Drake University Donors Support Affordable Access to John Dee Bright College John Dee Bright College at Drake University has announced that gifts and pledges to its student scholarship and access funds have exceeded $200,000 since the College’s launch in September 2020. Combined with state and federal grants and on-campus work-study opportunities, the outpouring of donor and alumni support will make it possible for low-income admitted students from Iowa to graduate from Bright College’s innovative two-year associate degree programs with little to no student tuition debt. One of those donors is Ernest Dippel, a 1955 graduate of what is now Drake’s College of Business and Public Administration who played football with Bright at Drake in the 1951–52 season, the year of the infamous Oklahoma A&M incident, when Bright withstood a savage raciallymotivated attack after a play. Bright continued to play that season with a broken jaw wired shut. Dippel reflected on Bright’s grit and resilience, two traits the new college will nurture in its students. “Being John’s teammate was a major honor and highlight of my life,” Dippel said. “Johnny Bright is a true legend, certainly as an athlete; but more than that, he became a giant as an educator all during an era when racism was rampant,” Dippel added. Vinaya Sharma, Chicago-based enterprise risk management consultant and a 1993 graduate of Drake’s College of Business and Public Administration spoke of the lasting “I am extremely grateful to our supporters,” said Craig N. Owens, professor of English and founding dean of Bright College. “Affordability and access are two key goals of Bright College,” Owens added. “Combined with the College’s promise to ‘do school differently’ and with Drake’s longstanding reputation for excellence, our donors’ generosity will prove truly life-changing to our students.” Named for college and professional football legend and beloved educator John Dee “Johnny” Bright, who graduated from Drake’s School of Education in 1952, the College is the first new college or school founded at Drake in over 60 years. Several donors have cited Bright’s example as a resilient and committed sportsman, on the one hand, and as a celebrated public school principal, on the other, as the inspiration for their giving. impact of Bright’s legacy decades after his 1952 graduation. “As someone affected by Johnny Bright’s story, I felt it appropriate to honor Bright and Drake with a donation,” Sharma remarked. “Bright’s impact at Drake as a student and alum was groundbreaking. His legacy as a champion will live on with the students in the College that bears his name.” Louis Carr, a 1978 graduate of Drake’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, current president of media sales at Black Entertainment Television (BET) Networks, and a member of Drake’s Board of Trustees, attributes his own opportunity to study at Drake to Bright’s trailblazing. “Johnny Bright’s participation and success in sports paved the way for me to have an athletic scholarship at Drake,” Carr said, adding that “Bright’s legacy is something that I wanted to financially support as a signal of gratitude.” “These gifts go beyond helping with tuition,” Owens explained. “They’ll also fund an exciting summer orientation program, ensure attentive student support and tutoring, and defray some of the ordinary, day-to-day costs of simply attending college.”
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