David Maxwell got the message early. 

Greater Des Moines developer William C. Knapp, whose name happened to adorn the campus arena, was holding court with Maxwell. Knapp told the newly appointed 12th president of Drake University that he needed to be heavily involved in community development and activities, for the sake of the university and the city.

“I think from the beginning, thanks to conversations that I had with Bill Knapp and others, I got the strong message that Drake needed to pay more attention to Des Moines,” said Maxwell, now 70 and planning to retire in June. “That surprised me, coming in naively from outside, because the business community was on the Drake board.”

Maxwell took Knapp’s words to heart, though it wasn’t a hard sell. The university president/guitarist with a penchant for blues and Russian studies understands the power of a liberal arts education. Power that can and should be used to help the community, he believes.

“I have always felt that a university has a very strong obligation, a social compact,” Maxwell said. “What opportunity does being a university
present? What are the roles that the community needs us to play? How do we have an atmosphere of civility and respect?”

“That is the conversation we had my first summer here,” said Maxwell. 

During that first summer, he called together the private school’s senior and midlevel administrators for an off-campus chat spanning two days, a look to the future: 

“I asked them, ‘What does it mean to be us? What does it mean to be us in Des Moines? In Iowa?’ ”

He got an earful, in a good way. 

“The role we should play was one of the first things we discussed,” Maxwell recalled. “The reality is that it is both logistically impossible and ethically indefensible for a university to operate independent of its surroundings.”

That connection has manifested itself in many ways, from partnerships with other schools and local businesses to the popular Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series, to working with the likes of Principal Financial Group Inc. to establish centers on campus.

For his part, Maxwell served on the boards of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and the Downtown Community Alliance. He co-chaired a Capital Crossroads committee on lifelong learning. He was involved with conversations that eventually led to the downtown library and the Iowa Events Center.

“Drake and Des Moines are very much dependent on each other for health and vitality,” Maxwell said.

He earned numerous awards for his community work. For example, in 2012, he received the A. Arthur Davis Distinguished Community Leadership Award from the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, and the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award from Character Counts in Iowa.

As Maxwell winds down his presidency, he expects great things out of Des Moines in the future. Drake is positioning itself to help, especially with workforce issues. A $65 million tech campus at Drake, with new and remodeled buildings and new degree programs designed to meet demand for workers with specialized skills, should play a significant role.

Even the sheer number of Drake graduates entering the local workforce helps the community, Maxwell said. 

“We’re very proud of the fact that roughly two-thirds of our students come from outside Iowa, and 60 percent stay after graduation,” he said.

The $65 million STEM@DRAKE initiative is part of Drake’s latest fundraising campaign, though the university needs to raise additional cash for the STEM campus. The overall fundraising campaign just passed its $200 million goal, nearly six months early.

Incoming President Earl “Marty” Martin, 53, now executive vice president of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., also wants to play a role in the Des Moines community. 

“Economic development is on my radar in a big way,” he said. “I want to be useful where I can be useful. You are not going to have a great city without a great university, and you won’t have a great university without a great city. It’s early, but I can say I don’t see Drake’s role becoming smaller.”

Among Martin’s challenges will be regaining accreditation for Drake’s business school.

Drake area under Maxwell

Maxwell looked back at some changes in the Drake community and beyond since he became president in 1999:
– The Drake neighborhood improved in a range of ways, including a lower crime rate.
– The university helped lure a Walgreens store to the campus neighborhood, one of a series of new businesses in the area.
– The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced in January that Drake has received the group’s highest commmunity engagement classification. More than 80 percent of Drake students engage in service, and 70 percent of Drake employees volunteer every week. The university has eight outreach programs that provide services including adult literacy coaching, early childhood education, ethics training and enrichment of the local food and agriculture economy.
 -Various developers brought in the likes of Mars Cafe, townhouses and home restorations.
– The university took down tall hedges that acted like a fence around campus. That made it easier for walkers to use the campus as a park, and symbolically made the campus more open, Maxwell said. “Before, it was an unintentional message to stay out,” he said. “Now, it looks like a park. The message is, ‘You are welcome to come in.’ ”