|
On Campus
- Stories
August
15,
2003 Vol. 56, No. 8
 |
| Ronald Bakari will start his new job Sept. 1. |
"If there's one thing I do," said Dr. Ronald Bakari, newly appointed dean of students, "it's play hoops. I look forward to that [at Drake]."
Basketball has been a part of Bakari's life since his childhood in Milwaukee, where he played in city and church leagues. Standing 6-foot-4 and noting poor dribbling skills, Bakari, 46, fondly recalls his time in Denmark in the mid-1980s, where he played and coached for the Copenhagen Basketball Association, leading a team of teenage girls to a national championship. He speaks of pickup games (he hopes for many at Drake), learning to shoot ("As I've gotten older, my jumpshot's gotten better"), and a time long ago when he could throw one down.
"I used
to be able to get up there to dunk," he said. "Not anymore.
But I used to."
Bakari, whose deanship was announced in late July, officially begins his
new position Sept. 1, at which time he'll have much more than basketball
on his mind.
Replacing Jerry Price, who resigned last semester after 18 years, Bakari
will supervise all student life programs and coordinate the personnel services
and
programs related to the University's student development efforts, including
Residential Life, Greek Life and Student Government.
"
There was nothing to think about" when he was offered the position of dean
of students, Bakari said. Despite having applications pending at other universities,
he immediately accepted, citing Drake's academic reputation, extracurricular
activities and enjoyable people as reasons that the decision was simple. "And
it's Division 1 [athletics]," he said with a laugh.
Coming from Oneonta, New York, where he was assistant dean of first-year
programs at Hartwick College, Bakari seems eager to move to Des Moines,
where he looks
forward to being able to "maneuver easily." Upon settling in, he
hopes to eventually take advantage of Des Moines' proximity to his hometown,
as well
as Minneapolis and Chicago, where he has friends and relatives. His wife, Dr.
Rosenna Bakari, will be leaving her faculty position at the State University
of New York College at Oneonta, so that she and their home-schooled children
can move along with Dean Bakari. Initially, she planned to spend the semester
in Oneonta with daughter Nailah, 9, and son Sentwali, 11, but the couple decided
that the family's transition would be easier if everyone arrived together.
Bakari and his family are avid travelers, having recently visited Canada
and Maine, among other places, where they spent time outdoors, took photographs,
and did "too much shopping." They frequently attend jazz concerts,
including recent shows by Nancy Wilson and George Benson. Like their father,
who is trained on piano and once played trombone in a funk band called The
High Choice of Elements, Nailah and Sentwali are taking music lessons.
With his many plans, Bakari's family will likely have to put some family
time on hold. Besides hoping to attend school events and make himself available
to
each of Drake's many student organizations, he plans a large amount of
outreach programs, not only for the University but also for the surrounding
community
and Des Moines public schools.
"
I'd be interested in developing a leadership academy program with minorities
in Des Moines middle schools and high schools," Bakari said, adding that
such a program could be created in conjunction with the Don Adams Leadership
Academy. By enhancing Drake's role in the community, Bakari said, public school
students might become interested in higher education, possibly even at Drake.
Bakari's educational and professional experiences have been plentiful and
diverse. He completed a Ph.D. in college student personnel administration
from the University
of Northern Colorado, as well as a master's degree in education and a bachelor
of
science from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Besides his assistant
deanship at Hartwick College, Bakari has been the director of the Office
of Multicultural
Student Services and Center at U.W.-
La Crosse, a residence hall director at the State University of New York
at Oswego and the assistant director of admissions at Texas Christian University.
He has
had assistantships and internships in Colorado and Minnesota.
With such an impressive background and so many plans, one can't help but
wonder if Bakari will even have time for the game he loves.
Construction workers severed communication lines near
Goodwin-Kirk Residence Hall Monday, leaving the entire University
without incoming
and outgoing phone
service. As callers received busy signals and staff members exhausted cell
phone minutes, the Telecommunications Office was hard at work with telephone
repair technicians, stepping up to restore service by the end of the day.
"
I have to give [the University's telephone service provider] Qwest a big pat
on the back," said Bill Jensen, senior telecommunications analyst. "I
thought that the phone system would be down for three days."
Jensen said the problem with the phone lines began on Saturday, when AJ
Allen Mechanical Contractors, the company installing new heating and cooling
pipes
for G-K, unearthed six unmarked pipes while digging between G-K and Hubbell
Dining Hall. Two pipes had been crushed and the rest needed to be cut;
the contractors needed confirmation that the phone system would not be
disrupted.
A foreman called Jensen, who found no immediate problems and advised them
to stop for the day and meet with him Monday morning.
They met early Monday and confirmed that three of the remaining 4-inch
pipes did contain copper telephone wiring, but thought that it was from
a now-abandoned
system. After cutting through the two smaller wires and finding no complications,
workers severed a copper wire made to handle all of the University's Qwest
service. Upon cutting that line, which was connected to the Qwest line
that serves the whole campus, the phone system was knocked out.
"
We found out because some of the lines had alarms," said Qwest spokeswoman
Nancy DeVinay-McNeley. "When the lines were cut, the alarms went off,
and we sent a technician out right away." She said that approximately
10 Qwest technicians and supervisors spent the day working and that lines were
repaired by 8 p.m. Jensen said the system was fully functional at about 11:40
p.m.
Drake has lost phone service before, Jensen said, "but the University
has never had its service from Qwest completely shut off." The campus
network, housed in the basement of Jewett Residence Hall, was unaffected, making
it possible to make calls within Drake's campus only, and the University Web
site was updated with a cell phone number to call in emergencies. Jensen was
on campus until 1 a.m. Tuesday dealing with the outage and many other important
projects the Telecommunications Office must finish before classes start on
Aug. 25.
DeVinay-McNeley said Qwest typically deals with four cut lines daily during
summer months of heavy construction, though few are as complicated as Monday's
outage. She said that Iowa law requires contractors and construction crews
to make at least one phone call to a phone company before digging, in order
to locate all service lines in hopes of avoiding situations like this.
Qwest is still investigating the incident, to determine both costs of the
repair
and whether the construction company made the necessary phone call.
"
We were told to cut the lines, so that's what we did," said Fred Miller,
vice president of AJ Allen, who did not comment on whether a call was made
to Qwest before digging. "It was probably an accident on many people's
parts."
Drake University extends a warm welcome to the following 33 new faculty members:
College of Arts & Sciences
Nancy Berns, assistant professor of
sociology.
Ann Cravero, visiting assistant professor of voice.
Daniel Emery, visiting assistant professor of rhetoric.
Graham Foust, assistant professor of English.
Anthony Humrichouser, visiting assistant professor of theatre arts.
Erika Leake, assistant professor of flute.
Art Locke, visiting assistant professor of art.
Yasmina Din Madden, visiting assistant professor of English.
Craig Owens, assistant professor of English.
James Romain, visiting assistant professor of saxophone and jazz
studies.
Nicholas Roth, assistant professor of piano.
Eric Saylor, assistant professor of music history.
Hernando Trujillo, visiting assistant professor of chemistry.
Elizabeth Younger, assistant professor of English.
College of Business & Public
Administration
Mary Edrington, assistant professor of marketing.
Andrew Norman, assistant professor of marketing.
Daniel M. Norris, associate professor of accounting and information
systems.
Sven H. Sinclair, visiting assistant professor of actuarial science.
Troy Strader, associate professor of information systems.
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Koji Fuse, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication.
Law School
Bruce Miller, visiting professor of law.
Lisa Penland, assistant professor of legal writing.
Danielle Shelton, assistant professor of legal writing.
College of Pharmacy & Health
Sciences
Hassan Almoazen, assistant professor of pharmaceutics.
Anisa Fornoff, instructor of pharmacy.
Johnna Neary, instructor of pharmacy.
Melissa Schroeder, assistant professor of pharmacy practice.
School of
Education
David Darnell, associate professor of education.
Terri Deems, visiting assistant professor of education.
Eric Johnson, assistant professor of education.
Jill Caton Johnson, assistant professor of education.
Wade Leuwerke, visiting assistant professor of education.
Barbara Williams, visiting associate professor of education.
The Drake University/Community
Chorus, which is open to all interested singers without audition,
will begin rehearsing for its Nov. 16 performance
of "Carmina
Burana" by Carl Orff, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, in Monroe Recital Hall
in the Harmon Fine Arts
Center.
The choir rehearses each Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m., under the direction
of Aimee Beckmann-Collier, director of choral studies.
For more information, contact Beckmann-Collier at x2841 or aimee.beckmann-collier@drake.edu.
New Drake men's and women's basketball coaches Tom Davis and Amy Stephens will be the featured speakers at the annual Drake Athletic Department Corn Feed and Golf Outing on Monday, Aug. 25. This attraction, which kicks off the Drake athletic season, is open to the public. For reservations, call xDOGS.
The four-person best-shot golf outing will start at 12:30 p.m. at the Willow Creek Golf Course.
The Corn Feed will be held at the Val
Air Ballroom in West Des Moines with a social hour starting at
5:30 p.m. Dinner will begin
at 6:30 p.m., followed
by the program at 7:30 p.m. Other Drake coaches who are expected to
speak are football coach Rob Ash and softball coach Rich Calvert.
Cost for playing in the golf outing and attending the Corn Feed is
$95, which includes golf cart, gift and dinner. The cost for attending
the
Corn Feed is
$20.