Cutline: Don Adams and David Wright are honored at halftime.

David Wright, associate professor of electronic journalism and assistant dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the latest recipient of the Donald V. Adams Spirit of Drake Award. He received the award at a recent basketball game, where previous recipients of the award also were honored.

Wright was praised for his exemplary work as a teacher, mentor, role model and adviser as well as his efforts to assist Drake students in fulfilling their goals for professional and personal growth, career aspirations and citizenship responsibilities.

Previous award winners include Wanda Everage, vice provost for student affairs and academic excellence; Lou Ann Simpson, professor of business law; and Mary Edrington, assistant professor of marketing.
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The Drake University Law School Environmental Moot Court Team finished in the quarterfinal round of the Environmental Law Moot Court tournament last week at Pace University in White Plains, N.Y.

Drake lost to a team from the University of North Carolina, but continued its string of solid finishes in the 17-year-old event. In the last 14 years, Drake has reached the quarterfinal round 12 times, advancing to the semifinals three times and the finals once.

The team, consisting of Drake second-year law students Jessica Braunschewig-Norris, Megan Tooker and Tim Lillwitz, wrote a 30-page brief on the environmental problem of a case involving water pollution caused by diverting a river. Each member of the team argued twice during the three preliminary rounds. Braunschewig-Norris earned a best oralist award in the first round.

The students were aided in their efforts by practice rounds with Des Moines-area attorneys, including Drake Law School alumnus Mark Landa and Jane McAllister.

Drake law professor Jerry Anderson, who co-coaches the team with Drake alumnae Jennifer Smithson, said the team is poised for more success next year.

"Because all three competitors are second-year students, we look forward to competing next year with this year's experience to build upon," he said.
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Cutline: Joel Bourque helps conduct a spring burn on a remnant prairie in Ringgold County last spring.

The Drake Prairie Rescue and Restoration Intern Program has received the 2004 Governor's Iowa Environmental Excellence Award for its prairie conservation and education efforts. The program was created in 2004 and has made great strides in managing ailing prairie habitats and exposing students to new skills and information.

"We work hard to keep Iowa's prairies from extinction," said Tom Rosburg, associate professor of biology and director of environmental science and policy. "It's a great learning experience for the students because not only are they introduced to the realities of the rural side of the state, they also have the opportunity to implement and experiment with the latest methods used in resource management."

In 2004, 13 sites were selected for the restoration effort. In order to be selected, land owners are required to contact the program and then submit their land to an evaluation to determine if a sizable prairie community, containing specific plants, insects and animal life, was actually at risk. When a site is chosen, Rosburg and Drake students travel there to remove trees and brush or administer a prescribed burn in an effort to protect the prairie. The program already has 15 sites lined up for 2005.

"There is quite a bit more prairie left in Iowa than most people think, but most of it is on private land," Rosburg said. "Because these sites are not protected by law, we are trying to stop them from falling through the cracks."

The program is funded by the Iowa Prairie Network, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Biodiversity Center at Drake. Rosburg said he plans to continue the restoration efforts and provide internship opportunities for students as long as funding is available.
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Thomas F. Delahunt III, vice provost for enrollment management at Iona College in Rochelle, N.Y., has been appointed vice president for admission and financial aid at Drake University, effective in May. He succeeds Tom Willoughby, now vice chancellor for enrollment at the University of Denver.

"Tom brings a powerful combination of relevant experience, professional expertise and a strong commitment to Drake University's mission and goals," Maxwell said. "He has a proven track record of outstanding success at other institutions."

Since 1996, Delahunt has worked at Iona College, a private Catholic school with an enrollment of about 3,600 near New York City. There, Delahunt supervised a staff of 60 as he oversaw undergraduate, returning adult and graduate arts and science admissions on the main campus as well as branch campuses in Rockland County and Manhattan. He also managed operations of the registrar, financial aid and supervised student retention efforts.

Before joining Iona, Delahunt was senior associate director of admissions at St. Lawrence University for four years and also spent four years in admissions at Utica College of Syracuse University. At Utica, Delahunt worked as an assistant basketball coach from 1988 to 1992.

Delahunt holds a bachelor's degree from Springfield College in Massachusetts. He and his wife, Kim, have two daughters.

"I can't wait to get started," Delahunt said. "On our visit to Drake, the people we met could not have been nicer. We know from the moment we stepped onto campus that if offered this opportunity, we would take it."
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Cutline: Brian Brown shakes hands with Dave Blank at a news conference.

Drake Athletics Director Dave Blank last week named Brian Brown as the 11th director of the Drake Relays. Brown, who has served the last five years as assistant track and field coach at Drake, succeeds Mark Kostek, who was named by Blank three weeks ago as the associate director of athletics for external affairs and the Drake Relays. As the Relays director, Brown will report to Kostek.

"We are very fortunate to have someone on our current staff with the right qualifications to keep the Drake Relays at the level of national prominence," Bank said. "As a former world-class performer himself, and having served on the track and field staff here-including participating in the operations of the Drake Relays during his five years at Drake-Brian understands what is necessary to continue and enhance the strong tradition of the Drake Relays."

Brown, a native of New Iberia, La., will assume control of the track and field extravaganza that saw a record 116 events held during the 95th running of the Drake Relays last year.

"I am very appreciative of Dave Blank for giving me this wonderful opportunity," Brown said. "Also, I am excited about the opportunity to learn from and work with Mark Kostek. While I look forward to becoming an integral part of strengthening and enhancing this already great track and field event, I realize that the Drake Relays is not about one individual. The collaborative efforts of various committees, volunteers, officials and community partnerships are the key to the continued success of the Drake Relays."
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Waiting for elephants to leave the lake to do laundry and having lions in the backyard are not the typical childhood experiences of most Drake employees. However, for Qalbi Abdi, a 35-year-old custodial worker in Carpenter Residence Hall, these experiences were not out of the ordinary. Abdi grew up in Somalia, Africa, and lived in refugee camps in Kenya before coming to Des Moines with her family in October 1998.

Abdi lived in Somalia until she was 21 years old. Somalia was not safe, had few jobs and much disease as a result of civil war. In 1991, Abdi, who was pregnant, her husband and their child fled to Kenya, where the government had opened the doors as a safe haven for fleeing Somali residents.

However, the conditions in the refugee camps were not much better. Within the camps there were no jobs available and kidnappings, rapes and killings were common. After living nearly nine years in refugee camps, Abdi and her family were given an opportunity to escape the hardships they experienced, including losing a child at the age of 6 months. U.S. sponsors came to the aid of several families in the refugee camps. As part of its mission program, Trinity Lutheran Church, located at 32nd Street and University Avenue, sponsored Abdi and her family.

On Oct. 27, 1998, Abdi, her husband and five children arrived at the Des Moines airport and were greeted with a sign with their names on it. They were also surprised to see friends from their refugee camp who had come to America earlier. However, Abdi still faced challenges once she arrived in America.

The biggest challenge was that Abdi did not speak English. "The first time it was difficult. You don't know what to say or what they said," Abdi said. However, Abdi did not let that discourage her. By watching television, using her children's schoolbooks and her Somali dictionary, Abdi was able to teach herself English. She also attended Des Moines Area Community College to improve her English. She now attends a class at Capitol View Elementary School to learn sign language because her 13-year-old son is deaf. "That's most important for me," Abdi said.

Abdi started work at Drake on Sept. 14, 2003, as a way to help support her family. "I like it here," Abdi said. "It's good people to work with, which is important." Her supervisor, Debra L'Estrange, said she and Abdi's coworkers enjoy hearing about her life experiences. "She's really sweet and conscientious," L'Estrange said.

Abdi and her husband, who is head of the local Somali community, have seven children from ages 4 to 15. Their children attend Roosevelt High School, Hiatt and Callahan middle schools and Windsor Elementary School. Abdi is pleased she is able to raise her children in Des Moines. "Most important for me is education for my children and they have that here," she said.
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Members of Fusion, a student-run mock advertising agency, will host a silent auction from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in Levitt Hall to raise money to fund their campaign for the National Student Advertising Competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. This competition is a mandatory component of the senior capstone course for all graduating advertising majors and minors.

Invitations to the auction have been sent to faculty and staff as well as area alumni of Drake' s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Residents of the Des Moines area are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be provided. Items up for bid include ski packages, Drake Relay tickets, gift certificates and autographed sports items.

"The auction will not only be benefiting Fusion's overall campaign, but it's also a great way for Drake faculty, staff, and alumni to learn about the senior advertising campaigns class," said Emily McClean, a senior advertising major from Galesburg, Ill.
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Vicki Jackson, associate dean for research and academic programs at Georgetown University Law Center, will deliver a speech titled "What Does Proportionality Have to Do with Constitutional Law? Or, What Do Hate Speech Bans and National Security Laws Have in Common?" at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in room 213 of Cartwright Hall.

Jackson earned her law degree from Yale Law School, clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court and practiced law before joining the Georgetown faculty. She teaches courses in constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, federal courts, the Supreme Court and on gender-related subjects. Jackson has published numerous articles and books on these subjects.

Jackson's speech is the last in the 2004-2005 Distinguished Lecture Series presented by the Constitutional Law Center at the Drake Law School.
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Faculty and staff are invited to join Team Drake and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in their mission to find a cure by walking at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 5, in the downtown skywalks.

To register for the walk, visit www.jdrf.org and register under Team Drake or pick up a brochure in the Wellness Center. For more information, contact Kristi Cook at x4627. Promotional JDRF sneakers are being sold in Olmsted Center and the Bell Center. The cost is $1 per sneaker.
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Drake's annual In Celebration of Womyn Week will begin Friday, March 4, with a presentation by Fauzia Ahmed, a resident scholar at Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center, on "Micro Enterprise Loans and Gender Equity in Bangladesh and Pakistan." The speech, which is free and open to the public, will begin at noon in Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center.

Ahmed has worked with development programs and policies for low-income families in various countries including the United States, India, Indonesia, Thailand and her native Bangladesh. Her experiences include working with the non-governmental organizations and the United Nations Development Program for 25 years.

Ahmed received her bachelor's degree from Harvard College, a master's degree in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health and a doctorate from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. She has also served as a fellow at Radcliffe Public Policy Institute and as an instructor at Harvard School of Public Health.

The week's activities will continue on Tuesday, March 8, and Wednesday, March 9, as the Women's Awareness Coalition staffs tables in Olmsted Center, selling buttons and informing people of the events of the week.

On Thursday, March 10, there will be a meeting at the CAYA house at 9 p.m. to watch the "Mona Lisa Smile" movie.

The week will conclude on Friday, March 11, when Lynne Cox, famed long-distance swimmer and author of "Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer," will speak and attend a reception and book signing at 7 p.m. in Bulldog Theater in Olmsted Center. The event is sponsored by the Chrysalis Foundation and the Drake Women's Studies Program.

Cox has pioneered seemingly impossible swims around the world. She broke the men's and women's record for swimming the English Channel at the age of 15 and again at the age of 16. She completed a mile swim in Antarctica and swam in dangerous waters in the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Magellan. Her swim from Alaska to Russia during the Cold War helped to diminish tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. World leaders such as President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hailed Cox for her courage.
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Holocaust scholar Eric Ehrenreich will deliver a lecture titled "Racial Scientific Ideology and Motivations for the Holocaust" at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, at Drake University. The event is free and open to the public and will be held at Parents Hall, Pomerantz Student Union in Olmsted Center.

Ehrenreich's talk is sponsored by the Pomerantz family through a generous grant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Ehrenreich is the 2004-05 Douglas and Carol Cohen fellow at the Holocaust Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. He earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin. His dissertation was titled "Genealogy and Genocide: The Nazi 'Proof of Ancestry' and the Holocaust."

Ehrenreich's research focuses on the history of institutions involved in implementing and rationalizing Nazi racial policies.

Marvin Pomerantz is chairman and CEO of Mid-America Group of West Des Moines and a former member of the Drake University Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Rose Lee, are frequent and generous contributors to Drake projects, including the recent renovation of the student union in Olmsted Center.

The museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies promotes the development of the field of Holocaust studies through research, fellowship programs, seminars, publications and conferences. The center is also linked with institutions of higher learning through activities that foster quality teaching about the Holocaust at American colleges and universities.
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Drake University jazz professor Andrew Classen has composed a series of musical sketches inspired by Des Moines' Waveland Golf Course that will make its United States premiere at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main. The event is free and open to the public.

The series, titled "The Waveland Suite," follows an imaginary journey through the course at 50th Street and University Avenue. Founded in 1901, Waveland Golf Course is the oldest public golf course west of the Mississippi River.

"The first movement captures the essence of being the first one off the tee on a spring morning," Classen said. "The ostinato sweeps up and down the rolling hills, with the trumpet and clarinet playing a serene melody."

Classen, who premiered the piece in January while performing in Acapulco, Mexico, is a regular at Waveland. He and his golfing group have a tradition of singing the theme from Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" when one of them muffs a shot and gets a "mulligan" or "do-over."

The allusions to that theme "is hidden somewhere in the middle of this movement," Classen said.

"I love this golf course," he added. "My dogs and I know every inch of it."
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On Thursday, March 10, Dick Beardsley, a nationally known runner and marathoner, will visit Drake University to discuss his battle with narcotics addiction. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will begin at noon in Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center.

Beardsley, who won the Twin Cities Marathon several times and placed second in the Boston Marathon in 1982, was injured in several severe car accidents in 1992 and 1993. In the following years he underwent a number of surgeries and subsequently became addicted to prescription pain medications. He forged prescriptions to get large quantities of pills and was caught by a pharmacist in 1996. He then entered treatment and emerged drug free in 1997.

Beardsley has bounced back from his ordeal and participated in a number of marathons, as well as become a TV and radio personality, a compelling speaker and a respected running coach.

His presentation is made possible by the Capital Striders, a local running club. For more information on the Capital Striders, visit www.capitalstriders.org.
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• Let’s DU Lunch featuring Therese M. Wielage, vice president and COO of Spindustry Systems and chairperson of the board of Spindustry Technical Training, Younkers Tea Room, downtown Des Moines, 11:30 a.m., $15.
• Drake men’s basketball Tip Off Luncheon, Christopher’s Restaurant ,11:30 a.m.
• The Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Constitutional Law Center, presents Vicki Jackson and “What Does Proportionality have to do with Constitutional Law? Or, what do Hate Speech Bans and National Security Laws have in Common?” Cartwright Hall, Room 213, 4 p.m.

• Scientist and investigator John Krueger will discuss digital image manipulation and scientific misconduct , Cline Hall, Room 206, 12:30 p.m.
• Drake women’s basketball vs. Evansville, Drake Knapp Center, 7:05 p.m.

• Fauzia Ahmed, expert on women in developing countries, will speak in honor of Womyn’s Week, Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center, 12:00 p.m.
• BA Exhibition opens in the Anderson Gallery, Harmon Fine Arts Center, featuring Jessica Crippen, Hope Donovan and Kyrith Evans. An opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit will run until March 18.

• Drake women’s tennis vs. Colorado, Drake Tennis Center, 12:30 p.m.
• Faculty Recital: Chiu-Ling Lin, piano, Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium, Old Main, 2 p.m.
• Drake women’s basketball vs. Southern Illinois, Drake Knapp Center, 2:05 p.m.

• Drake women’s basketball Tip Off Luncheon, Christopher’s Restaurant , 11:30 a.m.

• “Management Essentials,” Human Resources Learning and Development Program, Olmsted Center, Room 310-311, noon to 4 p.m.
• Holocaust Lecture: Scholar Eric Ehrenreich will present “Racial Scientific Ideology and Motivations for the Holocaust,” Parents Hall, Olmsted Center, 7:30 p.m.
• Faculty Recital: Andrew Classen, trumpet, Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium, Old Main, 8 p.m.

• The Heartland Area Education Agency Physics Olympics, Parents Hall, Olmsted Center, 9 a.m. to noon.
• Drake men’s tennis vs. Graceland, Drake Tennis Center, 4 p.m.
• Boost Your Job Hunting IQ Series presents “Building Better Relationships With Your Boss and Co-Workers,” Parents Hall, Olmsted Center, 4 to 5:15 p.m.
• The City of Des Moines will present the Market Assessment for the Forest Avenue Corridor, Central Senior Center, 2000 Forest Ave., 6:30 p.m.

• Drake Musical Theatre presents “Pippin,” directed by Tony Humrichouser, Performing Arts Hall, Harmon Fine Arts Center, 8 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students, seniors and those with a Drake ID, call x3841.
• Dick Beardsley, nationally known runner and marathoner, will discuss his battle with narcotics addiction, Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center, noon.
• “In Celebration of Womyn” week presents “Mona Lisa Smile,” CAYA house, 9:00 p.m.

• Mid-point of spring semester.
• Drake Business Link offers “Services Marketing” faculty Friday workshop, taught by Mary Edrington, Aliber Hall, Room 112, 9 a.m. to noon.
• “In Celebration of Womyn” week presents Lynne Cox, famed long-distance swimmer and author, Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center, 7 p.m.
• Drake Musical Theatre presents “Pippin,” directed by Tony Humrichouser, Performing Arts Hall, Harmon Fine Arts Center, 8 p.m.

• Drake Musical Theatre presents “Pippin,” directed by Tony Humrichouser, Performing Arts Hall, Harmon Fine Arts Center, 8 p.m.

• Drake Musical Theatre presents “Pippin,” directed by Tony Humrichouser, Performing Arts Hall, Harmon Fine Arts Center, 2 p.m.
• Drake Choir and Chamber Choir present “This World is Not Conclusion,” conducted by Aimee Beckmann-Collier, Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium, Old Main, 8 p.m.