in Health Informatics and Analytics.

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Q What are your hopes as related to The Ones: Drake’s Campaign for the Brave & Bold, and how that will elevate the student experience?

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We continuously elevate the student experience in our College and have a number of initiatives that are on the brink of transforming lives.

The Ones: Drake’s Campaign for the Brave & Bold will help us take those initiatives to the next level as we create access for students to study at Drake and pursue their dreams. Support given through the campaign can help students attend Drake and maximize their experience by reducing student financial barriers and the resulting stress, providing opportunities for professional development, and ultimately, helping students achieve excellence in their education and future careers while having an impact on our community.

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Q How are faculty integrating

Gesine Gerhard COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Q Can you describe the most

inspiring moment you’ve recently witnessed in the College of Arts & Sciences?

There are so many inspiring moments that happen in the College of Arts & Sciences every day! How can I pick one? Maybe it was last November, when our theatre students performed the Broadway musical 9 to 5, and the energy was palatable as they were able to perform again in front of a live audience. When, on my way to work, I heard one of our politics faculty being interviewed on IPR and speaking eloquently about the future of our democracy. When I learned that three of our students competed in a national challenge to mathematically model real-world scenarios under the guidance of one of our math professors, and got the recognition of “outstanding” for their submission. I am inspired every day by the commitment of our faculty, by the resilience and curiosity of our students, and by the power of community that extends far beyond the Drake campus.

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creative or innovating teaching methods or community-engaged learning in their classes?

The last 100 weeks(!) have been all about adapting and changing teaching methods as the pandemic moved classes onto Zoom, allowed music ensembles to play together only at a great social distance, and demanded that instruction quickly shift from in-person, to remote, to hybrid. Creating community took a lot more effort, and demanded innovative teaching methods.

But, it also opened up new opportunities! Guest speakers could be Zoomed in more easily and more cost-effectively, break-out rooms and the chat function on Zoom tore down barriers, and live-streaming concerts allowed more people to listen to concerts without requiring oneself to be inside Sheslow auditorium. There is a silver lining even in the midst of a global pandemic!

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Q What are you shaping College of Arts & Sciences students for post-graduation?

We continue to prepare our students for meaningful lives by instilling lifelong curiosity, teaching adaptable skills that they will need to be successful in their careers, no matter where life takes them. Communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking will enable them to be problem-solvers, passionate leaders and compassionate global citizens.

The accomplishment rate of our 2021 graduates is extremely high: six months after graduation, 98.4% reported that they were employed or in graduate school.

One of our computer science majors works as a computer engineer in Salzburg, Austria; a music education graduate is now a 7–12th grade band and choir teacher in a Des Moines school; a biochemistry cell and molecular biology major works as a molecular biologist in a research lab in Indianapolis. Our graduates are out there, changing lives, making an impact on the communities around them. We are so proud of them!

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Craig Owens BRIGHT COLLEGE

continues to evolve, as well. Geographically, we may think of the Drake Neighborhood or the central Iowa region.

At the same time, we are more and more beginning to understand communities of affinity: racial and cultural communities spanning the nation, regional communities united by a commitment to particular lifeways and values, or the community we create in the classroom, understanding Bright College’s place in a community and our learners’ individual position within the various communities we belong to is key to achieving our mission.

Q What inspiring moments are

taking place in Bright College?

The Bright College seminar room has become a truly epiphany-rich environment. Every day, at least one student experiences a literal “Aha!” moment— something clicks and the rest of the pieces fall into place.

Sometimes these moments of enlightenment are small: Figuring out the nuanced distinction between media literacy and information literacy, for example. At times, they’re much bigger, as when seemingly disparate factors in a historical trendline coalesce into a system-level perspective on culture and society. The most inspiring thing about these lightbulb moments is that the students have worked hard to earn them. There are no easy answers to the big, messy, complex questions we build our learning upon here; knowledge and learning are hard-won and well deserved.

The flash of insight, therefore, is both the beginning of a new way of seeing oneself and the world and the endpoint of a committed and serious journey toward understanding.

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Q What are key areas of progress in Bright College you most want to celebrate?

Our founding took place during a global pandemic. At the moment when much of the world experienced despair and uncertainty, we embraced a bold vision for the future of higher education, not just at Drake, but in the nation: A vision that centered on inclusion and access, innovative excellence, and a truly 21st-century mission.

The success of any college’s first year of teaching and learning would be something to celebrate, no matter when or where it happened. Bright College’s success is all the more worth celebrating because of the headwinds—tradition and global upheaval—we have been striving against.

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Q What are some of the positive outcomes of that connection to community for the students?

The community?

Investing in the learning of members of the Des Moines area community is truly a win-win opportunity. Because Drake and Bright College measure their value, in part, in terms of direct community impact, when we can serve as an engine for social, financial, and personal advancement for individuals in our communities, we drive the advancement of the community as a whole.

In turn, we continue to earn the trust and respect of our neighbors and community partners, which only strengthens our ability to serve our members. Our view of “community”

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Q How are faculty integrating creative or innovating teaching methods or community-engaged learning in their classes?

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Bright College was founded as a place where we “Do School Differently” by traversing the boundaries between traditional academic subjects and empowering students to take the lead in the discovery and creation of knowledge. We break the mold in so many ways, from emphasizing the power of collaborative endeavor to prioritizing the student voice in the learning process to treating the classroom as a hybrid lab+classroom+arena+hypehouse. From the outside, it may look messy and it may sound loud. But from the inside, the learning feels authentic, relevant, and important.

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Q What moments of inspiration

Ryan Wise SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Q What do you think are some

of the most inspiring things on the way in the School of Education?

I am most inspired by the opportunities to deepen our community impact and outreach. For example, the Building Leaders in Urban Education (BLUE) Program welcomed its seventh and largest cohort ever of 81 Des Moines Public School teachers who are earning their master’s degrees in Culturally Responsive Leadership and Instruction, and we anticipate another large cohort next year. And this summer we are preparing to relaunch the Wanda Everage Success Symposium, which is designed to inspire local students to pursue education beyond high school and to see Drake University as a top option.

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Q What are key areas of progress you most want to celebrate?

I want to celebrate the School of Education’s recent refresh of our mission. Faculty and staff, with the support of our national advisory council, spent the last several months aligning on a new mission statement: We prepare, support, and inspire our students to lead and serve in a constantly changing world. As you can see, we believe inspiring students is at the core of our work!

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can you describe students having in the School of Education?

During the most recent Dean’s Student Advisory Council, I asked several of our students about their moments of inspiration. Each of them described how the teachers they supported during their classroom practicum experiences inspired them. One of the students was in a pre-school classroom for English Language Learners and was in awe of the teacher’s ability to effectively engage her young learners despite the challenges posed by an online learning environment. Another student was inspired by the deep connections and relationships the teacher built with her high school economics advanced placement students.

Our students continuously mention how much they appreciate the opportunity to see and support excellent teachers in action.

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Q Can you describe the most inspiring moment you’ve experienced recently in the School of Education?

I was inspired by the recent visit of more than 30 Des Moines Public School students in the Dream to Teach Program. The mission of this program is to inspire students from diverse backgrounds to enter the teaching profession. I was particularly moved by School of Education Associate Professor of Urban and Diversity Education Kevin Lam, who shared his inspirational journey of growing up in Los Angeles, becoming a teacher, earning his doctorate, and eventually coming to the Drake School of Education. Equally impressive were four current Drake students who shared what they love about being part of the university community. Their experiences clearly resonated with the high school students who are considering their future academic and career paths.

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EYEWITNESS TO EXCELLENCE The elite athletes who will converge on Drake Stadium this spring offer a valuable example for us all. They pursue excellence by training their minds and bodies to perform a little better every day—day after day. Drake Relays athletes embody the idea that excellence doesn’t just happen. They know that the path from good to great contains a long series of small improvements, and that there is no shortcut.

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It is Drake University’s honor to be the place where their talents are put on display so we can all be inspired by these athletes’ pursuit of excellence.

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RELAYS TIMELINE OF EVENTS M O N DAY, A PR I L 25 Beautiful Bulldog Contest 5–7 p.m.

Knapp Center

TH U RS DAY, A PR I L 2 8 Check-In, Tours of Alumni House, Archives Display* (50-Year Reunion) 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Alumni House 2700 University Ave. President’s Reception* (50-Year Reunion) 6–8 p.m.

The Harkin Institute 2800 University Ave.

F R I DAY, A PR I L 2 9

SATU R DAY, A PR I L 3 0 All-Pharmacy C. Boyd Granberg Documentary Viewing 10 a.m.

Science Connector Building, Room 101 CPHS Tour 10:15 a.m.

Leave from Science Connector Building, Room 101

CPHS Tour 1:15 p.m.

Leave from Science Connector Building, Room 101 Virtual Campus Tour* (50-Year Reunion) 1–2 p.m.

The Harkin Institute Campus Tour 2–3 p.m.

Leave from Bulldog Plaza

Young Alumni Brunch* 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

The Gregory and Suzie Glazer Burt Boys & Girls Club

All-Pharmacy Relays Watch Party 2–4 p.m.

Science Connector Building, Room 101

Back To Class* (50-Year Reunion) 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m.

The Harkin Institute

LGBTQ+ Alumni Mixer 3–5 p.m.

Alumni House 2700 University Ave.

Campus Tour 11 a.m.–12 p.m.

Leave from Bulldog Plaza

PAB Reunion 4–5:30 p.m.

Turner Jazz Center

Lunch* (50-Year Reunion) 12–1 p.m.

The Harkin Institute

Greek Street Party 4–8 p.m.

North end of 34th St.

50-Year Club Induction Lunch* (50-Year Reunion) 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

Olmsted Center, Parents Hall

All-Pharmacy Reunion Lunch* 12–2 p.m.

Atrium, Cline Hall

SJMC Centennial +2 Celebration* 5–8 p.m.

Meredith Hall

All Alumni Tent Party 4–8 p.m.

Parking Lot 13, 27th & Forest Ave.

Black Alumni Mixer 1–3 p.m.

Rico’s at Drake 2314 University Ave.

All-Pharmacy Reunion Celebration* 6–9 p.m.

Atrium, Cline Hall

All-Pharmacy C. Boyd Granberg Documentary Viewing 1 p.m.

Science Connector Building, Room 101

Class Cocktails & 50-Year Club Dinner* (50-Year Reunion) 6–9:30 p.m.

Olmsted Center, Parents Hall

All-Pharmacy Relays Watch Party 7–10 p.m.

Science Connector Building, Room 301 * Registration required

SEE ALL RELAYS EVENTS

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Y L I M

FA BUSINESS When Holly Dierks Morrison, LA'76, thinks of her childhood at the Drake Relays, she remembers the all-day task of assembling the Relays program with her father, former sports information director for Drake University, Paul Morrison, JO'39. Runners would qualify at the last minute and coaches would call in their times.

That left one day, the Sunday before Relays, to manually type, proof, and edit the program before sending it to the printer.

“There would be rows of people typing,” Dierks said.

“As kids, we would run food to people, sort entries, and help to proofread. My dad would sometimes be there until two or three in the morning.”

When Dierks’ older sister Jenine, LA'62 moved away from Des Moines, the Relays became a de facto family reunion for Dierks’ family. While Mary and Paul worked the races, the rest of the family attended Relays and Saturday night was always celebrated with a family dinner. Tragically, Mary lost her life to cancer in her early 30s. As a testament to her resolve, she worked her last Relays while breathing with the assistance of an oxygen tank.

“My sister really loved sports,” Dierks said. “In addition to working as an official, she kept statistics at basketball games. She worked on press row. My sister was kind of a mini of my dad.”

For Dierks, family is inextricable from the Relays. After all, her father was known as Mr. Drake. They lived just blocks from campus, so Holly, her mother Pauline Morrison, and her sister, Mary Morrison, LA'73, were always in Drake Stadium or at the Fieldhouse cheering on the Bulldogs with their husband and father.

Morrison was responsible for selling Relays tickets, so Dierks would help out in the ticket office on Saturdays.

During the Relays, Dierks and her sister Mary would run the steps of Drake Stadium hundreds of times to communicate results from the judges to the press box. Her sister, born into the Relays, became a race official in her early 20s.

The Morrison connections to the Relays even predated Paul Morrison. Morrison’s parents, Marion Morrison, LA'06 and Leonta Star-Zinger, LA'06 met as Drake freshmen in 1902. Dierks has a photo of her grandfather Marion announcing race results into a megaphone, not an electric one, at one of the first Relays.

TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Jim Dierks (husband), Bob Steele (brother-in-law), Jenine Steele (sister).

MIDDLE ROW: Holly Dierks, LA'76, Emerson Dierks (grandson), Abby Grassmeyer (daughter, AS'10, GR'17), Jeff Grassmeyer (son-in-law, AS'10, ED'14, GR'14, '17).

BOTTOM ROW: Justin Dierks (son), Grayson Dierks (grandson), Stacia Dierks (daughter-in-law).

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We are very much trying to carry on the traditions, and the memories, Dierks said.

MY FIRST RELAYS A LE X G H E K A S B N '1 9

Actuarial Science & Finance

Dierks’ father passed away in 2017 at the age of 100. He attended 80 Drake Relays (in addition to more than 700 Drake football games and thousands of basketball games).

Dierks will be at the Relays this year; like every year.

Her son attended his first Relays at three weeks old, and her granddaughter’s first Relays was at three months old. There will be family dinners, walks to campus to see Painted Street, and, rain or shine, they will be in the stadium.

K ATI E O’ K E E F E JO'1 9

“I’m very excited to attend Relays this spring because it will be the first opportunity to pull together classmates and fellow alums who are spread out across the country now. The pandemic limited the chances to reconnect in such a valuable way, and I think getting Drake Relays back to full swing will really bring together alumni and help everyone reconnect with their Drake experience!”

News Journalism “I am most excited to see my friends and former classmates in-person again. I’ve had several FaceTimes and virtual hangouts with them over the last two years, and while those are great, nothing beats physically being together.”

H A N N A H A LB R E C HT A S'1 9

Law, Politics, & Society “I am excited to introduce friends who did not attend Drake to the excitement and energy of Relays. The atmosphere of Relays is unmatched, and it is hard to convey to friends who have never been how special Relays is at uniting and reconnecting the wider Drake community.”

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Achievements 1950s Walter Leech, LW'50, received the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously for service in the secret WWII Ghost Army.

1960s Constance (Turner) Washburn, ED'68, Fort Lauderdale, FL, named a 2021 recipient of the “Defender of the Everglades” award.

Douglas S. Lang, BN'69, Dallas, TX, joined the national law firm Thompson Coburn as Senior Counsel.

1970s Robert Layton, LA'77, Wichita, KS, named the 2021 receipient of the Board of Trustees Award from Wichita State University. The award is given to a person who has made significant contributions to the vital and rewarding partnership that exists between Wichita State University and the community.

Mark D. Belongia, BN'95, Chicago, IL, joined Hinshaw & Culbertson as a partner in the Commercial Transactions Practice Group.

1980s Jill Johnson, BN'82, GR'83, Fridley, MN, named by Finance & Commerce and Minnesota Lawyer as one of the 2021 ICON honorees.

ICON Awards pay tribute to the titans of the boardroom and the courtroom by recognizing individuals with proven success throughout a lengthy and accomplished career.

Cary J. Mogerman, LA'82, St. Louis, MO, named President of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

1990s Heidi S. Nebel, LW'92, Johnston, IA, named the Iowa Biotech Leader Award for 2022 for her accomplishments and significant achievements in biotechnology. Heidi was also appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gina M. Raimondo, to the prestigious United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC).

Jennifer Hidding, BN'93, Chanhassen, MN, promoted to Solution Partner at Turnberry Solutions.

Darci Vetter, AS'96, Washington D.C., named Global Lead for Policy and Government Relations at the Nature Conservancy.

Alan Cubbage, LW'97, Evanston, IL, published Transforming a University: Northwestern in the New Millennium.

Jessica Hopper, AS'98, Milwaukee, WI, named Director of Program Operations with Camp One Step by Children Oncology Services, Inc.

2000s Hung Luu, PH'00, Dallas, TX, named by the Government Accountability Office to a three-year term on the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC), a federal committee that provides recommendations to the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology.

Nicholas Maybanks, LW'00, Cedar Rapids, IA, named Linn County Attorney.

Ricki King, AS'05, JO'05, Windsor Heights, IA, elected to the board of directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Armel Traore Dit Nignan, BN'07, Waukee, IA, named to the Business Record Forty under 40 for 2022.

A group of alumni gather at one of the National Game Watch Parties held in conjunction with the men’s basketball game vs. Loyola.

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2010s Tyler Coe, AS'11, Des Moines, IA, joined Dentons Davis Brown as a shareholder.

Christine Her, AS'12, Des Moines, IA, named to the Business Record Forty under 40 for 2022.

Sara Noll Wilson, GR'12, West Des Moines, IA, published Don’t Feed the Elephants!

Steven Havemann, GR'13, Des Moines, IA, named to the Business Record Forty under 40 for 2022.

Torey Cuellar, LW'14, Bondurant, IA, named to the Business Record Forty under 40 for 2022.

Riley Coy, BN'15, West Des Moines, IA, joined Dentons Davis Brown as an associate.

Daniel Johnston, LW'16, Ames, IA, joined Dentons Davis Brown as a litigation associate.

Meghan Malloy, LW'14, Des Moines, IA, named to the Business Record Forty under 40 for 2022.

Sarah Mowery, GR'16, Ames, IA, named to the Business Record Forty under 40 for 2022.

Marshall Tuttle, LW'16, Ankeny, IA, Partner at Peddicord Wharton law firm.

Austin Christensen, AS'18 and Alex Freeman, AS'19, Des Moines, IA, co-founded Smart Locker, a platform to reduce stress and increase profits for local meat processors who continue to face supply chain issues and order backlogs.

2020s Clark Butler, LW'21, Bondurant, IA, joined Dentons Davis Brown as a Litigation Associate.

Karter Smith, BN'17, Urbandale, IA, named to the Business Record Forty under 40 for 2022.

Zach Johnson named U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Drake men's golf alumnus and two-time PGA major champion Zach Johnson, BN'98, is bringing Bulldog pride to the Ryder Cup. Johnson will serve as the United States Ryder Cup team captain for the 44th Ryder Cup, scheduled for Sept. 25–Oct. 1 in Rome, Italy. Johnson represented the United States on the 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 Ryder Cup teams, and served as a vice captain in the last two Ryder Cups. From winning two Missouri Valley Conference championships to winning two majors, Johnson has remained a proud and loyal Bulldog throughout his career—he was even spotted donning Drake blue while competing in the Masters.

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Flora Gardenia Bernstein

Lola Rosa Verlengia

Emilia Quinn Giardino

Births Andy Verlengia, JO'02, and Marina Verlengia, a daughter, Lola Rosa Verlengia

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Lilianna (Wiesman) Bernstein, AS'06, JO'06, GR'09 and Jarad Bernstein, GR'18, a daughter, Flora Gardenia Bernstein

Allison (Richter) Vehlewald, BN'17, GR'17, and Mitchell Vehlewald, a son, Nolan David Vehlewald

Tiffany Giardino, JO'07, and David Giardino, a daughter, Emilia Quinn Giardino

In Memoriam 1950s David F. Craigmile, BN'50, Lake Forest, IL Polly (Munson) Cronin, FA'54, Greeley, CO George Anderson, PH'57, Park City, Utah Joyce (Wing) Kinzel, ED'58, Montrose, CO

1960s James H. Smith, ED'60, Golden, CO Sidney Aarestad, BN'61, Apple Valley, MN David Magrane, LA'64, GR'66, Lexington, KY Victor L. Anderson, GR'66, Des Moines, IA Doris (Herman) Hunt, FA'67, GR'70, Eugene, OR George Kerman, BN'67, Buffalo Grove, IL

1970s Dixie (Green) Gebhart, FA'72, Long Beach, CA

1980s Linda Evans, BN'80, Shawnee, KS

1990s Beverly Handley, GR'92, Marble Rock, IA Shadron Silberstein, BN'94, Independence, IA Frances (Clark) Carruthers, GR'97, West Burlington, IA

2010s Fred Larson, BN'12, LaGrange Highlands, IL

Marjorie (McCormick) Nolin, ED'67, Monroe, IA

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SAVE THE DATE RIDAY PR 29

...for reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones at the All-Alumni Tent Party.

All Drake alumni are invited to celebrate together at the All-Alumni Tent Party. Join us Friday, April 29, from 4–8 p.m. for music, giveaways, and plenty of fun.

WHEN:

Friday, April 29, 4–8 p.m.

WHERE:

Parking Lot 13 (27th and Forest Ave.) LEARN MORE:

alumni.drake.edu/AlumniTentParty.