Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | summer 2008

SUMMER 2008
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Change the world

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Soggy end to a yearlong party

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Distinguished Awards Celebration

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AROUND CAMPUS

After snowy celebration, officials rethink VEISHEA '09
"Quote, Unquote"
Clearing the air
Story time can keep kids safe in the kitchen
2325
Hach Hall to break ground this fall
Commencement '08 celebrates traditions old and new
An eye-opening veterinary breakthrough
Creating community
Taking the LEED
'Not just a grant'
Putting the ball in a new court
Adding up the impact of the Iowa caucuses
Passages

After snowy celebration, officials rethink VEISHEA '09 (Return to top)

Weather-wise, it was one of those VEISHEAs. The 2008 VEISHEA parade on April 12 had less than half as many participants as the 2007 edition, thanks mostly to Mother Nature, who even sprinkled some white stuff on the frosty festivities. But while outdoor events were sparsely attended, officials said indoor activities for students such as comedy performances and bingo played to packed houses. Attendance was somewhat disappointing at Friday and Saturday night outdoor concert events, which some blamed on a controversial wristband admission policy. But most agreed there was a clear reason for the lack of Iowa Staters outdoors and the abundance of them indoors in ’08: It was cold.

And while there’s no predicting Iowa weather, many on campus had long been cringing over the dates for VEISHEA 2009: March 30-April 5, the event’s earliest ever. After this year’s less-than-ideal VEISHEA, campus officials were compelled to revisit the dates and just days later made the decision to change them. March 30-April 5 was originally chosen to avoid conflicts with Greek Week, the Drake Relays, Easter, and Pass-over. After ISU vice president for student affairs Tom Hill consulted with campus Jewish leaders, the decision was made to move the VEISHEA dates to April 13-19, which conflicts with Passover in 2009. “All the people I spoke with supported our desire to move VEISHEA, and they assured me it would not be a problem for the Jewish community,” Hill said, adding that the later dates improve the chances of good weather but are not necessarily a slam dunk.

“You can’t outsmart Mother Nature,” Hill said, “but we’re sure going to give it a try.”

"Quote, Unquote" (Return to top)

“To see Earth that way, with no boundaries, with less division, without guns pointed…is truly moving. I have become a better steward of the environment.”

– Clayton Anderson (MS ’83 aero engr), speaking April 10 during the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s Distinguished Lecture about how his 152 days in space aboard shuttle Atlantis changed his view of the world

“Ten years ago it was spider bites. Now, when people wake up with spots, dots, and bumps that have no obvious explanation, it’s bedbugs.”

– ISU entomologist Donald Lewis, quoted in the Feb. 25 issue of the Washington Post

“I’m the father of the idea, and I don’t call them superdelegates. That’s a name the media’s given them, but they’re unpledged delegates. The idea at the time was that some of the governors, senators, and congressmen wouldn’t come to the convention, so we arranged this system as a way to get them more involved.”

– Charles Manatt (’58 rural soc), former chair of the Democratic National Committee, speaking about the origin of the now-controversial concept of “super-delegates”

Clearing the air (Return to top)

A statewide smoking ban signed into law this spring will make the ISU campus officially smoke-free July 1. The previous university policy prohibited smoking both inside and within 25 feet of entrances to campus buildings, but the new law stubs out smoking everywhere on campus, except in designated private residences and smoking cessation research labs. Iowa State is now one of about 100 smoke-free college campuses in the U.S.

Story time can keep kids safe in the kitchen (Return to top)

An ISU researcher has found a way to make kid-friendly the important but not-so-friendly-sounding subject of foodborne pathogens. PhD student Armitra Jackson (MS ’06 meat sci) has authored The Birthday to Remember Forever, the first in a series of children’s books on food safety called “Eating Safe with Ace and Mace!” that is now available through book retailers such as Barnes and Noble.

In The Birthday to Remember Forever, Ace and his best friend, Mace, go to the grocery store with Ace’s mother to select food for Ace’s birthday party and in the process learn some important lessons about staying healthy. The book is targeted toward children in kindergarten through fourth grade and focuses on handling food in a safe manner. “This series is designed to teach safe food-handling practices to children in a storytelling manner,” Jackson said. “It is never too early to begin this important education process.”

2325(Return to top)

The whopping number of university credits earned by 18-year-old Mattias Gassman of Ames, who received an ISU bachelor’s degree May 10 with majors in biophysics, German, and classical studies. Gassman will enroll in graduate school at the University of Minnesota next semester.

Hach Hall to break ground this fall (Return to top)

The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, has approved naming ISU’s new state-of-the-art chemistry facility Hach Hall in honor of Kathryn Hach Darrow (’07 liberal studies), who recently pledged $10 million for the project, and her late husband Clifford Hach (’47 chemistry). The couple founded Hach Chemical Co. in Ames in 1947. Groundbreaking for the new 135,000-square-foot, $74.5 million chemistry building, which will be built north of Davidson Hall on the ISU campus, is scheduled for September.

Commencement '08 celebrates traditions old and new (Return to top)

Spring 2008 saw the debut of a new look and the return of an old tradition as Iowa State expanded its alumni family by 3,113 at May commencement exercises.

And it certainly wasn’t hard to pick out the 2008 PhD graduates, who were sporting new cardinal red regalia for the first time. “[ISU President Gregory] Geoffroy had the idea [to create the new tradition] back in the summer of 2006, when our commencement task force began looking into the idea of new regalia for our PhD graduates,” senior associate registrar Laura Doering (MS ’99 education) said. “It was an easy decision to go with the red color because we have such a beautiful cardinal red as our school color.” The result? Red robes feature black velvet front panels that are each decorated with a campanile crest from the Alumni Association’s word mark. All alumni holding ISU PhDs may purchase or rent the new regalia, which includes an eight-sided black velvet tam with gold tassel, through the University Book Store.

Another new look at spring 2008 commencement was the presidential necklace worn by Geoffroy and designed by Jeanne Stevens Sollman, the same artist who created the University Mace in 2004. The two pieces are designed to coordinate with one another.
“These very special elements,” Geoffroy wrote of the necklace and regalia in a letter to Sollman, “established great new traditions for the university as we brought our year-long sesquicentennial anniversary celebration to a close.”

Another tradition that is far from new was introduced to many at the 2008 undergraduate commencement May 10. For the fourth time, the “ram’s head” was passed from class president to class president when 1983 senior class president Kevin Drury (’83 ag business) handed the artifact to 2008 senior class president Jesse Truax (’08 kinesiology and health). The ram’s head once decorated a chapel column on Old Main, the hub of university activity that was destroyed by a 1902 fire. Faculty members Edgar Stanton (1872 LAS) and O.H. Cessna (1872 LAS) uncovered the ram’s head when sifting through the fire ruins and declared it a symbol of “new education” at Iowa State. It was first passed to 1933 senior class president Arloe Paul (’33 elec engr) with instructions to keep it for 25 years before passing it on in 1958 to class president Jerry Ladman (’58 farm op). The tradition has continued that the ram’s head is passed every 25 years. The artifact will now be officially housed at the new ISU Alumni Center, where it will be on display along with the University Mace, presidential necklace and gown, until it is passed to the 2033 senior class president.

An eye-opening veterinary breakthrough (Return to top)

This spring an ISU researcher performed the first successful veterinary corneal implant in North America, restoring vision for 7-year-old Dixie, a longtime canine patient from Runnells, Iowa. Sinisa Grozdanic (PhD ’02
vet anatomy, biomed sci, neurosci) used a plastic implant to replace the dog’s cornea. “It’s great to see a completely transformed dog,” Grozdanic said.

Creating community (Return to top)

On May 15 Iowa State celebrated the completion of an important initiative that began back in 2006: create strategic partnerships with all 15 community colleges in Iowa. Piloted two years ago, the Admissions Partnership Program eases the transition for students at community colleges who wish to transfer to Iowa State to earn their four-year degrees.

Among the benefits offered to students are access to mentoring and career resources, access to ISU student services such as housing and libraries, early orientation and registration opportunities, and discounts on cultural and athletics events. And while the concept of the partnership is not, on a national scale, new, Iowa State is the first institution to develop at the program’s core a comprehensive academic advising component.

Director of admissions Marc Harding says the Admissions Partnership Program is of great benefit to ISU because transfer students are of great benefit to ISU. “Transfer students are a real important part of our culture at Iowa State,” he said. “Almost 30 percent of our students are transfer students. We’d be smaller, less diverse, and a less dynamic university without them.”

Taking the LEED (Return to top)

The first Iowa regent institution to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification from the U.S Green Building Council is also one of a handful of certified buildings that are also on the National Register of Historic Places: ISU’s Morrill Hall, which re-opened in spring 2007 following a $10 million renovation. Morrill received a silver rating from the Council for its environmentally friendly aspects, including energy efficiency, use of local and recycled construction materials, use of native plants for landscaping, and conservation of the original structure in the renovation process.

'Not just a grant' (Return to top)

After the first of eight years, Iowa State’s $22.5 million collaboration with ConocoPhillips has already supported 26 research projects in the areas of biofuel production technology, analysis of biorefineries, production of crops for conversion to biofuels, crop and biomass production and harvest, storage and transportation of biomass, and combustion performance of biofuels in engines. “We have been impressed by the innovation and collaboration at work among ConocoPhillips and ISU researchers working side by side on the various projects,” said Stephen Brand, senior vice president of ConocoPhillips. Added Robert C. Brown, the Iowa Farm Bureau director of ISU’s Bioeconomy Institute: “This truly is a research collaboration. It’s not just a grant to the university.”

Putting the ball in a new court (Return to top)

Effective July 1, the ISU Athletics Department will take over administration of James H. Hilton Coliseum from SMG, which has managed the Iowa State Center since 2001. SMG will continue to manage Stephens Auditorium, the Scheman Building, and Fisher Theater under the new arrangement approved in May by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy. The change is not expected to have a significant impact on the scheduling of events in Hilton, but athletics director Jamie Pollard said the change will increase efficiencies and improve Iowa State's ability to compete in Big 12 athletics.

Adding up the impact of the Iowa caucuses (Return to top)

For years Iowans have pointed to economic impact as a major benefit of holding the nation’s first presidential caucuses, but an ISU economist warns: Just because something looks like economic activity doesn’t always mean it’s going to the bank – or at least to your bank.

“Iowa may think economic returns are an important reason to defend its first-in-the-nation position, but the evidence doesn’t suggest that we’re really making as much money as people think we are,” said Dave Swenson, the author of the paper “Gauging the Worth of its First-in-the-Nation Position?” who estimates that Iowa generated about $15.5 million in the six months preceding the Jan. 3, 2008, Iowa caucuses.

Part of the reason looks can be deceiving, Swenson says, is that while major candidates did spend a lot of money in advance of the caucuses while also spending a lot of time in Iowa, many of the actual dollars spent wound up in other states. Virginia actually saw the greatest economic impact in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, he says, with the Tall Corn State coming in seventh. Even the seemingly endless onslaught of television commercials that aired in Iowa only brought
in $619,000 this year, he says, because due to corporate media ownership only 1 percent of the money spent on the advertising was paid directly to Iowa firms.

Swenson admits his study does not factor in spending by national media who visited the state prior to the caucuses, but he says he doubts that, in the end, the event brings in any more money than the Iowa State Fair.

And if there was money to be had from the Iowa caucuses, Swenson says this was the year to have it because of the lack of an incumbent or Iowa “spoiler” candidate. “Everything was wide open,” he said. “And so you were going to see more activity in this campaign than you are in the next four or five campaigns. So this $15.5 million estimate is as good
as it gets.”

Passages (Return to top)

Noted civil engineer and philanthropist Charles W. Durham (’39 engr, ’40 civil engr, PhD ’45) died April 5, 2008, at his home in Omaha, Neb. He was 90. The son and grandson of civil engineers, the Ames native enrolled at Iowa State during the Depression and planned to study law. He changed his mind after meeting his future wife, Margre Henningson (’39 textiles and clothing), whose father owned H.H. Henningson Engineering Co. in Omaha. Over three decades, Durham built HDR from 15 employees working on Nebraska paving into an international force. He credited his wife, who preceded him in death in 1999, with influencing his philanthropy to a variety of organizations, including Iowa State University. The Charles W. Durham and Margre Henningson Durham Center for Computation and Communication and the Durham Great Hall in the Memorial Union at Iowa State University are named in the Durhams’ honor.

Barbara (Olson) King (‘68 food & nutr), died March 4, 2008, at her home in Maple Plain, Minn., following a seven-month battle with cancer. She was 61. King co-founded the sustainable playground equipment manufacturing company Landscape Structures with her husband, Steven King (’68 landscape arch), in 1971 in Delano, Minn. The 2000 Minnesota Business Woman of the Year, King headed up sales and marketing for the company, oversaw manufacturing operations, and worked closely with staff on a day-to-day basis. For more than 30 years, King was an active advocate at the local, state, and national levels for enhancing the lives of all people, especially children and families. King and her husband also provided the $1.5 million lead gift commitment on the ISU College of Design’s new building addition, the King Pavilion, scheduled to open in spring 2009.