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On Campus - Stories
July 14,
2000 Vol. 53, No. 6
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President Maxwell to ride RAGBRAI
2000
In a reprise of his "inaugural" ride last year in the Des Moines Register's
Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), Drake President David Maxwell plans
to pedal the entire RAGBRAI route again. This year's 450-mile trip
starts June 23 in Council Bluffs and ends July 29 in Burlington.
Along the way, President Maxwell will attend two receptions for alumni and friends
- one in Council Bluffs and the other in Ankeny.
Accompanying President Maxwell on the ride will be members of Team Drake, which includes
Maxwell's friend, Tim Ettridge; Michael Cheney, associate provost and director of
research; Phil Houle, assistant provost, information technology; Forrest Meyer, director
of Marketing and Communications; Dennis Pedrick, assistant professor of marketing;
and Jackie and Robert Hollingsworth, LA'59, of Bellingham, Wash.
Follow the President's progress with reports and photos posted frequently during
the trip at the University's Web site: www.drake.edu/events/ragbrai. In addition to his Web dispatches, President
Maxwell will be doing daily interviews about RAGBRAI on radio station KMXD Mix 100.3.
Drake plans
major announcement
On Monday, July 17, Drake President
David Maxwell will announce two multimillion-dollar gifts and the progress of Campaign
Drake, the University's $190 million fundraising effort. The news conference will
start at 3 p.m. in the Drake Law School Faculty Lounge.
Prof. Clark
goes to Washington
Hunter R. Clark, professor of law, has been named general counsel to the chief financial
officer of the District of Columbia and will play a key role in the continuing efforts
to restore the financial health of the nation's capital.
Professor Clark will take a leave of absence from his teaching responsibilities to
be the chief legal officer and right-hand adviser to Natwar Gandhi, who took over
as CFO in May and whose job it now is to return the district's budget to solvency
and respectability.
Clark (known as Rod to colleagues and friends) said he was honored by his appointment.
"It is a position of power and responsibility, a chance to make life better
for people who live and work and play in the district, and to set an example nationwide
for how cities should be run."
The District of Columbia's troubles began during Marion Barry's era as mayor when
spiraling deficits and management abuses forced the district into bankruptcy in 1995.
Congress reacted by stripping Barry and the locally elected home rule government
of their powers and placing the district in the hands of a federal financial control
board. Since then, the district has elected a new mayor, Anthony E. Williams. Under
his guidance, the district has made necessary budget and personnel cuts and instituted
a number of other changes in order to stand on its own once again.
Clark will work with Congress and the CFO to draft what will become the district's
new home rule act when self-governance is restored. He also will represent the district
on Wall Street in discussions with major investment banks on how to improve the city's
bond rating.
One of the requirements Congress put on the district before it can return to home
rule status is to deliver four balanced budgets in a row. Clark, who was in Washington
to talk to Gandhi several weeks ago, said the district is close to accomplishing
that. "This is a time of great excitement and hopefulness and prosperity in
the nation's capital. I could feel it in the air, hear it in my conversations with
people and see it in the building boom that is reshaping the city. I appreciate the
opportunity to be a part of it."
For Clark, it is a homecoming of sorts. He was born and raised in Washington and
returned there several years after receiving his undergraduate and law degrees from
Harvard University. From 1986 to 1991, Clark served as legal counsel to the city's
locally elected legislature, the Council of the District of Columbia. Among other
responsibilities, he drafted and reviewed legislation to determine its constitutionality
and legality, and advised council members on matters concerning budget, taxation
and revenue matters, general obligation bond acts, and land use and reapportionment.
Clark came to Drake Law School in 1993 and was tenured in 1999.
Law School Dean C. Peter Goplerud III said Clark's appointment reflects the quality
of his substantial talents. "This is a high-profile and prestigious appointment
and one that Rod is most deserving of. It is an outstanding opportunity for him to
make an enormous impact in the District of Columbia's future and to bring a wealth
of experience back to the classroom when he returns."
Clark left for Washington on Thursday, July 13, and will return to his duties at
the Law School in January 2002.
Prof. Sanders
to speak at National Press Club Monday
Arthur Sanders, associate professor of politics and international relations at Drake,
is one of several researchers who will speak at a forum at the National Press Club
in Washington, D.C., on Monday, July 17.
The forum will address the role and impact of so-called issue advocacy efforts in
the 2000 presidential primaries, and how these efforts foreshadow what will happen
in the general election. New information on the scope and forms of issue advocacy
used by the parties and outside groups will be revealed, and never-reported examples
of this under-the-radar campaign activity will be unveiled.
The forum will be hosted by professor David Magleby of Brigham Young University's
Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. He will release a new report written
by leading academic researchers in five presidential primary states. Among other
things, the findings in the report will illustrate the unprecedented level of campaign
activity by outside interest groups on behalf of candidates in key battleground states
including Iowa, South Carolina, Michigan, and New Hampshire. Sanders and some of
his students conducted much of the research in Iowa.
Senior campaign operatives from the Bush, Gore, McCain, Bradley, and Forbes campaigns
will be on hand to discuss and react to the findings.
A Student
Centered Learning Evironment
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T. Clancy McLaughlin,
a senior journalism major from Glencoe, Ill., takes the wheel to test drive a "Smart"
car in Germany.
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Thirteen Drake students and one student
from Colorado State University recently returned from an International Advertising
course on location in Germany and France as part of a Summer Studies Seminar.
Birgit Wassmuth, professor and chair of advertising, taught the course with the assistance
of her husband, David R. Thompson, Ph.D.
The group stayed in Tuebingen, Germany, and Strasbourg, France, and followed a tight
schedule with daily visits to advertising agencies and advertisers as well as a translation
agency that specializes in trilingual advertising copy.
Highlights of the trip were visits to three car manufacturers in nearby Stuttgart,
Germany: Mercedes, Porsche and Micro Compact Car, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler
that makes the recently launched "Smart" car.
Each manufacturer tailored its presentation to the students' majors in advertising,
marketing and international business. Each of the students and both faculty members
had the opportunity to test drive one of the "Smart" cars on German roads.
Then they participated in a brainstorming session led by the marketing director for
the "Smart" car that focused on how to best introduce the vehicle in the
United States. "Our students came up with some fantastic ideas, and the people
at Smart were very, very impressed," Wassmuth said.
One unexpected learning experience was a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg,
the new capital of Europe. The students experienced history in the making, were introduced
to multi-cultured politics, and were awestruck by the space-age architecture of the
European Parliament building, the Human Rights building and the Council of Europe
building.
For relaxation, inspiration, rejuvenation and reflection, the group took a boat ride
through Strasbourg, visited the National Art Gallery in Stuttgart, spent a day at
a true European spa in Bad Cannstadt, and toured the famous Strasbourg Cathedral.
Carrie Blumenfeld, JO'00, summed up her impressions of the class by saying, "So
much of culture cannot be truly grasped through a textbook definition, but rather
can be best understood from personal interaction. And because advertising is tailored
to speak within specific cultures, it is extremely helpful to study the differences
within international advertising abroad. I'm glad I had this opportunity."
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