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Clark not bamboozled by this plant species Tropical botanist Lynn Clark has named more than 80 species of bamboo, found both in remote wilderness areas or alongside the travelled road.
Rebuilding a war-torn farming infrastructure Sociology alumnus Eric Imerman uses agricultural development to help rebuild Afghanistan after a generation of war.
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Today’s students – A good bunch
Iowa State students today are much the same as previous generations…other than the technology. On the cover, clockwise from top left, Shalyn Guthery, Adam Reineke, Anson Woodin, Cassidy Williams, Katie Thilges, Diana Karavida, MaryKate Burkert and Donnise Powell. Photo by Bob Elbert
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Culture of the Red Cosmos
A half-century ago, Soviets put the first human in space. Historian James Andrews sees its importance from newly opened archives.
Teaching the Good Book
Health challenges and a change in beliefs made Hector Avalos’ journey to religious studies professor anything but direct.
Link is published in the fall and spring each year by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University for alumni and friends of the college.
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES ADMINISTRATION Dean Michael Whiteford Associate Dean Arne Hallam Associate Dean David Oliver Associate Dean Zora Zimmerman LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES DEVELOPMENT TEAM Senior Director of Development Michael Gens Directors of Development Stephanie Greiner Lisa (Fry) Runkel Progam Assistant Erin Steinkamp LINK STAFF Editor Steve Jones Writers Laura Engelson Steve Jones Graphic Designer Sheena Green Cover Photo Bob Elbert
Succeeding in America
Tiffani Nguyen benefitted from scholarships to propel her confidence as an American student.
We want your opinion on Link, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni magazine. Send us your thoughts: las@iastate.edu or 515-294-0461 We want to hear from you! —Steve Jones, editor
More than one way to stay connected. www.las.iastate.edu/social
Link College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 223 Catt Hall Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 515-294-0461 las@iastate.edu
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Compliance, 3280 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.
The VW Beetle, squeaky Styrofoam and retiring after nearly four decades at Iowa State
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hortly after the beginning of the semester I visited with my boss, (Executive Vice President and Provost) Betsy Hoffman, to inform her that after 39 years at this wonderful institution, I would be retiring from Iowa State June 30. It’s with decidedly mixed feelings that I put my fingers to the keyboard to write my last letter to the extended Liberal Arts and Sciences family. After completing my Ph.D. in the halcyon days of the early 1970s at the University of California-Berkeley, Patty and I packed our little green Volkswagen Beetle and headed east. Before leaving town we drove down Bancroft Avenue, by hallowed Kroeber Hall, where the Department of Anthropology is located and where I spent so many hours as a graduate student. We caught a whiff of tear gas and dodged a couple of trash receptacles that had been knocked over, set on fire, and were happily burning in an unattended fashion. Whatever group had been protesting had been chased away or had wandered off, and it was otherwise a beautiful day to head off to a place that would be our home for almost four decades. As we turned east, toward the heartland, I thought about the fact that I had arrived in Berkeley four and a half years before in a cloud of tear gas, and it was somewhat fitting that I
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would leave under very much the same conditions. Except for the fact that we had a cheap Styrofoam cooler that, no matter what we did, squeaked throughout the trip until it was left at a rest stop in western Nebraska, I don’t remember much about the drive. Patty and I were excited about starting a new life in the Midwest. Even our otherwise Berkeleycentric friends would acknowledge that Iowa was known for its good education system and its excellent statewide newspaper. How could you go wrong? And they were right. When we crossed into Iowa, the sign welcoming us to the state said “Iowa, a Place to Grow.” And indeed, it has been just that for us. I’ve had a wonderful career at Iowa State, and we have enjoyed immensely the lives we’ve had in Ames. The city is today as it was when we arrived, a terrific place to raise a family. When we moved here our most heartfelt desire was to put down roots – to be a part of the community and to have a nurturing place in which to raise a family. And although none of our offspring lives here today, their core values are a reflection of their years in the heartland. Patty raised the family, completed a graduate degree, and worked for a number of years – mainly at the university – during our time in Ames.
She has been much more than a companion of more than four decades, and I am looking forward to spending more time with her and sharing new adventures in the coming years. It’s been interesting to reflect back on the changes and continuities of this great institution. Iowa State continues to firmly believe in the Land Grant principles of providing a practical and broad-based education that is easily accessible to the general population, one that presents scientifically based information to the public to help address a wide range of issues. In so very many ways the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the heart of this enterprise. There is no question: based on the instructional and research impact that we make, we are the “university’s college.” It is an honor to have been part of this college for so many years and to have been its dean for the better part of a decade. I have worked with so many good colleagues that I lost count years ago. We’ve had a lot of fun and excitement over the decades. I have enjoyed teaching and learning from our students more than I ever imagined. For much of my career I have been involved in one form or another of administration – first as the inaugural chair of the Department of Anthropology, then as associate dean, and most recently as dean. I have served under six deans, five executive vice presidents and three university presidents. I will miss this exciting and enjoyable working environment. Sometime in late June or early July we will climb into our cars and caravan west, arriving in Portland, Oregon, several days later. We are looking forward to this trip with the same excitement and anticipation as we had when we drove east four decades ago. It is hard to imagine spending so many years in a place any better than Ames or working at an institution that has been as good to me as Iowa State. All I can say is “Thank you.”
Michael B. Whiteford, Dean
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David Oliver to become LAS interim dean on July 1 David Oliver, professor and associate dean of Iowa State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been named interim dean effective July 1. He will succeed Dean Michael Whiteford, who will retire on June 30 and move to Oregon to be closer to his family. Oliver will serve until a new dean is appointed and starts. Oliver joined the Iowa State faculty in 1996 as chair of botany (now part of the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology), when Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Hoffman was dean of LAS. Oliver was appointed associate dean for research in Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2003. Prior to coming to Iowa State, he served on the faculty of the University of Idaho, Moscow, from 1979 to 1996. “I am looking forward to working closely with David again,” said Hoffman. “He has been an outstanding dean for research and an excellent department chair.” Oliver’s research focuses on plant biochemistry – specifically, metabolism – and how plants adjust to environmental and developmental changes. In his role as associate dean, he has focused on start-up support for new faculty to ensure they have the resources and equipment to begin their research at Iowa State. Oliver received his bachelor’s (1971) and master’s (1973) degrees from the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry at Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. (1975) from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
Best New Journal is at ISU Literature in the Early American Republic (LEAR), a journal housed in the Department of English at Iowa State, was named the “Best New Journal” of 2010 by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. The council wrote that LEAR “is a journal that will have real staying power and will not lose its relevance once a new literary theory du jour takes over.” Published by AMS Press, LEAR is the only scholarly journal devoted solely to the study of the literary culture of the fledgling United States, from the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 to the death of James Fenimore Cooper in 1851. The journal is co-edited by its founders, Matthew Wynn Sivils, assistant professor of English at ISU, and Jeffrey Walker, professor of English at Oklahoma State University.
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We’re No. 1! The American Meteorological Society (AMS) named Iowa State’s student group Outstanding Student Chapter of the Year for 2009-10. The award recognizes community service and outreach, professional development pursuits and AMS involvement. Iowa State’s chapter has 70 members and is one of 61 student groups in the country. The chapter also won the top honor in 2005-06 and has been among the AMS top five chapters every year except one since 2001.
High doctoral rankings College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ doctoral programs in statistics, chemistry, physics and economics earned high marks in data-based rankings released by the National Research Council. The council ranked more than 5,000 doctoral programs, including 50 programs at Iowa State, in 62 fields at 212 universities across the United States based on data from the 2005-2006 academic year.
Novels, movie and rave reviews Benjamin Percy, assistant professor of English, is juggling teaching with travel related to an aggressive national tour to promote his debut novel, The Wilding, a tragic wilderness tale set in Percy’s native central Oregon. The book has won rave reviews from The Boston Globe, Men’s Journal, Esquire, Outside magazine, Barnes & Noble and Booklist magazine – with the prestigious starred review in Publisher’s Weekly saying, “It’s as close as you can get to a contemporary Deliverance.” In addition to these honors, one of Percy’s short stories, “Refresh, Refresh,” is being filmed this spring after winning the Lynn Auerbach award from the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab. He’s also corresponding with executives from Paramount and Lionsgate studios about his future novel – a supernatural thriller called Red Moon.
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New AAAS fellows Four researchers in Liberal Arts and Sciences were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science. The award recognizes “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” • Tom Holme, professor of chemistry. • Pat Thiel, Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry. • John Verkade, University Professor of chemistry. • Jonathan Wendel, professor and chair of ecology, evolution and organismal biology.
Tom Holme
John Verkade
Pat Thiel
Jonathan Wendel
Psychology student wins top award Psychology graduate student Muniba Saleem won the 2010 American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award for her examination of intergroup conflict and peaceful conflict resolution. In her study, Saleem looked at how intergroup bias and conflict can be resolved in positive ways. Intergroup bias – preferring people who are part of their own group over those who are not – is often prevalent in intergroup conflicts and frequently leads to more serious forms of discrimination, such as aggression.
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Professor, grad student study pilgrimage The Shikoku Pilgrimage on the southern island of Shikoku, Japan, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Nikki Bado, religious studies associate professor, and Eric Waite, graduate student in interdisciplinary graduate studies, planned to conduct research and film a documentary about the renowned 800-mile pilgrimage. Visitors follow the footsteps of Kukai, a revered eighth-century Japanese philosopher monk and scholar who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism. Bado (above, right) has been researching material for her third book. Waite planned to participate in the pilgrimage by foot, taking some two months to film the journey. At press time both were safe and remained in Japan, but were closely watching the post-earthquake situation.
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Stress and neighborhoods
The cost of crime
Matt DeLisi, high crimes. Photo by Bob Elbert
Carolyn Cutrona, social ties. Photo by Bob Elbert
A pair of Iowa State researchers reported that negative neighborhood infrastructure can keep neighbors from forming social ties, which have a small but significant impact on an individual’s mental health. The findings come from Carolyn Cutrona, professor and chair of psychology, and Daniel Russell, professor of human development and family studies. They have been part of the Family and Community Health Study, an ongoing research project of 800 African American families – approximately half living in Iowa and half in Georgia – that started in 1997. In neighborhoods where social disorder – or a lack of social ties – was perceived to be high, the effects on the subjects’ perceived personal risk were amplified. The effects of personal risk were muted in neighborhoods with low social disorder. “The effects of things going wrong in your own life are magnified when you live in one of these negative neighborhoods,” Cutrona said. “So it affects all of us to have a sick family member, or lose our job, or to be robbed. But when that happens to someone in these neighborhoods, it increases the probability that the person will be diagnosed with a major depressive disorder over the next two years. Yet if the same event happened and you were in a more benign neighborhood, your chances of becoming clinically depressed were less.”
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Each murder costs society about $17.25 million, according to a recent study by Matt DeLisi, associate professor of sociology and director of the criminal justice program. DeLisi led a team of five Iowa State graduate students on a study of 654 convicted and incarcerated murderers. Expanding upon earlier monetization estimates, they calculated the costs of five crimes: murder, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault and burglary – in terms of the victim costs, criminal justice system costs, lost productivity estimates for both the victim and the criminal, and estimates on the public’s resulting willingness to pay to prevent future violence. The study uses data from one of DeLisi’s previous studies on 654 convicted and incarcerated homicide offenders in eight states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. In addition to the per murder cost ($17,252,656), the researchers calculated that the most violent offenders singly produced costs greater than $150 million. The ISU researchers also calculated costs of rape ($448,532), armed robbery ($335,733), aggravated assault ($145,379) and burglary ($41,288). While research attaching cost estimates to heinous crimes may appear a bit cold in nature, DeLisi says it’s actually conducted with prevention in mind. “This area of research has really been run with prevention researchers,” he said. “That’s because what they find is that even if a prevention program is very expensive – and most of them are actually shockingly inexpensive – they’re still more cost effective than allowing these careers to unfold.”
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Accidental discovery
Making a microscope
Jacob Petrich, fluorescence. Photo by Dave Gieseke
The eyes of sheep infected with scrapie – a neurological disorder similar to mad cow disease – return an intense, almost-white glow when they’re hit with blue excitation light, according to a research project led by Jacob Petrich, professor and chair of the chemistry department. The findings suggest technologies and techniques can be developed to quickly and noninvasively test for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, progressive and fatal neurological diseases such as mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Petrich also is developing a device that could be used in meat plants to test the retinas of animals for signs of neurological diseases. He expects it will take several years to build and test a useful device. The neurological research is the result of an accidental discovery while Petrich and his collaborators were developing a fluorescence spectroscopy device that’s now used in slaughterhouses to test livestock carcasses for feces and possible E. coli contamination. “One day we were testing the apparatus by shining light on the carcass and we saw the spinal cord glow – it fluoresced,” Petrich said. “We saw the spinal cord through the skin. The light was pretty intense. It was an amazing result.” The researchers collected 140 eyeballs from 73 sheep. Thirty-five of those sheep were infected with scrapie; 38 were not. The researchers took fluorescence readings from various parts of the eyes of all the sheep. “The bottom line is the scrapie-positive retinas fluoresced like crazy,” Petrich said. “And the scrapie-negative ones did not.”
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Sanjeevi Sivasankar, single molecule. Photo by Bob Elbert
A unique microscope being developed by Sanjeevi Sivasankar, assistant professor in the physics and astronomy department, along with Novascan Technologies Inc. of Ames, will allow researchers to study single molecules. Sivasankar came up with the idea of a single-molecule microscope as he was looking for a better tool to study how cells adhere to each other. The new idea was to combine two single-molecule technologies that had been used separately: atomic force microscope technology that manipulates molecules and measures forces, and fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology that observes single molecules at very high resolution. Using one or the other technology is like “having hands but no eyes or eyes but no hands,” Sivasankar said. “We can combine these two technologies into one instrument.” This type of instrument could advance studies in biomedical research, drug discovery, cancer diagnostics and bio-sensing applications. Sivasankar brought the idea for an integrated, singlemolecule instrument to Ames when he started at Iowa State and the Ames Laboratory in 2008. He’s since built a laboratory prototype and improved its measurement capabilities and efficiency.
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In the name of bamboo by Steve Jones
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his really happened. Lynn Clark was in a vehicle zipping down a road at 55 miles per hour when she spotted a bamboo plant, one she did not recognize. She had the driver make an abrupt stop. Upon examination it was indeed a new, unnamed species. Clark knows her bamboo, even at highway speeds. The plant became one of the 80 or so bamboos that the Iowa State University tropical botanist has named. Another 40 or 50 species are sitting in her Bessey Hall lab waiting for Clark, considered the leading authority on these diverse and highly utilitarian woody grasses, to identify as new. Finding a new species within easy grasp along a road is the exception. Her treks into Central and South America have meant mule rides, hours of mountain hikes and wilderness camping while avoiding spiders, intestinal parasites and hypothermia. It’s all to better understand a grass with some species that grow as tall as 120 feet – all in one growing season, no less – and many that reproduce only once over decades. “Bamboo is an incredibly versatile and ecologically important plant,” said Clark, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology. She said bamboo is most familiar to Americans as the meal of choice for giant pandas and an ingredient found in Chinese meals. That’s only the tip of the iceberg for the “plant of a thousand uses.” Bamboo is used for food, construction materials, fuel, fishing poles, flooring, livestock fodder, medicines, fine paper and much more. It’s durable, lightweight and grows quickly.
Bamboo authority Lynn Clark has named more than 80 species, with more on the way.
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Rhipidocladum clarkiae (bright green plant) is one of two species named for Lynn Clark.
“Wherever bamboo grows, people have taken advantage of its unusual properties,” said Clark. “Giant pandas are simply the best known example of bamboo dependence.” Some 1,400 species of bamboo in all shapes and sizes grow around the globe mainly in tropic and subtropic regions. Three are native to the continental United States, seen mostly in the Southeast where they are known as river, switch and hill cane. Clark’s research concentrates on the diversity and evolution of these plants in the misty, rugged mountainous areas of Central and South America. Studying the evolution of bamboo is challenging because they flower infrequently. Whereas most plants reproduce annually, many bamboos have lengthy flowering cycles – 20, 40, 60 or even 120 years is possible.
Bamboo Facts • Bamboo comes in many shapes and sizes, from a few inches high to 120-foot skyscrapers. • Under ideal conditions, bamboo can grow three feet or more in 24 hours. • Bamboo canes reach their full height and girth in one growing season of 3-6 months. • Some bamboos flower annually, but most take their time – 20, 40, 60 or more years to reproduce. Then they die. • Bamboo makes up as much as 99 percent of the giant panda’s diet.
“It’s a weird flowering behavior,” she said. “We haven’t figured out how the plants count. How do they know when 20 years is up and it’s time to flower?” Researching the evolution of bamboo is important to science, yet Clark admits, it’s just a neat plant to study. She added that unraveling the
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mysteries of bamboo also is important to Iowa and Midwest crops. “Grasses are incredibly important as crop plants,” she explained. “Understanding bamboo’s evolutionary history is critical to doing all kinds of other studies in grasses including crop improvement. In that sense, studying bamboo is very relevant to what goes on at Iowa State and in the state.” Clark’s work with bamboo began in her teenage years in Washington, D.C., where her father did “CSI” analysis in the FBI’s scientific lab. “I grew up with forensic science way before it was cool,” laughed Clark. When her dad – the FBI’s Chief of the Scientific Analysis section when he retired – could not identify a plant, he crossed the street to the Smithsonian Institution’s national herbarium. He consulted with a botanist friend who specialized in grasses and had a bamboo collection. Before long Clark was spending her summers volunteering at the Smithsonian herbarium. After graduating with a degree in botany from Michigan State University, Clark came to graduate school at Iowa State and worked with Richard Pohl. He was an expert on tropical grasses and especially bamboo and took her on her first field excursion, to Costa Rica in 1980. “I just absolutely fell in love with it,” she recalled. “It was my first time seeing bamboo in their natural habitat and collecting specimens.” It was the first of many grant-funded research trips over the years for Clark, who joined the Iowa State faculty in 1987. She has done fieldwork from China to South America and often in rugged, inhospitable conditions. To describe some of the trips as adventures is no overstatement. Like the time her group hiked about seven hours up a Brazilian mountain in search of a rare bamboo species. Of course that meant an equally long trek down the mountain. It was actually their
second quest for this “spiky-shaped” species. Months earlier they went by helicopter only to be denied a safe landing because of fog. “We’ve got to get this plant and get its DNA,” she recalled saying. “We want to prove it is in fact a bamboo.” After getting in better shape, they started early one morning and made the strenuous and successful roundtrip walk. “It was a long day, but we’ve had similar hikes,” Clark said. Caution is heeded when traveling in wilderness areas. Because Clark and her groups often work at higher elevations, snakes usually aren’t an issue, but nasty spiders are present. And twice she’s gotten so wet and cold that she started to go hypothermic. Clark also has been mindful of guerrilla movements, always keeping an eye on the situation. “Local people know what’s going on, and I found it wise to take their advice,” she said. The years of demanding fieldwork have earned Clark a well-deserved reputation as an exceptional researcher. “Lynn is the world’s foremost authority on the biodiversity and genealogical relationships of bamboos, and of grasses in general,” said Jonathan Wendel, her colleague and department chair at Iowa State. “My guess is that nearly all practicing plant systematists know her name, in the United States and indeed all over the world.” Two species of bamboo are named for her: Rhipidocladum clarkiae from Costa Rica and Olmeca clarkiae from Mexico and Honduras, the latter of which, she said, “I have not had the pleasure of meeting personally.” It’s likely if she ever meets this namesake plant, she’ll immediately know it’s a bamboo. ■
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Amid Afghan children, sociology alumnus Eric Imerman helps rebuild a nation. Photo by Richard Fite
Pumping up Afghanistan’s agriculture by Steve Jones
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wice Eric Imerman served in the Peace Corps, in the Philippines in the 1980s and Ecuador in the 1990s. He helped farmers improve their agricultural practices while also promoting the local government. Today the Iowa State University graduate has the same task. “The only difference is that I have armed guards all around me, and we’re doing it in a warzone this time,” said Imerman. The former farmhand with three sociology degrees from Iowa State and eight years of extension experience is in his second year as an agricultural adviser in Afghanistan. Imerman is part of NATO’s Afghanistan International Security Assistance Force, which oversees all the U.S. and international troops and the reconstruction and development teams. He is on a Provincial Reconstruction Team and is among the civilian experts in agriculture, finance, law and other fields helping rebuild the war-torn nation.
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On contract with the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service, the Guthrie Center, Iowa, native spends demanding days working with local farmers and provincial agricultural officials. His job: increase production and income and help reassemble the nation’s farming infrastructure. “Our number one goal here – and it’s a nasty word – is nation-building,” said Imerman during a phone interview from the northern province of Kunduz, where he had been working until moving to Farah, a western province. “The government is ineffective after decades of war, so we’re trying to put a government face on whatever happens here so the Afghan people will regain some confidence in it.” In Kunduz he parterned with local and provincial agriculture officials while demonstrating best practices for growing irrigated wheat, rice, cotton and other crops. The challenges were many. Agricultural know-how has
seemingly disappeared during the wars and mechanization is not widespread, resulting in inefficient and sometimes primitive farming practices. His biggest hurdle, he believes, is the farmers’ lack of education caused by 30 years of war. “We’re working with farmers who don’t know how to add and subtract and read and write,” Imerman explained. “You can’t even bring out a poster in their own language because they can’t read it.” The company he keeps also hinders him. He was fairly safe in the city of Kunduz, capital of the like-named province. Upon leaving the city or the adjacent military base on which he lived, he wore a helmet and body armor. Accompanying him were five armored vehicles and a platoon of some 15 U.S. troops based out of New York State. “It is a real challenge to go out with the military because it marks your clients,” said Imerman. He’ll confer with farmers in the city or another locale,
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but things get sticky if he has to visit the farmer’s land. “The first thing I tell them is that when I show up at the farm, I have five armored vehicles and a platoon of soldiers as my security. And if that will mark you as a target for the Taliban, we might as well call it off right now.” He experienced the seriousness of the Afghanistan operation after his security detail became involved in a firefight on one of his first trips into the field. Imerman was meeting with agricultural officials at a local police compound when a special forces unit attacked a nearby village. An armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb, wounding three. “We were the only support group in the area,” Imerman recalled. “A German ambulance was going to pick up the guys, so we provided cover for the ambulance.” Although they were in a police compound, he was told he would be safer in the armored truck. “I fully agreed. I got into the truck, the ambulance came and when it left, the Taliban opened up on us. So we sat there and fired back and forth for about two hours.” Imerman handed ammunition up to the gunner above. “Finally a German tank rolled in and fired some missiles and ended the whole
On sheep vaccination day, 10,000 doses of vaccines were administered. Photo by Eric Imerman
thing,” Imerman continued. “It went really fast.” Imerman is an Iowa farm boy who did not earn his bachelor’s degree until 1991, some 18 years after he graduated from Guthrie Center High. He worked a decade as a cattle herdsman in Wisconsin and Iowa before the farm crisis convinced him to “change directions” in 1983. He joined the Peace Corps before eventually coming to Iowa State. Imerman added a master’s degree in 1996 and his Ph.D. a few years later.
He joined Ohio State University Extension, helping residents with community development, farming and environmental issues until budget cuts eliminated his position in 2009. Then he signed up for the Afghanistan tour. After four weeks of classroom instruction and field training in a simulated battle-worn Afghan town, he arrived in Afghanistan in February 2010. Although challenges outweigh successes, Imerman has seen victories. Like the time he trained 13 trainers on a more productive method for growing irrigated rice. The trainers then trained an average of 35 farmers each – reaching a total of about 455 farmers. “I thought that was pretty big,” he added. A sheep vaccination program in Kunduz also looked to be headed in the right direction. And convincing farmers to grow grapes on simple trellises rather than on the ground where they are more susceptible to disease will reap benefits. More substantial changes, however, will take time. The military must first clear and hold farmland before development programs take root. Then people like Eric Imerman and those who will follow him can try to make up for a lost generation of farming knowhow. ■
Sunrise over an irrigation canal in the Kunduz province. Photo by Eric Imerman
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ON THE COVER
es ve Jon by Ste
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very day streams of students exit classrooms and auditoriums on the Iowa State University campus. Nothing unusual here – Iowa Staters have done that for decades, from Baby Boomers, Generation X and Y up to the current Millennials. And like their preceding generations, today’s Iowa State students have their own generational persona, most visibly marked by technology. Take away cell phones along with backpacks (both of which seemingly all students carry) and disregard the current fashion trends, and you’ll find today’s Iowa State students are not much different from the students of yesteryear. They walk the same halls and sidewalks, cheer on the Cyclones and still avoid stepping on the Memorial Union’s zodiak for fear of failing their next test. Differences do exist among these Millenials. The Pew Research Center last year said this generation as a whole is more racially diverse, liberal, self-confident and tolerant than earlier generations. Students today also are less likely to be married, a military veteran or religiously active, yet are more socially conscious, politically active and optimistic about the future. Iowa State students, according to university officials, are all of the above in addition to showing academic commitment, being involved in campus activities and exhibiting the state’s exemplary work ethic. “One of the things I truly love about Iowa State is our students,” said Dione Somerville, ISU’s dean of students. “Every so often I will get a student who asks me, ‘What made you want to work here?’ I say, ‘The student body.’” In Somerville’s job she usually sees the university’s top student leaders or those in judicial hot water. “I have worked in judicial affairs in some capacity throughout my career,” said Somerville, who came to ISU from Ohio in 2007. “I don’t know if I have ever had as many students thank me after a judicial conversation as I’ve had at Iowa State.” Carol Vleck, associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, echoes Somerville’s beliefs about Iowa State’s students. “Compared to a decade ago, I think my students are more polite, able and willing to follow complex instructions and are interested in how their classes help prepare them for working in the real world,” Vleck said. Another hallmark of Iowa State students that has not changed over the years is their involvement in campus activities. The university’s online student organizations page lists 766 different student groups, from Aquarium Club to Zeitgeist (German Student Association). Included is VEISHEA, CONTINUED... From left, ISU students Mary-Kate Burkert, Adam Reineke, Diana Karavida, Shalyn Guthery and Cassidy Williams. Photo by Bob Elbert and photo illustration by Sheena Green WWW.LAS.IASTAT E . E D U
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ON THE COVER
Photo by Jordin Robinson
Like father, like daughter – except technology
Rick Robinson graduated from Iowa State in agricultural journalism in 1987. His daughter Torey will get her journalism degree from ISU this spring. Only separated by one generation, the divide between ‘87 and ‘11 is most noticeable by technology. “Look at the technology available to us then and what students now use,” he said. “It’s a whole different world. It’s so much easier for them to do research and they can learn so much faster.” Journalists had been entering stories on early computers since the 1970s. Rick once described to Torey how, as a writer on the Iowa State Daily, he saved news stories on new-fangled giant floppy disks. “I explained that when we finished a story, we would take out one of those big disks from the machine and drop it off at the editor’s desk,” said Rick, environmental policy advisor for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. “She gave me a blank stare like she was thinking, ‘What are you talking about?’” Rick said, from his parental view, he believes students now are more goal-oriented and focused on their futures. “I think they are more serious about scholastics.” Torey said other than technology and stricter alcohol rules during VEISHEA, “It doesn’t appear a whole lot had changed about Iowa State.” She recalled when she was younger and her dad would take her and her sisters on walking tours around campus and the Greek houses. “Houses moved and buildings changed, but I bet my dad and I have similar stories from our college experiences at Iowa State. It’s a special bond we get to share.”
which requires hundreds of student volunteers each April to pull off the festival that attracts thousands of visitors to campus. A pair of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni both recently praised their alma mater for all its campus opportunities. Coming from a small Iowa high school during the Depression, Dwight Ink was thrilled with what he could do on campus in 1940. Ink, who went on to serve seven U.S. presidents (Eisenhower to Reagan) in executive positions, said, “The organizing experience I gained at Iowa State was fundamental to my successes in public administration.” A generation later, Graham Spanier came to Iowa State from Illinois. Now president of Penn State University, Spanier also was active in many campus groups in the late 1960s. Asked if attending ISU changed him, he said no, “but it showed me what was possible in a way I didn’t know before. It was easy to get connected. Iowa State encouraged that right from the start.” Student generational distinctions do exist, including parental involvement. Phil Caffrey, associate director of admissions, has recruited students to Iowa State for nearly 29 years. “Parents are much more influential in a student’s college choice than two or three decades ago,” he said. “As a result, parents are a big part of our communication streams.” Caffrey said his office embraces the parental involvement by recruiting parents along with the students. Some mailings and e-mails now go only to parents. “That’s something we wouldn’t have done very long ago.”
Debra Sanborn directs Iowa State’s Hixson Opportunity Awards, which are four-year, half-tuition grants to 100 Iowa students each year. “I came to Iowa State in 1995,” Sanborn said. “At the time, if students had a problem, they would call me or come see me. Now the parent calls.” However, the biggest student
Dione Somerville
change, without doubt, is technology use. When students stream out of large classrooms, many have their phones in hand checking messages (others no doubt already checked their messages in class). Technology goes beyond connectivity and social media and plays huge roles in all academic areas. E-mails have replaced faculty office hours and telephone calls for the most effective method of reaching faculty. Most classrooms are high-tech and information is at everyone’s fingertips. Students in large lecture classes now use automated personal response units, aka “clickers.” The handheld wireless devices let students respond to questions with a click of a button. They are used to track and evaluate group responses and are effective for initiating
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class-wide and small-group discussions and creating “teachable moments.” Back in the day, if music students wanted to hear a specific tune, they had to find and play an LP album. CDs made it easier, but now the Internet provides immediate access. “Our students come to college with more knowledge and more access to information because of the Internet,” said Michael Golemo, professor and chair of music. “It’s one thing to read the music, but it’s better to hear it,” he added. “Now students get it instantly online.” Golemo said technology has not changed the students’ commitment to their musical craft. “They’re still dedicated and just as talented. Students are students, but they take advantage of technology.”
Mouse problem Like the rest of society, students have come a long way with technology. Lee Honeycutt, an associate professor of English who researches the use of computers in composition classrooms, recalls a class he taught on website design in the late 1990s. “I had one particular student who literally did not know how to use a mouse to navigate the computer interface,” he recalled. Others had difficulty “understanding the strange, new world of the Internet.” Honeycutt, however, believes students’ pervasive use of social media and communications technology has cut into the concentration they need to write well. “As a whole, the quality of undergraduate student writing these past 10 years has declined to some extent,” he said. (See Honeycutt’s sidebar on this page.) Rick Robinson graduated in agricultural journalism from Iowa State in 1987, and his daughter Torey is a
senior in ISU’s Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. Rick once described to her how he saved news stories on giant floppy disks that had to be delivered by hand to the editor in the pre-Internet days. “She gave me a blank stare like she was thinking, ‘What are you talking about?’” (See related story on page 12.) With or without hi-tech gizmos, Iowa State students as a whole leave positive impressions on people. “There is something about our values and what it means to be a person of good character that still resonates, I think, in our student body,” said Somerville. “Sometimes people think it is gone. It’s still here. And I really appreciate that about our students.” Flooding last summer soaked a campus recreation building. Somerville was impressed with the students who showed up to work with full-time staff sandbagging, then cleaning. “Students put in some incredible hours during the day and night, and they were right alongside our employees,” she said. When the historic flood left Ames without drinking water, other students helped staff water distribution sites. “I’ll always be proud of our students for that,” Somerville said. “They almost didn’t have to be asked. They saw a need and they fulfilled it, and they saw a way they could contribute. And that’s the kind of initiative that I don’t believe is universal. “It’s a wonderful reminder of how lucky we are to have the kind of student body we do.” ■
‘New world of the Internet’
By Lee Honeycutt, Associate Professor of English Since my arrival at Iowa State back in 1998, I have seen a few changes in the students walking into my classes each semester, but none more dramatic than their relationship to communication technology. My second semester at ISU, I taught a class on website design, and I had one particular student who literally did not know how to use a mouse to navigate the computer interface. Needless to say, he wound up dropping the class, but several who remained had difficulties understanding the strange, new world of the Internet. Fast-forward 10 years, and the problem has almost disappeared. Rare is the student who doesn’t have at least two e-mail accounts and 300-plus friends on Facebook. And though much of this computer literacy is superficially relegated to social media, quite a few students hunger for more in-depth technical knowledge. While a part of me is gratified to see such changes, I have also begun to see a disturbing change in not only my students, but also in myself, and that is a gradual erosion in our powers of concentration. As a whole, the quality of undergraduate student writing these past 10 years has declined to some extent, and I receive a growing number of papers each year that are stitched together with little regard for aesthetics or rhetorical possibilities. I don’t want to imply the Internet is a singular causation, but I do believe it is a major contributing factor. Learning to write well takes deep powers of concentration that are disrupted every time students check their e-mail or Facebook accounts, which happens a lot these days as communication devices approach the dimensions of Dick Tracy’s watch. The character of the student population, on the other hand, has remained rather constant. As a lot, they are just an incredibly nice group of young people.
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Historian James Andrews says Yuri Gagarin was a Soviet icon. Photo by Bob Elbert
The importance of Yuri in space By Mike Ferlazzo
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he unmanned Soviet satellite Sputnik continues to be associated with the dawn of space exploration, most recently being cited by President Obama in January’s State of the Union address. But Iowa State University history professor James Andrews contends that Yuri Gagarin may be an even bigger Soviet name as a space pioneer – particularly this year. Gagarin was the Soviet cosmonaut
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who became the first human to journey into outer space on April 12, 1961 – an event that will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. And as documented in Space Exploration and Soviet Culture – a new book Andrews co-edited that will be published this fall – Gagarin’s space mission was at least as significant historically as Sputnik’s. “I can’t underscore how important this was,” said Andrews, a professor
of modern Russian and comparative Eurasian history who has spoken twice at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum on Soviet rocketry and space exploration history. “I almost wonder whether Sputnik in our popular consciousness has eclipsed Gagarin, because at the time that was not the case – not for everyday Soviets and the Soviet leadership,” he continued. “For them, I think that
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Gagarin was almost more spectacular. That’s because it was palpable – a human being who survived a trip to space and came back. And the heroic nature of that mission is what made Gagarin a Soviet icon.”
Access to the newly opened Soviet archives Andrews learned just how proud the Soviet leadership was of Gagarin’s space success through his vast research of newly opened Soviet archives, memorabilia, news reports, letters and personal accounts – including memoirs by Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev, the iconic Soviet premier at the time. The younger Khrushchev is now a senior fellow at the Thomas Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and endorsed Andrews’ 2009 book, Red Cosmos: K.E. Tsiolkovskii, Grandfather of Soviet Rocketry. “He read my book before it was published and endorsed it,” Andrews said. “And I feel very good about that because not only is he now a political analyst, but during his father’s era and afterward – before he immigrated – he was a missile systems guidance engineer. So his life and career was inextricably linked with these investments [to rocketry and space exploration] on the part of the regime.” Even though Red Cosmos largely focused on the period before the space race captured the world’s attention, Andrews foreshadows his new book with an account of Nikita Khrushchev’s April 1961 diplomatic gala in the Kremlin to honor Gagarin on his historic mission. And that was by design. “I would consider what I’ve done over the last 10 years with these two books as a kind of two-volume look at first the cultural and political roots of Russian rocketry through Tsiolkovskii, their icon; and then a second volume that deals more specifically with the real space age – the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s,” Andrews said. “The problem I’ve seen in the past is that most of what has been written on Soviet space prior to these books was limited to the politics, the military element and the institutions. They only looked previously at the scientific and technical aspects of the space age. These books tie space exploration to broader issues in Russian culture, which it’s been divorced from in the past.”
Book explores early cosmonauts’ hopes and fears The forthcoming book is a collection of essays by noted scholars on the post-World War II Soviet space age and its cultural history. Andrews authored the introduction and one of its chapters on Soviet popular culture and space exploration at the dawn of Sputnik. The book also explores the hopes and fears of the earliest Soviet cosmonauts. “Many of the early cosmonauts were test pilots and felt that even with the new planes they tested, they were at least in a
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Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space.
little more control. Whereas with automated rockets, they felt like they were, in many respects, relinquishing that control to engineers,” Andrews said. “So what we’re finding was that their fear was not as much going into outer space necessarily, but losing control of one’s airship. It sounds like that was the great quantum leap, as we’re learning from these cosmonauts.” The most famous of those cosmonauts was Gagarin, who left his undeniable mark on both space exploration and Soviet cultural history. “It’s very important to think about Gagarin’s flight in its context – particularly what it meant to Russians of the 1960s,” Andrews said. “They [the Soviets] had been the first [to put a human in space], and that was very important to them.” Andrews is now working on a book project on the building of the Moscow Metro, which he considers to be an engineering marvel that – like the Soviet space program – showcases the nation’s technical and cultural history. ■
Mike Ferlazzo is a writer with the Iowa State University News Service.
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Hector Avalos: Describing the Faith of Others by Steve Jones
Professor’s route to religious studies faculty involved preaching, health challenges and atheism.
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woman asked the poor Hispanic boy what he wanted to do after high school. Thinking a moment, young Hector Avalos replied, “I’d like to go to Oxford or Harvard.” The woman chuckled. “You might want to think of somewhere else.” Avalos never lost sight of Harvard, where he earned a pair of graduate degrees en route to becoming a religious studies professor at Iowa State University. Yet his road to a faculty position was anything but a direct route. The tall, soft-spoken man’s life has taken unexpected turns. He went from a child fundamentalist preacher to an atheist, and from an energetic college student to a “coughing mass of flesh.” And today, Avalos tries to quiet his critics by explaining one can teach a subject without believing in it. Hector Avalos was born to a single mother in Nogales, Mexico, an impoverished border town south of Tucson. His mud house was lavish compared to the cardboard homes nearby. The only running water came during a desert downpour. In the 1960s the border was porous, and Avalos came to Arizona for good in 1967 to live with his grandmother in the Phoenix area. His family was Pentecostal, a religion that emphasized faith healing and miracles. “From watching the preachers I thought I’d like to do that,” Avalos recalled. “That’s a good way to serve my church.” One day the pastor’s daughter was sick and could not teach Sunday school. “I knocked on the door of the pastor’s house – he lived around the block from us – and said, ‘I can do that.’ And he let me,” Avalos said. “Pretty soon I was preaching sermons.” In 1968 a large church convention came to Glendale. Avalos, at age 9, gave the keynote address to hundreds of believers hailing from Texas to California. Before long he was fulfilling requests to preach at all kinds of churches around Phoenix. “My pastor would drive me because I was still 9,” Avalos said. Preaching came natural for the articulate boy who possessed an
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inquisitive and highly intelligent mind. He was so bright that in the seventh grade he was admitted to an algebra course at Glendale Community College. He learned, however, his smarts did not carry over to college math. “I was a horrible mathematician. So I dropped out of college in the seventh grade,” Avalos laughed.
Questioning his faith Faith is what guided Avalos, until he questioned it. As a teen a Jehovah’s Witness came to his door. When Avalos needed to defend his own religion, he recognized he could not. Faith was present; knowledge was missing. “I realized I didn’t know anything. Here I was preaching, and I knew the Bible, but he told me, ‘Your Bible is mistranslated. The Greek [version] does not say the same thing as your English one.’ Well I had no notion of translation,” Avalos admitted. “That was a huge clash and it started to get me thinking. How do I know whether the Bible is translated properly?” That spurred Avalos to learn Greek and Hebrew. Too poor to go to a Hebrew school, he mowed lawns to buy the books needed to tackle the languages to verify his religion’s claims. “After trying and trying, I managed to learn how to read it. I wanted to make sure I knew what I needed to know to defeat the arguments of these Jehovah’s Witnesses and these other people.” Instead of defending his religion, he began doubting his beliefs. Over time he learned about different views and realized they had some “pretty good arguments.” Said Avalos, “The more I started to learn and verify the sources and arguments for myself, the more I started to see that I could make the arguments just as well for the Muslims and Hindus using the same techniques. “Eventually that led me to think that I don’t believe anybody has great evidence. They’re all doing the same thing. I clearly saw if I had been born a Jehovah’s Witness or Hindu, I would just be repeating what they said. I didn’t
want to do that. I made a very strong distinction between knowing something and believing something.” Eventually he didn’t believe any of it. “I became what people would call an atheist. I said, ‘Well, now what?’ I read all these languages and what do I do with all this knowledge?” Avalos decided to become a biblical archaeologist, and after a year at a community college he transferred to the University of Arizona. Soon another life-changing event took place. “I started getting this cold late in 1978 and it wouldn’t go away. It got worse and worse,” he said. Nonstop coughing was
Nine-year-old evangelist Hector Avalos in 1968.
accompanied by terrible nosebleeds, “excruciating” sinus headaches and arthritis. His eyeballs turned red, a hole was found in a lung and he lost weight. “Nobody seemed to know what was wrong with me,” he explained. “I was put in isolation because they thought it was contagious.” Doctors finally pinned it as Wegener’s Granulomatosis, an uncommon disorder causing inflammation in the blood vessels, which restricts blood flow to various organs. Many die from the disease due to kidney failure. “I was lucky,” he said. He spent 1980 recuperating at his
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Employers did not consider Avalos and his health challenges. Photo by Bob Elbert
grandmother’s home in Tucson. When he improved he yearned to make up for lost time in college and began reviewing all the languages he learned on his own in high school. “I started calling up professors and saying, ‘If I pass your final exam, would you give me credit for a year?’ And they said, ‘Nobody has ever done that. But, if you pass the final exam, I suppose you know it.’ So I did. I passed the final exam in Greek.” He also passed courses in German, biology, second-year Greek, Hebrew and others to rack up 45 credits, breaking the department record for most credits in a semester. It prompted one professor to remark, “You should be at Harvard.” Avalos earned a master’s from Harvard Divinity School in 1985 and entered the university’s Ph.D. program in Biblical and Near Eastern Studies. Then he became ill again. Harvard stepped up and provided accommodations, including oxygen, a student research assistant and transportation. “I couldn’t have made it without that,” he said. “I went to class in a handicapped accessible van.” In Harvard’s Ph.D. program Avalos met fellow student Paul Keim, a devout Mennonite who wore traditional black garb and a beard. Avalos, the atheist, said, “I thought I had nothing in common with him…and he became one
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of my best friends for life.” “Hector was physically debilitated,” said Keim, professor of Bible and religion at Indiana’s Goshen College. “He labored to get around.” Keim recalled Avalos struggling to participate in long academic discussions after arriving at a second-floor room in an old museum. “He didn’t have the long breaths for erudition,” said Keim, who saw Avalos as an intelligent scholar with personal integrity.
Some were brutally frank In 1991 Avalos became the first Mexican-American to earn a doctorate from his Harvard department. Yet, his health was keeping him from employment. “No one would hire me,” he said. He was no longer on oxygen, but he could not walk or talk for very long. Down to his last options, Avalos accepted a good two-year post-doctoral research appointment at the University of North Carolina offered by Mary Sue Coleman, now president of the University of Michigan. When he searched for permanent work, he faced the same results. “I looked good on paper, with publications and a Ph.D. from Harvard. But as soon as they saw me, they would just…” His words trailed off. He admitted he did not look healthy. “Some of them were brutally frank, saying ‘I don’t think you
can teach.’” Avalos eventually attended a conference where he was interviewed by Iowa State University faculty. Winded, Avalos asked, “How do you feel about working with a disabled person?” The Iowa State reply: “What do you need?” He asked for an office near a classroom, nearby parking and a research assistant to run about campus for him. “And I’ve been here ever since,” Avalos said. Avalos became a full professor at Iowa State in 2007. His vita is chock full of publications, and he’s earned his share of faculty honors. Yet he often hears the same query. How can you teach biblical studies as an atheist? “I say for the same reason you can teach Greek religion without believing in Greek religion,” he said. “At public universities, our methods are to describe what people believe, not to prescribe what people believe. It is descriptive, not prescriptive. “You can describe what people believe without having to believe it.” He says he studies the Bible as a scholar as he would study Homer’s Iliad or any other piece of ancient literature, using historical methodology for the most part. He is sometimes a critic of his profession, which he said contains a divide between church-based scholars and academia. “I still think it is too religiously based, but I think on about 90-95 percent we kind of agree.” Ideological differences aside, Keim admires Avalos. “He doesn’t push an agenda, it’s just good scholarship,” Keim said. “He respects my beliefs and traditions, and that counts a lot with me.” Avalos started the Atheist and Agnostic Society at Iowa State in 1999. “First and foremost it provides a community for nonreligious students,” he said. “At the time, it was not very common for people to call themselves atheists. It was a really dirty word,” he laughed. “It still is but back then it was really hard for people to say it. I’ve never been one to hide what I thought.” ■
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2010 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Alumni Award Recipients ISU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Alumni Merit Award
Dr. Marc Wayne Urquhart BS Biology 1989 Weehawken, New Jersey Orthopedic Surgeon Urquhart Orthopedic Associates, PA
Outstanding Young Alumnus Award
Keegan Kautzky BA Political Science 2004 Des Moines, Iowa Director of National Program Development & Outreach The World Food Prize Foundation
Alumni Medal
Dr. Jon L. Fleming BS Meteorology 1975 Ames, Iowa Gastroenterologist McFarland Clinic
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES Carrie Chapman Catt Public Engagement Award Adrienne C. Thomas BA American History 1967; MA American History 1970 College Park, Maryland Deputy Archivist of the United States National Archives
Citation of Merit
Donald J. Soults BS Statistics 1961; PhD Statistics 1968 Vienna, Virginia President Pathfinder Systems, Inc.
Dean’s Arts & Humanities Award
Deborah K. Fitzgerald BA History and English 1978 Cambridge, Massachusetts Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Professor of the History of Technology in the Program of Science, Technology, and Society Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Distinguished Service Award
Wayne A. Fuller BS Agricultural Economics 1955; MS Agricultural Economics 1957; PhD Agricultural Economics 1959 Ames, Iowa Distinguished Professor Emeritus Iowa State University
John V. Atanasoff Research and Discovery Award Tetsuro Motoyama MS Psychology 1975; MS Statistics 1976; PhD Psychology and Statistics 1978; MS Mathematics 1983 Cupertino, California Chief Research and Development Engineer Ricoh Americas Corporation
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Young Alumna Award
Sarah Brown Wessling BA English Education 1998; MA English 2003 Johnston, Iowa 2010 National Teacher of the Year Johnston High School
CHEMISTRY Outstanding Chemistry Alumnus Douglas T. Gjerde PhD Chemistry 1980 Saratoga, California CEO PhyNexus, Inc.
ECONOMICS Distinguished Service to Private Enterprise Daniel Laufenberg MS Economics 1971; PhD Economics 1973 Bloomington, Minnesota Economist, Stonebridge Capital Advisors Economic Consultant, Laufenberg Quarterly
Distinguished Service in the Public Interest Donald Bisenius PhD Economics 1985 Alexandria, Virginia Executive Vice President, Single Family Credit Guarantee Freddie Mac
ENGLISH Outstanding Alumni Awards Ander Monson MA English 1999 Tucson, Arizona Assistant Professor University of Arizona
Sarah Brown Wessling BA English Education 1998; MA English 2003 Johnston, Iowa 2010 National Teacher of the Year Johnston High School Mark Zachry PhD English 1998 Mountlake Terrace, Washington Associate Professor University of Washington
GEOLOGICAL AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES Distinguished Alumni Awards Gary D. Johnson BS Geology 1964; MS Geology 1967; PhD Geology 1971 Etna, New Hampshire Professor of Earth Sciences Dartmouth College
GREENLEE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION James W. Schwartz Award for Distinguished Service
Dave Kurns BS Journalism and Mass Communication 1982 Johnston, Iowa Director of Business Development Meredith Corporation
MATHEMATICS Outstanding Mathematics Alumnus Award
Jerold C. Mathews BS Mathematics 1955; MS Mathematics 1957; PhD Mathematics 1959 Ames, Iowa Retired Professor of Mathematics Iowa State University
POLITICAL SCIENCE Alumni Achievement Award
Patricia J. Beneke BA Political Science 1976 McLean, Virginia Senior Counsel Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, U.S. Senate
PSYCHOLOGY Distinguished Alumni Award
Kenneth Sufka BS Psychology 1986; MS Psychology 1988; PhD Psychology 1990 Oxford, Mississippi Professor of Psychology and Pharmacology and Research Professor, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences University of Mississippi
WORLD LANGUAGES & CULTURES Distinguished Alumni Award Gene Lange BS Modern Language, Government and History, 1969 Alexandria, Virginia Attorney Lange, Thomas & McMullen, LLP
CLASSICAL STUDIES PROGRAM Distinguished Alumni Award
Blythe Bowman Proulx BA Classical Studies, BA Anthropology 2000 Richmond, Virginia Assistant Professor Virginia Commonwealth University, Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
Larry McMillin PhD Meteorology 1971 Fort Collins, Colorado Retired Research Meteorologist National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
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Confidence gained First-generation university student excels at ISU with her own initiative and the help of multiple scholarships. by Laura Engelson
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n her junior year at Iowa State University, Tiffani Nguyen has confidence, multiple extracurricular activities and plans for the future. However, just a couple years ago Nguyen, a first generation university student, had plenty of fears about her college career. When she was four years old, Nguyen and her family left Vietnam for the United States. The young Nguyen adjusted to a new country, new friends and a new language. She began learning English at a Sioux City, Iowa, preschool and elementary school, and soon became more fluent in English, and less so in Vietnamese. Yet the young Nguyen always felt a little out of place. “I remember in elementary and middle school, I wanted so badly to fit in,” she said. “I think everyone wants that. I wanted blonde hair and blue eyes, but that’s just not who I am.” About 14 years after the move, Nguyen made another major step. This time it was to ISU, making her the first in her family to attend a U.S. university. Although she had learned the language and way of life in the U.S., there were still obstacles to overcome. Nguyen’s father had attended college in Vietnam, but the Vietnamese college system is different from an American university, Nguyen said. Coupled with that, her father speaks little English and her mother only speaks Vietnamese. “I initiated all research related to college such as studying and taking the ACTs, setting up college visits and taking care of all the financial aspects,” she said. Nguyen remembers being “scared and nervous” during the first year of college. But the initiative she took to search for the right university, learn the registration process and research majors proved beneficial in many ways. She began to also explore scholarship opportunities and ways to get involved on campus. Nguyen, an open option student until she recently declared sociology as her major, has received multiple scholarships including the Boyd and Mari Burnison Scholarship. This award goes to worthy students who need time to become familiar with the university’s many academic majors, and to refine their personal goals before declaring a major. “These scholarships reinforce the trials I’ve overcome to go to college and all the hard work I’ve put into getting my degree,” she said. “Knowing that these scholarship committees chose to support my educational goals helps me regain confidence in myself not only as a student, but also as an individual.”
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Scholarships helped build Tiffani Nguyen’s confidence.
Her independence has led her to participate in many extracurricular activities as well, including Best Buddies. The non-profit ISU student organization is dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-on-one friendships. Nguyen meets with her “buddy,” Ashley, twice a month and calls or texts her twice a week. She also helped coordinate a prom for the organization. Nguyen plans to study abroad next year in Argentina and Spain, possibly making this her last semester on the ISU campus. Upon graduation, tentatively in May 2012, Nguyen wants to return to Vietnam to teach English while she is tutored in Vietnamese. However there will be one last step to complete on campus: attend an ISU graduation ceremony so her parents can see her walk across the stage. “For me, it’s a ceremony to celebrate the end of four years of dead week and finals,” Nguyen said. “For them, it’s an event that exemplifies the educational opportunity in America.” Looking back to the first years on campus, Nguyen said she has experienced a lot of personal growth at ISU. “For two years I was nervous about life, because there’s so many questions about what you’re going to do with your life,” she said. “I’ve done well academically at ISU, but the most important subject I’ve learned here is to be confident in myself and my capabilities.”
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Liberal Arts & Sciences Development Staff
Using your estate to enhance Iowa State By Michael Gens
Michael Gens Senior Director of Development 515-294-0921 mgens@iastate.edu
Stephanie Greiner Director of Development 515-294-8868 greiner@iastate.edu
Lisa (Fry) Runkel Director of Development 515-294-6431 lfry@iastate.edu
Erin Steinkamp Development Program Assistant 515-294-3607 estein@iastate.edu
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eople spend years accumulating assets and possessions, but relatively little time ensuring they will be properly distributed to the people and institutions we care about when we pass away. Estate planning is perhaps the least understood aspect of philanthropy. Below is some useful information to consider as you think about your estate giving. First, estate plans are not just for older or wealthy people. Regardless of your age or value of your assets, you need an estate plan. This is especially crucial for families with young children. Parents need to decide who will raise their children in the unlikely event that both parents pass away. Estate planning also determines where such things as homes, retirement plans, life insurance benefits and other assets are directed upon your death. Most people are familiar with a will, which determines what happens to your property when you pass away. An important step toward documenting a will is to inventory your important personal records and assets, including insurance policies, retirement plans, real and personal property, and any other investments. The next step is to decide who will receive your assets. You can give each person or institution a percentage of your estate, or you can specify dollar amounts. You can also assign specific assets to each entity. The decision is yours and a qualified attorney can put your wishes into a legally binding document. Finally, if you are wishing to leave a gift in your estate to Iowa State University, please notify us. We want to thank you and honor your preferences regarding anonymity and/or how you would prefer your future gift to be used in the most meaningful way for you. We enjoy helping channel the passion of our alumni and friends into scholarships and programs that enhance the student experience at Iowa State. For more information about planning or updating a will, visit our useful website: www.isugift.org. Another helpful resource is the brochure “Your Will: Uniquely You.� Request this free guide by e-mailing giftplanning@foundation.iastate.edu or calling the ISU Foundation at (800) 621-8515. Thank you for your continuing interest and support of Iowa State!
Corbett Professor Iowa State President Gregory Geoffroy presents the medallion honoring Distinguished Professor and chemist Pat Thiel as the next John D. Corbett Professor in Chemistry in a campus ceremony March 4. The Corbett Professorship in Chemistry was established by John D. Corbett, also a Distinguished Professor and chemist at Iowa State. Thiel will use funds from the professorship to support graduate students in her research group and pursue additional research avenues.
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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 223 Carrie Chapman Catt Hall Ames, Iowa 50011