On Campus - Stories
Oct. 17, 2003 Vol. 56, No. 17

• Three Helmick Commons projects dedicated
• Drake plans to make a difference
• Charitable campaign starts today
• Marsalis to meet students, give lecture and perform concert
• Law School partners with American Judicature Society
• Two musical performances to feature Halloween themes

Drake officials, alumni, friends and students recently gathered to dedicate three major landscaping projects in Helmick Commons: Quad Creek, Lane Plaza and Principal Plaza. These projects, totaling $570,000, were designed by Chicago landscape architect Tony Tyznik and the Des Moines firm of Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck.

"It has been almost two and a half years since we broke ground on the first project of Helmick Commons, Branson Plaza," said Drake Board of Trustees Chair David Miles, LA'79, GR'81. "At that time it was said that Bob Helmick's vision would transform the landscape of Drake University by redesigning the area where students live and play. And as you can see here today, the transformation is nearly complete and what was barren is now beautiful."

Quad Creek was made possible by a $100,000 gift from Peggy Fisher, FA'70, and her husband, Larry Stelter. Lane Plaza was funded by a $200,000 gift from Melvin and Joan Lane and Bill and Jean Lane in memory of their parents, Laurence W. and Ruth Bell Lane, a Drake trustee and daughter of former Drake President Hill M. Bell. Principal Plaza was built with a $270,000 gift from The Principal Financial Group Foundation.

Tony and Marilyn Tyznik enjoy viewing the completed projects.	Three students take a moment to relax at Principal Plaza, which was developed to transform the front of Olmsted Center from a circle driveway to a picturesque meeting point for both informal student groups and larger campus events. The driveway was removed and various types of seating were installed along with trees, plants and accent lighting.	Speaking at the dedication ceremony were, from left, Don Adams, special counsel for institutional advancement; Martha Fung, student body president; Larry Stelter and Peggy Fisher, donors of Quad Creek; President David Maxwell; Libby Jacobs, director of corporate relations for The Principal Financial Group and a member of the Drake Board of Trustees; and David Miles, chair of the Drake Board of Trustees.

Faculty and staff are invited to join students who will collect litter throughout the Drake Neighborhood as well as rake leaves, plant flower bulbs and paint the Bernie Lorenz Recovery House at 4014 Kingman Blvd. on national "Make a Difference Day" on Saturday, Oct. 25.

The students will work in two shifts: one from 8 to 10 a.m. and another from 10 a.m. to noon. Approximately 200 students are expected to volunteer that day, said Dolph Pulliam, director of community outreach and development.

The Bernie Lorenz Recovery House hasn't been painted in more than a decade, said Mary O'Riley, director of the facility, which provides housing and treatment programs for women recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction.

The 2003 Drake Charitable Giving Campaign for United Way of Central Iowa and Iowa Shares begins today (Friday, Oct. 17) with the distribution of information and pledge forms.

Last year, contributions from 310 faculty and staff members and retirees totaled nearly $34,000.

"We hope to increase participation this year," said Dolph Pulliam, coordinator of the 2003 campaign. "With the hard times people are facing today, there's a great need for us to help the less fortunate. We should make their lives better by sharing a little of what we have to offer."

The campaign will end Nov. 14. For more information about United Way, call Pulliam at x3804. For more information about Iowa Shares, call Denise Fasse-Beasley at x2905.

Wynton Marsalis

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and musician Wynton Marsalis will give the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the Drake Knapp Center. The lecture is titled "Leadership: The Creative Process."

Marsalis, who has earned nine Grammy Awards, is the first jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize in music. He received the prize for "Blood in the Fields," his epic oratorio on the subject of slavery. Marsalis serves as artistic director of the internationally recognized Jazz at Lincoln Center Program. Since his debut album was released in 1982, Marsalis' numerous jazz and classical recordings have sold nearly 5 million copies worldwide. He has taken his jazz groups to 30 countries on six continents. Time magazine named Marsalis among America's 25 most influential people in 1996.

Following his lecture, Marsalis and his band will perform a concert at 9:30 p.m. on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium. No tickets remain for the free concert.

While at Drake on Wednesday, Marsalis will discuss his music with members of the Drake Jazz Ensembles at 2 p.m. in Levitt Hall.
The Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible by a gift from Melva and the late Martin Bucksbaum.

When the dust finally settles and the sounds of construction crews go silent, more will be added to Drake University than a newly remodeled building along University Avenue. The end of construction will signal the beginning of a new partnership between Drake and the American Judicature Society (AJS).

Started in 1913, AJS is a nonpartisan national advocacy group that conducts and disseminates research to support reform in areas such as judicial conduct, judicial election abuses and court procedures. In addition to research, AJS offers educational programs and operates several independent centers to facilitate research and discussion of judicial issues.

AJS moved from Chicago to Drake's campus on June 1 and began working in temporary quarters until the organization's new offices were completed. With the support of Dwight D. Opperman, LW'51, Drake renovated the three-story 19th-century house at 2700 University Ave. that served as the Drake president's residence until 1951.

The structure, renamed The Opperman Center, will be officially dedicated at a ceremony at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Iowa Judicial Building. Tours of the new Opperman Center will be offered prior to the official dedication program.

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer will speak at the dedication ceremony. Other speakers will include Opperman; Drake President David Maxwell; Drake Law School Dean David Walker; AJS Executive Director Allan Sobel; Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Louis Lavorato, BN'59, LW'62; AJS President Larry Hammond; U.S. Court of Appeals Judge David Hansen; and AJS Board Chair Dawn Clark Netsch.

" We are very grateful to Dwight Opperman for his commitment to both Drake and AJS, and for his generosity and creativity in bringing us together," President Maxwell said. "The collaboration between Drake and AJS will enrich both organizations in important ways, and we are very enthusiastic about the opportunities that AJS's presence affords our students and faculty."

Walker described the partnership between Drake and AJS as mutually beneficial. "The mission of AJS certainly identifies common areas with Drake," he added. "The American Judicature Society and the Law School are dedicated to the effective administration of justice."

Walker sees a busy future for both the Law School and AJS as a result of the move onto the Drake campus. Already, Sobel, executive director of AJS, has become an adjunct professor of law, has been asked to sit on the Law School Board of Counselors and has approached the Drake Law Review about publishing research conducted by AJS in the Law School's scholastic magazine.

" We see nothing but a win-win situation, a tremendous opportunity for both organizations to maximize the potential of each by working together and creating opportunities for the students of Drake University and the faculty and staff of the American Judicature Society," Sobel said.

In addition, Drake Law School is working closely with AJS to create opportunities for joint scholarly initiatives, including law faculty writing for Judicature, the publication of AJS.

Both the Law School and AJS see many opportunities for students because of the new partnership. Walker said he and Sobel have talked about the development of student internships with AJS, and are considering the possibility of a joint research project on a national scale where law students would participate.

" We have one Drake Law student who's working for us already, and we intend to hire more with the additional office space," Sobel said.

As for the future of the relationship between Drake and AJS, Sobel remarked: "I see AJS being permanently housed in Des Moines and having a continued affiliation with Drake. I see us working with the Drake faculty and students and identifying areas where the criminal and civil justice systems can be improved - hopefully working to improve them together and building on this foundation we have created."

The Drake Symphony Orchestra, John Canarina conducting, will perform the opening concert of its 2003-04 season at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium. Canarina is professor of conducting and director of orchestral activities.

The program will mark the local orchestral debut of pianist Nicholas Roth, who will be heard in Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto. With the Halloween season in mind, the orchestra will offer Bernard Herrmann's Suite from "The Devil and Daniel Webster." Herrmann gained fame as a composer of film music, especially for the films of Alfred Hitchcock, most notably "Psycho."

Opening the program will be Verdi's rousing Overture to "La Forza del Destino," and the concert will conclude with the equally rousing Trojan March from the opera "The Trojans" by Berlioz. Admission is free.

The Evening of Swing Halloween Ball will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31, in Parents Hall, Olmsted Center.

Dancers will swing to the tunes of Drake Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Andrew Classen, associate professor of trumpet and director of jazz studies at Drake. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students.