Drake Blue fall 2008

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Fall 2008

CLASSROOM

champions Drake student-athletes enjoy success on the court, on the field and in the classroom.

From the President. . .

In my last “… from the President,” I wrote about our collective vision for Drake University’s future as articulated in Drake University: Vision 2012 (to which you can find a link at www.drake.edu/president, and I invite you to take a look at it). I emphasized that, for many reasons, Drake is at this point in its history uniquely positioned to determine its own future, and I’d like now to look at Vision 2012 from a somewhat different perspective.

As you will see when you read the document, we have a very ambitious vision for Drake: “Drake University’s aspiration is to be — and to be recognized as — one of the very best institutions of higher education in the United States.” It is essential to emphasize that our primary goal — always — is to keep our promise to our students and their parents to provide an exceptional learning environment; recognition of that excellence is a consequence of keeping our promise, not a goal in itself. It is equally important to note that in aspiring to be recognized as one of the very best, we do not have in mind the rankings and ratings of various national publications. We are pleased, of course, that we are so highly rated by U.S.News & World Report, Barron’s, Peterson’s and Princeton Review, and that Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranks us among the top 50 private universities in the country. Those publications provide us with visibility, and they may be useful to prospective students

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and their parents, but they’re of little importance to us as educators as measures of the quality of what we do.

For those of us who are professionals in higher education, there is a relatively small group of schools, ranging from small liberal arts colleges to large research universities, that we all know as “special places,” as institutions that are exceptionally good at providing their own version of the higher education experience in a way that leaves a lasting and cherished imprint on their alumni.

We know that our aspiration to be a model for the very best in higher education is ambitious, but we also know that we already are an institution that our colleagues look to as a model for best practices in many important ways, and that — I would argue — tells us that not only is this aspiration achievable, but that we’re well on our way to fulfilling it. At a recent meeting of Drake’s Board of Trustees, I shared a list of all the areas in which Drake University is already recognized as a model in higher education, and it’s a pretty impressive list. There is not enough space to share the list with you here, but it is posted on the www.drake.edu/president Web site, and we will add to it as we progress.

The elements essential to Drake University’s ability to determine its own future are falling into place: we have a clear and exciting vision of our future, and the strategic plan that guides us toward it will be considered for ratification by appropriate campus bodies and the Board of Trustees this fall. You know well that we have the people to make it

“Drake University’s aspiration is to be — and to be recognized as —

one of the very best institutions of higher education in the United States.”

At Drake, we know, as do our tens of thousands of alumni, that the Drake experience — the deliberate integration of the best of liberal arts and sciences education with professional preparation, carried out in an intensely interpersonal and collaborative environment — makes us one of those special places. Drake is a community where students come to acquire the knowledge, perspectives, habits of mind, values and relationships to make their dreams come true — it is a role that we fulfill in a manner that is distinctly Drake, not a replication of that of any other college or university in the country. Our aspiration is grounded in our unique institutional mission, and based on the distinctive attributes that define us and set us apart as a University.

happen — our committed students, faculty, staff, Board of Trustees and advisory groups, passionate alumni and a loyal and supportive community. As we go forward, we will be focused on securing the needed resources to ensure that Drake will endure and prosper as one of those very special places on America’s higher education landscape.

Please do take a look at Vision 2012 — I hope that you’re as excited by our aspirations as we are, and I’d be delighted to hear/read your reactions.

Dr. David E. Maxwell, president

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contents

President

Features

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Dr. David E. Maxwell

Director of Marketing & Communications

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Brooke A. Benschoter

A BRIGHT FUTURE IN WHITE

Pharmacy’s white coat program celebrates the profession while encouraging connections.

Director of Alumni & Parent Programs Barbara Dietrich Boose, JO’83, GR’90

EDITORIAL STAFF Editor Casey L. Gradischnig

Art Director Courtney Hartman

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Class Notes Editor Abbie Hansen, JO’01

SERVING TO LEARN

Spring break takes on new meaning to Drake Law School scholars.

Graphic Designers Amber Baker • Calee Himes • Amy Tingstrom

Writers/Copy Editors Abbie Hansen, JO’01 • Tim Schmitt

Contributors Lisa Lacher • Tory Thaemert Olson, JO’05

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Interns Amy Benes • Charley Magrew Michelle Thilges

Publication Support Andrea McDonough • Jaquie Summers

CHASING ADVENTURE

Grizzly bears and treacherous mountain passes are part of life for this Drake alumnus.

Departments CAMPUS To submit news or update your alumni file, contact Drake’s Office of Alumni and Parent Programs.

Call: 1-800-44-DRAKE, x3152 E-mail: recordsinfo@drake.edu Surf: www.drake.edu/alumni Drake blue is published as a service to Drake alumni, parents and friends by the Drake University Office of Marketing and Communications. Views expressed in Drake blue do not necessarily reflect opinions of the editors or the University.

We welcome articles by and story ideas from and about Drake alumni. Send correspondence to Editor Casey L. Gradischnig, Drake University, 2507 University Ave., Des Moines, IA 50311-4505. E-mail: casey.gradischnig@drake.edu.

Copyright Drake University 2008

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Drake Students Receive Fulbright Grants • Engaged Citizen Experience Launches • Law, Pharmacy Rank Among “America’s Best Graduate Schools” • Blue is Green • Science Conference Highlights Student Research • Magazine Students Receive National Honors • Law Students Initiate Social Justice Work • Pharmacy Facilities Get a Facelift

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FACULTY

Beisser Attends International Oxford Round Table • Fulbright Scholar Takes Expertise to the Philippines • Pharmacy, Business, Arts & Science Faculty Honored

SPORTS

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Phelps Powers New Bulldog Men’s Hoops Era • Netting More Victories • Top Relays Runners • Bulldog Bones

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ALUMNI

Alumni Honored at Annual Pharmacy Day • Alumni Writer Pens “Ugly Betty” Book • Double D Awards Honor Outstanding Drake Letterwinners • Iowa Legislator, Alumna Libby Jacobs Honored for Public Service

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campus buzz RECENT GRADUATES RECEIVE FULBRIGHT GRANTS Linda Yang of Sioux Falls, SD, and Kathryn Seckman of Colorado Springs, CO, have been selected to receive Fulbright grants for the 2008 – 09 academic year. Both graduated in May. Yang, a secondary education and magazine journalism major, will apply her Fulbright scholarship toward an English teaching assistantship in Hong Kong.

Seckman, international relations major and Global Ambassador Certification recipient, will use her grant to support her research on the role of women in politics in Morocco.

“It’s so exciting to have two successful applicants this year,” said Eleanor Zeff, associate professor of politics and Drake’s Fulbright program adviser for the application process. In recent years, nine out of 18 Drake students who have applied have received Fulbright grants, she added. Drake is one of the top producers of Fulbrights among Master’s Universities nationwide.

ENGAGED CITIZEN EXPERIENCE LAUNCHES Drake’s new Engaged Citizen Experience program kicked off last semester with students discussing their experiences during the 2008 Iowa caucuses. The new interdisciplinary program is based on issues that have local, national and global significance and is intended to engage the entire community in cocurricular events on a particular theme. Last spring’s theme was “Voices of Democracy: Dissent and Dialogue.”

Engaged Citizen Experience initiatives such as the “My Prez” program, which encouraged students to participate in the political process and attend events with presidential candidates on campus last spring, allow students to become more aware of public issues and to find ways that they — as individual citizens — can engage in those issues. The spring 2009 theme is “Poverty, Development and Social Responsibility: Whose World is It Anyway?”

DRAKE STUDENTS RECENTLY PARTICIPATED in the State University of New York Model European Union Simulation. The four-day simulation also involved students from several SUNY campuses as well as students from Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The simulation was followed by a 10-day tour of Turkey. Professor Eleanor Zeff (center) gathers with students (from left) Randall Weigand, Adam Stone, Christopher Huszar, Anna Kunst, Alison Bowlin and Meghan Fleming at Izmir University.

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the HOT list LAW, PHARMACY RANK AMONG “AMERICA’S BEST GRADUATE SCHOOLS” Drake’s Law School and the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences received solid marks in the 2009 edition of U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools.”

Pharmacy improved its score to 2.7 and tied for fifth place nationally among private institutions. The magazine’s Top Pharmacy Program rankings have been updated for the first time since 2005, when Drake had a score of 2.6.

Drake Law School improved its Iowa bar exam passage rate and maintained its ranking among law schools. Drake’s bar passage rate increased to 90.6 percent, exceeding by nearly 4 percentage points Iowa’s overall rate of 87 percent.

The new rankings show continued strong demand for Drake Law School graduates with 94.9 percent of graduates employed nine months after graduation.

In addition, the rankings show a significant improvement in the Law School’s student/faculty ratio, which was 12.9 in 2007, improved from 14.7 the previous year.

The change reflects the addition of two tenure-track faculty positions in fall 2007.

BLUE IS GREEN Drake recently announced a new environmental program that commits the University to doing everything it can to minimize its carbon footprint and impact on the environment in general. The new “Drake Blue is Green” initiative stems from Drake’s role as one of the charter signatories to the U.S. College and University President’s Commitment.

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The spring fine arts season featured theatrical productions of Macbeth and The Widow’s Blind Date. Musical highlights included Mozart’s Mass in C Minor featuring all four Drake choral ensembles and a faculty/student orchestra; the opera Dido and Aneas; Hollywood saxophone player Bill Liston performed as a guest artist with the Jazz Ensemble I; and Sally Stunkel, director of opera studies at Boston Conservatory, conducted a master class. Actor Richard Thomas, of “The Waltons” fame, visited theatre students.

Drake’s Engaged Citizen Experience brought speakers such as grassroots organizing expert and former MacArthur fellow Ernesto Cortés Jr. to campus and hosted “Is America Possible?

Race and Black Religion” by esteemed African American religious thought and ethics scholar Melanie Harris. The spring Bucksbaum Lecture featured futurist Erik Peterson. Drake’s Center for Global Citizenship hosted nearly a dozen spring speakers including former U.S. Ambassador Dennis Ross and global health expert Laurie Garrett.

Drake Writers and Critics Series events included National Poetry Festival poet Li-Young Lee and an analysis of Mel Gibson’s films by Alan Nadel, the endowed chair of American literature and film at the University of Kentucky. Political cartoonist Steve Brodner presented the annual Hawley Foundation Lecture. Drake’s Rainbow Union celebrated its pride week with “Puttin’ It Out There—Living an Out Life.” Justice Richard J. Goldstone presented “The South African Constitution: The Recognition of Social and Economic Rights” as part of the Constitutional Law Distinguished Speaker Seminar.

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Drake has established a Sustainability and Oversight Committee that is working to make Drake a greener campus. continued on page 6

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A Bright Future in White PHARMACY’S WHITE COAT PROGRAM CELEBRATES THE PROFESSION WHILE ENCOURAGING CONNECTIONS

CALL IT A CLOAK OF HONOR — a symbolic rite of passage signifying

entrance into the profession.

“It” is a white coat. And the coat is something Drake’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences awards to Drake students during a ceremony each fall marking their entrance into the College’s professional program.

A TRADITION OF PROFESSIONALISM Established in 1998, Drake’s White Coat Ceremony involves a formal “cloaking” of students in white laboratory coats. The ceremony is a tradition designed to reflect the responsibility, professionalism and commitment expected of students beginning their final years of the PharmD program. In front of faculty, family and peers, students receive one of the most visible professional tools of their chosen career path and take the official Pledge of Professionalism.

NURTURING NETWORKING Another goal of the White Coat program is to connect students with alumni pharmacy professionals. A printed card with the name of an alumni sponsor is placed in the pocket of each white coat, allowing students the opportunity to begin an informal mentoring relationship.

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“Back when I was a third-year student, I was invited to speak to the students and to welcome them into the College of Pharmacy and into the profession,” says Anthony Pudlo, PH’07, explaining how he first became involved in the program. “I remember telling them, ‘You can’t do it alone. You have to rely on your family, professors and alumni for support.’”

A LEGACY IS BORN Though the ink had barely dried on Pudlo’s

2007 PharmD diploma, he decided almost immediately after graduation to become a white coat sponsor and mentor to current Drake students.

“The reason I chose Drake was because of the alumni involvement.

I went to a reception [for prospective students] and met a Drake pharmacy grad who really made an impression on me,” says Pudlo.

“Drake made me feel welcome. I just felt like the professors always tried their hardest to know us and understand what we were up to on campus and what we needed to succeed. That’s why I want to help and give back.”

— Casey L. Gradischnig

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campus buzz continued from page 4 “As we move forward, you’ll be able to see Drake’s progress in this area,” President Maxwell said in a speech to Drake students during Earth Week. “But I want to make sure you know how much has been done.”

Drake already has a list of accomplishments in this area.

The University has reduced gas usage by 27 percent and electricity consumption by 15 percent over the last seven years. In fact, the issue of Drake Blue that you are currently reading, as well as all future issues, will be printed by FSC certified printers on certified paper. More Blue is Green information can be found at www.drake.edu/green.

PHARMACY TEAM RANKS HIGH IN NATIONAL COMPETITION A team of Drake pharmacy students finished third in the national Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee Competition at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting. The Pharmacy and

Therapeutics Competition mimics the process used by hospitals and insurance plans in deciding if a new drug should be placed on their formulary. The competition requires knowledge and skills from the entire curriculum: therapeutic and pharmacologic assessment, drug literature evaluation, economic analysis and communication skills.

Drake’s team consisted of Seth Housman, Kejal Patel, Kevin Weber and Jennifer Lose. Drake began participating in the competition in 2004 and has been in the top eight finalist pool twice, finishing first in the nation in 2004.

MAGAZINE STUDENTS RECEIVE NATIONAL HONORS The student-produced Drake Magazine recently claimed top prizes at two separate national contests. The biannual magazine received five Region 7 Mark of Excellence Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. The Drake Magazine staff was selected as the Best Student Magazine and the online staff won Best Affiliated

DRAKE TAKES SECOND in national moot court brief writing contest: Katharine Willey and Siva Kasinathan (above with ACMCA founder Charles Knerr, right, and then Law School Dean David Walker, left) won second place in the brief writing contest for petitioner at the 2008 national tournament of the American Collegiate Moot Cour t Association. The tournament, which was hosted by Drake Law School, brought 128 undergraduate students from 29 colleges and universities across the country to Des Moines. Willey is a sophomore from Cedar Rapids, IA, and Kasinathan is a senior from Brandon, SD.

Web Site for www.drakemagazine.com.

Magazine majors junior Justine Blanchard, sophomore Kayla Porter and December graduate Sara Broek received individual

admission update DRAKE DIPLOMA IN HIGH DEMAND They just keep coming. Last fall, Drake’s 2007–08 academic year began with 924 firstyear students — the largest entering class in more than 30 years. And despite this year’s earlier application deadline and tougher academic requirements, the interest in Drake continues to grow.

At press time, 923 students had made tuition deposits in anticipation of attending this fall.

Based on “melt” predictors, the fall entering class is estimated at 875, which is 42 more than Drake’s goal of 830 first-year students. While the increase in class size does create a few challenges in the University’s infrastructure, Drake has

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been able to make adjustments in order to accommodate the incoming students.

Not only are more students showing interest in attending Drake, but this year’s admitted student pool also boosts a higher academic profile. The average ACT score of the incoming first-year class is 26.8. Last year the average score was 26.2.

“At a time when high school demographics indicate we should be experiencing enrollment difficulties, Drake is enjoying success,” said Tom Delahunt, vice president for admission and financial aid. “The last two years have positioned the University well for the future in terms of quality and quantity of our students.”

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awards for best nonfiction articles.

In addition, www.drakemagazine.com is one of five finalists for the 2008 Online Pacemaker Award contest from the Associated Collegiate Press.

LAW STUDENTS INITIATE SOCIAL JUSTICE WORK Drake law students have been making news recently as a result of their social justice work. Five Drake University law students drafted several children’s rights bills, recruited sponsors, attended subcommittee meetings, secured constituent support and lobbied legislators as they shepherded the measures through the Iowa legislature. Three of their five bills passed unanimously in both the House and Senate. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, GR’94, signed two of those bills into law and he is expected to sign the third bill at a later time.

The students in Drake’s Legal Practice Center — Sean Bagniewski, Kendra Boatright,

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Amber Juffer, Karin McDougal and Justin Wolff — took up the cause on behalf of the Middleton Center and its clients.

“I know this has been a tremendous learning experience for these students, and their work will have a positive impact on Iowa youth for years to come,” said Jerry Foxhoven, director of the Middleton Center for Children’s Rights at Drake Law School.

Additionally, two Drake law students formed a nonprofit organization to help spur economic development at the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Reservation in Buffalo County, SD — the poorest county in the United States. Dustin Miller and Jason Yates, who graduated in May, are developing the Harvest Initiative with support from Principal Financial Group Chairman and CEO J. Barry Griswell and his wife, Michele.

“Michele and I are honored to be part of the work on Crow Creek Reservation,” Griswell said. “We have made several trips there and have made some wonderful friends. The work Dustin and Jason are undertaking to provide economic development opportunities represents a long-term commitment on all our parts to lessen the effects of poverty there.”

PHARMACY STUDENTS TAKE ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENGE Drake students recently participated in Drake’s Next Top Entrepreneur Competition, a challenge allowing them the opportunity to showcase their creative skills and healthcarerelated innovations. The event was part of Entrepreneurship Week USA and was hosted by Drake’s DELTA Rx Institute.

The top three won cash prizes of $1,500, $1,000 and $500, respectively. The team of thirdyear pharmacy students Charles Hartig, Derek Lomas and Kejal Patel captured first place.

The Magazine of Drake University

The team’s idea was a company that would break through the language and cultural barriers of pharmacy using Internet video conferencing and telephone translation services.

“The business model is targeting the millions and a growing number of people that cannot proficiently speak English,” Hartig said. “Pharmacists have a difficult time counseling this group on their medications and explaining how to take the medicine and adverse events associated with the medication.”

2008 COMMENCEMENT More than 1,400 Drake students donned their caps and gowns at ceremonies marking the commencement rites of passage.

Approximately 750 seniors, 132 law students and 550 graduate students received Drake diplomas in May. Dan Sadowski, recipient of the University’s Oreon E. Scott Award for the most outstanding senior, spoke during the undergraduate ceremony; former Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray, BN’52, LW’54, addressed the Law School graduates; Dan Sadowski and Bob Woodward, professor emeritus of journalism, delivered the graduate commencement address.

PHARMACY FACILITIES GET A FACELIFT Drake students now have a newly updated lab and a new resource room thanks to the generosity of two grads and Walgreens Co. Drake Trustee Don Davidson, PH’50, made a $300,000 gift to renovate the Donald F. Davidson Pharmacy Practice Laboratory in

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THE FIFTH-ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH in the Sciences featured the work of more than 100 Drake students.

The April conference included student oral presentations and poster presentations on current research projects by students and faculty. Research topics ranged from exercise to help trauma care to modeling Alzheimer’s disease in mice. Participating were students from biology; chemistry; physics; environmental science and policy; psychology; mathematics and computer science; biochemistry, cell, and molecular biology; and pharmaceutical science.

“The conference is a reminder of the constant collaboration between students and faculty on research projects pursuing new scientific discoveries,” said Maria Bohorquez, director of the Drake University Science Collaborative Institute.

Fitch Hall. Davidson’s gift will revamp the lab that was originally established in his honor in 1997.

It will provide students in Drake’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences with the most up-to-date resources to master their laboratory skills before entering the work force.

“This gift will transform the college’s Pharmacy Practice Laboratory into an exceptional learning environment for students to develop skills through interaction with the latest dispensing and patient care technology,” said Raylene Rospond, dean of the college.

Plans for the renovation will change the space to better

resemble a pharmacy practice setting. The renovated lab will also allow students in different levels of the pharmacy program to share a common laboratory and collaborate, no matter their experience or expertise. The lab is scheduled to be completed by spring 2009.

Alumnus Jay Langford, PH’44, provided a $26,000 gift for a new multipurpose resource room in Fitch Hall. The Langford Resource Room offers pharmacy and health sciences and chemistry students a new space to gather for individual and group study.

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faculty focus

Sally Beisser, associate professor of education, (center) traveled to England last summer to present “Unintended Consequences of No Child Left Behind Mandates on Gifted Students.” Five graduate students in her Curriculum and Pedagogy class assisted in researching the paper.

BEISSER ATTENDS INTERNATIONAL OXFORD ROUND TABLE Sally Beisser, associate professor of education, was one of 35 education professors from around the world invited to be part of the Oxford Round Table in Oxford, England. Beisser traveled to England this past summer to present “Unintended Consequences of No Child Left Behind Mandates on Gifted Students.”

Five graduate students in her Curriculum and Pedagogy class assisted Beisser in researching the paper, which will be considered for publication in Forum on Public Policy, the journal of the Oxford Round Table.

FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR TAKES EXPERTISE TO THE PHILIPPINES Chip Miller, professor of marketing, spent last winter and most of spring at the University of San Carlos in Cebu, Philippines, thanks to a Fulbright grant. His task was to work with faculty to update academic programs on the undergraduate, masters, and PhD levels, improve teaching and

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assist faculty and graduate students in publishing their research.

“The most meaningful part of this experience has been helping the school get its programs aligned and better delivered,” Miller said. “I feel better education is part of getting more fulfillment from life, as well as proving the bedrock for creating change for the better in one’s community and nation.”

“I’m elated for the chance to make a significant impact in a Third World country,” Miller added. “The experience is a great way to make a difference and bring back information for use in the classroom.”

PHARMACY, BUSINESS, ARTS & SCIENCE FACULTY HONORED Three faculty members received awards at the College of Arts and Sciences’ annual honors convocation celebration: Dennis Goldford, professor of politics and international relations and director of the law, politics and society program, Stalnaker Lecturer Darcie Vandegrift , assistant

professor of sociology, Outstanding Teacher of the Year Jody Swilky, professor of English, Centennial Scholar.

Four faculty members were honored at the College of Business and Public Administration’s annual Business Day Banquet: Mary Edrington, assistant professor of marketing and internship coordinator, David B. Lawrence Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award Patrick Heaston, the Aliber Distinguished Professor of Accounting, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award Ismael Hossein-zadeh, professor of economics, Harry I. Wolk Research Award/CBPA Outstanding Faculty Scholar Award.

The College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences honored five

faculty members at the annual Pharmacy & Health Sciences Day: Ronald Torry, professor of pharmacology and the Windsor Professor of Science, Teacher of the Year John Gitua, assistant professor of chemistry, Non-CPHS Teacher of the Year Michael Miller, assistant professor of social and administrative sciences in pharmacy, Mentor of the Year Anisa Fornoff, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, Progress Industries, community support advocates and Mainstream Living rotation preceptor, Preceptor of the Year Steve Sanders, education pharmacist at Iowa Health System, Adjunct Preceptor of the Year.

NEWLY NAMED LEVITT AWARD WINNERS JAMES DODD (LEFT) AND GEOFFREY WALL (RIGHT) WITH PRESIDENT DAVID MAXWELL AFTER RECEIVING THEIR HONORS. James Dodd, Aliber Distinguished Professor of Accounting, received the 2008 Madelyn Levitt Teacher of the Year Award, which recognizes the Drake faculty member who best demonstrates excellence in teaching, inspirational leadership and intellectual rigor, at Drake’s undergraduate commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18.

During the graduate commencement ceremony, Geoffrey Wall, associate professor of pharmacy practice, received the 2008 Madelyn Levitt Mentor Award, which recognizes faculty and staff who exhibit outstanding commitment to student success in and out of the classroom, as well as integrity in personal relationships.

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A Family Tradition PRESTIGIOUS APPOINTMENTS AND GROUNDBREAKING OPPORTUNITIES ARE MERELY TOOLS THIS PROFESSOR USES TO ENHANCE CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES. INSURANCE IS NOT A WORD THAT INSPIRES PASSION IN MOST PEOPLE. But Terri Vaughan’s enthusiasm for the subject is rivaled only by the pleasure she derives from sharing her knowledge and experience in the industry with her students.

Vaughan spent several years as the director of the Insurance Center and chair of the Insurance Department at Drake teaching insurance and actuarial science courses and coordinating student internships and job placement. She loved the work, but left Drake in 1994 for what was supposed to be a two-year leave of absence. When Vaughan was appointed as the first female insurance commissioner of Iowa during this time, that two years turned quickly into 10 as she led the state’s regulatory authority on insurance for more than a decade over the course of two administrations — one Republican and one Democrat.

Ultimately, that opportunity proved to be an experience that would further assist Vaughan in her passion for teaching when she returned to Drake as the Robb B. Kelley Distinguished Professor of Insurance in 2005.

“I relished the chance to gain more insight on practical applications of the theory I had been teaching,” she says.

TEACHING IS A FAMILY LEGACY passed down to Vaughan from her father, Emmett, who served as a professor of insurance at the University of Iowa for 41 years. Vaughan keeps a picture of her father, a dignified gentleman with a grey beard, situated prominently on her desk. It’s a reminder, perhaps, of his work that she is carrying on while forging a path of her own.

In 1972, Emmett published the college textbook Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance, an introductory comprehensive survey of insurance.

Vaughan joined him as co-author in 1994 and continued publication of the book after he passed away in 2004. The 10th edition, with both Vaughans listed as co-authors, was published in fall 2007.

VAUGHAN PUTS HER CONNECTIONS TO WORK , bringing representatives from

the industry and government to her classroom to share their knowledge with students. She’s currently teaching Personal Risk Management to undergraduates and a graduate class, Regulatory Environment and Financial Institutions. The constant change and immediacy of the insurance field keeps her on top of the issues, and her positions in government and the corporate world provide her students the benefit of her experience and connections.

“Des Moines’ huge insurance industry gives students lots of opportunities to interact with the business world,” she says. “The professional connections available to them are limitless.”

— Emily Kruse

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S E R V I N G T O

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Spring Break Takes On New Meaning to Drake Law School Scholars

BY TIM SCHMITT

EXOTIC BEACHES, FROSTY DRINKS AND A MUCH-NEEDED RETREAT FROM BOOKS AND HOMEWORK ARE WHAT MOST STUDENTS LOOK FORWARD TO DURING SPRING BREAK. OTHERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE WEEK TO PUT IN EXTRA HOURS AT WORK AND PAD THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS FOR THE COMING SUMMER. BUT A HANDFUL OF DRAKE LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS RECENTLY FOUND A NEW PURPOSE IN THE HOLIDAY.

Back row from left: Doug Abraham, Nick Shaull and Adam Gregg. Front row from left: Josh Patrick, Tyler Patrick and Adam Wilde.

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“All of us were of the opinion that while having a week off from school was enticing, that perhaps there was something more we could do with our spare time,” recalls Josh Patrick, a second-year law student and editor in chief of the Drake Law Review.

As a result, Josh, his brother Tyler and fellow second-year law students Adam Gregg, Nick Shaull, Doug Abraham and Adam Wilde spent spring break in New Orleans working with victims of Hurricane Katrina — for free.

“One thing we’ve always heard is that Drake is about practicing law from day one and making a commitment to public service,” says Gregg. “This trip exemplified both of those things.”

Gregg, an Opperman Scholar and president of the Drake Law Federalist Society and Drake Law Republicans, organized the trip. He arranged for the group to work with the Pro Bono Project, a not-for-profit organization that connects volunteer attorneys with people in need of assistance who might otherwise be unable to afford representation.

“We wanted to make sure that we could use our unique legal skills to help out,” says Gregg. “The Pro Bono Project was the one organization that could guarantee we’d be doing actual legal work.”

LIFE LESSONS Recognizing the value of such a trip, the Student Bar Association and the Law School Dean’s Office covered some of the transportation expenses for the six students.

“Our mission is ‘to produce outstanding lawyers who will promote justice, provide service and leadership to the community and the profession, and respond to the call of pubic service,’” says David Walker, then dean of Drake Law School. “Adam [Gregg] and his colleagues are certainly expressing what we articulate as our mission.”

Once the students arrived in New Orleans they were split into different teams and put to work immediately. Gregg and Abraham worked specifically with homeless clients, Wilde and Shaull worked in consumer law and the Patrick brothers worked with family law clients.

“Because of our experience at Drake and around Des Moines, we were prepared to do some high-level work and we were a little disappointed at first,” Gregg says. “After the first day we knew we had to assert ourselves more and let them know we have some skills we’d like to put to use.”

expecting,” he says. “But after the first day it became clear how vital our roles were in the organization. The Pro Bono Project takes on an extremely large caseload, and without volunteers it would take a lifetime to address each and every case. I am extremely satisfied with what we accomplished.”

Before Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent floods, there were about 6,000 homeless people in the New Orleans area. Since then that number has more than doubled and many people living as squatters and those in temporary housing have yet to be included in this count.

doug abraham (center) and adam gregg (right) meet with a homeless client while volunteering with the pro bono project in new orleans.

On a trip to a homeless shelter to meet with a client, Gregg passed by a large homeless encampment that the city is trying to have removed. He wanted to go inside and talk to those living there but his supervisor convinced him it was not safe.

The image of the tent city and those within it stuck with him, though.

“It’s not like something you see in Des Moines or [my hometown] Hawarden, IA,” he says.

This, and an experience at the shelter later that evening, helped put the entire experience in perspective for Gregg.

“The one thing that affected me most was someone at the shelter who was not even looking for service from us,” he recalls. “He was a tall, well-dressed man and we thought he

“ONE THING WE’VE ALWAYS HEARD IS THAT DRAKE IS ABOUT PRACTICING LAW FROM DAY ONE AND MAKING A COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SERVICE.” As a result, the Pro Bono Project supervisor had Gregg and Abraham write a brief for an appeal of denial of Social Security benefits for a man who has been homeless since the hurricane hit.

“Making the task even more difficult was the fact that his medical records were destroyed in the flood,” says Gregg.

“And being homeless and without transportation, he’s not had the time or resources to get proper documentation of his disabilities.”

After returning to Des Moines, the Pro Bono Project supervisor contacted the team and told them he had more hope for this client because of their work.

Tyler Patrick had a similar experience while working with his brother Josh in the family unit, drafting and filing petitions for divorce and setting appointments for clients.

“All of us who went down to New Orleans were second-year students with clerkship experience and the tasks we were asked to perform seemed less complicated than we were

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was staff at first. Before the storm he was a paralegal. All he wanted was to find a library where he could do some reading.

“It really helped to show me that a natural disaster is an equal opportunity destroyer. It makes you realize that it could have easily been you in this position.”

What this taught him, Gregg says, is not something one normally learns in law school.

“Sometimes all someone needs is a little compassion,” he says. “It gives you a little perspective on things when you’re worried about being bogged down with finals and stuff.”

Plans are already under way to get another, perhaps larger, group together to do similar work in the area next year.

“We’re really grateful to Drake, not only for allowing us to do this, but for preparing us to do it,” says Gregg. “We all left New Orleans with a desire to do more. We came away with a stronger sense of responsibility to put our legal skills to work.”

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Drake student-athletes enjoy success on the court, on the field and in the classroom.

CLASSROOM

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By Jane Burns, JO’83

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very year it happens. The second semester and the final athletic seasons wind down and the sense of who won’t be back next year kicks in.

“I worry, is there going to be another group?” says Drake Athletic Director Sandy Hatfield Clubb. “This may [have been] an extraordinary year, but there always seems to be a great group of kids.”

Hatfield Clubb has good reason to wonder. The 2007–08 student-athletes brought unprecedented attention to the University. Even those who were not in the spotlight experienced success, both in class and in uniform.

“Drake really is a special place because young people really can do it all at the highest level,” Hatfield Clubb says. “We have coaches who are teachers and players who are students. It is what college sports is all about.”

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adam emmenecker WHEN ADAM EMMENECKER WAS FIRST CONTACTED BY DRAKE he had never heard of the university. But by the time he graduated this May, he probably had a greater sense of Drake and what it means to people than anyone else on campus.

Emmenecker led the Bulldogs’ men’s basketball team to heights it hadn’t reached in decades — setting a school record with 28 victories and earning a trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1971. Emmenecker was the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and the Academic All-American of the Year.

“To see all the alumni and have them say they had been waiting 40 years for this, you can see how happy they are and the pride they have,” Emmenecker says. “It’s pretty special.”

It wasn’t just the alumni; the Bulldogs became national media darlings and were featured in USA Today and Sports Illustrated and on ESPN. BUSY GUY If Emmenecker weren’t already busy enough juggling his four business majors with basketball, suddenly he was also doing four or five interviews a day.

“A lot of people never get in the paper once in their lives,” Emmenecker says. “So to be able to talk to people across the country and even get e-mail from overseas, it’s hard to say anything bad about it.”

A lot of it is time management, Emmenecker says. You have to have a plan but be ready to adjust — not unlike what happens on a basketball court.

PLANS CHANGE Emmenecker had to make another adjustment, too. He had a job lined up with Principal Financial Group, but his surprise basketball success has him looking into playing professional basketball overseas.

Success will likely follow Emmenecker wherever he lands, Hatfield Clubb says. “He is just off the charts. I’d like to go work for the guy.”

melissa nelson “HOW AM I EVER GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH FOUR YEARS OF THIS?” Melissa Nelson wondered this often in her first year at Drake while balancing pharmacy school with soccer.

Challenging though it was, Nelson stuck it out and not only succeeded, but also excelled — both on the soccer field and academically.

“Being an athlete helped me succeed in the classroom and being in a challenging academic program helped me succeed as an athlete,” Nelson says. “I learned very early in my college career how to deal with the stress and the expectations that were put on me.

RECOGNIZED TALENT In her first year, Nelson was named to the MVC All–Freshman Team and in 2005 was named to the All–Conference Team. In 2006, she was named to the MVC Conference All–Tournament Team and took home MVC Tournament MVP honors. On top of all this, Nelson was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete team each year from 2005 to 2007.

Academically, Nelson is a member of the Rho Chi Academic Honor Society, which is open only to the top 20 percent of the pharmacy class, and she served as president of the organization in the 2007–08 academic year.

INNOVATIVE PLANS Not surprisingly, Nelson has plans to put her pharmacy degree to work in an innovative way that will continue to challenge her professionally, long after her days on the soccer field have passed.

“My career goal is to become a clinical pharmacist and work in a hospital where I am not in the pharmacy but rounding with the doctors and working as an integral part of the medical health care team,” she says.

Achieving this goal will not be easy, but Nelson has learned through personal experience that few things worthwhile ever are.

“I think any student-athlete would agree with me when I say that going to college and playing a collegiate sport is not an easy task. I have had to make sacrifices all along the way but in the end I have received a priceless experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

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lindsay whorton COLLEGE ATHLETES TEND TO USE THE WORD “SACRIFICE” when they talk about their collegiate experiences. They give up this, and they give up that, but they end up with such strong memories that perhaps it’s the nonathletes who are missing something.

Just ask basketball player Lindsay Whorton. She had a full plate and a nontraditional college experience, but she ended with a trip to the NCAA tournament, a 4.0 GPA, a place in the community because of team activities with local kids and a spot as a Rhodes Scholar candidate.

“It’s a very different college experience, but it’s very worthwhile,” she says. “It really was just a dream come true to play at the college level. Sure, there were some sacrifices along the way, but it was completely worth it.”

DRAKE DOUBLE Whorton averaged nearly 14 points her senior season and was the MVC’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

She was also a first-team academic All-American. Drake was the only school in the nation to have a men’s player (Adam Emmenecker) and a women’s player so honored.

Whorton says she was busy with activities in high school, so she was somewhat prepared for what college would be — except, perhaps, the workout.

She got her first summer workout in the mail before her freshman year. It caught her off guard.

“I was supposed to run, supposed to lift, supposed to shoot,” she says. “I was completely panicking; it was so overwhelming. “By the time I was a senior, though, it was no big deal.”

BACK IN CLASS A double major in English and education, Whorton will spend this fall student teaching at Valley High School in West Des Moines, IA. She’ll see school in a whole new way, but her experiences give her knowledge she can share with her students whether they are athletes or not.

“Put your heart fully into something,” she says. “That’s what makes the sacrifices worthwhile.”

jeff grassmeyer AS A LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER, JEFF GRASSMEYER KNOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING STEADY. It helps him on the track, on a cross country course — and in the classroom.

“I see people freaking out about classes sometimes,” he says. “I tell them, ‘If you have one bad test or something, shake it off, you can bounce back.’”

That approach has worked well for him. He was the 5,000-meter champion at the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships in 2007 and the 3,000-meter champion during the 2007 indoor season. He has 14

also been named to the MVC’s scholar-athlete teams for track and cross country.

READY TO GO A shin injury slowed Grassmeyer down his junior year, but he’s ready to shake that off for his senior year.

“Being hurt was rough, but it’s not the end of the world. Hopefully I’ll get back to where I was,” says Grassmeyer, a secondary education major, hoping to teach math and coach.

“I think it would be fun,” he says. “I had great coaches, especially in high school, so I’d like to do the same.”

HITTING THE BOOKS Grassmeyer says coach Dan Hostager’s emphasis on classwork has been a great example for him.

“Coach is big on the GPA,” Grassmeyer says. “The cross country team’s GPA has always been pretty good.’’

Keeping it that way might mean staying in while classmates find other things to do, but that’s OK with Grassmeyer.

“I have no regrets,” he says. “I absolutely love being on the team.

Even if you miss some things, you get to travel all over and have your friends on the team. It’s great.”

luke frieberg THE DEFINITION OF STUDENT-ATHLETE. Last fall at the annual Drake Corn Feed to kick off the school year, soccer captain Luke Frieberg told the crowd what it meant to be a student-athlete at Drake.

He talked about the value of what student-athletes learn through sports, talked about discipline and talked about handling adversity and about how student-athletes could transfer what they’ve learned into things that can help them in the working world.

“I had to speak after him,” Hatfield Clubb says. “I tell you it was the last thing I wanted to do.”

Frieberg was president of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, a group that helps students understand the rules but also tries to make the

sure student-athletes get the most out of their Drake experience.

NO. 1 FAN Besides the activities the committee organized, Frieberg also supported other athletes by becoming a fan.

“During a soccer game when we were freshmen, we realized we couldn’t ask people to go to our games if we didn’t go to theirs.”

So the soccer players tried to go to as many athletic events as they could.

And when the men’s basketball team had its huge success last season, the soccer players didn’t have to jump on the bandwagon because they’d been there all along.

“The basketball team has helped everyone,” Frieberg says. “If you ask

anybody about Drake now, what they know is this: It’s good people and it’s good athletes.”

OFF TO WORK Frieberg was named to the MVC academic honor roll and was named all-conference and all-district in academics.

He majored in finance and management, with a concentration in insurance, and had a job lined up at Principal Financial Group before he graduated.

Business will suit him, he says, the same way sports always have.

“It’s about being competitive,” he says. “Business is similar to a sport where you work with a team to achieve something. It’s been in my nature my whole life.”

veronika leszayova SOME PEOPLE SUCCEED THROUGH LUCK, many succeed through hard work. For tennis player Veronika Leszayova, success is also by design.

The No. 1 player on the women’s tennis team is also a talented graphic designer who has her eye on a possible career in advertising or architecture.

“I am very interested in the ways designers have the power of drawing people’s attention to the information they need them to know about,” says the senior from the Slovak Republic.

STUDIO WORK Her major is a tough one to juggle with athletics; on the tennis team’s road trips, Leszayova can’t just crack open a book and read what is required for her classes.

“I need the special computer programs that are on the school computers and cannot be brought with me to the matches,” she says. “Some of my homework is also in the studio and there’s no way I can bring that with me.

“When other people get to hang around, I have to work on my homework because I know that the majority of it, I will not be able to bring with me on our next trip.”

Leszayova isn’t afraid of a challenge. After attending high school in South Dakota, she stayed in the United States for college and decided on Drake for its educational and athletic opportunities. She has spent her summers back in Slovakia.

“I enjoy the people at Drake,” she says. “Everybody is very friendly and ready to help.”

A HELPING HAND Leszayova’s advice to other students is to take advantage of that help when it is offered.

“Don’t be afraid to go and talk to the professors,” she says. “All the professors are very nice and willing to help.”

It’s not an easy design to follow, but Leszayova, like many student-athletes, has made it work.

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sports sideline PHELPS POWERS NEW BULLDOG MEN’S HOOPS ERA Drake named Mark Phelps, who has served as associate head coach at Arizona State University for the past two seasons, as the University’s 25th men’s head basketball coach. Phelps replaces Keno Davis, who left Drake for the head coaching job at Providence College.

Phelps will inherit a Drake team that has two starters back from a squad that posted a school-record 28-5 mark while advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1971.

“I consider it an honor and privilege to be named the head coach at Drake University,” said Phelps. “President Maxwell has fostered a true family environment where the Drake Experience is a special one for students, faculty, staff and the entire Drake community.”

Phelps, a Virginia Beach, VA, native and 1996 Old Dominion graduate, served on the coaching staff at North Carolina State under head coach Herb Sendek from 1996 – 2006 before joining Sendek at Arizona State in 2006.

Phelps helped Arizona State to a 22-8 record, advancing to the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament. Phelps, 42, has coached for 20 years, including 13 years on the collegiate level after a highly successful high school coaching career.

NETTING MORE VICTORIES Capping the most prolific season in Drake men’s tennis history, the Bulldogs captured their third consecutive State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship title and NCAA Tournament berth in April. Drake equaled a school record set during the 2006 campaign with its 24th victory and improved to 24-0.

Drake made a clean sweep of the major MVC awards as a Bulldog claimed Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year accolades.

By virtue of his selection as a first-team All-MVC selection at the No. 1 singles, senior Dalibor Pavic was tabbed the MVC Player of the Year. A three-time league Player of the Week selection, Pavic posted a perfect 6-0 conference mark en route to an 18-1 ledger in the dual campaign. Making a

THE DONALD V. ADAMS SPIRIT OF DRAKE AWARD was presented to Mike Cigelman, associate athletic director for facilities and director of recreational ser vices, and Jean Berger, associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator. Drake created the Donald V. Adams Spirit of Drake Award in honor of longtime administrator Donald V. Adams. It is presented annually to a faculty or staff member who exemplifies the spirit of Drake.

Picture at a Drake basketball game during the award presentation are (from left) Sandy Hatfield Clubb, Mike Cigelman, Jean Berger and Don Adams.

splash in his rookie campaign donning the blue and white, first-year student Mauricio Ballivian was honored as the league’s Freshman of the Year.

Chase Hodges was honored by his peers with his second straight Coach of the Year award in his third year at Drake. He has led the Bulldogs to a 24-0 record,

WITH A GIANT STUFFED BULLDOG UNDER HIS ARM, Rep. Wayne Ford, (D-Des Moines), ED’74, introduced the Drake men’s basketball team with an enthusiastic speech during a ceremony in the House Chambers at the state Capitol. The speech was in favor of a resolution honoring the Bulldog men’s and women’s basketball teams. Rep. Libby Jacobs, (R-West Des Moines), GR’86, proudly introduced the women’s team and emphasized her suppor t for the resolution.

The Iowa Senate passed similar resolutions recognizing both teams. “This goes to show what happens with dedication and teamwork. Athletics is a microcosm of what we do in Iowa,” said Sen. Jack Hatch, (D-Des Moines), BN’72, GR’73.

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including winning their last 42 regular season matches — the longest streak in the nation — and claiming their second consecutive and fifth regular season MVC crown. The Bulldogs have never lost a home match in his tenure, as Drake has won 47 straight home contests.

Garnering first-team recognition in singles were Pavic, Maor Zirkin, Ballivian and Ivan Mendoza at the Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6 singles slots, respectively. All four Bulldogs finished with undefeated league marks.

Zirkin, the 2007 MVC Player of the Year, became a three-time All-MVC performer with his selection at No. 2 singles after claiming top honors at the Nos. 1 and 2 slots during his sophomore and freshman seasons, respectively. Mendoza repeated his 2007 first team honors at No. 6.

In doubles, Drake collected first-team accolades at the Nos. 1 and 3 positions. At the top position, the duo of Zirkin and

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champions Pavic was a perfect 6-0 in league action and 24-4 overall.

Combining to register a 4-0 MVC record and 9-3 on the campaign was the tandem of Bokang Setshogo and junior Ricardo Lau of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

TOP RELAYS RUNNERS Georgia sophomore Chris Hill and reigning World Indoor champion Lolo Jones, who both set meet records, were named the outstanding men’s and women’s performers of the 2008 Drake Relays.

Six meet records were set and one equaled during the 99th running of the Drake Relays.

Hill set a Drake Relays record in the university-college javelin at 268 feet 1 inch, which is the best throw by any collegian in the United States this spring as well as the second-best overall throw by an American.

Jones captured her fourth consecutive Drake Relays title in the 100-meter hurdles. She was clocked in 12.74 seconds, just off her 2008 world-leading time of 12.72, but good enough to break her previous Drake Relays mark of 12.93 set in 2005. Jones also bettered the Drake Stadium mark of 12.92 set by former Illinois star Perdita Felicien in 2001.

BULLDOG BONES VOLLEYBALL: Drake named Phil McDaniel the 10th women’s volleyball coach at Drake in April. An assistant coach at South Dakota State since 2005, McDaniel helped the Jackrabbits claim the 2007 Summit League title as well as a berth in the NCAA Tournament this past season.

SOFTBALL: The Bulldogs earned a

26-24 overall record, including a 13-10 Missouri Valley Conference mark. As the fourth seed in the MVC Conference Tournament, the Bulldogs beat Missouri State

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to capture the tourney title and earn a berth in the NCAA tournament. Marilyn Buss led Drake’s regular season effort, notching a .305 average with 29 runs scored, 25 RBI and four homers. Brynne Dordel led Drake’s pitching staff with a 16-10 record with 196 strikeouts in 177 innings pitched.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: The Bulldogs finished their season with a school-record 28 victories, winning both the regular season and Missouri Valley Conference titles and earning their first berth in the NCAA Tournament since 1971. Senior point guard Adam Emmenecker and sophomore guard Josh Young shared the team’s most valuable player award during the annual team banquet. Former coach Keno Davis earned numerous top coaching awards, including Associated Press Coach of the Year. Davis’ father and Bulldog coaching predecessor, Tom Davis, received the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: The Drake women assembled a 23-11 record, including a share of the regular-season Missouri Valley Conference title and earned a berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Bulldogs beat Wisconsin-Green Bay before falling in the second round. Senior Lindsay Whorton won the team’s most valuable player award for averaging 13.6 points per game and setting the school’s career three-point mark with 266. Senior Jill Martin grabbed the best offensive player honor averaging 16.8 points per game with 9.1 rebounds.

Sophomore Monique Jones snagged defensive player accolades, leading a Drake defense that held opponents to an average of 60 points per game.

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Driving Dedication COUPLE GIVES NEW MEANING TO THE PHRASE “RABID BULLDOG FANS” One definition of the word “dedication,” according to Merriam-Webster, is a self-sacrificing devotion. That might be enough to describe the commitment Dave, PH’63, and Nancy Thompson have made to the Drake men’s basketball team.

The couple has held men’s basketball season tickets for the past five years. But what’s remarkable is that the Thompsons live in Granville, IL, travel 500 miles round trip to attend each home game and haven’t missed more than two games in a single season. Those two absences occurred last season during the Iowa Realty Invitational only because their son had been deployed to Iraq and the two traveled to Nor th Carolina to help his family prepare for the holidays. Dave doesn’t think this is anything out of the ordinar y, though. He simply says, “I love the University. I always have.”

Dave came to Drake in the 1960s and enrolled in the pharmacy program. It wasn’t until 1981, when the couple first attended the Drake Relays together, that Nancy visited campus. That single experience was enough to make her a true fan and a Bulldog at hear t — they’ve only missed one running of the Relays in the last 27 years. And that par ticular year a tornado hit Granville and completely destroyed Dave’s pharmacy, Granville Drug, which he was planning to sell the following week.

But it’s not just about Relays anymore. Once Dave became semiretired in 2002, he bought men’s basketball season tickets. “It was something I’d always wanted to do, and when I retired, I finally had the oppor tunity.”

Though Nancy knew it meant making no fewer than 17 trips to Des Moines during a span of four months each season, she never objected.

— Abbie Hansen, JO’01

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alumni update ALUMNI WRITER PENS “UGLY BETTY” BOOK As a writer for Entertainment Weekly, Tanner Stransky, JO’05, is allowed to pass off his “obsessive” Tanner Stransky, television JO’05 watching as research for his work. It was while watching popular shows, including “The Office” and “Ugly Betty,” that he was inspired to write Find Your Inner Ugly Betty – 25 Career Lessons Inspired by TV Shows for Young Professionals.

Stranksy came back to Des Moines recently to promote his new book and meet with Drake students.

One of his former magazine journalism professors at Drake, Angela Renkoski, is not a bit surprised he’s written such a book so early in his career.

“Even when he was here,” she said, “Tanner was so savvy about his career and he was interested in helping others realize their dream jobs. He actually founded our Ed On Campus chapter as part of Ed2010 and always lends a hand to aspiring journalists.”

ALUMNI HONORED AT ANNUAL PHARMACY DAY The 2008 College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Alumni Achievement Awards were presented to Jennifer Fix, PH’85, GR’86; and Geoffrey Lawton, PH’04; and the 2008 Young Alumni Achievement Award went to Lt. David Sohl, PH’04. The honorees were selected based on their service to the College of Pharmacy, distinction in their careers and recognized civic and community contributions.

Fix is president of Jen-Rx Inc. and owner of The Medicine Shoppe pharmacy in Halton

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City, TX. In addition, she is a consultant and instructor for Technician Training. Fix was named the American Pharmacists Association Good Government Pharmacist of the Year in 2007.

She now serves as director of the Texas Pharmacy Association and Academy of Independent Pharmacists, as well as preceptor for the University of Texas and Drake University.

Lawton, a resident of Englewood, CO, is vice president of business development and physician services at Littleton Adventist Hospital. He is a fellow with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and was named Pharmacist of the Year by the Colorado Pharmacists Society in 2006.

Sohl, of Corpus Christi, TX, is a lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps for the U.S. Navy.

He previously received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. Sohl also was named the Navy Junior Pharmacist of the Year in 2006. He now serves as the head of pharmacy at the Naval Hospital in Corpus Christi, as well as on the Navy Pharmacy Advisory Board.

DOUBLE D AWARDS HONOR OUTSTANDING DRAKE LETTERWINNERS Many Drake athletes go on to greatness in their careers and communities. Drake University honored four of them with the Double D Award on March 1.

Jody Busing, ED’79, GR’81, is vice president of purchasing at MotorCity Casino/Hotel in Detroit, where she manages purchasing and procurement of products and services and is presently overseeing purchases for a $300 million addition to the casino. Busing played point guard on the Drake women’s

basketball team and became one of Drake’s first 1,000-point scorers in women’s basketball. After graduating from Drake, Busing served the University as an assistant basketball coach and head softball coach.

Bill Coldiron, ED’55, GR’68, attended Drake University on a football scholarship. He concluded his 40-year teaching and coaching career at Valley High School in West Des Moines, IA, in 1995. Under his leadership, Valley’s golf teams won 14 state championships.

He was named the National High School Athletic Coaches Association National Golf Coach of the Year in 1994, was inducted into the Iowa Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004 and was inducted into the NHSACA Hall of Fame in 2005.

Patrick Meyer, BN’87, GR’90, is the group vice president at Pella Corp. Since joining Pella in 1990, he has progressed through the company with assignments in Pella, IA; Chicago; Shenandoah, IA; and Cincinnati. At Drake, continued on page 20

DRAKE UNIVERSITY HONORED SIX ALUMNI at the annual Alumni Awards Dinner May 16 on the Drake campus. (Back, from left) Richard “Dick,” LA’71, GR’74, and Linda, ED’74, Anderson Worcester were presented with the Alumni Loyalty Award as “unsung heroes” who support the University both personally through their volunteer work and financially through donations. Lawrence “Larry” Fish, JO’66, chairman of Citizens Financial Group, was honored with the Distinguished Service Award as a longtime Drake suppor ter and former member of the Drake University Board of Trustees. He recently created the Fish Family Scholarship to provide an annual four-year, full-tuition room and board scholarship to Drake, in addition to an annual $2,000 stipend, for a child of a Citizens employee.

(Front, from left) Julie Knake Koch, AS’99, business strategist for Mayo Clinic, received the Young Alumni Loyalty Award. A past National Alumni Scholar, Koch has served for the past three years as chair of the NAS program, which annually brings more than 300 outstanding admitted students to campus to compete for scholarships. Linda Robbins Coleman, FA’76, was presented with the Alumni Achievement Award. Coleman, a composer/consultant is one of Drake’s most prolific composers. In addition, Zach Johnson, BN’98, (not pictured) received the Young Alumni Achievement Award.

Johnson, a professional golfer, won the 2007 Masters Tournament in Augusta, GA. He has also been featured in the top 40 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

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spotlight

Chasing Adventure GRIZZLY BEARS AND TREACHEROUS MOUNTAIN PASSES ARE PART OF LIFE FOR THIS DRAKE ALUMNUS DAVID READINGER CAME TO DRAKE on a

football scholarship in 1959 and learned on the gridiron what it meant to work toward a goal and “leave everything out there.” When he graduated in 1962, he left with a business degree, a couple of bad knees and a strong sense of adventure.

After a few decades working in the private sector, 16 years in Iowa politics and a failed run for Congress, Readinger retired and devoted his life to chasing thrills of a different sort.

ENTER THE GRIZZLY Readinger has spent

time in the most isolated wilderness areas of the United States. In 1999 he participated in a study of grizzly bears in Glacier National Park. Three years later he researched grizzlies in the Yukon and spent a couple months in the Alaska backcountry by himself.

“My wife gave me permission to go, and she didn’t think I’d be gone that long,” he says. “I purposely got off into places that are very remote along the Yukon River where the nearest towns had only a couple of families living there.”

These experiences would pale in comparison, however, to the challenge he would undertake two years later.

TACKLING THE TRAIL The Appalachian

Trail covers 2,170 mountainous miles across 14 states from Maine to

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Georgia. And Readinger decided at the age of 68 that he was going to hike the entire thing.

“Part of it was a quest,” he says. “I’m an adventurer and I wanted to see if I could hang in there. It was much more difficult than I imagined.”

He was hospitalized with an injury to his foot for nearly a month in Virginia, aggravated a preexisting rotator cuff injury in a fall and trudged through 15 inches of snow in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After passing through the White Mountains of New Hampshire (where 150 people have died on the trail since 1935), Readinger threw in the towel.

“It had beat me up emotionally, physically and spiritually,” he says.

“Just like on the football field at Drake I left everything out there, but under the circumstances it was more than I could handle.”

The setback was temporary. Readinger returned and reached the summit of Mt. Katahdin, the trail’s end, at the age of 70.

“What I saw is indelibly printed on my heart and mind forever,” he says.

“When you’re above the tree line on a mountain, you look out 360 degrees and know it’s a very special place, and you know you paid the price to get there.”

— Tim Schmitt

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alumni update September

March

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 Let’s DU Lunch Chris Creighton, Drake Head Football Coach InPlay, Des Moines

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 Let’s DU Lunch InPlay, Des Moines

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 Drake Alumni and Friends at the Hollywood Bowl Picnic and Concert Los Angeles

ALAN FREDREGILL, LW'75, receives the Law School Alumnus of the Year Award from then Law School Dean David Walker during the annual Supreme Court Banquet. Fredregill has been a partner of Heiman, Edmond, Fredregill, Patterson, Plaza, Dyykstra and Prahl law firm in Sioux City, IA, for more than 30 years. He is a member of the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, Iowa State Bar Association, American College of Trial Lawyers, Iowa Defense Counsel Association and American Bar Association.

continued from page 18 Meyer was a four-year letterwinner and served as captain for the Drake wrestling team. He is a member of the Drake University Letterman’s Club and serves on the National Advisory Council for the Drake University College of Business and Public Administration.

Rita Harmening Pedersen, LA’81, GR’84, LW’84, is an attorney and abstracter in Jefferson, IA, where she’s been practicing law since 1984 and has served as Greene County Magistrate Judge since 1995.

She played on the women’s basketball team from 1977 to 1980, after which she continued to be involved with the program.

Pedersen has served on numerous committees for the Iowa Supreme Court, Iowa State Bar Association and Iowa Land Title Association. Pedersen was a Drake Alumni Scholar and recently became a member of

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the Drake National Alumni Scholarship Selection Committee.

IOWA LEGISLATOR, ALUMNA LIBBY JACOBS HONORED FOR PUBLIC SERVICE Iowa Rep. Libby Jacobs (R-West Des Moines) was honored for her commitment to public service through her professional and personal endeavors by Drake University’s Pi Alpha Alpha honor society last spring.

Jacobs, who earned a master’s degree in public administration from Drake in 1986, received the Distinguished Alumna Award at the Center for Graduate and Professional Studies’ annual luncheon honoring a graduate from the MPA program. She serves as community relations director at Principal Financial Group and is a member of Drake’s Board of Trustees.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 Homecoming Parents & Family Weekend 1946 Drake Salad Bowl Football Team Reunion Des Moines

October WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 Let’s DU Lunch Laura Hollingsworth, The Des Moines Register InPlay, Des Moines FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3 Francis Marion Drake Society Dinner (honoring annual donors of $1,000 or more) Des Moines FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 Journalism/Times-Delphic Alumni Reunion Des Moines

November WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 Let’s DU Lunch InPlay, Des Moines

April WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1 Let’s DU Lunch InPlay, Des Moines WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 Weaver Medal of Honor Lecture and Reception Des Moines FRIDAY, APRIL 24 – SATURDAY, APRIL 25 100th Annual Drake Relays FRIDAY, APRIL 24 Parents Board Meeting SATURDAY, APRIL 25 10-Year Cluster Reunion Classes of 1998, 1999, 2000 Des Moines 40-Year Cluster Reunion Classes of 1968, 1969, 1970 Des Moines All-Greek Alumni Reunion Des Moines

May FRIDAY, MAY 15 – SATURDAY, MAY 16 Reunion Classes of 1959, 1949, 1939 FRIDAY, MAY 15 50-Year Club Dinner Des Moines SATURDAY, MAY 16 Annual Alumni Awards Dinner Des Moines Law School Commencement

February

College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Hooding Ceremony

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 Let’s DU Lunch InPlay, Des Moines

SATURDAY, MAY 16 Undergraduate and Graduate Commencement

☛ For more information on Drake events visit: www.drake.edu/alumni

DRAKE

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The Magazine of Drake University

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High-Flying Designs ALUMNUS ARTIST RALLIES BIG-NAME ATHLETES IN SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS WHEN MOST PEOPLE THINK OF NIKE, they think of athletes like high-flying Michael Jordan or thunder-dunking LeBron James.

When Steve Harkin used to think of Nike, he thought of design. Then he thought of the company as his employer. Now Harkin, AS’95, thinks of the sports apparel giant as his No. 1 client.

Harkin is creative director for HERENOW Creative Network in Portland, OR. He oversees the look of Nike’s retail campaigns and displays. While he was a senior graphic designer at Nike, he worked on photo shoots for some of the NBA’s biggest stars.

“It was cool, they were very nice people and I’d say I was impressed with just about all of them,” he says.

THE WAY THE BALL BOUNCES Harkin was never a huge sports fan. But his first job after graduation was as a freelancer for Nike and it led to full-time employment.

After working for Nike, Inc., for 10 years, Harkin became creative director at HERENOW. With Nike as a top client, he still helps create the brand’s retail look.

The concepts for the Nike shoots became his. He would have a plan of what he wanted to do and try to get the athlete to cooperate. Most times, they did.

COOL KOBE Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was

among the athletes who impressed Harkin.

“He’s the first athlete I ever met who wanted to sit down and discuss my ideas,” Harkin says. “He spent a lot of time going over my notes and he always gave us really good stuff.”

It didn’t always go smoothly.

“You do run the risk of actually injuring them,” Harkin says, recalling a time a high-profile athlete was injured during a shoot. “People have to remember this impacts this guy’s whole organization.”

Harkin minored in painting and says that creative element gives him an advantage in the design world.

So does his education.

“I feel really lucky,” he says. “A lot of people don’t realize what Drake meant to me. I feel I was just at the right school at the right time me.”

— Jane Burns, JO’83

The Magazine of Drake University

DRAKE

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alumni update

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Picture 1: A law alumni event was held in Las Vegas. (From left)

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Rob Zeims, LW’96; Keith Miller, Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Law; and Derek Harmer, LW’96.

Picture 2: Barbara Harding, FA’78, (left) and Mary Jo Oakley, FA’78, reminisced at the 30-year cluster reunion held on campus in April. Picture 3: Pamela Henkel, JO’02, GR’07, and Linda Yang, ED, JO’08, at a campus dinner for former National Alumni Scholars. Picture 4: Katherine Glick and Mike Peddle, BN’81, at the former National Alumni Scholar dinner. Picture 5: Alumni gathered to cheer on the Bulldogs at one of the many MVC watch parties held around the country. (From left) Jill Pearson, JO’99; Kelly Caldbeck, PH’01; Tyson Lagoni, JO’97, and Jennifer Lagoni.

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DRAKE

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The Magazine of Drake University

SEND US YOUR PERSONAL SNAPSHOTS of the Drake moments you treasured most and we’ll publish them. Participate in the Drake alumni scrapbook program and help us develop a lively online record of Drake’s history. Your pics will be included in an online photo gallery and may be printed in Drake publications like Drake Blue, the University magazine.

WHAT TO SUBMIT • • •

Prints or digital photos (digitals should be 4x6-inch jpgs taken at high resolution).

Short descriptions of the images and names of folks pictured.

A self-addressed, stamped envelope if you’d like us to return your prints.

HOW TO SEND PICTURES 1

Upload your photos online at www.flickr.com/groups/drakealumniscrapbook

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Email your photos to: alumni.scrapbook@drake.edu

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Mail a CD or photo prints to: Calee Himes Drake University Marketing & Communications 2507 University Ave. Des Moines, IA 50311

QUESTIONS? Contact Calee Himes at 1-800-44-Drake, x3247 or alumni.scrapbook@drake.edu.

By providing Drake your photographs, you are granting the University permission to use them for various print and online marketing efforts.

Office of Alumni and Development 2507 University Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50311-4505

DRAKE’S MISSION is to provide an exceptional learning environment that prepares students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship.

The Drake experience is distinguished by collaborative learning among students, faculty, and staff and by the integration of the liberal arts and sciences with professional preparation.

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A Toast to New Grads SENIORS HONORED BY PRESIDENT AND FIRST LADY GRADUATING SENIORS GOT A TASTE of the kind of social event they might expect during their post-college life at a special wine and cheese reception hosted by President David and Maddy Maxwell. The annual May event, held at the President’s home, is a tradition begun by the Maxwells as a way of celebrating the students’ final days in Drake classrooms and their transition to the professional world.

Nonprofit Organization

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