Des Moines, IA — Drake University is proud to announce that Dr. Jerrid Kruse, a leading science educator, has been honored with the Innovation in Teaching Science Teachers Award from the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE). Additionally, Kruse has secured a three-year grant renewal from the William G. Stowe Foundation to support water quality...
Category: Faculty and Staff Accomplishments
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Drake University Professor Maria Valdovinos Receives Outstanding Mentor Award
Maria Valdovinos, Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Psychology, has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Association for Behavior Analysis International Outstanding Mentor Award. The student committee shared the following regarding her selection: “Dr. Maria Valdovinos exemplifies transformative mentorship through her resolute dedication to nurturing both academic excellence and personal growth in...
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Blues and Education Unite: Honoring Chicago Rick Lussie at Ruby Van Meter School (DMPS)
Professor Tom Buckmiller, a faculty member at Drake University and a blues musician, recently collaborated with The Central Iowa Blues Society (CIBS) and participated in a Music Appreciation Day at Ruby Van Meter School, honoring the legacy of Chicago Rick Lussie. The event celebrated Lussie’s impact as both a bluesman and educator, reinforcing the powerful...
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Affordable Prosthetics and Spinal Care Innovation: Drake Entrepreneurs Impress at Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition
Drake University is committed to cultivating a dynamic learning environment where students and faculty alike are empowered to explore new ideas and push the boundaries of knowledge. That entrepreneurial spirit was on full display recently when both a Drake faculty member and a graduate student were named finalists in the 2024 John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial...
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Drake University Appoints Professor Teri Koch as Dean of Cowles Library
Drake University has appointed Professor Teri Koch as the new Dean of Cowles Library, following approval from the University’s Board of Trustees. Koch, who has served in various leadership roles at the University for more than three decades, will begin her official tenure as dean in a three-year term effective immediately. Koch has been integral...
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Drake University Professors Kruse, Woodward Earn National Science Foundation Grant
Drake University’s School of Education announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $628,791 grant to Professors Jerrid Kruse and Lindsay Woodward. The grant will fund research into how teachers understand and teach complex topics with social, cultural, scientific, and technical elements, a concept known as socioscientific literacy. Kruse and Woodward will work...
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Nora Stelter named Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association
Nora Stelter, PharmD, CHWC, associate professor of pharmacy practice in Drake University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (CPHS), was named Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). Stelter was selected for the APhA Award by the Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA-APPM). Stelter, who is also the coordinator of introductory pharmacy practice experiences...
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Drake political scientists publish articles on House Speaker election, future of UK, Japan–U.S. relations
Rachel Paine Caufield and Kieran Williams, co-chairs of the Department of Political Science, and Mary McCarthy, professor of political science all published articles on the website The Conversation in January 2023. Prof. Caufield explained why it was so hard to get Kevin McCarthy elected as the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and...
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Three new faculty join Drake’s College of Business and Public Administration
Drake University’s College of Business and Public Administration is pleased to announce the arrival of three new faculty members. Assistant Professors Danielle Edwards and Wiranthe Herath joined the college’s Information Management and Business Analytics Department to teach undergraduate courses in information systems and statistics respectively. Visiting Assistant Professor Linfeng Zhang joined the college’s School of...
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Drake political scientist publishes study of secret police
Kieran Williams, assistant professor and co-chair of the Department of Political Science, has published a chapter on the secret police in Communist Czechoslovakia in the book Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe in the Era of Normalisation, 1969–1989, edited by Kevin McDermott and Matthew Stibbe. Williams’s chapter charts the rebuilding of a web of surveillance in the...