Author: Carl Olsen (Carl Olsen)

Nancy Sebring, superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, will speak at Drake University’s “Let’s DU Lunch” series on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the Polk County Convention Complex.

Drake University enrolled 924 first-year students this fall, which makes the entering class the largest since 1981 when there were 967 freshmen.

Drake University business students have gained a new resource to help them secure internships and professional positions -- the Career and Professional Development Center in Aliber Hall made possible by a partnership with Wells Fargo Bank.

Drake University Law School will sponsor "Rural Lands Rural Livelihoods: Using Land and Natural Resources to Revitalize Rural Iowa," a conference and art show beginning Thursday, Sept. 20.

The fall season of the Humanities Center Colloquium series will start with a presentation by Jeff Karnicky, visiting professor of English, on "Thinking with Blue Jays," from 3:30-5 p.m., on Friday, Sept. 28. The colloquium series, which is free and open to the Drake community, will be held in the Medbury Honors Lounge, Medbury Hall.

Norbert Pienta, associate professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Teaching at the University of Iowa, will continue the fall series of Drake's Science Colloquium Series with a lecture titled "Using Technology to Study Student Problem Solving in Chemistry."

Madelyn M. Levitt will receive the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

Drake University Theatre will open the fall season with "Autobahn," a series of short plays by Neil LaBute that take place in the front seats of cars.

Alveda C. King, Gospel of Life leader, and a niece of Martin Luther King Jr., will speak at Drake University on the racial implications of abortion at 8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27, in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main.

In conjunction with the award ceremony and dinner for Madelyn M. Levitt, recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, the Woodrow Wilson Center will sponsor a public lecture and panel discussion titled "Civility, Society and Politics: Is There a Problem?"