Jordanians visit Drake on environmental tour
Three officials from Amman, Jordan, visited Drake on Dec. 5 to find out more about the University's new hazardous waste disposal program. This fall, Drake joined the Metro Waste Authority's Rehab the Lab program, which helps educational institutions with proper identification and safe disposal of unwanted chemicals.
"Rehab the Lab gives us a coordinated program across campus instead of relying on individual departments to have their own initiatives," said Gary Johnson , Drake's safety officer.
Johnson and Steven
Shaffer, Drake's chemical hygiene officer, conducted a tour of chemistry labs
for Mohamed Khashashneh of Jordan's General Corporation for Environmental Protection,
Salah Hiary of Jordan's Ministry of Health, Environmental Health Directorate,
and Attalah Rabi of Jordan University for Science and Technology. The Jordanians
came to Des Moines as part of a partnership between Amman and Des Moines that's
designed to improve environmental protection in Amman. The partnership is funded
by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Attend Peggy's Party Jan. 10
Drake alumni and friends have been invited to attend 33 Peggy's Parties sponsored by the Drake National Alumni Association. The first Peggy's Parties of the season were held Nov. 29 in Dallas/Fort Worth and Seattle. The last one will take place Feb. 22, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.
Peggy's Parties are being held for the first time this year in Pittsburgh and Mexico City, which doubles the number of international sites for Peggy's Parties. This will be the fourth year that there's been a Peggy's Party in London.
Faculty and staff are invited to attend the Des Moines/Central Iowa Peggy's Party from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002, at Peggy's, 3020 Forest Ave. At 7 p.m., the party will move to the Drake Knapp Center, where partygoers will cheer for the Bulldogs as the Drake men's basketball team takes on Illinois State.
About 350 people attended the Chicago - City party last Friday and another 50 went to the Chicago - Suburbs party last Saturday. The success of those two parties gives Drake an excellent chance of topping last year's total attendance record of 1,130, said Teresa Bartschat, coordinator of the Peggy's Parties.
Parties are being
held in New York City and Washington, D.C., despite the Sept. 11 attacks in
those cities. "We talked about canceling those parties," Bartschat
said, "but the alums insisted that they needed them as an outlet ---
a place to come together and talk about all that's happened since Sept. 11."
Chamber Choir to tour England
The Drake Chamber Choir, the University's most select choral ensemble, will tour England Jan. 2-10, 2002.
The choir, directed by Aimee Beckmann-Collier, will sing in the cathedrals of Salisbury, Winchester and Ely as well as at St. Martin-in-the Fields in London. Drake President David Maxwell and his wife, Madeleine, will accompany the chorus on the tour.
The Chamber Choir
consists of 20 students, 18 of whom are music majors.
Drake donates books to library destroyed in attacks on
WTC
Seven boxes of duplicate books in the Drake Law Library were shipped off this week to the Ferdinand Gallozzi Library of the U.S. Customs Service, which was destroyed during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Since the attacks, the Ferdinand Gallozzi Library has relocated from 6 World Trade Center to 1 Penn Plaza and started to rebuild its collection by requesting books from libraries across the country.
Deborah Sulzbach, acquisitions/reference librarian in the Drake Law Library, noticed a request for Words and Phrases, a set of 58 bound volumes and 40 pamphlets. "Through the years we've acquired items through donations and, fortunately, we had a duplicate set of Words and Phrases," Sulzbach said.
She offered the set to the Gallozzi Library, which agreed to pay for shipping the items. In addition to sending six boxes filled with Words and Phrases, the Law Library also is contributing another box of duplicate copies of assorted books requested by the Gallozzi Library.
"It's nice
that our duplicate copies are going to a library that really needs them,"
Sulzbach said. "This is something constructive that we can do to help the
country recover from the Sept. 11 attacks."
'Wish list' donations encouraged at holiday reception
Tuesday
At the holiday reception
from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, faculty and staff are encouraged to donate one or
more items on a "wish list" of products and volunteer services needed
by Drake-affiliated service organizations, such as the Drake Adult and Children's
Literacy Center and the I Have a Dream Foundation. The "wish list,"
distributed by Human Resources, contains a variety of items ranging from children's
books to a commitment to be a volunteer. For more information, call x3133.
Prof. Smith conducts workshop in Pakistan
Susan Smith, professor of education, was one of 60 teachers selected from democratic countries around the world to participate in the Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking Project, a volunteer program coordinated by the International Reading Association (IRA).
The project assigns teachers to countries to conduct workshops and work in schools. Last August, Smith and one other colleague served in Karachi, Pakistan, a vibrant city of 15 million.
"Pakistan is a country of extreme poverty, and yet the people are incredibly compassionate," Smith said. "The Islamic faith is integrated into every aspect of their daily lives."
Smith spent her first week conducting a workshop that emphasized student involvement, a concept foreign to many teachers accustomed to a didactic approach. During the second week, Smith visited more than 50 classrooms in both public and private schools. "I was amazed," she said. "The students are overtly courteous to their teachers and others."
A teacher told Smith that respectful treatment towards one another is a part of the culture. "The teacher said, 'We love the children when they are little so that, when they grow up, they have the capability to love others.' "
Education is mandatory, but not enforced. Only the lowest-income parents send their children to public schools, which are supported by limited government funding and are in poor condition.
Smith said the project challenged her to try to understand values and traditions that are distinctly different from American culture. "Being a woman in Karachi was the most exciting experience and, at the same time, the most oppressive," she added.
In Pakistan, men and women are separated at all levels. A woman who walks alone is subject to ridicule or even physical harm. Most public and private schools have separate sessions for boys and girls.
The country has virtually no middle class. While a small group of political and international business leaders enjoy Pakistan's wealth, most others live in poverty. "It was painful to watch their subsistence living day after day," Smith said. "The conditions were often unbearable. It was very bleak."
The schools in Karachi are not in session now due to unsafe conditions stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Smith won't venture back to Pakistan in January as she had planned, although the trip may be rescheduled for next summer.
Despite the harsh living conditions, the people of Pakistan love their country and its traditions, Smith said. "I used to think everyone wanted to be an American," she added. "That is absolutely false."
Smith will embark
on another adventure this January. As one of six professors selected to participate
in the first IRA higher education workshop, she will travel to Prague, capital
of the Czech Republic. The two-week workshop will teach professors how to present
content while emphasizing critical thinking.
Prof. Torrence to join Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Gaylord Torrence, professor of art and a nationally recognized scholar of Native North American art history, will retire from Drake this month and join the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., on Jan. 1 as the inaugural Fred and Virginia Merrill curator of American Indian art.
Renowned for groundbreaking scholarship on the Native American parfleche, an abstract painting tradition, and the arts of the Mesquakie tribe of Iowa, Torrence will build upon the strength of the museum's American Indian art collection and exhibitions.
Torrence's appointment is among the few curatorial positions devoted exclusively to American Indian art at an encyclopedic museum. In his new position, Torrence will be responsible for the study, care, interpretation and presentation of The Nelson-Atkins' present Native American collection, as well as organizing special exhibitions. He also will lead efforts to acquire new works of art and be involved in educational programs. Space devoted to the permanent exhibition of American Indian art will swell from 500 to 3,000 square feet when the museum's expansion and renovation project is complete in 2006.
As professor of art since 1969 at Drake, Torrence headed the studio drawing area. He organized coursework in American Indian art history beginning in 1975, a time few other universities offered such a program of study.
In recent years, Torrence has been engaged as a consultant for two major collections presented by the American Indian Art Department of Sotheby's, New York. Since 1999, he has served as principal research consultant and contributing author for Objects in History: The Indian Collection of Lewis and Clark, a forthcoming publication organized by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.
"My years at Drake have given me the opportunity to work with many extraordinary people - both colleagues and students," Torrence said. "It's been a rich experience. I'm going to miss the Drake community very much. The fact that I've been offered this tremendous opportunity reflects the encouragement and support that I've received at Drake."
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