These colorful doors painted by Drake students will brighten up the insides of homes.

Thirteen students in Angela Battle's upper-level painting courses have touched up some doors in an interesting way.

Habitat for Humanity supplied the students with 10 interior doors and the students as individuals and in groups used the doors as canvases to express the themes of home, family or environment.

The "art doors" will be displayed and auctioned off at the 2006 Home and Garden Show at the Iowa Events Center, Feb. 15-19.

Proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity.
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While Valentine's Day typically means tugging at heartstrings, for college students and college-bound high schoolers, it also means a little paperwork. As a reminder of this and in support of the Iowa Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators work in helping students achieve their post-secondary education dreams, Gov. Vilsack has declared February "Financial Aid Awareness Month."

Now is the time to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2006-2007 academic year. The form can be filed electronically at www.FAFSA.ed.gov. To sign electronically, you will need a PIN. A pin can be applied for at www.PIN.ed.gov. To ensure maximum consideration for financial aid programs, a FAFSA must be received by the federal processing center by March 1. The general mailing rule of thumb is by Valentine's Day, which is Tuesday, Feb. 14.
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Team members pose with their plaque from the regional competition.

The Drake University Law School National Moot Court Team defeated teams from Duke, Nebraska, Minnesota and Hastings law schools to reach the semi-final round of the National Moot Court Competition this week in New York City. The Drake team lost in the semi-final to a team from Duke, which went on to win first place.

Members of the Drake team are Daniel J. Anderson, a third-year student from Coralville, Iowa; Anna Wholey, a third-year student from Rockford, Ill.; and Emily Peebler, a second-year student from Robins, Iowa.

"The students worked extremely hard and should be congratulated for being one of the final four teams in this prestigious national competition," said Laurie Doré, Drake professor of law and coach of the team.

The American College of Trial Lawyers and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York jointly sponsor the National Moot Court Competition, one of the oldest of its kind in the country.
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Chris Offutt

Chris Offutt, a visiting fiction writer at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, will read from his work and discuss writing at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, in the Cowles Library Reading Room. This event is the first in the spring Drake Writers and Critics Series, which is free and open to the public.

Offutt is the author of one novel, "The Good Brother," two books of stories: "Kentucky Straight" and "Out of the Woods," and two memoirs: "The Same River Twice" and "No Heroes." His stories and essays have been published in Esquire, GQ, The New York Times, "Best American Short Stories" and "Best Stories of the South." He has taught at the University of New Mexico and the University of Montana. He is a contributing editor to the Iowa Review and Tin House. In addition, he is the recipient of a Lannan Award, a Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and an Award in Literature "for prose that takes . . . risks" from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The schedule for the remainder of the series appears below:

• Poets Lisa Jarnot and Mark McMorris, 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center.

• Paula Amad, a film criticism expert who teaches at the University of Iowa, 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13, room 206 of Cline Hall of Pharmacy and Science.

• Charles D'Ambrosio, a visiting writer at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, lounge of Medbury Hall.

• Scott Russell Sanders, novelist and professor of creative writing at Indiana University, 8 p.m. Monday, May 1, room 206 of Cline Hall.

Members of the Drake Undergraduate Mock Trial Team A are: back row from top left: Justin Carrothers, John Lande, L. Lars Hulsebus; front row from bottom left: Alex Wainberg, Jasmina Sarajlija, Jenna Wilcox and Elizabeth Vaubel.

The Drake Undergraduate Mock Trial Team A placed fifth out of about 50 teams at the "Kangaroo Court Challenge" at the University of Missouri at Kansas City last month.

Team B team did not place, however, the team recorded a record of 4-4 during the event.

Lou Ann Simpson, professor of business law, advises both teams. Richard Calkins, former Drake Law School dean and founder of Undergraduate Mock Trial, is helping the team search for a permanent coach and assists with funding.

The members of the first team are: Lars Hulsebus, Justin Carrothers, John Lande, Elizabeth Vaubel, Jasmina Sarajlila, Kara Lee and Alex Wainberg.

The members of the second team are: Jeremy DeFoe, Jenna Wilcox, Beth Delvaux, Ellen Cooper, Lindsey Andersen, Sarah Kucker and James Wallace.

The members of the third team are: Mike Nelson, Joanne Troglia, Ian Lowther, Marina Yakhnis, Christopher Bettis, Brittany Schwartz and Nicole Rogers.
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Jerry Honts

Jerry Honts, associate professor of biology, will be the first speaker in the Drake University Science Colloquium Series for the spring semester. He will discuss "Warp and Woof: Weaving the Ciliate Cytoskeleton" at noon Friday, Feb. 10, in Bulldog Theater in Olmsted Center.

DUSCI will continue on Friday, March 10, with a presentation by Craig K. Svensson, the Lyle and Sharon Bighley professor in pharmaceutical sciences and head of the Division of Pharmaceutics at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. His lecture is titled "Are Adverse Drug Reactions Unavoidable Therapeutic Misadventures?"

All Drake faculty, staff, students and members of the Drake community are welcome to attend DUSCI events. Refreshments will be provided.

For more information, contact Maria Bohorquez, director of DUSCI, at dusci@drake.edu
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Drake alumni from all walks of life returned to their alma mater on Saturday to offer courses in leadership for students as part of the annual Donald V. Adams Leadership Institute Student Leadership Conference.

Speakers handled topics on a wide range of subject areas including teaching the next generation of leaders, defining leadership style for a global community, learning to manage change and networking.

Alumni speakers included Russell Jensen (GR'84), Victor Aspengren (GR'89), V.A. Hayman Barber (JO'99), Kim White (BA'91), Jim Martin (BA'79, GR'84), Diane Caldbeck (ED'72), Michelle Kirsch (GR'85) and Kari Charlson (AS'02).

"The alums who took part just went out of their way to make this a valuable experience for the students," said Don Adams, 125th anniversary fellow and senior counsel for institutional advancement. "At the end of the day on Saturday, they were ecstatic after meeting these students who are so motivated, so fired-up and so interested in leadership."
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The O'Neill Brothers will hold a free question-and-answer session from 2 to 2:50 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main.

Tim and Ryan O'Neill, also known as the piano brothers, will perform a concert with Deborah Gibson at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9, on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium. Tickets, which are $27.50, are available by calling Iowatix at (515) 277-3727.
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Drake's Music Department offers a wide variety of performances in the near future, beginning with the Drake Choir's Benefit Cabaret Concert, sponsored by the Friends of Drake Arts, at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main.

In addition to a performance by the entire choir, conducted by Aimee Beckmann-Collier, individual students from the ensemble will sing and play a wide array of crowd-pleasers from Broadway and opera to jazz and pop.

Tickets, available at the door, are $5 for students and $25 for others. Proceeds of this event directly support the choir's international touring, which is funded only by donations and student fundraising activities.

Members of the Drake Choir are raising money for the choir's 2008 European tour by delivering Singing Valentines on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Several choir members will appear on KCCI-TV's noon newscast on Tuesday, Feb. 7, to promote the project. Orders must be placed by Friday, Feb. 10. For more information or to purchase a Singing Valentine, call x3024 or visit www.drake.edu/valentines.

On Sunday, Feb. 12, there will be a faculty recital featuring Dennis Willhoit, tenor, and Shari Rhoads, piano, at 8 p.m. on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium. Willhoit, adjunct music teaching artist of voice, and Rhoads, of the University of Iowa, will perform works by Liszt and Strauss as well as Neopolitan Songs in celebration of Valentine's Day. Admission is free.

The Euclid Quartet, a dynamic ensemble praised by the Denver Post for "electric" playing, and Nicholas Roth, piano, will give a recital at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium.

The quartet has earned recognition at major competitions, recently winning third place at the Osaka (Japan) International Chamber Music Competition and Grand Prize at the Hugo Kauder International Competition for String Quartets at Yale University. Roth, assistant professor of piano at Drake, has won first prizes in international competitions in the United States and Europe. The program includes Beethoven's String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No.1, and Schumann's Piano Quintet, Op. 44. Admission is free.
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A pair of Drake University music students recently made big splashes in local and national competitions.

Timothy Bostwick, a junior baritone singer from Cedar Falls, Iowa, was selected as one of 30 semi-finalists chosen to compete in the "Singer of the Year" competition sponsored by the Shreveport (La.) Opera. Bostwick, a junior, was the youngest person selected for the competition and competed against graduate students and beyond.

Natalie Neimann, a sophomore soprano, was chosen as winner of the recent Fort Dodge (Iowa) Symphony Young Artist Competition. Neimann, a Fort Dodge native, will perform with the symphony in March.

Both Bostwick and Neimann are students of Leanne Freeman-Miller, Drake associate professor of voice.

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• Sign-up meetings for students planning to student teach during the fall 2006 semester, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Computer Lab (room B06), School of Education.
• Drake men's basketball vs. Illinois State, 7:05 p.m., Drake Knapp Center.
• Black History Month: Men's Forum, 8 p.m., Cool Beans, Olmsted Center.
• Black History Month: Women's Forum, 8 p.m., Morehouse Living Room, Morehouse Residence Hall.

• Mornings @ Drake featuring "Generational Differences in the Workplace" by Venessa Macro, director of human resources, 7 a.m., Pomerantz Stage, Olmsted Center, $5. To register, call x3378.
• Drake women's basketball Fast Break Luncheon, 11:30 a.m., Christopher's Restaurant, $11.
• Drake Writers and Critics Series: Chris Offutt, a visiting writer at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, 8 p.m., Cowles Library Reading Room.

• Workshop: Know Your Work Style, Part II, 9 a.m. to noon, rooms 310-311, Olmsted Center. Register by calling x3133.
• Question-and-Answer Session with the O'Neill Brothers, 2 p.m., Sheslow Auditorium, Old Main.
• Joint Drake Law School-American Judicature Society program: "The Jury and the American Litigation Process," 3 to 5:15 p.m., room 213, Cartwright Hall.
• Black History Month: "Matrix of Mediocracy" talk by Rasheed-Ali Cromwell an associate at a large intellectual property law firm in Washington, D.C., and a speaker for The Harbor Institute, 7 p.m., Cowles Library Reading Room.

• Last day to turn in RSVP cards to Human Resources for Drake's 125th Birthday Celebration for faculty and staff on Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Science Center of Iowa.

• Drake University Science Colloquium Series featuring Jerry Honts, noon, Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center.
• Black History Month: Stepper's Night, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., Cool Beans, Olmsted Center.

• Drake men's basketball vs. Evansville, 7:05 p.m., Drake Knapp Center.
• Drake Choir Benefit Cabaret, 8 p.m., Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium, $5 for students and $25 for others.

• Black History Month: Movie Marathon, 2 p.m. to midnight, Black Cultural Center, 1149 28th St.

• Guest/Faculty Recital - The Euclid Quartet and Nicholas Roth, piano, 8 p.m., Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium.

Carrie Koenigsfeld, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, was elected to serve on the American Pharmaceutical Association Pharmacy Today Editorial Advisory Board. She will serve a three-year term beginning in March.