Coe News & Features

For many, fall is synonymous with football, leaves changing to crimson and gold and college-ranking season. And Coe College has plenty to celebrate this fall.

Over the past seven years, Coe has welcomed the college's largest classes in its 168-year history. On August 17, new Kohawks arrived from 260 cities, 23 states and 9 countries across the world. Over half of Coe’s incoming first-year students are from outside the state and the Class of 2023 is one of the most diverse and academically talented classes in Coe’s history.

The Coe College Marquis Series is bringing world-famous improv to Cedar Rapids. The Second City will perform its “Greatest Hits, Vol. 59” at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 in Sinclair Auditorium on the Coe campus.

Once again, Coe College has been rated a best value college by NICHE. An online provider of reviews and statistics, NICHE provides an overview of U.S. colleges using a combination of facts, figures and student reviews. By evaluating this multitude of information, NICHE offers a thorough picture of colleges nationwide.

Psychology, history, science, government and the arts — Coe College’s 2019-2020 Thursday Forum lectures embrace all of these. Anyone who has wondered why people act the way they do, how museums loan out valuable works of art or what CRISPR is will have the opportunity to learn this and more by attending this year’s forum series.

Coe College is included in the 2020 edition of The Princeton Review’s “Best Value Colleges,” profiling 385 of the nation’s 2,500 colleges. This flagship college guide ranks schools based upon 140,000 student surveys. Students were asked to rate their college and provide information on a multitude of topics including academics and campus life.

When fellow Coe students asked Chelsea Crain Lensing ’14 why she chose to pursue a doctorate in economics, Chelsea routinely replied she wanted to be “the next Mickey Wu.”

Five Coe students have been chosen as Clark Merit Scholars for the 2019-2020 academic year. This prestigious award carries a prize equal to one year's tuition. Clark Merit Scholars are chosen each year by a committee of two faculty members and one board of trustees member. Award recipients are chosen based on demonstrated qualities of character, integrity, intellect, leadership and social responsibility.

Coe College physics and math major Martha Jesuit ’21 recently was selected for an Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award and a scholarship through the Society of Physics Students (SPS).

Beginning fall 2019, Coe music majors may choose an emphasis in music industry or pre-music therapy. The new emphases are in addition to existing musical theatre and jazz studies options.

Students in Coe College’s new social and criminal justice program began a project this term to fundraise for a Cedar Rapids nonprofit. Reintegration Initiative for Safety and Empowerment (RISE) is an organization aimed at helping individuals recently released from incarceration foster self-esteem, reduce recidivism, advance a safe community and reduce public expenditures.

Emani Brinkman ’21, a Coe College environmental studies, business and economics major, was selected to attend the Bank of America Elevating Careers Diversity & Inclusion Forum in New York City.

Sarah Reilly ’21 and Alison Dassner ’21 are planning to spend a term during the 2019-20 academic year across the pond. Both Coe College students were accepted to the competitive Irish American Scholars Program. Reilly and Dassner each will spend a term studying at Queen’s University Belfast.

Isabella Lopez ’19 is completing her final days as a student at Coe knowing she is headed to Japan in July. Following a six-month, rigorous application and interview process, Lopez received word she was chosen to participate in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.

Iowa Campus Compact (IACC) has announced winners and finalists of the 2019 Engaged Campus Awards. Coe College Associate Professor of History Brie Swenson Arnold and Assistant Professor of Psychology Renee Penalver are among those identified.

Allison Stubbs ’19 and Hayley Walton ’19 recently discovered they are headed abroad for the 2019-20 academic year. Both Coe seniors received prestigious Fulbright grants for English Teaching Assistantships. Stubbs and Walton join the elite group of 26 Coe graduates to receive Fulbrights in the past seven years.

Nathan Dvorak ’19, a Coe College physics and mathematics major, recently received a Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dvorak joins alumni Emily Roberts ’16 and Dahlia Baker ’18 as the third Coe graduate in the past four years to yield this prestigious fellowship.

Each year the nation’s top college students pursuing careers in public service submit their Truman Scholarship application. This year netted 840 applicants from 346 colleges and universities. The scholarship committee narrowed the field to 199 finalists who participated in formal interviews. Of the 2019 finalists, 62 new Truman Scholars were selected. Coe College is the only college in the state of Iowa to produce a Truman recipient.

With book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, music by Tom Kitt and directed by Professor of Theatre Arts Dennis Barnett, “Next to Normal” leads the audience directly into the heart of a family dealing with mental illness and all that accompanies it.

Coe’s students are going places...literally. Neuroscience, psychology and Spanish major Erica Ernzen ’20 is heading to Princeton University for a nine-week summer internship through the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI). Ernzen also gained acceptance to Princeton’s Leadership Alliance Summer Research - Early Identification Program.