On Campus - Stories
February 7, 2003 Vol. 55, No. 31

• Local families offer friendship, gain new views on world issues
• Davidson joins Drake University Board of Trustees
• Bucksbaum Lecture rescheduled for April 15
• 32nd Annual Juried Student Exhibition to open Feb. 23
• Benefit concert set for Saturday
• Symphony to perform Feb. 22
• Join the Walk to Cure Diabetes
• Nature writer to speak Feb. 20
• Drake Theatre to present 'The Glass Menagerie'

Jerry and Carol Amerson pose with their "Kenyan kids" - Jane Gachugu, left, and Lilian Wathondu.

Nearly 100 families in the Des Moines area open their hearts and homes to Drake's international students each year through the American Family Friendship Program.

The program, which began more than 20 years ago, provides about 120 international students with a home away from home, a peek into American family life and broadens world views for both students and host families, says Sue Holcomb, who coordinates the program with her husband, Chuck.

The Holcombs are in the middle of their third year as the host family of Nadia Svirydzenka, a junior psychology major from Belarus. "They are like my parents in America," Svirydzenka says. "This program is a great way for international students to find a place in America. It's so nice to have a family that loves you and takes care of you. The program also gives us a chance to meet other international students."
Everyone participating in the program is invited to a fall picnic and a winter potluck. The recent potluck at First Federated Church drew approximately 150 people, including Jerry and Carol Amerson of Des Moines and their "Kenyan kids" - Lilian Wathondu and Jane Gachugu, both graduate students in the College of Business and Public Administration.

"It makes you feel at home to have a family here," says Wathondu, who is earning a master's degree in public administration.
"They call us when they have a challenging situation and need help. We think that's great," Jerry Amerson says. "We also have debates about international issues. We have different ideas about a lot of things. I'm pretty conservative, but Lilian and Jane have helped me to see things from another perspective. They've made me realize that America has to do more than carry a big stick and throw money around."

Viv and Hud Lainson, coordinators of the recent potluck, also recruit local families to join the program. "Our world is in a lot of turmoil right now," Hud Lainson says. "Programs like this that promote international understanding are more important than ever."
Gretchen Olson, director of international programs and services at Drake, agrees. "Our international students help all of us as Americans know the world better and see that we have a lot in common," she says.

Donald F. Davidson

Donald F. Davidson, PH'50, has been elected to serve a three-year term on the Drake University Board of

Trustees.
Davidson, a retired pharmacist and sales director with Abbott Laboratories Hospital Products Division, brings to the board a wealth of management and fundraising experience. He will serve on the board's Academic Affairs and Institutional Advancement committees.
After graduating from Drake in 1950, Davidson practiced community pharmacy in Illinois, and then served in the Army as a hospital pharmacist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 1955, he launched a distinguished 32-year career with Abbott Laboratories. Davidson excelled in sales and marketing and also earned his MBA from the University of Chicago while working full-time at Abbott. After several promotions,

Davidson was named director of field sales for the Hospital Products Division. He retired from Abbott Laboratories in 1987 as western area sales director, and he now resides in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

At Drake, Davidson is a member of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences National Advisory Board and the President's Circle Board, for which he served as national chair from 1995 to 1997. He was a member of the Center for Science and Pharmacy Education Fundraising Committee from 1991 to 1994, he served on Drake's National Commission II, and he
co-chaired the fundraising effort for his 50-year class reunion.

Davidson has received numerous honors, including Drake's Alumni Loyalty Award in 1995 and an Alumni Achievement Award in 1996 from the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He recently was selected for the 2003 Lawrence C. and Delores M. Weaver Medal of Honor, an award presented annually by the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Davidson also is a major benefactor of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, which established the Donald F. Davidson Pharmacy Practice Laboratory in Fitch Hall in his honor.

As a private pilot with instrument rating and experience flying all over the country, Davidson owns his own plane and occasionally flies himself to Drake. He also is an active church leader and has served as church council president, foundation trust chair and chancel choir president.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss will give the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture on April 15 instead of April 17 as originally scheduled. The date has been changed to avoid a conflict with the Passover holiday. The lecture, titled "Democracy in a Time of Crisis" will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Drake Knapp Center.

As part of National Library Week (April 6-12), the Drake Libraries are encouraging students, faculty and staff to read at least a section of Beschloss' most recent book - The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945. The section recommended by Beschloss covers pages 38-67.

Cowles Library will be receiving several copies of the book soon, said Susan Breakenridge, coordinator of the Bucksbaum Lecture Series. "We also are working on copyright approval to make it available as an electronic reserve item," she added.

"A Shift in Perception" by senior Hannah Montford of St. Louis, acrylic on canvas.

The 32nd annual Juried Student Art Exhibition at Drake University will be on view Sunday, Feb. 23, through Friday, March 28, at the Anderson Gallery in the Harmon Fine Arts Center. The opening reception will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Feb. 23 and the awards ceremony will start at 1:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

The exhibition, sponsored by the Friends of Drake Arts, features artwork produced by students in Drake's Department of Art and Design. The works include beautiful body studies, elegant graphic design works, playful interior design projects, large-scale paintings, prints that investigate concepts of form and color and sculptures that show pride in craftsmanship and interest in simple form.

The 49 works in the show were selected from more than 166 pieces submitted. San Francisco-based freelance curator Colleen Vojvodich served as juror for the exhibition and selected the award-winning works.

Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, visit www.drake.edu/andersongallery or call x1994.

The Drake Choir Benefit Concert on Saturday, Feb. 8, will help support the choir's May 2004 European tour. The concert will start at 8 p.m. on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium.

The choir as a whole as well as individual singers will perform Broadway show tunes, pop songs and vocal jazz under the direction of Aimee Beckmann-Collier, director of choral activities. Tickets are $5 for students and $25 for others.

On Saturday, Feb. 22, the Drake Symphony Orchestra will perform one of the true "blockbusters" of the orchestral repertoire, Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." The concert will start at 8 p.m. on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main. Admission is free.
The concert will showcase Drake senior Megan Stine, winner of this year's Drake Soloist Competition. She will be featured in the Trombone Concerto by Danish composer Launy Grondahl. A resident of Des Moines, Stine is majoring in music performance.
The bicentennial of the birth of Berlioz will be observed with a performance of the orchestral excerpts from "The Damnation of Faust." The orchestra also will celebrate President George Washington's birthday by opening the concert with the overture "McKonkey's Ferry" by George Antheil, a musical depiction of Washington's crossing of the Delaware River in 1776.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to join Drake's team at the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes on Saturday, March 1, in the downtown skywalk system.

The walk will raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which has provided more than $500 million to diabetes research worldwide.

For more information and registration, contact Drake Wellness Director Mollie Keitges at x2027.

Barry Lopez, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "arguably the nation's premier nature writer," will speak at Drake on Thursday, Feb. 20. He will read from his work and discuss literature and the environment at 7 p.m. in Bulldog Theater in Olmsted Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Lopez is author of Arctic Dreams, which won the National Book Award. His books also include Of Wolves and Men, About This Life, Field Notes, Light Action in the Caribbean and Crow and Weasel. He is a regular contributor to The Paris Review and Harper's.

Lopez' speech at Drake is sponsored by the University's English Department and Writers and Critics Series, the Biology Department, the Environmental Science and Policy Program, Interdisciplinary Programs and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Drake Theatre to present 'The Glass Menagerie' Drake University Theatre will present "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams at 8 p.m. Feb. 13, 14 and 15 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16, in Studio 55 of the Harmon Fine Arts Center. Based, in part, on the author's own life, "The Glass Menagerie" is the beautifully tragic character study of love and loss in St. Louis in 1937. Tom Wingfield is the grown son, still living at home and supporting his family but desperate to get away and see the world. His sister, Laura, challenged both physically and emotionally, suffers from debilitating shyness that causes her to find escape in the delicate glass figurines she collects. Amanda, the family matriarch, longs for the ways of the Old South and the glory of her youth, projecting her dreams and her desires onto her children. The plot turns on Amanda's desperate attempt to find a husband for Laura, which leads Tom to invite a co-worker home to dinner. Drake's production is directed by Michael Rothmayer, assistant professor of theatre arts. Tickets are $4 for adults, $2 for senior citizens and students and free with a Drake ID. Reservations are required. For reservations, call the Drake Fine Arts Box Office at x3841.
	From left: Ashley Sinclair, Anne Thornton and Steve Archer star in Drake's production of "The Glass Menagerie."