FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 1, 2002

CONTACT: Lisa Lacher

DRAKE UNIVERSITY JOINS LAKESIDE LAB CONSORTIUM

Drake University recently became the first private institution to join the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory consortium, a 140-acre campus and nature preserve on the west shore of West Okoboji Lake. The consortium is run cooperatively by Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa through the Iowa State Board of Regents.

By joining the consortium, Drake University gains opportunities for students to obtain hands-on experience working with Iowa's natural and human environments through field-oriented summer courses. The lab also and provides research facilities and support for graduate students and faculty.

Two Drake faculty members will teach courses at the lab next summer. They are Thomas Rosburg, associate professor of biology and co-director of the environmental science and policy program; and Keith Summerville, assistant professor of environmental science and policy.

"All Lakeside courses are total immersion courses that run eight hours a day, five days a week for four weeks in a learning community setting," Rosburg said. "To me, it's an ideal place to learn. Having 35 courses open to Drake students at Lakeside is the equivalent of adding seven more faculty members. This will help us attract students and make our biology and environmental science and policy programs stronger, richer and deeper."

Officials from Drake, the Iowa State Board of Regents, Lakeside Laboratory, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa gathered Thursday at Drake for the signing of the consortium agreement. "I can't tell you how delighted we are to be the first private university to join the consortium," Drake Provost Ron Troyer said at the signing ceremony.

Arnold van der Valk, director of Lakeside Laboratory, noted that Lakeside was started in 1909 by University of Iowa professor Thomas H. Macbride as a private summer field station that served the state's public and private colleges and universities. In 1936 Lakeside became a state institution and today it is run cooperatively by the Regents institutions and the Iowa State Board of Regents. "We're going back to our roots and rededicating ourselves to the purposes set forth by Thomas Macbride," Van der Valk said. "It's certainly appropriate for Drake - the premiere private school in the state - to be the first private institution to join the Lakeside consortium."

For more information about Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, visit http://www.lakeside.iastate.edu