Drake Jazz students' road gig is European tour Drake Jazz students' road gig is European tour The 20-piece ensemble will play festivals large and small at stops in Vienna, Austria; Montreux, Switzerland; Vienne, France, and Brugge, Belgium. The headline of the tour will be playing the Montreux Jazz Festival, one of Europe's largest jazz celebrations, July 9-10. "Montreux is the home of the grand daddy of all the festivals," said Andy Classen, Drake associate professor of trumpet and director of jazz studies. "Taking place over the course of three weeks with seven different venues located on the picturesque Lake Geneva, it is no wonder people return year after year for this experience. Drake is fortunate to be the one undergraduate-only band invited to participate in the festival." Also, during the tour, students will visit the Vincent Van Gough Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Rijksmuseum. The group will take in the tunes at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Before leaving for Europe, Jazz I will perform from 6:30 to 9 p.m. next Tuesday at the July 4 Independence Day Celebration in Osceola, Iowa. Drake President David Maxwell, joined by David Walker, Drake Law School dean, made the announcement at the Iowa State Bar Association Annual Meeting last Wednesday in Des Moines. A gift of $1.5 million from Wayne and Donna Kern will sponsor an endowed chair in honor of the Kern family, the focus of which will be determined as part of an on-going effort to strengthen Drake Law School. Kern, a 1972 Drake Law School alumnus, attended Drake Law School as a non-traditional student after a career as high school teacher and banker in Macomb, IL. He went on to a career in merger and acquisitions law, the majority of it in the cable television and communications area. He team-taught a mergers and acquisitions course at Drake Law School and has volunteered at the Drake Legal Clinic. His sons, Brian Kern, a lawyer in Colfax, and Matthew Kern, a Des Moines real estate attorney, both graduated from Drake Law School. "The Kerns have been generous supporters of Drake Law School for many years," Walker said. "They've endowed a scholarship and given major gifts to our building projects through the years. They are fantastic supporters of what we do here at Drake." A $750,000 leadership gift from Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a subsidiary of DuPont, is earmarked for a dynamic new program in intellectual property law, Walker said. The gift is intended to be part of the funding by a broad coalition of industry and alumni aimed at strengthening Drake's intellectual property law program. The program will focus on educating regulators, judges and practicing attorneys, and will be a powerful voice for the importance of strong intellectual property rights in biotechnology on a global basis. "We want the Drake Law School to be a national and international leader in intellectual property law," Walker said. "Pioneer's gift, along with its extensive experience in this area, will help us reach out to a variety of communities and make intellectual property another excellent discipline for our experience-based learning." As part of this effort, Drake Law School plans to add a full-time endowed faculty position in intellectual property law. Along with augmenting its classroom offerings, Drake plans to partner with agricultural science and biotechnology businesses, including Pioneer, to create a summer institute designed to draw both students and lawyers from foreign countries as well as the United States to Drake for sessions on international property law. "This will be a multi-disciplinary approach," Walker said. "We will develop a program that will bring people from around the world exposure to the latest practical application and scholarly research on intellectual property law. People will come for the internship opportunities and classroom experiences." Finally, Dwight Opperman, a 1951 Drake Law alumnus, donated $3 million to further endow the Opperman Scholar program. The fund awards five or more merit-based, full-tuition scholarships for outstanding first-year students, and the scholarships are renewable. In addition, the program provides an annual grant of $10,000 to each Opperman Scholar to help pay for books and living expenses while attending Drake Law School. The gifts bolster the Drake Law School's efforts to build its regional and national profile. President Maxwell recently announced the University's commitment to ensuring that within five years the Drake Law School will be recognized as one of the best law schools in the Midwest. Drake University Head Start was nominated for its success in developing strong parent and community involvement in promoting reading, book selection and distribution, fundraising activities and program leadership. Other selection criteria included the percentage of children at-risk of academic failure who are served by the program (80 percent or higher), the program model and the program setting and location. Out of approximately 4,600 RIF programs nationwide, Drake University Head Start is among 25 programs that will be recognized for their commitment to children's literacy in a national awards ceremony during a visit to Washington, D.C., this week. Accepting the award on behalf of Drake University Head Start will be Jennifer Williams of Nevada, who teaches at Ames Head Start; Casey O'Roake of Newton, who teaches at Newton Head Start; and Clara Hill of Des Moines, who teaches at Wallace Elementary School Head Start. The teachers also will participate in workshops, focus groups and information sessions geared toward sharing insights on running a successful RIF program. Following these events, RIF will create a best practices guide to benefit all RIF programs and serve as a resource for other organizations that promote children's literacy. "Drake University Head Start epitomizes all of the essential elements of a high-quality RIF program - and any successful children's literacy program," said Marilyn Smith, RIF vice president and director of programs. "It is important not only that we recognize excellent RIF programs like Drake University Head Start, but that we also mine them for resources and tips that other literacy initiatives can learn from." "It is an honor to be recognized for our RIF program," said Georgia Sheriff, director of Drake Head Start. "RIF gives parents and staff the opportunity to choose books and then to plan fun literacy activities to introduce them to children. Our staff members encourage families to read together and talk about what they read. RIF helps us accomplish this goal." Drake University Head Start is a comprehensive preschool program that serves more than 1,000 children and their families through 40 programs in Polk, Boone, Warren, Marion, Jasper and Story counties. Each of the honorees dedicated eight or more hours to University-provided Learning and Development sessions during the 2005-06 academic year. The sessions were designed to promote learning and overall excellence in the workplace. Sessions covered a diverse range of topics that included stress relief, living the Drake brand and using web technology in the classroom. The Drake Human Resources department, Drake Telemedia Center and Office of Information Technology were among the departments that offered classes. Jayne Smith, director of sponsored programs at Drake, said the sessions offered her the opportunity to learn valuable work skills and meet people from other departments. She attended a course on business writing and another on conducting a more fruitful meeting. "I'm a strong promoter of lifelong learning, and love to take advantage of these opportunities when they arise," Smith said. Learning and development are two of Drake's core values. In addition to the having access to dozens of training courses, full-time staff members with six years of continuous employment also are eligible to apply for a four-week paid leave in order to pursue comprehensive in-depth learning activities that contribute to their growth and further the strategic initiatives of Drake University. Applications are available at Staplin is also director of curriculum for the West Des Moines Schools, president of the School of Education International Advisory Board and the recipient of the school's Distinguished Alumni Award. "Drake University would like to congratulate Dr. Staplin for her dedication and achievement," said Janet McMahill, dean of the School of Education. Staplin earned her specialist degree and Doctor of Education from Drake. Drake University Facility Services received the department award. The nominator of the department said, "A day does not go by that we do not see or appreciate the efforts of personnel in Facility Services to attend to matters in our school. In dealings with facility personnel, we are consistently met with excellent service. The teamwork they exhibit and spirit de corps we see exemplifies the core values that make Drake a special place to work - where employees work towards a common goal. We see that often in facility personnel. Their work to maintain and enhance the campus may go unnoticed because they do their jobs well and excellence seems to be the norm." Facility Services employees can be seen in all areas of the campus. This department will be displaying the traveling Bulldog and each department member will receive a mini-bulldog. The individual award recipient is Laura Palmer, assistant director of annual fund programs in Institutional Advancement. She was nominated by three individuals. Palmer is responsible for Phon-A-Thon. One of her nominees stated she has embraced Drake University by getting involved by going to athletic events, reading campus student publications and making sure she has a grasp of what is going on at campus. Another nominator cited her for hiring the best students and being committed to them by motivating and teaching them the importance of their job. And, another nominator stated "She is a true leader and cares deeply about her Phon-A-Thon callers, which motivates the callers to do their best. Her integrity, excellence, and citizenship towards Drake go beyond her duty as an employee to Drake. Her active involvement in the Drake community has improved the 'Drake Experience,' which will continue to make Drake an exceptional university through its faculty." Palmer received a blue caller-ID phone as her reward. This phone will remain with Palmer throughout her Drake employment. "Please take time to congratulate Laura and all Drake University Facility Services Personnel for their efforts in going above and beyond their routine duties and practicing the core values of excellence, learning, integrity, citizenship and/or fiscal responsibility," said Bill Jensen, chair of the ASC Recognition Committee. These are the final "Called to be True Blue" awards for this academic year. The program will begin again in the fall. Watch your mail for notices of nomination due dates. In addition to Jensen, the Recognition Committee members are Suzanne Brown, chair-elect, Marilea Chase, Larry Cox, Jill Duffy, Carla McCrea and Ericca Saddoris. |
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