Coe News & Features

Coe College President David McInally and Vice President Larry Lee announced the hire of Steve Cook as Coe College’s new director of athletics & recreation.

FOX NFL co-host Curt Menefee partners with Coe College to provide internship experience. Coe alum Curt Menefee ’87 is giving back. And he’s not shy about telling his fans he got his start in television media, right here in Cedar Rapids. Menefee completed an internship at CNN during his time at Coe. But the experience he speaks most fondly of and credits the start of his career with was an internship with now-retired KCRG Sports Director John Campbell.

Kohawk Startup, Coe’s second annual 24-hour entrepreneurship and innovation event, generated 35 aspiring innovators. Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Coe alum David Tominsky ’98 led the group through the entrepreneurial process from idea generation and business modeling to pitching and presenting.

Coe College, along with three other corridor colleges and universities, won a 2019 Gazette Business Award for its implementation and use of Handshake.

Approximately 70% of Generation Z has the ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ or dream of owning their own business. This new partnership between Coe and NewBoCo creates an on-campus Entrepreneur-in-Residence position. NewBoCo Chief Relationship Officer David Tominsky, Coe Class of 1998, will lead the entrepreneurial way for Kohawks.

This year’s theatrical season explores LGBTQ community issues and offers humor, drama and love while conducting an exploration of humanity.

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.