Courtney Tompkins – lil miss marketing

Courtney Tompkins has been part of the DMU marketing team since Nov. 2005 and loves promoting a school she believes in so thoroughly. Proud daughter and patient of DMU alumni, Courtney knows, first-hand, that Des Moines University is doing a world of good.

A fan of all outdoor festivals, fruity drinks and nearly all edibles, she has a hard time narrowing down her list of favorite places to go and things to do but lists the Iowa State Fair as an all-time fave. She loves her 8-minute commute to DMU from Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines. She and husband Tyler are owned by three large dogs, Tonka, Tucker and Tank.

Gina Smith – admissions guru

Gina Smith joined the admissions team (formally the Enrollment Management department) in early 2005. She strives to keep you up to date on all things admission related.

Since graduating from the University of Iowa in 2003, Gina continues to cheer on the Hawkeyes, the best team ever, pretty much any way you look at it. Gina and her husband live in West Des Moines with their son, dog and cat.

Tea Nguyen – 2011 D.P.M./M.P.H. student & California transplant

Tea Nguyen is a dual degree D.P.M./M.P.H. student at DMU. She was born in Utah but raised in California and left the great state to be at one of the best podiatry school in the country.

She has aspirations in international medical service trips and hopes to hit several continents during this lifetime. Traveling is also on the top of her to-do list and she often reminisces about her prior travels to Italy, France and Greece. She also enjoys eating adventures with her boyfriend Paul and is a major food-snacker. It is not uncommon to find her lapsed in a food coma in the middle of her studies.

Daley Dodd – 2011 PA student & mad mingler

Daley Dodd was born and raised in the little ol’ town of Newton, IA. Growing up involved sports, dance, clubs and anything under the sun that could keep the family busy. This busy bee life flowed over into her college years at Northwest Missouri State University. She was a member of the Northwest Dance team, taught dance at a local studio, a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority and involved in Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC).

After college Daley journeyed on over to Europe and had the time of her life. While there she worked for CCC and got to experience new cultures, foods and people. After a year abroad her cravings for American food got the best of her and she came home. After living in Nebraska a year she decided to jump back on the school ship and came to DMU. She has loved her experience here so far and can’t wait for everything to come.

Barb Dietrich Boose – writer, reader, baker, mom

Endlessly curious and easily entertained, Barb Dietrich Boose loves being a member of the friendly, fascinating DMU community and its creative communications team.

The University’s publications director and DMU Magazine editor, Barb is always on the hunt for story ideas, good books and new recipes to try out on her family, such as her surprisingly tasty pork-and-bean bars.

Andrea Cooley – social media maven

Andrea Cooley gets paid to post on Facebook and Twitter (among other things) to promote Des Moines University to prospective students. She is a Midwest girl at heart, but loves to travel around the country visiting friends and family. If Des Moines had mountains or an ocean she’d never leave. Look for her walking along Grand Ave–she lives only 4 blocks from the University and walks to work.

Before joining the DMU marketing team, she was an editor for Country Home magazine. She’s still a little obsessed with magazines, so if you want to talk about decorating, remodeling or gardening projects she’s your go-to girl.

Nathan McConkey – 2014 D.O./M.P.H. student & overachiever

Nathan McConkey was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area (so thoughts of a future in Iowa never once crossed his mind), where he attended Geneva College for a B.S. in cell and molecular biology. Although he graduated with highest honors and hit the 85th percentile on the MCAT, medical schools weren’t too enthusiastic about accepting a teenager (he was, after all, just 18 at the end of his junior year of college when he applied). Most of them recommended he take a year off and “enjoy his youth” before med school. Instead, he enrolled in the M.P.H. program at DMU so he could tour the country (and the British Isles, for that matter) while starting to work on a master’s online. It was through that M.P.H. program he discovered a passion for DMU and osteopathic medicine in general, so it seemed obvious that he had finally found the perfect place to work on his D.O. as well. Good thing too – he’s getting old, having just turned 21, and he’s nearly run out of classes to take for his master’s.

Past Authors

David Lay – student’s spouse & photo extraordinaire

David Lay is a freelance photographer and husband to CPMS student Jennifer Gerres. He relocated to Des Moines from Cleveland, Ohio in 2008 after their June wedding. He is documenting his foray into Des Moines residency and capturing photos of his exploits.

After earning his photography merit badge in Boy Scouts, David made a name for himself covering the Cleveland music scene. In the last few years, he has branched out into photojournalism, working with newspapers and websites in Ohio. His work has also been published by Des Moines’s Juice magazine, Cox Communications, CNN, Reuters and Yahoo! News.

When he isn’t taking photos, he enjoys gourmet cooking (ask him about his mango salsa), drinking too much coffee and listening to heavy metal — sometimes all 3 at the same time. He is also an avid reader, amateur radio enthusiast and NWS-trained skywarn storm spotter.

Jeremy DeFoe – 2012 D.O. student & Guitar Hero rockstar

Jeremy is a D.O. student in the class of 2012. Originally from Farmington, MN, he has been in Des Moines since 2003 when he started at Drake University. After majoring in biology he took a year off before progressing to DMU and spent the year in China teaching English to nursing students in a small-town, Chinese medical school.

Jeremy enjoys cold weather and enjoys the Iowan winter. When not in class or studying, he can be found relaxing with his new medical school friends, walking his dog around the neighborhood or rocking out with Guitar Hero.

Kendall Conder – 2011 D.P.T. student & class comedian

Kendall was born and raised in Las Vegas and at the tender age of three began a life devoted to dance. By the end of high school, she had danced all over the world, including snagging a gig as the end-unit of a high-kick routine on a cruise ship. Once college rolled around, she decided to hang up her dancing shoes to get serious about her future. She threw a dart on a map to decide where to attend undergrad and headed to Alabama for Auburn University. After soaking up all the hospitality, she moved west to San Francisco to take time off before getting serious about her future again.

Kendall is now a serious D.P.T. student in the class of 2011. She enjoys cooking, traveling, sending emails, being loud and talking sports, namely college football. Within the first two minutes after meeting someone, in an effort to impress and ensure friendship, she also likes to mention that she was the 2006 Miss Auburn University Homecoming Queen. Kendall is exceptionally pleased with her new home and school and hopes DMU never figures out they got the raw end of the deal.

Lindsay Dean – D.P.T. student and global health traveler

Lindsay Dean is a D.P.T. student in the class of 2010. Her husband Mike works at DMU and they live in Indianola with a cute lab mix, Dallas. She enjoys music, exercise and being outdoors.

In August 2009, she will travel to St. Lucia and work at St. Jude’s hospital where she looks forward to experiencing a new culture, treating patients and bringing new ideas to the physiotherapy staff.