Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | winter 2010

WINTER 2010
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Cover Story:
Jack Trice: A powerful story retold

Feature Story:
Take time to meet the deans

Feature Story:
Good breeding

Departments:
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Around Campus
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NEWSMAKERS

Still stacking the deck
Bryan Berg’s legendary cardstacking abilities got him more publicity in September when he built a replica of a Holiday Inn hotel room and lobby entirely of hotel key
cards. The Key Card Hotel had all the comforts of an actual hotel room, including a full-size bed with
pillows and a bathroom with a toilet and toilet paper, plus a life-size replica of Holiday Inn’s lobby. The creation, which contained 200,000 key cards, was commissioned by InterContinental Hotel Group to
celebrate the new logo design and hotel relaunch of 1,200 Holiday Inn hotels. Berg (’97 architecture) holds
Guinness World Records for both the world’s tallest and largest houses of cards.

Food fame
He may not have won the top prize, but ISU alumnus Jeffrey Saad ('89 hotel, restaurant, and institution mgmt) was a fan favorite as runner-up on “The Next Food Network Star” on television's The Food Network. Saad, who currently resides in Los Angeles, did not win his own show on the Food Network, but the network is airing some of his “Spice Smuggler” shows as Web shorts on www.FoodNetwork.com. “He may not have been declared the winner of 'The Next Food Network Star,' but Jeffrey won the hearts of a huge number of viewers,” said Food Network senior vice president of programming Bob Tuschman. “His food … had a spicy elegance to it.”

ISU-Tube
A popular YouTube video of a couple giving an impromptu piano concert in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic put smiles on the faces of many Web surfers last summer. But here's another reason to smile about the video: The performers are Iowa Staters. You can check out the video of Frances DeForest Cowan ('47 home ec ed) and her husband, Marlow Cowan ('41 horticulture), on the ISU Alumni Association blog: www.isualum.org/blog.

Tackling one of the country's toughest jobs
Chrysler LLC announced May 20 that the new chairman of Chrysler Group LLC – upon completion of
its global alliance with Fiat SpA – would be ISU alum C. Robert Kidder (MS '69 indus engr). Kidder is the past chairman and CEO of Duracell International, Inc., Borden Chemical, Inc., and the investment firm 3Stone Advisors LLC. “I am confident that Chrysler will emerge from Chapter 11 a lean and power-ful competitor,” Kidder said in a released statement.

Prez picks Sargeant for small business post
Winslow Sargeant (MS '88 elec engr) has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be federal Small Business Administration counsel. Sargeant,
a venture capitalist with three electrical engineering degrees who has been managing director of the technology practice at Venture Investors (Madison, Wis.) since 2006, awaits Senate confirmation of the appointment. U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee chair Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said Sargeant is “uniquely qualified” for a position usually filled by a lawyer. The committee has endorsed Sargeant’s selection.

ISU alumnus takes top-level U.S. State Department post
An internationally recognized human rights leader who received the Freedom Network's Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award in 2005, former U.S. Department of Justice involuntary servitude and slavery coordinator Louis de Baca ('90 political science) has been tabbed by President Barack Obama to serve as the State Department's ambassador-at-large to monitor
and combat trafficking in persons. The nomination is pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The Huxley, Iowa, native, who earned his law degree from the University of Michigan, currently serves as counsel to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, on detail from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He specializes in national security, intelligence, immigration, civil rights, and modern slavery issues and was instrumental in developing the U.S. policy for combating modern slavery, as well as investigating
and prosecuting human trafficking cases, while serving in the Department of Justice position during the Clinton Administration.

U.S. Navy ship will be named for noted ISU alum
The late Howard O. Lorenzen ('35 elec engr) is known as the “Father of Electronic Warfare” for his work with the Naval Research Laboratory in developing the country's first portable radar equipment and leading the team that created the payload of the nation's first spy satellite in 1960. So in 2010, the U.S. Navy will roll out a fitting tribute to the Atlantic, Iowa, native who played such a pivotal role in establishing the country's electronic intelligence capabilities: The USNS Howard O. Lorenzen, on which construction began in August 2008. The 534-foot missile range instrumentation ship will weigh 12,575 tons and will be operated
by the Military Sealift Command.

“My dad was proud to be a part of the team he assembled and was more concerned with getting the men who worked for him awards and never really sought any for himself,” Lorenzen's daughter, Susan Black, told the Council Bluffs Nonpareil. “I am bursting with pride. My whole family is excited.”

Would you like a salad with that?
Cynthia M. Goody (’90 food and nutrition, MS ’93) joined McDonald’s USA as director of nutrition in June 2008. She oversees all aspects of menu nutrition for McDonald’s 13,800 restaurants in the United States. Goody, a licensed dietician and former Peace Corps volunteer, helps provide nutritional expertise and oversees the company’s nutritional informational development process. She previously worked as a dietician for Hy-Vee Food Stores.

Mulholland selected to lead National Park Foundation
The National Park Foundation, the national charitable partner of America’s 391 national parks, announced in July that Neil J. Mulholland (’81 industrial admin) of Denver, Colo., has been selected to serve as president and CEO of the foundation. Mulholland brings 28 years of professional experience from the private sector that includes working with Fortune 500 companies. “I am honored to have this opportunity to lead the National Park Foundation and work in such a meaningful way to unite the American public in appreciation, service, and support of their national parks,” he said.

Iowa Teacher of the Year ‘meant to be a teacher’
Sara Brown Wessling (’98 English, MA ’03) was named 2010 Iowa Teacher of the Year. Wessling teaches language arts at Johnston (Iowa) High School. She has been cited for creating engaging projects and offering dynamic classrooms for students. “I am meant to be a teacher, and Iowa State was very formative in that process,” she said.

Magazine maven
Karol DeWulf Nickell (’79 home ec journalism, MBA ’08) has been named vice president and editor-in-chief of Reader’s Digest’s home and garden affinity. In her new role, she will be responsible for publications originally founded by ISU alumnus Roy Reiman (’57 ag journalism): Birds & Blooms, Country, Farm & Ranch Living, and Reminisce. Nickell is the former vice president and editor-in-chief of Better Homes & Gardens and founding editor of Traditional Home magazine.

Chemical Society building named for Hachs
The American Chemical Society re-named its Washington, D.C., headquarters the Clifford and Kathryn Hach Building in June 2009. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas) said the building was
re-named for the Hach family because they have “shown leadership and commitment to supporting future chemists and chemical educators.” Kathryn
Hach Darrow started the foundation with her late husband, Clifford Hach (’47 chemistry), in 1982. The new chemistry building on the ISU campus is also named for the Hach family.

Van Roekel is new FCC director
Microsoft executive Steven Van Roekel (’94 mgmt info systems) has been named managing director of the Federal Communications Commission. In this position, he runs all the operational functions for the agency as well as playing a role in helping set technology policies and giving guidance on the development of the national broadband plan and other policies.

One of the world’s most powerful women
Stephanie Jacobi Burns (PhD ’82 organic chemistry) was included on the Forbes “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” list for 2009. Burns, CEO for Dow Corning U.S., is joined on the list by such female leaders as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Queen Rania of Jordan, U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Forbes Power Women list isn’t about celebrity or popularity; it’s about influence,” say editors Mary Ellen Egan and Chana R. Schoenberger. “Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies, or influential nonprofits.” Burns has been Dow Corning’s chief executive since 2004.

A brief stint in the East Wing
Jackie Dycke Norris (’02 secondary teaching license; MS ’08 political science) worked side-by-side with Barack and Michelle Obama during the 2008 presidential election, becoming the Iowa campaign
director. In November 2008 she was named Michelle Obama’s chief of staff. In June 2009 the White House announced that it would replace Norris with White House lawyer Susan Sher. Norris’s new position is senior adviser to the Corporation for National and
Community Service, which oversees such volunteer programs as AmeriCorps.

A winner in Winner
Former ISU student Neal Wanless, a struggling South Dakota rancher, won one of the largest jackpots –
$232 million – in U.S. lottery history last June. Wanless was living with his parents on his family’s 320-acre ranch, where they raise cattle, sheep, and horses. He bought $15 worth of lottery tickets to the May 27
30-state Powerball drawing at a convenience store in Winner, S.D.

Top banker
Cara Nissen Heiden (’78 accounting) ranked No. 12 on U.S. Banker magazine’s new list of the 25 “Most
Powerful Women in Banking.” Heiden is co-president of Wells Fargo’s home mortgage unit in Des Moines.

Crow lands on ‘best college presidents’ list
When Time magazine released its 2009 “10 Best College Presidents” in November, Iowa State alumnus
Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, was included on that elite list. The magazine said Crow (’77 political science) “rode into office in 2002
vowing to build a New American University that embraced students with a wide range of backgrounds and abilities while giving elite public schools a run for their research money.” Since he took office, the university has more than doubled its yearly research spending, boosted its roster of National Merit Scholars
61 percent, and claimed a spot on three separate rankings of America’s best colleges. The number of lowincome Arizona freshmen enrolling at Arizona State each year has grown nearly nine-fold, and the
population of minority students has jumped 62 percent. Crow spent six years at Iowa State as director of the
Institute for Physical Research and Technology (1988-91), director of the Office of Science Policy and
Research (1985-91), and associate professor of management and political science (1985-90). Prior to
being named president of Arizona State, he held executive academic positions at Columbia University.