Sentwali Bakari, Drake Dean of Students at Summer Institute.

Drury University students test their robot aboard a NASA aircraft.

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Professor Howard C. Mueller of North Central College.

• Drake Graduates, Drury Professor Receive Fulbright Awards
• Drury Science Project Included in NASA Test Flight
• Simmons Offers Scholarships to Women from Afghanistan
• Evansville Student Wins Prestigious National Acting Award
• Drake Law Mock Trial Team Second in Nation; Drury SIFE Team Third
• North Central Professor Named Educator of Year
• Drake Professor Named to Open Government Hall of Fame
• Chief Academic Officers Named at Mercer and Hamline; Arts & Science Dean at Redlands; Development Officer at Susquehanna
• PLU and Redlands Choose Business Deans; Ithaca Selects Park School Dean

Drake Graduates, Drury Professor Receive Fulbright Awards

Two recent Drake University graduates have been awarded Fulbright scholarships. Shalene Breci of Des Moines will spend thirteen months on an English teaching assistantship in South Korea and Mira Yusef of Des Moines received a scholarship to support her research on Muslin women in the Philippines. Charles Ess, a professor of philosophy at Drury University will use his Fulbright award to work with two professors in Germany at the University of Trier this fall on cross-cultural comparisons between Germany and China with regard to online communication. Ess will focus on cross-cultural perspectives on Internet research ethics, privacy, and data protection.

Drury Science Project Included in NASA Test Flight

A group of Drury University physics students who invented a cylindrical robot in a theoretical mechanics class had their invention tested this month aboard a NASA aircraft known as the “Weightless Wonder.” The top and bottom halves of the robot twist independently, giving their invention potential as a way to rotate satellites in space. Their professor, Gregory Ojakangas, explained it this way, “This robot turns the same way a cat turns in midair in order to land on its feet. It turns with no net spin, or ‘angular momentum.’ This is potentially useful in space because it means you can turn an object like a satellite or an astronaut without gas jets or spinning gyroscopes.”

Simmons Offers Scholarships to Women from Afghanistan

Simmons College has awarded four-year scholarships to two women from Afghanistan who will leave their families to enter the freshmen class at Simmons in September. Simmons is partnering with Roger Williams University in the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women founded by Paula Nirschel, wife of the Roger Williams president, who started the program in 2002.

Evansville Student Wins Prestigious National Acting Award

Christopher Grant, junior theatre major at the University of Evansville, captured the top prize in the national Irene Ryan Acting Foundation Scholarship competition in April at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Grant also won the $2,500 first place prize in the Mark Twain Comedy Acting Award and came in second for the Sundance Theatre Lab fellowship. Grant was chosen in a competition that began with over 300 regional nominees for the Irene Ryan Award which is administered by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Four other Evansville students have won the award, the first in 1976.

Drake Law Mock Trial Team Second in Nation; Drury SIFE Team Third

A team of second and third year law students at Drake University placed second in the Association of Trial Lawyers of America Mock Trial national competition. On its way to the second place finish, the Drake team defeated South Texas University in the semi-finals but lost to the University of Akron in the finals. After winning national and world Students in Free Enterprise competitions last year, the Drury University SIFE team placed third in this year’s national competition. Still, a pretty lofty achievement!

North Central Professor Named Educator of Year

Howard C. Mueller, C. Frederick Toenniges Professor of Religious Studies at North Central College, has been named “Outstanding Educator of the Year” by the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation. Each year one teacher from the 100 United Methodist-related colleges and universities nationwide is selected for this award based on outstanding teaching, scholarship, college, community, and church contributions.

Drake Professor Named to Open Government Hall of Fame

Drake University journalism and mass communication professor Herb Strentz has been named to the national Open Government Hall of Fame for his efforts to ensure that public meetings and records remain accessible to Iowans. Strentz recently retired after a thirty- year career as a faculty member and administrator at Drake.

Chief Academic Officers Named at Mercer and Hamline; Arts & Sciences Dean at Redlands; Development Officer at Susquehanna

Horace W. Fleming has added the title of provost to his role as executive vice president at Mercer University. As provost Fleming will replace Peggy H. DuBose who retired from Mercer this summer. At Hamline University F. Garvin Davenport has been named vice president for academic affairs, replacing, as chief academic officer, provost Jerry Greiner who left Hamline this summer to become president of Arcadia University. Susan Traverso, director of ANAC Academy and associate professor of history at North Central College, is leaving both roles to become dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at University of Redlands. Susquehanna University has selected Raymond Brownell, formerly director of annual giving at Union College, to be executive director of development and campaign director.

PLU and Redlands Choose Business Deans; Ithaca Selects Park School Dean

Pacific Lutheran University has chosen James M. Clapper, professor of marketing at Belmont University, as its new dean of the School of Business. Jerry Platt, dean of the College of Business at San Francisco State University, is leaving this post to join the University of Redlands as dean of the School of Business. Dianne Lynch, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at Saint Michael’s College, assumed the post of dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College this summer.