More than 50 students waited in line to vote early when a satellite voting center opened for one day last week in the Pomerantz Student Union in Olmsted Center. The center enabled students to register to vote and to cast ballots in advance of Tuesday’s general election.
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Miriam Erickson Brown, president and chief operating officer of Anderson Erickson Dairy, will speak at the final "Let's DU Lunch" event of the fall season on Wednesday, Nov. 3. She will discuss the latest research on dairy products as well as how milk marketing and the dairy business are changing.

The luncheon will start at 11:30 a.m. in the Younkers Tea Room in downtown Des Moines. The cost is $15. Due to limited seating, reservations are recommended. For reservations, contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs at x3848 or alumni.rsvp@drake.edu.
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Public historian Julieanna Richardson will discuss “'The HistoryMakers' — Oral History, Public History and New Technology” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, in the Reading Room of Cowles Library. The event is part of Live! At The Drake Library, The Cowles Library Series.

Richardson founded “The HistoryMakers,” a video oral history archive dedicated to collecting and preserving African American history, in 1999. Since then the project has grown into the largest archival project of its kind with a collection of 5,000 first-person narratives of African American “HistoryMakers.”
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On Monday, Nov. 8, Drake University’s Writers and Critics Series will present authors Tom Pickard and Devin Johnston, who will read from their books and answer questions. The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 8 p.m. in the Cowles Library Reading Room.

Pickard, who lives on the edge of Fiend's Fell in the Northern Pennine Hills on the English-Scottish border, will read from his book titled “The Dark Months of May.” He is the author of 10 books of poetry and prose, including “Hole in the Wall: New and Selected Poems” and “We Make Ships.” He has also directed and produced a number of documentary films for British television.

Johnston, who lives in St. Louis, will read from “Aversions,” one of his books of poetry. He also has written another book of poetry titled “Telepathy,” as well as a book of criticism, “Precipitations: Contemporary American Poetry as Occult Practice.” From 1995-2000, Johnston served as poetry editor for Chicago Review. He now directs a small press called Flood Editions with Michael O'Leary.
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Hend Majid Al-Khuthaila, a Fulbright visiting specialist from Saudi Arabia, will visit Drake and the Des Moines community for approximately two weeks beginning Friday, Nov. 5.

She will speak in various classes at Drake and will meet with students in local school districts and with members of churches and advocacy organizations. She also will give a public lecture on issues of human rights and gender issues as they relate to Islamic beliefs. The lecture will start at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Student Center.

Al-Khuthaila holds a Ph.D. in higher education, a master's degree in sociology and a bachelor's degree in mathematics. She was the first appointed Saudi women's dean and has served in numerous administrative positions. Her visit to Drake and Des Moines is sponsored by the Fulbright Scholar program and Drake's Center for Global Citizenship.
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The Drake University Board of Trustees recently elected seven new members. They are Ambassador Johnnie Carson, senior vice president of the National Defense University; Morgan Cline, retired chairman and CEO of Cline, Davis and Mann advertising agency; Don Fletcher, president of Hallmark North America and International Hallmark Cards Inc.; Debbie Scripps, community leader, volunteer and homemaker; E. Thomas Sullivan, senior vice president of academic affairs and provost of the University of Minnesota; Johnny Taylor, president of McGuireWoods HR Strategies LLC; and Rudy Trebels, president and CEO of IFC Credit Corp.

All seven will serve three-year terms on the Board of Trustees, which meets four times yearly and serves as the University’s policy-making and governing body. The new members are all Drake alumni who have been exceptionally successful.

Carson received a bachelor's degree in history and political science from Drake in 1965. He then obtained his graduate education from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Carson’s career accomplishments include being the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Zimbabwe and Kenya. He also held positions at the American Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, the American Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique and the American Embassy in Gaborone, Botswana. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.

Cline graduated from Drake with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1953. He served as a pharmacist in the U.S. Army for two years. He later went into advertising and ultimately founded an agency that specialized in pharmaceuticals. In 2001 Cline endowed a major scholarship fund for pharmacy students, and Drake's Pharmacy and Science Hall was renamed the Morgan E. Cline Hall of Pharmacy and Science in recognition of his contribution. Cline, who has been inducted into the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame, lives in Red Bank, N.J.

Fletcher received a bachelor’s degree in general business from Drake in 1967. He joined Hallmark in 1967 and held various marketing positions there before being promoted to vice president of business process redesign in 1991. Fletcher received promotions in 1992 and 1995 and assumed his current responsibilities in 1997. In May 2004 Fletcher received the Drake Alumni Achievement Award for his professional accomplishments and service to Drake. He also served in the U.S. Army and is former president of the Lions Club in Liberty, Mo., where he now resides.

Scripps graduated from Drake in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in education and taught in Minnesota and Texas. She is a dedicated volunteer in her community of Dallas, Texas. Scripps has served as president of the Junior League of Dallas and has been a member of the Board of Directors of Children's Health Services of Texas since 1993. She also has been chair of Texas Community Partners and a member of the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Association of Greater Dallas. She received the Drake Alumni Achievement Award for her community service in 1998. In 2002 the Children's Medical Center of Dallas presented her with its Distinguished Service Award.

Sullivan, a resident of Minneapolis, Minn., received a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Drake in 1970 and went on to earn his law degree from Indiana University. In his long and distinguished career he has been a law clerk to a federal district judge, a trial attorney and a senior associate at Donovan, Leisure, Newton and Irvine’s Washington, D.C., office. He began his teaching career in 1979 and later served as dean of the University of Arizona College of Law and the University of Minnesota Law School. A nationally recognized authority on antitrust law and complex litigation, Sullivan became the University of Minnesota's chief academic officer on July 1, 2004.

Taylor received a master's degree in journalism and mass communication from Drake in 1991 and a law degree from Drake in 1992. Prior to joining McGuireWoods HR Strategies, Taylor held senior executive human resources and legal department positions at Compass Group USA Inc., Blockbuster Entertainment Group/VIACOM, Alamo Rent-A-Car and Paramount Pictures/VIACOM. Taylor received the Drake Young Alumni Achievement Award in May 2004. He lives in Charlotte, N.C., and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

Trebels received a bachelor’s degree in business from Drake in 1973. He has worked and achieved much success in the leasing industry over the past 25 years. In 1995 Trebels received his Certified Lease Professional designation, a distinction attained by approximately 200 leasing executives nationwide. He is a board member of the United Association of Equipment Leasing and has been a member of the Governing Board of Directors for Boys Hope Girls Hope since 1997. A resident of Glenview, Ill., Trebels is a former member of Drake’s Alumni Board, and his son, Brian, is a senior at Drake.
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Russell Lovell is congratulated by Assistant Des Moines City Attorney Vicky Long-Hill, left, and Elaine Jones, former director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Russell Lovell, associate dean of the Law School, recently was honored by the Des Moines branch of the NAACP at its 89th annual Freedom Fund Banquet for his 30 years of dedicated service to the organization. Lovell was honored with the President’s Award, recognizing his civil rights litigation contributions, leadership of the group’s legal redress committee, and his contributions on the executive committee.

"Russ has been committed to the cause of civil rights for three decades and continues to work with the NAACP,” said Linda Carter-Lewis, president of the NAACP’s Des Moines branch. “He has been very helpful, supportive and instrumental in getting things done. His commitment is unwavering.”

This was Lovell’s third President’s Award and the sixth time overall the NAACP has feted him — including four individual awards and two awards to his employer. The honors recognized his civil rights work in Des Moines, Indiana and Missouri.

Among Lovell's most notable accomplishments was his lead counsel role in the NAACP litigation that desegregated the Des Moines Fire Department. In 1982, the DMFD employed only one African American firefighter in a department of more than 300, and only four in its 100-year history. It took 13 years of litigation and monitoring, but 36 African Americans were Des Moines firefighters by 1995.

In 2003 Lovell was given the Trailblazer Award at the NAACP Region IV Civil Rights Institute in Topeka, Kan., in honor of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Lovell was lead counsel on the court-awarded attorneys' fees portion of the NAACP's Kansas City school desegregation case and established a U.S. Supreme Court precedent that when a civil rights case succeeds, the federal court orders the guilty party to pay the plaintiff's attorney a market-based fee as part of the remedy.
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Savannah Bao, assistant director Drake's Chinese Cultural Exchange Program, and Gretchen Olson join a parade of climbers on the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall.

While most Drake students were heading home to enjoy fall break, four Drake representatives were flying to China.

They met with seven Drake alumni who are teaching English to children, teen-agers and university students in the city of Shijiazhuang in Hebei, China. In addition to visiting eight institutions in Hebei and Tianjin provinces, the Drake delegation devoted one day to exploring the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

The exchange program stems from a spring 2003 visit to Drake by a delegation from Hebei, a sister state of Iowa, with the goal of creating a relationship that would allow Chinese students to study insurance at Drake. A group from Drake visited Hebei in the fall of 2003 as the next step in establishing an exchange program for students and faculty.

Although it has been difficult to bring Chinese students to Drake due to increased visa regulations, a new program that enables recent Drake graduates to teach English in China has evolved under the leadership of Provost Ron Troyer.

“The program has so many great elements to offer,” said Mark Ferrara, director of the new program and visiting assistant professor of English. “The alums are quickly adapting to a very different culture and new way of living.”

Prior to their departure in August, the alums, who have a wide variety of degrees and areas of expertise, were required to complete an online training course to prepare them for their experience. The course was divided into two sections: Chinese culture and teaching English as a second language. This preparation helped the alums get ready for their transition into a new culture.

“The online material helped the alums, but for the coming year we want to do more,” Ferrara said. For individuals who plan to take part in the program next year, more extensive and interactive preparation will be required. The course will include Chinese culture, teaching English as a second language and the basics of Chinese language. In addition, the preparatory sessions will be held in a face-to-face setting rather than online.

“There will be two weeks of intensive informational sessions held for the alums who will be traveling to China next year,” Ferrara said. “The training will be held in the middle of May, with a possible third week of training in August immediately before their departure. This new format will help the alums create relationships before leaving and will enhance the experience.”

“China is such a bustling and growing country, it is important that we create good relationships with their educational institutions,” said Gretchen Olson, director of International Programs and Services at Drake. “It was exciting to visit our alums and to get ideas for change and improvement. We also visited additional universities to discuss possible future relationships.”

Two more alums are planning to go to Hebei in February, and a number of Drake faculty members plan to teach and conduct research in China after the academic year has finished.
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Two students from Drake University won Fulbright Awards in 2004-05, and Drake ranked among the top producers of Fulbright Awards for students among the nation's master's universities.

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently released the official list of U.S. student Fulbright recipients for the 2004-2005 academic year, a total of 1,099 grants. In his statement, Secretary Powell said, “As Fulbrighters, these Americans have important responsibilities. First and foremost, they engage in serious academic study or research abroad. In addition, they will immerse themselves in learning about their new host country and will have opportunities to share their perspectives on the United States with their hosts.”

The Fulbright competition is administered at Drake through The Drake Fulbright Committee.

“The committee is excited about these results!” said Eleanor Zeff, Drake Fulbright program adviser and assistant professor of politics and international relations. “We are happy to be able to make Fulbright scholarships more available to Drake students as we know what wonderful opportunities the scholarships provide. On Oct. 15 we forwarded five completed and excellent applications for next year's round of scholarships, and we are hoping for continued success. Three other students also began and worked on applications this summer and fall. This number of applicants is a record high for Drake.”

Under the Fulbright program, 1,100 American students in 104 different fields of study have been offered grants to study, teach English and conduct research in over 110 countries throughout the world, beginning this fall.

Two women who graduated from Drake last December received Fulbright awards for 2004-05. They are Shalene Breci of Sioux City, Iowa, who is teaching English in South Korea for 13 months, and Mira Yusef of Des Moines, who is conducting research on Muslim women in the Philippines.
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Drake Head Start Director Georgia Sheriff speaks at the announcement.

Easter Seals Iowa recently announced a new partnership with Drake University Head Start and the Bob and Billie Ray Child Development Center located at Easter Seals Camp Sunnyside. The partnership brings together children in the Head Start program and youngsters attending the Bob & Billie Ray Child Development Center in a newly remodeled classroom at Camp Sunnyside, 401 N.E. 66th Ave., Des Moines.

“Our new partnership with Drake University Head Start is yet another indication of Easter Seals’ commitment to quality in all of our programs. We welcome Head Start and its staff to Easter Seals network of more than 70 child development centers nationwide,” said Donna Elbrecht, president and CEO of Easter Seals Iowa.

“This is a unique collaboration that enables both organizations to share their expertise and enhance the services we provide to children, especially those with disabilities,” said Georgia Sheriff, director of Drake University Head Start. “With the addition of the Bob and Billie Ray Center at Camp Sunnyside, Head Start now offers a variety of 40 programs in 33 locations in a six-county area.

“The program with Easter Seals Iowa is unique in that it is located at a camp setting, offering children a natural learning environment that includes a beautiful pool and lake,” Sheriff added. “Our new partnership also gives Head Start families the opportunity to have wrap-around child care that goes beyond the six-hour Head Start programs and provides care during the summers when Head Start is not in session.”

Easter Seals also dedicated the Variety Playground at the center, recognizing Variety Club of Iowa for the $35,000 gift that funded the construction. The playground offers new recreational options in keeping with standards of the National Playground Safety Council.

Former Iowa Gov. and Drake President Bob Ray, for whom the Center is named and who has played leadership roles in all three of the organizations, spoke at the ceremony. “Easter Seals initiates activities that other organizations wouldn’t attempt,” said Ray, a Drake alumnus. “This collaboration is going to make life better for many, many youngsters. Everyone is important here and has purpose. I feel good when I come out here.”
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Alfred Schwartz, former dean of Drake’s College of Education, died Oct. 17 in San Diego, Calif. He was 82.

During his long tenure at Drake, Schwartz developed doctoral and other advanced degree programs that led to the improvement of teachers’ skills throughout Iowa. While he could often be found talking to governors or walking the halls of Congress and the U.S. Department of Education, Schwartz was known for being equally available to all students who sought his counsel. Many of Des Moines’ finest teachers passed both through his office and the Drake College of Education.

“Al Schwartz characterized the old tradition of integrity and loyalty to his colleagues and Drake University,” said Dean Wright, professor emeritus of sociology. “He led the School of Education by introducing initiatives that paralleled changes in the academy.”

“He was a colleague that people respected, trusted and admired,” added Sue Wright, associate provost. “He left a legacy as an innovative administrator who led during times of change. He was the same person away from the university as he was on campus — a friend, colleague and champion of the academy.”

While at Drake, Schwartz also served as dean of the Continuing Education Program as well as acting vice-president. His devotion to improving the education of children led him to seek countless grants for the College of Education to meet the changing needs of generations of students. He initiated one of the first Head Start programs in the Midwest with a federal grant.

“Al was a great advocate of the College of Education,” said Don Adams, special counsel for institutional advancement. “He cared not only about the faculty and staff and students but, in a broader sense, he was a big advocate for the Des Moines Public Schools and education in general. People worked hard for Al. If Al said we needed something done, people in the College of Education found a way to get it done even when resources were scarce. He was a fine dean.”

Schwartz, who joined Drake in 1950 and retired in 1984, was known to work tirelessly to persuade faculty and administrators to put their differences aside and work together, Adams added. Because of this quality, he was sought nationwide by universities to evaluate their programs through his capacity as one of the leading members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities.

He is survived by his wife, Delle, his two children, Karen Chaikin and Reid, and four grandsons. Funeral services were held Oct. 28 at the Rosecrans Military Cemetery in Point Loma, Calif.
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Russell Lovell and Dolph Pullium, director of community outreach and development at Drake, interact with children of the Drake Neighborhood.

On Tuesday, Oct. 26, Russell Lovell, associate dean of the Law School, the Drake University Law School Student Bar Association, Delta Theta Phi and the Des Moines branch of the NAACP co-sponsored the 10th Annual Drake Community Halloween Hoops Shoot Out at Drake's Bell Center. The event for children of the Drake Neighborhood, Drake undergraduate and law students, faculty and staff drew 135 people. No child left empty handed; each received a certificate in a variety of categories from best costume to the under-handed free throw competition. "Halloween Hoops is real special party," Lovell said. "It's a great way to reach out to the community."
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The Community in Diversity Lecture Series will present “Myths, Lies and Stereotypes: Media and the Visual Enslavement of Black People” by Marilyn Kern-Foxworth, APR, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, in Sheslow Auditorium.

Kern-Foxworth, an advertising and public relations specialist and professor, is president and CEO of Kern-Foxworth International LLC, a communications agency in Silver Spring, Md. She is the first African American to receive a Ph.D. with a concentration in advertising and public relations. During her last academic affiliation, she served as the Garth C. Reeves endowed chair at Florida A&M University.

She is the author of the first book to chronicle the history of blacks in advertising, a bestseller titled "Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow." She also co-edited with Shirley Biagi "Facing Difference: Race, Gender and Mass Media."

The lecture is sponsored by Drake's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
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The Drake University/Community Chorus, conducted by Aimee Beckmann-Collier, will join three other community-based choirs in performing a concert at 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main. The concert also will feature the Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble (Carol Stewart, conductor), Heartland Youth Choir (Barbara Sletto, conductor), and Iowa Youth Chorus (Cristian Grases, conductor).

Each choir will sing several pieces and then all four choirs will join together in singing “The Promise of Living” by Aaron Copland.

More people participate in choral singing than in any other performing art, according to a 2003 study by Chorus America. The study found that 28.5 million adults and children (23.5 million adults) perform in a choir in the United States.

Choral singers often have a positive impact on their communities, according to the study, which determined that:

• Choral singers build strong communities and bridge social gaps, with 76 percent of choral singers volunteering in their communities. In the non-choral population, only 44 percent of adults volunteered.
• Choral singers financially support nonprofit organizations at a much higher rate than the general population.
• Choral singers are well informed and politically aware, with 93 percent of choral singers voting regularly in national and local elections.

Twenty-one students in Angela Battle's painting class invited Klaus Bartschat, the Ellis and Nelle Levitt professor of physics at Drake, to explain quantum mechanics to them so they could create paintings and three-dimensional works related to the structure and behavior of atoms and molecules.

Battle, assistant professor of art and design, said the class voted on which Drake faculty member to invite to speak to the class, and Bartschat won by a wide margin.

Bartschat said it was a major challenge for him to explain quantum mechanics to the class in non-technical terms. “It’s one of the toughest things I’ve done at Drake,” he added, “but I enjoyed it a lot. It was a great learning experience for me.”

Bartschat said he’s looking forward to seeing the students’ artwork, which will be on display from Nov. 12 through Dec. 1 in the Weeks Gallery in the lobby of the Harmon Fine Arts Center. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12.
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• Tickets for the Christmas Madrigal Dinners go on sale at noon at the Drake Fine Arts Box Office, x3841. Tickets for the dinners on Dec. 4 and 5 are $40 per person.

• Historian Julieanna Richardson, founder of "The HistoryMakers," will discuss "Oral History, Public History and New Technology" in the Cowles Library Reading Room, 7 p.m.

• Drake football vs. Upper Iowa, Drake Stadium, noon.
• Drake Jazz Ensemble I, Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium, 8 p.m.

• Writers and Critics Series: Tom Pickard and Devin Johnston will read from their books, Cowles Library Reading Room, 8 p.m.

• Drake volleyball vs. Bradley, Drake Knapp Center, 7 p.m.
• Opening reception for "The Bartschat Project: Artists Respond to Quantum Mechanics," Weeks Gallery, Harmon Fine Arts Center, 5 to 7 p.m.

• Drake football vs. Waldorf, Drake Stadium, noon.
• Drake volleyball vs. Northern Iowa, Drake Knapp Center, 7:30 p.m.

• Joint concert by the Drake University/Community Chorus, Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble, Heartland Youth Choir and Iowa Youth Chorus, Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium, 8 p.m.
• Last day to view "Looking At/Looking Through" by Adelheid Mers and Patrick McGee, Anderson Gallery, noon to 4 p.m.

Martin Begleiter, professor of law, recently attended a joint meeting of the Advisers and Members Consultative Group on the Restatement (Third) of Trusts in Philadelphia. The groups reviewed materials on the trustees' duties and powers. He also is co-author of "Problems and Materials on Decedents' Estates and Trusts" with Eugene F. Scoles, Edward C. Halbach Jr. and Patricia G. Roberts. The seventh edition of the book is scheduled to be published in 2006 by Aspen Publishing.