Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2004

FALL 2004
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Cover Story:
Surviving Stroke

Feature:
37 things to do on an ISU football weekend

Feature:
A new tradition

125th Anniversary Celebration:
A letter from Kristi Kielhorn
Excited about Cy

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AROUND CAMPUS

In this issue:

Two murals add beauty to Art on Campus collection
Deans named for Engineering, Vet Med
New football game day policies enforced
Alumni center project gets go-ahead
$48 million renovation planned for vet teaching hospital
On topic
Marginalia

Two murals add beauty to Art on Campus collection (return to top)
Two new major works of art were installed on campus within the past few months. The first, a mural celebrating the legacy of W. Robert Parks, president of Iowa State from 1965 to 1986, was dedicated in May in the Parks Library. The second weaves together the history of the College of Education, Lagomarcino Hall, and sculptor
Christian Petersen.

Prairie Sky (pictured above)
The oil-on-canvas mural “Prairie Sky” depicts the expansive Iowa landscape and the moods of Iowa skies and weather, says the artist, Kurt Anderson. The mural was funded in part through memorials following former president Parks’ death in July 2003. The 20-foot panorama is on display on the first floor of Parks Library. Anderson, an Iowa native now living in Arizona, also painted a portrait of W. Robert and Ellen Sorge Parks that hangs in the library atrium.

Enlightenment
Installed this summer in the courtyard of Lagomarcino Hall, “Enlightenment” celebrates the spirit and strength of education at Iowa State. The 48-block bas relief sculpture evokes the artistic style of Christian Petersen, ISU’s beloved sculptor-in-residence from 1934 to 1955. The new mural replaces Petersen’s “Veterinary Medicine Mural” which hung in Lagomarcino courtyard from 1938 until it was moved to the College of Veterinary Medicine complex in 1976. Artist Gail Kristensen proposed the new mural’s design but was unable to complete the project because of the stress it placed on her back. ISU associate professor of art and design Ingrid Lilligren took over the project in 2002 and, along with a team of art and design students and recent graduates, completed it in 2004. Lilligren said she saw in the project an opportunity to offer her students the invaluable experience of creating a major public art project.

Deans named for engineering, vet med (return to top)
Mark J. Kushner, Founder Professor of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected to lead Iowa State’s College of Engineering, and John Thomson, dean of veterinary medicine at Mississippi State University at Starkville is the new dean of ISU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Kushner, who has been at the University of Illinois since 1986, officially begins his duties at ISU on Jan. 1, 2005. Kushner is an internationally known researcher in the study of plasmas, laser physics, and spectroscopy. He earned bachelor’s degrees in nuclear engineering and astronomy from UCLA in 1976 before going on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

At Illinois, Kushner served as assistant dean of academic programs, interim associate dean of administrative affairs, and interim head of electrical and computer engineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Kushner will replace James Melsa (’60 elect engr), who retired this past summer. Charles Glatz, professor and chair of chemical engineering, will serve as interim dean of the college until the end of the calendar year.

Thomson, a former professor and section leader of veterinary diagnostic and production
animal medicine at ISU, earned his DVM from Iowa State in 1967 and was in private practice in Clearfield for 20 years. He served on the faculty of South Dakota State University at Brookings and was director of the South Dakota
Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory.

A clinical epidemiologist, Thomson has conducted extensive research in bovine production and health. He has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization on the assessment of brucellosis in humans and animals.

He replaces retiring Veterinary Medicine dean Norman Cheville (’59 DVM)

Other key personnel changes

Appointed:

• Jerry Thomas, professor and chair of health and human performances, as College of Education interim dean
• Ricardo Salvador (MS ’84, PhD ’88 agronomy), associate professor of agronomy, as interim
  faculty director of the ISU Honors Program
• Jim Davis (’75 comp sci, MS ’81 elect engr, PhD ’84 comp sci), associate professor of electrical
  and computer engineering, as chief informa- tion officer and director of Academic Information
  Technologies
• David Holger, associate dean for academic
  programs and budget in the College of Engineering, as associate provost for academic programs and dean of the Graduate College

Leaving Iowa State:

• Walt Gmelch, dean, College of Education, to become dean, University of San Francisco School of Education
• Randy Alexander, director, ISU department
  of residence
• Elizabeth Beck (’74, MA ’77 history), retired director, Honors Program
• Dennis Peterson, retired director, International Education Services

New football game day policies enforced (return to top)
ISU officials and student leaders have been meeting over the past year to develop policy changes they hope will better meet ISU students’ needs and improve the football tailgating atmosphere for all fans.

The Student Gameday Experience Committee has now finished its work, and Lot S4 at Jack Trice Stadium has been returned to a general public (including students) parking area for the 2004 football season.
Last year, in response to the need for more National Cyclone Club parking and concerns about the dangerous drinking behav-ior of some students in the lot, general public parking was moved out of S4. Students cried foul, and a committee got to work on the new plan.

In order to create a more pleasant gameday environment, the committee recommended the following additional terms and conditions: an increased presence of GSB leaders, student affairs staff, and ISU police to monitor and address problematic behavior in Lot S4; more signage to explain parking and tailgating guidelines; an expectation that tailgaters will attend the game; more portable restrooms and trash receptacles outside the stadium; and a rule that prohibits kegs and other items that promote high-risk drinking in all National Cyclone Club and general public parking lots.
Dean of Students Pete Englin (’01 PhD) says he has always enjoyed the gameday fanfare at Jack Trice Stadium but has had safety concerns. He says he hopes the recommendations will help put the focus back on the football game – the “real reason for gathering.”

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy offers this further advice to fans: “Cheer on our Cyclones, have a great time, and wear your cardinal and gold with pride, but celebrate safely, with good sportsmanship and civility.”

Alumni center project gets go-ahead
(return to top)
On Aug. 4, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, gave a thumbs-up to planning for the Alumni Association’s proposed alumni center project, a building that would provide new visibility and opportunity to members of the Iowa State alumni community.

Early planning has now begun on what is expected to be a $9 million, 30,000-square-foot building near the Iowa State Center complex, funded entirely by private donations. The new building would provide the Alumni Association with space for a visitors’ lounge and library,meeting rooms, activity space for alumni and students, and office space for the Alumni Association and Student Alumni Leadership Council.

“This building is a vision that has been dear to many members of the alumni family for 30 years,” said Association President Jeff Johnson. “We are thrilled to be able to move forward and begin taking the first steps toward making this dream facility a reality.”

At the same meeting, Regents gave initial approval to the construction of a $10 million Student Success Center, and they gave a green light to begin plans for $6-8 million in improvements to Hilton Coliseum.

$48 million renovation planned for vet teaching hospital (return to top)

A $3.5 million gift from an ISU veterinary medicine alumnus Eugene Lloyd (’49 DVM, ’70 PhD) and his
wife, Linda, will launch a $48 million renovation of the university’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The gift
is the largest ever to ISU’s veterinary program.

The renovation project will significantly update the 25-year-old hospital facilities, which can no longer accommodate the significant growth that has occurred in veterinary medicine knowledge and technology. The three-phase renovation and expansion of the hospsital will include reconstruction of the large animal hospital wards and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, a new small animal clinic addition, a new equine addition, and a new entry and business office.

The college plans to raise $7 million in private support. The remainder will come from bonding, approved recently by the Iowa Legislature. Construc-tion is expected to begin in early 2005.

Eugene Lloyd was a professor of veterinary pathology at ISU from 1974 to 1984. He is founder, chairman, and CEO of Lloyd, Inc., a company in Shenandoah, Iowa, that develops and manufactures pharmaceutical and nutritional products for animals and humans. The Lloyds live in Fort Myers, Fla.

On topic: A follow-up on campus issues that continue to unfold (return to top)

VEISHEA
Repairing and improving relations between the university and Ames community has become a major priority since the disturbance in Campustown on April 18, and a new 22-member commission has been appointed to tackle this issue. The “Commission on Improving Relations Among ISU Students, the University, the City of Ames, and the Ames Community” is separate from the celebration-oriented VEISHEA task force, though both groups will present reports to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy by Nov. 30. The commission will broadly examine the sense of community among the various groups in Ames and develop recommendations for improving relationships.
On a related note, the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy has submitted its review of the much-discussed police tactics used to quell the violence of April 18. Despite several student complaints of excessive violence and claims that police actions only served to exacerbate the disturbance, the academy’s report says it believes the tactics used were “sound.” Five suggestions for handling future public disturbances were noted. A key recommendation was the need for better communication between the police and the crowd – namely, a better
public address system.

ISU Dairy Farm
At its June meeting, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved the university’s plans to decommission the historic Dairy Teaching Farm, a century-old educational operation for the College of Agriculture located on the south edge of campus. Vice president for business and finance Warren Madden (’61 industrial engineering) said the university intends to retain the land and some of the farm’s historic buildings to meet needs in animal science teaching and equipment storage, but permission was received to raze 15 structures on the site due to safety concerns. The Dairy Teaching Farm was one of three research farms the university decommissioned in 2003 due to budget concerns. With the proceeds from the sale of the university’s 1,031-acre farm in Ankeny, the university plans to build a new dairy teaching operation, though farmland for this project has not yet been secured.

Combining colleges
Work continues by the Planning Committee on the Combination of the College of Education and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Twelve work groups, made up of faculty, staff, students, and alumni from the colleges, have been charged with preparing reports on topics that range from college name and mission, curricular issues, and student services, to Extension/outreach and the process for selection of a new dean. Committee reports are due to the full Planning Committee in September. The Planning Committee will prepare a proposal for the combination based on these reports, and this proposal will be reviewed by the two colleges, Faculty Senate, the Provost, and constituent groups. A senate recommendation will be forwarded to the president, probably in late fall semester. If the decision is to combine the colleges, the final proposal will be submitted to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, for approval. Once that is received, a search would be initiated for a new dean. The combination date for the newly formed college would be July 1, 2005.

Marginalia (return to top)

Fame, fortune & fungi
Lois Tiffany, ISU emeritus distinguished professor of ecology, evolution & organismal biology, has a new claim to fame: Mattirolomyces tiffanyae, a new species of fungus first collected in 1998 by ISU biologist Rosanne Healy. Healy worked with Tiffany to audit Iowa’s truffles.

Cad and mouse
There’s light at the end of the carpal tunnel, thanks to an innovative new alternative to the computer mouse. Mechanical engineering profs Abir Qamhiyah and Don Flugrad have invented a gadget that works as a pointer for computers, video games, and eventually, wireless technology components. Because its design eliminates many of the constraints that lead to wrist, arm, shoulder, neck, and back ailments, the pointer is more ergonomically friendly.

How we spent our allowance
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack restored 10 percent of the appropriation reduction ordered to ISU in 2003, resulting in a budget increase of $582,041. Here’s how ISU spent the money:

General University: $444,076
Replace the roofs on MacKay Hall, Seed Science Laboratory, and Food Sciences

Agriculture Experiment Station: $79,537 Repair and restore a research
lab to evaluate the impact of diet on odor emission from swine

Cooperative Extension Services: $50,611 Install a statewide high-speed
network for 100 county offices

Economic Development: $6,060
Support ISU Research Park, Small Business Development Center, and the Institute for Physical Research and Technology

Leopold Center: $1,191
Sponsor a public seminar on the Charlevoix Lamb Project

Livestock Disease Research: $566
Study the pre-harvest reduction of salmonella contamination in turkeys