Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | summer 2008

SUMMER 2008
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Cover Story:
Change the world

Feature Story:
150 contributions

Feature Story:
>>Soggy end to a yearlong party

Feature Story:
Distinguished Awards Celebration

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Above: Faculty, staff, and students gathered on campus on April 28, 1925, for a one-of-a-kind portrait.

SOGGY END TO A YEARLONG PARTY

As Iowa State’s sesquicentennial celebration drew to a close, the campus community came together for a final series of activities and events: a birthday celebration at the Iowa State Capitol, a viewing of the original Morrill Act, theatrical presentations, lectures, and a closing ceremony that will be remembered for more than just the unseasonable weather.

An Iowa Senate proclamation congratulated ISU on its
150th birthday.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy watches as Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signs a reproduction of the 1858 legislative act that established the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm (the forerunner of Iowa State University) during ISU’s 150th birthday celebration at the Iowa State Capitol. All 150 Iowa representatives and senators signed the replica.

Clayton Anderson (MS ’83 aerospace engineering) served as the 2008 VEISHEA parade’s grand marshal, and he spoke at the sesquicentennial closing ceremonies. A NASA astronaut, Anderson is the first Iowa State graduate to have flown in space. “I’m proud to be an astronaut,” he told the crowd, “but I’m
more proud to be a graduate of Iowa State niversity.”

ISU’s colleges and other units featured exhibits
highlighting 150 years of university service to the
state of Iowa at ISU’s 150th birthday celebration
at the Iowa State Capitol on April 3, 2008.

A permanent memorial to the sesquicentennial – a newly landscaped area south of the Campanile, including plantings, a bench, and a plaque – was dedicated during the closing ceremonies on April 12.

Snow and temperatures in the low 30s forced
the sesquicentennial closing ceremonies to move inside the Memorial Union on Saturday, April 12. The event featured speeches by ISU president Gregory Geoffroy and astronaut Clayton Anderson. Dianne Liepa (‘70 political science, MA ‘75) from the office of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (‘62 government) presented a gift from Harkin: a U.S. flag that flew over the nation’s capital on Iowa State’s 150th birthday. In addition, the True and Valiant Award was presented to Owen Newlin (‘51 agronomy, MS ‘53), and the Sesquicentennial Learning to Live a Life Leadership Award was presented to Cory Simon, a senior in computer engineering from Winterset, Iowa. The cere-mony concluded with the dedication of a new landscaped area around the Campanile and the playing of “The Bells of Iowa State” and “Happy Birthday” by university carilloneur Tin-Shi Tam.

As part of the sesquicentennial celebration, University Museums showcased the original Morrill Act in the Christian Petersen Art Museum. The document, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, had never before been seen out of Washington, D.C.

A special exhibit titled “Morrill Act of July 2, 1862: The Land-grant Act and the People’s College” was on display in the Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall March 22 through April 27. The exhibit included photos, quotations, artifacts, and the original Morrill Act document.