In 2025, the Program in Public Policy Studies announced the first recipient of the Bill Purcell Service Award in Public Policy Studies, Ilana Drake BA’25. The award is given to a senior PPS major who exemplifies outstanding service and leadership within the PPS community particularly, but also across Vanderbilt and Nashville. It confers a $400 prize as well as a commemorative plaque for the recipient. The award is named in honor of Professor Bill Purcell, two-time mayor of Nashville and longtime devoted adjunct professor of public policy studies. Students may be nominated by their professors, but a nomination is not necessary to be considered. The recipient will be selected by the director and associate director of PPS.

The inaugural Bill Purcell Service Award in Public Policy Studies recipient was Ilana Drake, who graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and with Honors in the College of Arts and Science from Vanderbilt in Spring 2025 with a double major in public policy studies and English and a minor in human and organizational development. During the spring of her sophomore year, she learned about the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, and she was appointed to the Student Advisory Board during her junior year. In her senior year, she was part of Dialogue Vanderbilt’s Student Advisory Board where she worked with peers and faculty to hold conversations which reached across campus. Alongside her work with Dialogue Vanderbilt, Ilana was part of the Interfaith Scholars Program through the Center for Spiritual and Religious Life for two years and attended Interfaith Council meetings. Ilana was also appointed as a Robert Penn Warren Center Humanities in the Real World Fellow during her senior year. Last fall, Ilana was selected as a Millennium Fellow alongside other Vanderbilt students, and she worked to learn more about having engaging conversations on difficult topics on campus during a polarizing time.

While Ilana was active on the Vanderbilt campus, she also published her writing on policy-related issues for international audiences. Her work has been published in Newsweek, Business Insider, and Ms. magazine (four times) among other outlets. Additionally, she has been quoted in Teen Vogue, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Ilana also enjoys writing poetry and has been a mentee in Girls Write Now, a writing and mentoring organization which started as a writing and mentoring program for girls and gender-expansive youth. Aside from her writing, she has been invited to speak on panels at numerous events and conferences.

Post-graduation she has accepted an offer to work in legal and compliance in the financial services sector in New York City.