On Campus - Stories July 27 , 2001 - Vol. 54, No. 8 Drake preapres for Iowa Private College Week Anderson gallery announces new director, fall exhibitions Canadian teachers come to Drake for continuing education Torgerson plans trip to Cuba

Drake University is preparing to welcome hundreds of prospective students and their families to campus during the third annual Iowa Private College Week, Aug. 6-10.
Last year 339 prospective students visited Drake during Iowa Private College Week, up from 192 the previous year.

"Every year Drake has had the largest number of campus visits of any of the 29 participating private colleges and universities," said Deneen Dygert, associate director of admission. "We would like to continue that success by increasing both attendance and the conversion rate."
During the first Iowa Private College Week in 1999, Drake welcomed 170 seniors, admitted 78 of them and enrolled 31, for an overall conversion rate of 18 percent. Last year, of the 170 seniors who came for Iowa Private College Week, 78 were admitted and 45 enrolled, for an overall conversion rate of 20 percent.

During Iowa Private College Week, each campus conducts free daily tours and information sessions at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Students will receive a passport to be stamped after each campus tour. Application fees are waived at every campus visited. With three or more stamps, any participating Iowa college or university will waive application fees.

Students can preregister online at a new Web site: www.DontBeANumber.com. This site also includes toll-free contact numbers for all Iowa private colleges, a college finder to help students identify which campuses might suit them best and financial aid information, including case studies and tips on comparing college costs.

"Participants will find out first-hand that an education at Iowa's private colleges and universities is financially feasible," said Carl Zylstra, president of Dordt College and chairman of the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. "Currently, 94 percent of our students receive financial aid from our schools, and we are very focused on making sure our graduates carry as little debt as possible."

Every prospective student visiting Drake during Iowa Private College Week will meet President David Maxwell as well as a faculty member, and take a campus tour with a student ambassador. "We are very fortunate to have so many faculty and staff participating in student recruitment," Dygert said. "I think we do an extraordinary job."

Many businesses in the Drake Neighborhood are supporting Iowa Private College Week at Drake. DrugTown is giving the University a steep discount so that each visitor can be presented with bottled water at the start of campus tours. In addition, the following businesses are offering discounts to Iowa Private College Week participants who present their passports: Beggar's Banquet, Campbell's Nutrition Center, the D-Shoppe, Drake Diner, Friedrich's World Coffees, Iowa Bakery Cafe, McDonald's at 30th Street and Forest Avenue, University Book Store and the Varsity Cafe.

Cira Pasqual Marquina strolls along the arcade outside the Anderson Gallery.

Drake University's Anderson Gallery has gained a new director: Cira Pascual Marquina, a native of Spain and former assistant curator of the George Washington University Dimock Gallery in Washington, D.C. She succeeds Marie Louise Kane as director of the Anderson Gallery.

Born in Zaragoza, Spain, Pascual Marquina moved with her family to Bloomington, Ind. when she was a teenager. She graduated from high school in Bloomington, where she went on to earn a bachelor's degree in art history and museum studies at Indiana University.

Pascual Marquina began her career as a curatorial intern at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., then became assistant curator of the George Washington University Dimock Gallery. There she researched, coordinated and installed more than 10 exhibitions, including "Goya: Los Caprichos" and "J.S.G. Boggs Regarding George Washington: The Transactional Image."

She moved to Des Moines this spring after her husband, Chris Gilbert, joined the Des Moines Art Center as associate curator. "I'm making my Midwest comeback," she said with a chuckle.
Pascual Marquina sees the Anderson Gallery as "a dynamic exhibition space -- a showcase for contemporary and historical art." One of her goals is to develop some interdisciplinary exhibitions that involve not only the Department of Art and Design but also the entire University. "It would be great to have some projects that bring a major national or international artist to campus to work with students on a collaborative installation," she said. "There are so many things we could do. It's exhilarating." She also wants to increase the Anderson Gallery's presence in the Des Moines community as a whole.

"Exciting and diverse" are the words that Pascual Marquina uses to describe the Anderson Gallery's fall exhibition schedule.

The gallery will open its fall season with "AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers." This nationally touring exhibition was organized in collaboration with the American Institute of Graphic Arts and will feature books and book covers selected in a national competition juried by a group of prominent graphic designers. This annual competition recognizes excellence in book design and production. The exhibition opened in New York City, then traveled to Chicago and Orlando, Fla. It will open at the Anderson Gallery on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. The exhibition will continue through Sept. 30 and then move on to Houston and Minneapolis.

"Bio-Logic II: Kathleen King's Mixed Media Work" will open with a reception for the Chicago-based artist from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5. King's mixed media pieces are inspired by organic and biological fragments. Her work reveals the endless variety of nature. She uses photographs, magazine clippings as well as painted fragments to create a wide range of abstracted and evocative images. The exhibition will continue through Nov. 2.

The fall season will conclude with an exhibition of paintings by Liz Ward of Castroville, Texas, and large, kinetic (moving) sculptures by Mo Neal of Lincoln, Neb. The opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9. Both artists are interested in the nature and the passage of time, and the mark that time leaves on objects. Neal's sculptures have recurring themes such as bodily mechanics and structural space. Ward's work, which includes watercolor and intaglio pieces, is refined and whimsical. The exhibition will run through Dec. 16.

Valerie Knowles, a sculptor from Albuquerque, N.M., will teach sculpture at Drake during the 2001-2002 school year and her installation work will be exhibited at the Anderson Gallery. The opening reception for the exhibition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, 2002. Knowles deals with female imagery in her work. She creates elaborate installations that investigate the nature of regeneration and rebirth. The exhibition will continue through Feb. 22, 2002.

The Anderson Gallery is located in the Harmon Fine Arts Center. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, call x2268 or e-mail cira.pascual-marquina@drake.edu.

Forty-five elementary teachers from Ontario, Canada, will be earning graduate credit for continuing education at Drake from Friday, July 27, through Wednesday, Aug. 1.

For the last six years, the Drake School of Education Extension Department has managed a contract with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario to be the sole provider of graduate credit for the federation's continuing education programs. This is the first summer that Ontario teachers have come to Drake for professional development.

Jon Torgerson, professor of philosophy, recently announced plans to take a group of non-students on a trip to Cuba over winter break to study the history of religion in that country and its present status.

The group will visit churches and speak with church authorities in Havana and Trinadad. To learn about Afro-Cuban religions, the group will visit a museum in Regla as well as the Museum of Africa.

Cost of the trip is estimated at $1,600. For more information and registration, contact Torgerson at 271-2907 or jon.torgerson@drake.edu.

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