Our New Campus! Des Moines University Update

Meeting location at Des Moines Golf and Country Club:

Address (click for driving directions):
Des Moines Golf and Country Club
1600 Jordan Creek Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA 50266

Dr. Angela Walker Franklin, President Des Moines University Angela L. Walker Franklin, a native of McCormick, South Carolina, is a Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of Furman University. A licensed clinical psychologist, she completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Emory University, followed by a year-long clinical internship at Grady Memorial Hospital. Dr. Franklin, who became Des Moines University’s 15th president in the spring of 2011, has worked in higher education for more than 25 years. Previously, she was executive vice president and provost at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, where she oversaw academic and administrative departments. She held a professorship in Meharry’s department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Prior to her role at Meharry, Dr. Franklin held several positions at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, including vice dean, associate vice president for academic and student affairs, associate dean for student affairs, director of counseling services and assistant professor of psychiatry. A former American Council on Education Fellow (2001-02), Dr. Franklin is also a 2004 protégé of the Millennium Leadership Institute which is sponsored by the Association of State Colleges and Universities in preparing the next generation of leaders in higher education. She also participated in the 2008 Prospective President’s Workshop of the United Methodist Church Affiliated Schools. Since becoming the 15th President of Des Moines University, Dr. Franklin has published the university history entitled, “Now is the Time, Des Moines is the Place” which chronicles a 100+ year history of training health care professionals. She has established institutional goals and priorities for the future and in December 2018, launched Purple and Proud, a $25 million dollar fund raising campaign which was surpassed a year later. With the transformative vision to build an entirely new campus on 88 acres of land purchased in West Des Moines, the campaign continues with fundraising efforts focused on the new campus. Dr. Franklin is leading the effort to plan and design the new campus which is anticipated to open in summer 2023 coinciding with the 125th anniversary of the founding of the university. Dr. Franklin is actively involved in the Des Moines Community, serving on the boards of Bankers Trust, The Greater Des Moines Partnership, The Harkin Institute National Advisory Council, and UnityPoint Health. She is also Chair of the Assembly of Presidents of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and a member of the George Washington Carver Statuary Hall Project and the Alliance on Academic Healthcare....and so much more!