Let’s take a moment to reflect on the many accomplishments, changes and events at Des Moines University during 2023. Here’s a look back at our top news events of the past 12 months.
DMU Moved to a New Campus in its 125th Year
As DMU President and CEO Angela L. Walker Franklin, Ph.D., described, it’s “surreal” to contemplate all that happened from March 2019, when she announced plans to move the university to a new campus on 88 acres of farmland in West Des Moines, to June 2, 2023, when the first cohort of students started classes at DMU’s new home. Not even a global pandemic halted progress on this historic achievement, which coincided with the university’s 125th anniversary.
DMU Pioneers Visionary Project with Polk County
On Dec. 12, the Polk County Board of Supervisors announced a $5 million contribution to support the university’s vision for a new shared regional simulation center housed in Ryan Hall on DMU’s 3200 Grand Ave. campus. The facility will provide advanced health care training opportunities to education institutions across the region. Des Moines Area Community College, Mercy College of Health Sciences and Des Moines Public Schools are working in partnership with DMU and Polk County on a vision for the center. It also will be used by area municipalities and education programs to train emergency services personnel, including emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
Students Shine on Their Way to Professional Success
Equipped with their DMU education, our students and graduates continue to shine. For example, members of the osteopathic medicine Class of 2024 achieved the highest pass rate, 98.6%, among all osteopathic medical schools nationwide on the Level 1 exam of the COMLEX-USA national board exams. In March, members of the DMU osteopathic medicine and podiatric medicine programs’ Class of 2023 achieved a 100% residency placement rate.
DMU’s New O.T.D. Program Welcomes First Cohort
The university expanded its degree offerings to 10 with a new Doctor of Occupational Therapy program. Among its unique advantages: Students can choose a traditional pathway, with most class and laboratory sessions held in person, or a hybrid pathway that allows students to engage in class sessions virtually and in laboratory sessions in person. These options offer flexibility while ensuring close interaction with faculty and fellow students.
New Admissions Partnerships Expand Student Opportunities
DMU established partnerships with several Iowa universities and colleges designed to create enhanced pathways, including guaranteed interviews and/or concurrent enrollment, for their students seeking medical and health sciences careers. The partnerships are intended to foster student opportunities while helping build Iowa’s health care workforce. New partnerships are in place with Buena Vista University, Grand View University, Indian Hills Community College and the University of Northern Iowa.
DMU Honored Alumni of the Year and Rising Star
The 2023 alumni honorees demonstrate a DMU education in action by providing excellent patient care, training future health leaders, working to diversify the health workforce and serving as leaders in their specialties. They are Thomas Cavalieri, D.O.’76, MACOI, FACP, AGSF, College of Osteopathic Medicine Alumnus of the Year; Tiffany Hauptman, D.P.M.’98, College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery Alumna of the Year; Laurie Hughell, M.S.P.A.S.’04, M.P.H.’06, PA-C, College of Health Sciences Alumna of the Year; and Kelsey Mims, D.P.T.’12, Rising Star Award recipient.
DMU Leaders Earn National Recognition
DMU President and CEO Angela L. Walker Franklin, Ph.D., wrote an article titled, “A Case Study in Integral Leadership” published in the November-December issue of Trusteeship, the magazine of the Association of Governing Boards. Heather Garvin-Elling, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and one of fewer than 120 board-certified forensic anthropologists in the nation, appeared on “Dateline NBC” to discuss her testimony in an alleged Ohio murder trial. As a board member and co-chair of the Conference Committee of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, Rich Salas, Ph.D., DMU’s chief diversity officer, for the fourth consecutive year helped organize the association’s national conference in January 2024. 
DMU Serves the Community – Oh, Let Us Count the Ways
Students, faculty and staff continue to uphold DMU’s community service tradition. From providing health screenings and information at a local mosque and the annual 50 and Better Health Fair for older adults to offering free back-to-school physicals to local youth and post-race treatments to participants in the IMT/Des Moines Marathon, students and faculty worked to enhance the health of individuals and the community. They also worked to inspire local girls and boys to explore opportunities in the sciences with DMU’s annual Girls Exploring Medicine and Science and Boys Reaching for Opportunities in the Sciences programs. DMU public health faculty are supporting a Central Iowa Basic Income Pilot, and the university donated ultrasound machines to doctors on the frontlines in the war in Ukraine.
The DMU Clinic Serves the Community, Too
It’s nice to be needed, and even better to respond: In the fall, the DMU Clinic – Foot and Ankle expanded hours at its 3200 Grand Avenue location and added services at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, where DMU has been the exclusive physical therapy and athletic training services provider since 2021. Alumni Autumn Brunia, Hailey Huey, Seth Quam and Kelly John brought their expertise to the DMU Clinic as new providers. DMU clinicians offered valuable health information, too, on the university blog and in the media on topics including the rising risk of tick bites and the importance of flu and COVID-19 vaccines.
Students and Faculty Seek New Knowledge Through Research
DMU’s new executive director of research, Pravin Mishra, Ph.D., M.B.A., brings to the university a rare combination of experiences in bench, translational and clinical science, academia, government, partnerships and new strategic business development. Daniel Christian, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology and pharmacology, received a two-year $152,000 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health to investigate the brain during chronic alcohol withdrawal. Through DMU’s Distinguished Global Health Internships program, students investigated health and climate topics at the CDC and its Climate and Health Division and at the U.S. Global Change Research Program and with its International Workstream. Three osteopathic medicine students won the Outstanding Medical Student Paper Award at the Association of Program Directors in Surgery conference, and 67 students presented posters and gave oral presentations at the 2023 DMU Research Symposium on Nov. 30.
Des Moines University Fosters a Cleaner Future – and Earns Reward
The buildings on DMU’s new West Des Moines campus are 54% more energy-efficient than average buildings of the same size, generating enough savings to cover the electricity use of more than 650 homes for one year. That also reaped nearly $1.2 million in construction rebates from MidAmerican Energy.
Donors Make Possible All DMU Achieves
The university is on track to achieve the $50 million goal of its Purple & Proud Campaign, all thanks to the alumni and friends who believe and invest in its mission and students. From naming spaces on the new campus and supporting the Glanton Fund to responding generously to One Day for DMU, our donors make the university the outstanding, innovative and forward-looking institution it is.
