• Four DMACC Graduates are named Outstanding DMACC Alumni Association Award recipients.

• Hannah Jagler and Monsina Mandil each received a DMACC Alumni Association Early Achievement Award.

            Six former DMACC students were recently recognized by the DMACC Alumni Association.

ANKENY, Iowa—Steve Barger of Indianola, Dr. Katelynn E. Davis of Baltimore, MD, Don Tate of Austin, TX and Joseph Weber of Ankeny have been named recipients of a DMACC Outstanding Alumni Association Award.  The Outstanding Alumni Award is the highest honor given to DMACC alumni by the Alumni Association.  This award honors and recognizes alumni who provide service to their community, country and/or fellow citizen; have had great professional or personal achievement since graduation; and continue to be involved in the life and work of DMACC.

Hannah Jagler of Fairview Heights, IL and Mohsina Mandil of Windsor Heights were each awarded a DMACC Alumni Early Achievement Award.  The award was created in 2011 to recognize alumni who have graduated from DMACC within the last ten years and have displayed exemplary personal or professional achievement or volunteer service to their community.

Here’s a more in-depth look at the achievements of these DMACC Alumni:

Steve Barger is a DMACC Program Chair and Professor of Criminal Justice.  He is a 1993 DMACC graduate who went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration with an Emphasis on Law Enforcement from Upper Iowa University in 2002.

Barger received certification from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in 1994 and the Iowa Department of Public Safety 20th Basic Academy in 1994. He began his law enforcement career as an Iowa State Trooper.  He was certified by the Clandestine Laboratory Safety/Investigations in 1999 and the Law Enforcement Intelligence Network in 2000. In addition, he became a Certified Forensic Computer Examiner from the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS) in 2009.  He was also certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Emergency Management Basic Academy in 2018.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Barger has served as the lead advisor to the DMACC Criminal Justice Club for many years. He spent ten years as a Criminal Justice Advisory Committee member, representing the Iowa Department of Public Safety, resigning from that position only when he became a full-time DMACC faculty member.  He also oversees the DMACC Homeland Security Certificate Program which provides credit classes for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees throughout all 50 states.

Barger has been a member of the State Police Officers Council and is a current member of the Iowa Narcotics Officer Association, Iowa Cattleman’s Association and Madison County Cattleman’s Association as well as a board member.  He has received numerous Iowa State Patrol Chiefs Commendations and Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioners Commendations over the years.  He was also recognized by the Mid States Organized Crime Information Center (MOCIC) for a 2004 Narcotics and Stolen Property Storefront Sting Operation and by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) for the recovery of more than $1 million worth of stolen vehicles in 2005.

At DMACC, Barger has received the Distinguished Service Award in 2018 and the Distinguished Customer Service Award in 2020.“I have been very fortunate in my careers to work with a lot of great people and was fortunate to build and be a part of many great teams, including the one at DMACC now,” Barger said. “While I have probably made contributions and may have occasionally even appeared to steer the ship so to speak, any success I have had should be credited to the family who made me who I am, my wife who has given unconditional support throughout my careers and my mentors, colleagues and friends who have been there to support, assist and help with along the way.”

Dr. Katelyn E. Davis​ is the Chief Pathology Resident at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Pathology in Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Davis earned her Associate of Arts degree from DMACC in 2009, a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University in 2012 and her Doctorate in 2018 from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Dr. Davis credits her time at DMACC with helping her to understand that in moments when we stumble, we must pick ourselves up and give it another try.

“I would not be the educator, mentor, curriculum developer, chief resident, or medical doctor that I am today without all those formative experiences,” Dr. Davis said.

She said while at DMACC she gained valuable insight working as a tutor, enabling her to see how others process information, and that, in turn, helped her to adapt her teaching style to match the learner.

Dr. Davis serves as the Wellness Chair in the Pathology Department. She was commended for developing a system that allowed residents to continue to have their meals served during the pandemic, which helped reduce stress during a chaotic time.

Dr. Davis continues to make an impact at Johns Hopkins in a variety of ways, including leading efforts to improve resident workspaces, increase didactic and interactive conferences, enhancing communication between departments and creating a moonlighting system to reduce the impact of decreased staffing.

Don Tate is an author-illustrator and public speaker.  He graduated from DMACC in 1984 with an Associate of Applied Arts degree in Commercial Arts and Advertising.

Tate was named the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award New Writer recipient in 2013.  He received the Carter G. Woodson Elementary Book Award in 2016 and the Ezra Jack Keats Books Award as a writer in 2016. Most recently, Tate was named the recipient of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Text for Your Readers.  That was presented to him in 2021.

“I am a founding member of the Brown Bookshelf, a blog initiative with a goal of highlighting the literary works of Black authors and illustrators creating books for young people,” Tate said.

He said he also is a member of the We Need Diverse Books initiative.

“This is a non-profit and grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates for essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people,” Tate said.

Tate said he is the nephew of former Des Moines Register and Tribune and Iowa Bystander journalist Eleanora E. Tate, who also writes for young people.

Don Tate said Eleanora’s book, Just An Overnight Guest, was adapted into a movie that debuted at the Des Moines Public Library in the early 1980s.

“It was the inspiration of my own career as a book creator,” Don Tate said.

Joseph Weber is the Director of Youth Ministry at Prairie Ridge Church in Ankeny.

He earned a Liberal Arts degree from the DMACC Boone Campus in 2009 and went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree with a Bible emphasis on local church ministry from the Faith Baptist Bible College in 2013.  He received his Masters of Arts in Theology in 2019 from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Weber was elected to the Boone Community School Board prior to his new position in Ankeny.  He has taken more than 40 teenagers to serve in areas such as Omaha, Columbus, Kansas City, and as far as Puerto Rico, Poland and Haiti.

“As grateful as I am for my foundational roots in the small town of Boone, I am repeatedly reminded that we need to challenge our self to see the world through the eyes of others,” Weber said. “Serving alongside our brothers and sisters is the best way to do that.”

Weber was able to partner with two local churches and multiple community organizations to found Trunk-or-Treat, a Halloween festivity that unites civic leaders, small businesses, faith organizations and children for a safe way to celebrate Halloween.

Weber has served on the board of directors for the YMCA, volunteers with Habitat for Humanity of Central Iowa and partners with an organization called Upstream International, which Weber said is rewriting the book on how third world missions are done.  In addition, he is active in the Ankeny Community with FOCUSS Up (Focus on Community Uplifting Self-esteem and Success, an event focused on diversity and inclusion and with Ankeny Strong, an event trying to show all of the great things going on in Ankeny.

“I failed speech at DMACC three times,” Weber said.  “If Miss Mueller could see me now I hope I could at least get an honorary C-.  I was always too afraid to give the final speech.  Little did I know God would have me speaking to hundreds of people each week.”

Hannah Jagler is now a Federal Official Court Reporter. She works at the United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois. She earned her degree in Realtime Reporting from the DMACC Newton Campus in 2017.

Jagler said her greatest accomplishment was being offered a position as a federal official court reporter.

“This was a lifetime career goal that I achieved after three years in the court reporting business,” Jagler said. “For about six or seven months, I was sending resumes to courthouses all over the country, hoping someone somewhere would give me a chance.  I remember feeling so discouraged because the time was flying by and I wasn’t getting any returned calls.  But then I did get one, and that call changed everything for me and my family.”

Hannah is involved in a number of professional organizations today, including the National Court Reporters Association and United States Court Reporters Association. She has also earned a number of skills-based certifications and honors including being a Registered Professional Reporter, Certified Realtime Reporter, Registered Merit Reporter and Federal Realtime Reporter.

Jagler said she picked up a new hobby during the pandemic—bird watching.

“I thought it was going to be a very casual interest until I found myself obsessing over where my binoculars were 24/7 and listening to podcasts about cowbirds.”

Jagler said she loves her job and spends more time with her steno machine than with her own children. And she said when she’s not practicing steno, she is practicing her skills on eight wheels.

“I love to roller skate and I take my skates everywhere,” Jagler said.  “I’ve even skated inside a courthouse or two on my lunch break—with the judge’s approval, of course.”

Mohsina Mandil is a 2014 DMACC graduate and a new DMACC Alumni Association Early Achievement Award recipient.  She currently is the Executive Assistant at Earthschooling & President of Waldorf Books at the BEarth Institute.

Mandil, who lives in Windsor Heights, attended DMACC at both the Ankeny and Urban Campuses, earning an Associate of Science degree in Liberal Arts.  She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Iowa and a Master of Social Work Integrated Practice at the University of Iowa.

While at DMACC, Mandil was involved as an actress/director at Huff Theater, an Academic Achievement Center peer tutor, a Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and extremely active in DMACC’s Honors program, including as an Honors Advisory Council member, Honors Alumni Chapter Coordinator and Honors Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee member.

Mandil is also serving as Secretary for Cameras for Conservancy and was the Master’s Student Representative for the National Association of Social Workers Iowa Chapter. She is also a member of the Phi Alpha Honor Society and the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology.

“I’m also an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church,” Mandil said.  “I became a reverend online to marry a couple of my best friends.”

All of the award recipients were honored at a special banquet recently held on the DMACC Ankeny Campus.