Drake Bright College

It’s a beautiful day to vote, Iowa!

Another cool project from JBC 015 this spring: a curated book collection with selections from students and professors. Love this reading list!

How cool is this? Answer: very. Our JBC 015 students collaborated on a class cookbook celebrating cultural traditions around the world. Can’t wait to try some new recipes this summer!

The dean is ever-so-slightly obsessed with and we at Bright College all wish him a happy retirement! We will miss you, Georgie, and we promise to give Gus the warmest of welcomes! ❤️🐶

Congratulations to our new Bright College Student Senator, Owen Hubbard, and a big thank-you to our 2025-2026 Senator, Zamiratu Dainkeh! We appreciate your hard work and dedication!

Lots to celebrate at the .adams.institute student award ceremony yesterday! Congratulations to our students and for their Outstanding Bright College Student nominations, to current second-year student Princess Winters and Bright College alum Samra Aksamovic for completing the Adams Leadership Institute program, and again to Samra for being nominated for the Oreon Scott Award (the most prestigious student award at Drake)! Our students and alums are kind of a big deal!

Shout out to Dr. Kevin Lam of who teaches for us as well! Here he is presenting on his co-edited book, The Selected Works of Antonia Darder, which reminds us (following Paulo Freire) that teaching is an act of love. So grateful you’ll be teaching our latest cohort this fall!

Signing in from Painted Street… Happy Relays!

Yet another moment of celebration for Bright College: Assistant Dean John Kippes won the 2025-2026 Madelyn M. Levitt Award for Employee Excellence! He’s incredibly dedicated to supporting our students through academic and career advising, as well as doing all he can to make lives better. Congratulations to on this much-deserved honor! ❤️

Another celebratory moment for Bright College! A current second-year student, Avery Lawler, won the Central Iowa Mineralogical Society Award, which will allow Avery to gain field experience in geology this summer. Thanks to for this great moment at Honors Convocation, and congratulations to Avery!