Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | winter 2008

WINTER 2008
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ASSOCIATION NEWS

Write your name in Iowa State history
I always wanted to be...
Alumni Center naming opportunities
Alumni Center Update
Distinguished
Young Alumni Council established

Write your name in Iowa State history: Introducing the Alumni Wall at the Iowa State University Alumni Center (Return to top)

Show your lifelong connection to Iowa State, and be a permanent part of the new ISU Alumni Center. Scheduled to open in April 2008, the Alumni Center will recognize the loyalty and pride Iowa Staters have for their alma mater. You can permanently acknowledge, honor, and remember family members and loved ones by engraving their names on bronze plaques located on the Alumni Wall. And you can show your ISU pride by purchasing a plaque for yourself.

Reserve your plaque now and save! To reserve space on the Alumni Wall, please contact the Alumni Association at 877-ISU-ALUM (478-2586), locally at 294-6525, or make your request online at www.isualum.org/alumniwall.

About the ISU Alumni Wall
• All Iowa State alumni (those who attended or graduated from Iowa State University or honorary alumni) are eligible to be listed on the Alumni Wall.

• The Alumni Wall will contain 60 inaugural cast bronze tablets each with 64 individually raised plaques.

• Only one name per plaque is allowed, and all groupings must be submitted at the same time.

• Each plaque may include up to 4 lines of text (40 characters per line) and may be engraved with an individual’s name, hometown and state, Iowa State degree(s), and an optional personal message.

• The cost for each plaque reserved before April 1, 2008, is only $250 for Alumni Association members – $305 for non-members – and is fully tax deductible as allowed by law.

• The Campanile symbol on a plaque acknowledges deceased Iowa Staters and will be added during annual memorial ceremonies.

• There are a limited number of spaces available on the Alumni Wall, so be sure to respond to this offer as soon as possible.

I always wanted to be... (Return to top)

I thought I could never be one of them. They were larger than life. I thought they were aloof, even snobbish. I thought to be one of them you had to be rich, old, and white.

I always wondered about their motivation. Did they do it for the recognition? For the tax breaks? Or did they do it to give back? To do the right thing?

Regardless of the reason, I finally get it, and I’m glad I can count myself as one of them: a donor.

When I was younger, it never seemed possible, but now my wife and children and I have gotten in the habit of being donors. And believe me, there are no words to describe the joy that comes with giving.
As I’ve shared with you before, I grew up as the youngest of 10 children in Collins, Miss. We were a farm family, and we had very little money. The house I grew up in did not have indoor plumbing or electricity. But family, faith, and hard work defined our character.

As I look back now, my parents were always donors. When they killed a hog or a cow, they smoked the meat and shared it with the less fortunate. They gave fruit from our trees to help folks in the community and in our church.

If someone lost their home, needed a ride, or needed money, my parents were always there. Our needs were great, but wealth and plenty were not barometers for giving. Meeting needs and helping others were.

I consider myself lucky. I now have two college degrees and a career in higher education. It’s a no-brainer for me (and Peggy and my kids) to be donors. We are proud to be donors of our time, talents, and treasures. We love to share our home with others.
We are driven to help others. We are blessed to be able to have increased our financial giving to our universities, to community services, and to our church.

We are especially proud to be supporters of our adopted university, Iowa State University, as sustaining life members of the ISU Alumni Association, donors to the Alumni Center and the Association’s Traditions Keeper Fund, members of The Order of the Knoll, Reiman Gardens and National Cyclone Club, donors to University Museums, and to a number
of other campus initiatives.

Even when times were tough, we’ve tried to always tithe, give, save, and spend – in that order.

My grandmother had a wonderful saying: “You’ll never see an armored truck or U-Haul following a hearse.” In other words, we can’t take any of this stuff with us, so we should find a way to share it. I encourage you to find something you believe in and support it.
I’m glad I can say I’m a donor… and I hope you will join me and give what you can to Campaign Iowa State. I guarantee – it will make you feel WONDERFUL.

Yours for Iowa State,

Jeff Johnson
President, ISU Alumni Association

Alumni Center naming opportunities (Return to top)

Alumni and friends have two categories (gift-level giving and naming opportunities) to choose from to make gifts to the Iowa State University Alumni Center project. The remaining naming opportunities are as follows:

West Plaza & Alumni Gardens - $500,000
East Plaza & Grand Staircase (includes the Alumni Wall) - $350,000
Hall of Alumni Leadership - $125,000
General Production Room - $75,000
Communications Production Room - $50,000
Hall of Student Organizations - $50,000
Covered Drop-off (west entrance) - $50,000
Director of Finance’s Office - $25,000
Director of Outreach and Events’ Office - $25,000

For an up-to-date list of Alumni Center donors and giving opportunities, go to www.isualum.org/alumnicenter and click on “giving and naming opportunities”

Alumni Center Update (Return to top)

Construction progress report
As we moved into winter, the steel erection was complete on the main building, the exterior wall-board was finished, and framing for the windows and roof was at a point to allow brick to be laid. Each day this fall we have seen more and more brick go up on the exterior – very exciting! By January, the building is expected to be “in the dry,” with all brick and stone finished, windows installed, roof complete, and building heat on. The north stair frames have already been installed inside, making it easier to move from floor to floor. Interior walls and ceilings will be going up soon, and we’ll start to see plumbing and lighting fixtures. We are still anticipating an April 2008 move-in date.
Watch our progress!
www.fpm.iastate.edu/webcam/alumni/

Donor Profile
VISIONS spoke with Mary Eddy Wolf, daughter of the late O. Robert and Barbara N. Eddy, about her parents’ wish to designate a gift to the ISU Alumni Center.

“Iowa State meant the world to our parents. Bob and Barbara met as students at Iowa State College. Iowa State began their life together. They were very proud of the beautiful campus, and academically believed there wasn’t a school that could touch it. Many of their closest friends were connected to Iowa State in one way or another. To them, family was No. 1, and Iowa State was No. 2. Iowa State was truly the second love of their life.

“They encouraged their children and grandchildren to attend Iowa State. They thought it was a wonderful place to attend college. Three of us graduated from Iowa State. Five grandchildren have graduated, and our youngest son is a freshman now. All together, 16 of our family members have graduated from or are currently attending Iowa State.

“Both of our parents were very involved at Iowa State. Mom was on the Alumni Association’s Honors and Awards Committee, and she was the first woman on the Athletics Council. Dad was on the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the ISU Foundation Board of Governors; he was named Cy’s Favorite Alum in 1987. Together, they were Gateway Center Limited Partners, donors, and life members of the Alumni Association. In 1997 they received the Volunteer of the Year award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. They traveled on 14 or 15 Alumni Association-sponsored trips. They maintained a wonderful collection of ISU memorabilia and rarely missed a Cyclone football or basketball game in
60 years of marriage. They were also active alumni members of their respective fraternities: Phi Delta Theta and Delta Delta Delta.

“Bob and Barbara were planning to give a gift to the Alumni Center, and they made their wishes known to us. This gift is from them. They truly created a legacy at Iowa State.”

The late O. Robert and Barbara N. Eddy
Des Moines, Iowa

Bob: ’40 Chemical Engineering Founder
and Chairman of Eddy-Walker Equipment Co.

Barbara: ’40 Textiles and Clothing
Homemaker

Children:
Mary Eddy Wolf (’78 interior design/advertising design), Waukee, Iowa
Former interior designer and current homemaker

Donald N. Eddy (’73 industrial administration), Urbandale, Iowa
President, Eddy-Walker Equipment Co.

Steven W. Eddy (’68 industrial administration),
Des Moines, Iowa
President, E Plus Automation, Inc.

Robert R. Eddy
Polk City, Iowa
President, Eddy Security Systems, Inc.

Other family members who are ISU alumni:
• Dorothy Nelson Winter (’36), Barbara’s sister
• Wilbur T. Winter (’36), Barbara’s brother-in-law
• Martha Miller Eddy (’73), daughter-in-law
• Tim J. Wolf (’76), son-in-law
• Josh L. Eddy (’99), grandson
• Azure Eddy Christensen (’01), granddaughter
• Zach L. Christensen (’02), grandson-in-law
• Sarah A. Eddy (’02), granddaughter
• Jon A. Eddy (’04), grandson
• Peter N. Wolf (’07), grandson
• Ben M. Wolf (current student), grandson

Special note: The Eddy’s great-grandson, Maddox Christensen, born Sept. 23, 2006, is already a life member of the ISU Alumni Association, thanks to grandparents Steve and Karen Eddy.

About the Eddys' Alumni Center gift:

The East Foyer of the Alumni Center will be named in honor of O. Robert and Barbara N. Eddy.

Distinguished (Return to top)

Iowa State University bestows its highest honors on alumni and friends at the 2008 Distinguished Awards Celebration April 11.

For details, go to http://www.iastate.edu/~president and click on "Distinguished Awards Celebration 2008" or visit http://www.isualum.org/dac.

Young Alumni Council established to better involve recent graduates with Iowa State (Return to top)

During the summer, 14 young alumni and two current students were chosen for the ISU Alumni Association’s inaugural Young Alumni Council, a group created to better engage and involve recent ISU graduates in the life and work of the university. The group met for the first time on campus the weekend of Sept. 7-8, coming from as far away as New York and Colorado. Throughout the weekend, the group formulated by-laws, set goals, and elected an executive council. Sophia Magill, 2004-2005 Government of the Student Body president, will chair the inaugural Council. The group will return to campus in February to interact with the Association’s board of directors.

Meet the Council: www.isualum.org/yac

Members of the inaugural Young Alumni Council are, front row, left to right:
Lisa Kollasch ’03, Ames, Iowa; Eric Peterson ’07, Iowa Falls, Iowa; Andrea Rheinhart ’05, Detroit, Mich.; Matt Craft ’00, La Porte City, Iowa (Board of Directors liaison to the YAC); Trent Preszler ’98, Sag Harbor, N.Y.; Nathaniel Brinkley ’02, Rock Hill, S.C. Back row: Andrea Benzschawel ’07, Minneapolis, Minn.; Chad Harris ’01, Kansas City, Mo.; Ashley Zappa, current ISU student and SALC representative, Ames, Iowa; Ben Golding ’01, Shakopee, Minn.; Sophia Magill ’05, Ames, Iowa; Paxton Williams ’00, Diamond, Mo.; Abby (Thayer) Croll ’02, Johnston, Iowa; Chris Deal, current ISU student, Ames, Iowa; Shawn Eagleburger ’05, Manhattan, Kan.; Lawrence Cunningham ’02, Westminster, Colo.