Contacts

Meet Your Professor(s)

Steve Angell

Professor

Building 17, Room 10B

515-964-6330

Steve Angell grew up in Eagle Grove, Iowa, and graduated from Eagle Grove High School. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from Upper Iowa University. After graduation from college, he began teaching and coaching in the Des Moines School District. He also taught and coached in Decorah before returning to Des Moines.

In 2011, Steve decided to change careers, and went through the DMACC Mortuary Science program. He began working at Hamilton’s Funeral Home in Des Moines, and his adventures in funeral service took him to the Chicago area, where he worked for Wenban Funeral Home in Lake Forest, IL. When he became a Papa to two beautiful granddaughters, he decided he needed to be closer to family and moved to Cedar Rapids where he worked for Cedar Memorial. Steve then seized the opportunity to combine his passion for teaching and his passion for funeral service and became an instructor for the program that taught him about funeral service.

Outside of work, Steve enjoys the St Louis Cardinals, and his bucket list includes visiting every major league park in the country. As a former coach, he enjoys women’s basketball in particular, claiming to be the biggest Tennessee Volunteer fan in the area. He also enjoys spending time with his daughter Katie and her husband Kyle and his two granddaughters Charlotte and Claire. Steve is also a HUGE University of Northern Iowa Panther fan.

Travis Carrico

Professor

Ankeny Campus

Building 17, Room 10D

515-964-6499

tlcarrico@dmacc.edu

A native of Roseville, IL, Travis began his career in funeral service in 1991 as a college student employee with the Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa, IA. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from William Penn College of Oskaloosa in 1993 and graduated from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science in 1994. After serving his internship with Reece Funeral Home in Ottumwa, he joined the staff at Pursel-Davis Funeral Home in Marshalltown. Travis served the community of New Sharon, IA from 1997 to 2007 when he accepted the full-time position as the Clinical Lab Supervisor and sciences instructor at DMACC Mortuary Science. He is a member of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association and the American Society of Embalmers.

An accomplished musician, Travis also enjoys playing tennis and spending time with his family, which includes his wife Tara, his daughter, Jenna and his son, Jace who, at the age of nine, lost his battle with brain cancer on August 19, 2008. This experience has given Travis a unique insight about the value of viewing the deceased that he shares with his students on a regular basis.

Dixie Evans

Professor

Ankeny Campus

Building 17, Room 10C

515-964-6889

daevans@dmacc.edu

Dixie Evans was raised in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School and received my Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids in 2000. After moving to the Des Moines area in 2001, and working in the human services field, she decided to change careers and attend from the Mortuary Science Program at DMACC, graduating in 2006.

She worked at Merle Hay Funeral Home during mortuary school where she completed her practicum and internship. For the past eight years she served the families of the greater Des Moines area who utilized Merle Hay and Brooks Funeral Care as a licensed funeral director.

Time outside of work is spent with her family. Dixie and her husband, Aaron have two very active young girls. She has recently taken up the craft of crocheting, is also a member of the Norwalk United Methodist Church, the Norwalk Lions Club and P.E.O. Chapter IE.

Dixie will be working closely with funeral home staff for the clinical embalming experiences as well as teaching Restorative Art, Funeral Directing and Funeral Home Operations.

Kevin Patterson

Program Chair, Professor

Ankeny Campus

Building 17, Room 10A

515-964-6244

kepatterson@dmacc.edu

During the summer of 1986, I began working part-time at a funeral home in my hometown of Vienna, Missouri. Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home did about 80-100 calls per year and the owners were family friends.

I worked at Birmingham-Martin through the remainder of high school and college at Missouri Science and Technology University (was University of Missouri - Rolla). At the University of Missouri - Rolla, I earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a Master's degree in Statistics. In 2010, I completed the requirements for a PhD in Educational Leadership from Iowa State University.

Following the Master's degree, I went to Mid-America College of Funeral Service where I earned an Associate degree. During my time at Mid-America, I worked at Garr Funeral Home in Sellersburg, Indiana and continued there for my internship following graduation. Toward the end of my internship, I moved to Seabrook, Dieckmann and Naville Funeral Homes in New Albany, Indiana, where I worked until January 1997.

In January 1997, I began teaching Funeral Service courses at St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida. I taught there until moving to DMACC in August 2004 to begin the Mortuary Science program.

On March 10, 2011, my wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with a rare cancer that by the time it was found had metastasized and spread throughout most of her torso, including 8 tumors along her spinal column, her liver, her left adrenal gland, her kidney, her spleen, etc. The cancer grew and caused a spinal cord injury that left her unable to walk in May 2011. She spent 9 months learning to walk again. In the spring of 2012, the cancer grew dramatically, and no treatments were proving effective. On June 6, 2012, she lost her battle with cancer. Our Journey through both anticipatory grief and acute grief, has left me with a stronger desire to educate students on how to conduct funerals which are meaningful to the families they are entrusted to serve. It has instilled in me a desire for DMACC Graduates to be the best trained Funeral Directors in the country.

Now, the most important aspect of my life is two energetic kids. Joshua is the oldest and he participates in Cross Country and (Marching, Concert and Jazz) Band, but his true passion is his gizmos (XBox and iPhone) and looking cool driving the car to school. Cailey is my youngest and she plays soccer and Band (Concert and Jazz) as well, her true passion is helping others whether at home (taking care of Josh and I) or fellow students at school. Both are extremely intelligent as Joshua loves math and Cailey loves reading and writing.