Two students compete for Rhodes Scholarships
Two Drake University students have been named Iowa state finalists in the competition for Rhodes Scholarships. They are Ajenai Clemmons, a senior from Greenwood Village, Colo., and Zachary Nunn, a senior from Altoona.
"It's rare for Drake to have two students selected as state finalists for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarships," said Julian Archer, professor of history and director of post-graduate fellowships at Drake. "Having two finalists shows that Drake is attracting exceptional students and that our faculty members are doing an excellent job of refining the intellect of the students who come here."
As part of the
state-level competition, Clemmons and Nunn will be interviewed by the Iowa
Selection Committee for Rhodes Scholarships next Wednesday in Des Moines.
The student selected by the committee to represent Iowa will advance to the
district competition. Each district's selection committee may elect up to
four Rhodes Scholars. Iowa is part of district six, which also encompasses
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
The Rhodes Scholarships were established by Cecil Rhodes in 1903 to bring
able students from throughout the English-speaking world and beyond to study
at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Each year, 32 U.S. citizens are
selected as Rhodes Scholars.
"This is a huge honor," Clemmons said of her selection as a state finalist. "I hope I can advance to the next level. I would love to opportunity to study at Oxford. I would pursue a Master of Philosophy in Latin American Studies."
Clemmons is majoring in international relations, history and Spanish, and has studied abroad in Chile and Argentina. She serves as president of the Drake Honors Council and as task force director of the Drake Student Activities Board. Last spring she funded "Storybook Time," a partnership with local elementary schools in which Drake students read books to children. She also has been a legislative assistant at the Iowa State capitol and an administrative assistant to the executive director of a nonprofit organization, Urban Dreams.
"It is inspiring,
but also challenging to be selected as a state finalist," said Nunn,
who hopes to become a foreign service officer in the State Department. "There
are many different graduate schools that could prepare me well for working
with the State Department, though unquestionably the Rhodes Scholarship provides
an opportunity unrivaled anywhere in the world."
Nunn is majoring
in international relations, political science and law, politics and society.
He is president of the Drake Student Activities Board, chancellor of the Delta
Omicron Kappa honor society and producer of a campus TV show. He is active in
politics, serving as deputy finance director for Congressman Greg Ganske's U.S.
Senate campaign. He also has been a legislative aide to Iowa State Rep. Beverly
nelson and a parliamentary assistant to Peter Bottomley, a member of the House
of Commons in London.
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Ann Pospishil, left, and Dede Manley take a break from hanging paper cranes in the Student Lounge. |
In response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Drake Art Club organized "Cranes for Peace," a project that challenged Drake students to fold 1,000 origami paper cranes as a symbol of their desire for peace.
The idea for the project stemmed from a Japanese legend that claims an individual who folds 1,000 paper cranes will be granted one wish by the gods. The legend has become widely known through a popular children's book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
The book tells the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl with leukemia who folds paper cranes in hopes of being granted her wish to be well again. Since her story was published, the paper crane has become an international symbol of peace.
Drake students responded to the Art Club's challenge by folding approximately 2,000 squares of paper into origami birds with long necks, long legs and long bills. "I'm just amazed and impressed with the response," says Dede Manley, vice president of the Art Club. "We doubled our original goal."
The paper cranes
are now on display in the lobby and student lounge of Olmsted Center. At the
end of the fall semester, the cranes will be donated to the Red Cross, which
will send them to a New York City memorial site.
Drake to present two all-Beethoven concerts
Drake University's four choral ensembles and the Drake Symphony Orchestra will present all-Beethoven concerts on Sunday, Dec. 2, and Monday, Dec. 3, at 8 p.m. in the Performing Arts Hall in the Harmon Fine Arts Center.
Professor John Canarina, director of orchestral activities, will conduct the Drake Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 in D Major. Ann Howard Jones of Boston University will serve as guest conductor of the orchestra and choruses in performances of Beethoven's Mass in C Major.
Jones is a faculty member at Boston University and the conductor of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Choruses. She was Robert Shaw's assistant with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Choruses and served as musical assistant with the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers. She has taught at the University of Georgia and the University of Illinois, and at Wittenberg and Emory Universities. A native of Cresco, Iowa, Jones earned her undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Iowa.
Tickets for the
concerts are $3 for students and $5 for non-students. They are available through
the Drake Fine Arts Box Office at x3841.
Prof. Nebbe counsels victims of Sept. 11 attacks on WTC
Anger, frustration and a sense of hopelessness pervaded the Red Cross center in New York City where Linda Nebbe recently spent nearly two weeks counseling victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Nebbe, assistant professor of education, completed two days of training before going to New York City on Nov. 14 to volunteer as a Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Services worker. She was assigned to the Red Cross center in the Pier 94 Family Service Center that houses 50 agencies assisting victims of Sept. 11. She worked 12-hour days, counseling people who came to the Red Cross for help because they had lost their homes or jobs.
"More than two months had passed since Sept. 11, and people were coming down from the adrenaline rush and automatic pilot that had gotten them through the first stages of the disaster," Nebbe said. "Many of them had used up their savings and desperately needed money. There was a lot of anger and frustration as well as a pervasive sense of hopelessness. When things don't improve in two months, you begin to feel that they'll never get better."
An expert on
animal-assisted therapy, professor Nebbe was instrumental in persuading the
Red Cross to expand the use of therapy dogs at the Pier 94 center. She also
was interviewed in a Nov. 20 "ABC World News Tonight" story about
therapy dogs bringing comfort to victims and volunteers.
Nebbe noted that scientific studies document that pet therapy eases anxiety
and lowers both blood pressure and heart rate. She said therapy dogs made
a world of difference when they visited the waiting room at the Pier 94 Red
Cross center where she worked.
"People were sitting there for hours on end, waiting for their numbers to be called," she said. "They'd just stare at the walls and relive their traumatic experiences. It was really depressing. Then a dog would come into the room. People would smile and reach out to pet the dog. That would lead to conversation, hugs and laughter. It was almost like magic - like a life infusion where people began to feel and react again."
Nebbe said the volunteer
work gave her "amazing experience in dealing with trauma and diversity."
She added that she was impressed "by the compassion and spirit of support
I felt from the Red Cross and the people of New York."
Provost Troyer receives award
Provost Ron Troyer recently received an Alumni Achievement Award from Western Michigan University's College of Arts and Sciences. The award was presented at a reception held during WMU's homecoming festivities in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The college presents Alumni Achievement Awards to alumni who have demonstrated outstanding personal and professional achievements since graduating from WMU. Dr. Troyer was nominated for the award by the Department of Sociology.
A native of LaGrange, Ind., Dr. Troyer graduated from WMU in 1980 with a doctorate in sociology after completing his undergraduate education at Huntington College and receiving a master's degree at Ball State University.
Since July 2000
he has served as provost at Drake, overseeing more than 250 faculty members.
From June 1994 to June 2000, he was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
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Jordan Reinwald and Alisa Koester star in Drake's production of "Fool for Love" |
Drake Theatre will present Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love" at 8 p.m. Dec. 6, 7, 8 and 9 in Studio 55 of the Harmon Fine Arts Center.
"Fool for Love" is arguably Shepard's purest and most beautiful play, says Director Deena Conley, a new faculty member in Drake's Department of Theatre Arts.
The play tells the story of May and Eddie as they sit in a stark motel room, throwing recriminations at each other while longing to take each other into their arms. The connection they have to each other is physical, emotional and everlasting.
"As the action unfolds," Conley says, "the desperate nature of May and Eddie's relationship becomes apparent - they cannot get along with, or without each other, yet neither can subdue their burning passion."
Tickets are $4 for
adults, $2 for students and senior citizens and free with a Drake ID. Reservations
are required. For reservations, call x3841.
Ohio State prof to speak Monday
Wendy Hesford, associate professor of rhetoric and composition at Ohio State University, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall. Her speech, "Globalization, Composition and Community Service-Learning as Materialist Practice," will address the question of how we are to understand the institutionalization of service learning in the context of global capitalism and the corporate university.
The event is sponsored
by Drake's Critical Studies of Culture Program. For details, call x2745.
Williams concert set for Tuesday
Pianist Roger Williams, GR'51, will give a concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, at Hoyt Sherman Place Theater, 1501 Woodland Ave. A dessert reception with Williams will follow the concert. The performance will mark the 70th anniversary of Williams' first public recital, which he gave at the age of 7 on the Hoyt Sherman stage.
Williams, born Louis
Weertz, is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music as well as Drake, where
he earned a master's degree in music. He received the Distinguished Service
Award from the Drake National Alumni Association in 1958. He has 18 gold and
platinum albums to his credit.
Tickets for the concert only are $30 and tickets for the concert and dessert
reception are $50. For tickets, call Hoyt Sherman at 244-0507, ext. 207.
Retirement party set for Thursday
A retirement party in honor of Myron "Mike" Marty, professor of history and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, in the Medbury Honors Lounge. He will begin his transitional leave at the end of the fall semester.
Marty joined
Drake as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1984. He continued
as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1986 to 1994, when he was
named the Ann G. and Sigurd E. Anderson university professor and professor
of history.
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