On equal terms: How excep- tional women shaped Iowa State University

All the privileges and honors: A brief history honors: of women at Iowa State of women at Iowa State

On terms equal

Iowa State opened its doors to women in higher education at its founding, the first land-grant institution to be co-educational from the beginning. But it would be 149 years between But it would be 149 years between when the first college president took when the first college president took office until a woman would hold the office until a woman would hold the highest office at the university, when highest office at the university, when Wendy Wintersteen became president in 2017. Over the years, women students, faculty, and staff would be forced to navigate a not-quite-equal system of hiring and educational opportunities and often

How exceptional women shaped Iowa State University

In this, the 100th anniversary of a woman’s right to vote, we celebrate the contributions of the women who have made Iowa State University a vibrant, innovative, academically rigorous, and welcoming place.

Compiled by Carole Gieseke

Information for this feature was gleaned from Special Collections/University Archives of the University, Iowa State’s Biographical Dictionary, VISIONS archives, and other historical documents.

experience a confounding “bump” when they hit the glass ceiling, especially in traditionally male-dominated fields. But women persisted. They pushed forward. They blazed trails. They fought for equal access and equitable rules. They stood on the shoulders of the women who came before them.

In his inaugural address, Iowa State’s first president, Adonijah Welch, expounded on the new approach to education the Iowa Agricultural College was taking – leaving behind classical education to combine “learning and labor” and focus on the “branches of natural science which underlie the industries of this beautiful state.” Welch also commented on the progressive nature of the new institution of learning, which admitted women “on equal terms with young men, to all the privileges and honors which the institution can bestow.” Indeed, President Welch’s spouse, Mary Welch, made her own indelible mark on Iowa State. She was active on campus, organizing the Department of Domestic Economy that included classes in the sciences. Her classes in domestic economy were the first in the nation offered for college credit. She also initiated the first extension work at a land-grant institution and managed to even write a cookbook. Twenty-six students graduated in Iowa State’s first graduating class (1872), and two of them were women. You can contrast that with today’s numbers: In fall 2019, 44 percent of the student body of 33,391 were women. Women have made history at Iowa State in engineering, food science, chemistry, and the arts. They organized

the Ladies Military Company in 1878 and trained as war assistants through the Curtiss-Wright Cadettes Program during World War II. They carved out their place in the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity and the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, and through programs like Women in Science and Engineering and the Women and Gender Studies major. They made their voices heard. From the beginning, thousands upon thousands of women have celebrated their success at Iowa State. In this 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote, we look back at some of the milestones of women’s influence at Iowa State and at some of the most colorful, beloved, and groundbreaking women who together have truly made history.

A timeline of women at Iowa State Iowa State

1868

Seventy men and women are received for preparatory training on Oct. 21, making Iowa State the first land-grant institution the first land-grant institution to be co-educational from the to be co-educational from the beginning. beginning.

1869 1869

The first class consists of The first class consists of 173 students: 136 men and 37 173 students: 136 men and 37 women. women.

1871

The College Herbarium, a library containing dried and pressed plants, is established. By 2006, the renamed Ada Hayden Herbarium grew to include 640,000 specimens of flowering plants, conifers, ferns, mosses and liverworts, algae and lichen, grasses, and legumes.

1872

The first courses are given in domestic economy (later called home economics and then family and consumer sciences) and are taught by Mary B. Welch, the president’s wife. Iowa State is the first land-grant college in the nation to offer training in domestic economy for college credit.

Twenty-six students graduate in the first class: 24 men and two women.

1876

The Board of Trustees funds an experimental kitchen for domestic economy. The kitchen includes a range, cooking utensils, a supply of hot and cold water, a sink, cupboard, and towel rack. A Century of Home Economics (1971) notes it as the first in any college.

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VISIONARY women

• Katharine Abraham (’76 econ)(L) served as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.

• Julia Faltinson Anderson (’41 home econ ed) (L) worked as a county home demonstration agent before serving in naval intelligence during WWII. After the war, she returned to Iowa State to work in the 4-H Club office, later becoming associate dean and professor in the College of Home Economics.

• Jane Armstrong-Byrne (’57 hotel, restaurant & instit mgmt)(A) was one of the first female vice presidents of a U.S. Fortune 500 Company. She contributed significantly to the field of dietetics/ nutrition, beginning at the American Dairy Association and later at Jewel Foods.

• Dorothy Severin Kehlenbeck Bean was a library curator, the founder of the Iowa State History Collection, and the university archivist in Special Collections. She edited the first 100-year chronology of important events at Iowa State.

• Elizabeth (Liz) Beck served as director of the ISU University Honors Program from 1977 to 2004.

• Janice Beran (PhD ’76 education)(A) taught women’s physical education at Iowa State and wrote the book From Six on Six to Full Court Press: A Century of Girls Basketball.

• Diane Birt (A), a distinguished professor of food science and human nutrition, was named to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015. She made numerous contributions to human nutrition during her 40-year career.

• Etta Budd was responsible for George Washington Carver coming to Iowa State from Simpson College, where she had been his art teacher. She also convinced him to pursue a career in scientific agriculture.

Nawal El Moutawakel-Bennis

Nawal El Moutawakel (’88 phys ed) became the fi rst Arab woman, fi rst African woman, and fi rst Muslim woman to win Olympic gold when she won the 400-meter hurdles at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Born in Casablanca in 1962, El Moutawakel was also the fi rst track and fi eld gold medalist from Iowa State and fourth-ever Cyclone to win a gold medal. She broke even more new Olympic ground when in 2016 she became the fi rst woman ever to chair the Olympics Coordination Commission.

• Stephanie Burns (PhD ’82 organic chem) was president and CEO of Dow Corning; she appeared on Forbes.com’s list of “Most Powerful Women.”

• Dianne Bystrom (A) was director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics for 22 years. She taught courses on leadership, women and politics, and political campaigns and was a frequent commentator on political and women’s issues for state, national, and international media.

• Susan Carlson was a professor of English and associate provost at Iowa State. She was a member of the Women’s Leadership Consortium and ISU ADVANCE, both programs designed to support and mentor women and minorities.

• Susan E. Carlson (PhD ’75 food & nutrition)(A) pioneered research that has made a global impact on human infant feeding practices and the neural development of the very young. • Theressa Cooper is the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences assistant dean for diversity, director of the George Washington Carver Summer Internship Program, and director of agriculture diversity programs.

• Gertrude Cox (’29 math, MS ’31 statistics) was an influential American statistician, founder of the Department of Experimental Statistics at North Carolina State University, and president of the American Statistical Association.

• Jane Cox (’63 English and speech)(A) spent more than 20 years as a theatre professor and stage director at Iowa State. She is best known as author and performer of a one-woman show, “The Yellow Rose of Suffrage,” on the life of Carrie Chapman Catt.

• Nancy Cox (’70 bacteriology)(L) was director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Influenza Division and director of CDC’s World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Control of Influenza. In 2006, she was named U.S. Federal Employee of the Year.

• Beverly Crabtree (PhD ’65 home econ ed) served 10 years as dean of Iowa State’s College of Family and Human Sciences, beginning in 1987.

• Carole Custer (’71 tech journ) (L) has led Iowa State’s marketing and branding operations since 1988.

• Laura Dailey (‘35 home ec journ) worked from 1953 until her retirement in 1980 for the ISU Alumni Association and the Development Office. She served as editor of the Iowa State Alumnus magazine and was the author of the 1975 book, Green Hills: A Pictorial History of Iowa State.

• Mary Ann Evans (A) was a path-builder for girls and women interested in nontraditional careers and a voice for international women in science and engineering.

Continued

1878

Carrie Chapman Catt helps organize the Ladies Military Company G (standing for “girls.”)

1882

Mary Welch gives a course of lectures to a class of women in Des Moines, the earliest home economics extension work in the United States.

1895

Margaret Hall, the first dormitory for women students and named for Margaret Stanton, is opened.

1899

A carillon of ten bells is installed in the Campanile (erected in 1898). Professor Edgar Stanton (class of 1872) donates the bells in memory of his first wife, Margaret MacDonald Stanton.

1907

The first May Day Festival is sponsored by the Women’s Athletic Association, in honor of senior women.

1911

The Domestic Technology Building (part of MacKay Hall), started in 1910, is completed. The new classrooms, kitchens, sewing and fitting rooms, demonstration laboratories, and offices are for the Home Economics Department and its 250 students.

1918

Ada Hayden is the first woman to receive a PhD from Iowa State in the Department of Botany.

The first White Breakfast for women students is held on Dec. 18, a holiday tradition of hot chocolate, white dresses, and candles. The menu includes cream of wheat, stuffed olives, and stollen.

1924

The first nursery school at Iowa State is founded in the Child Development Department, primarily to give home economics students practical experience with young children. The program expands in the 1950s to include older children.

A selection of curious, distinguished, trailblazing, and fascinating women who chose to spend time on the Iowa State campus

• Willa J. Ewing (’26 horticulture, MS ’35) is the earliest-recorded woman of color graduating from Iowa State.

• Judi Eyles (’93 marketing)(L), director of the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, has been in the trenches with entrepreneurship at Iowa State for 20-plus years. Her work within the Ivy College of Business and beyond has impacted thousands of students and alumni across all disciplines.

• Genevieve Fisher became dean of the Home Economics Division in 1927. She reorganized the Department of Household Administration into three departments and helped to draft the first federal plan for vocational education in Iowa.

• Barbara Forker (MS ’50 vocational ed)(L) was head of women’s physical education. When the men’s and women’s physical education departments were combined in 1974, she was the first to lead the department.

• Willie Lee Campbell Glass (MSEd ’95) was an educator and home economist whose career spanned almost four decades, from 1933 to the 1970s. She was a leader in the development of programs that prepared classroom teachers for desegregation.

• Ada Hayden (1908 botany, PhD 1918) was the first woman (and only the fourth person, male or female) to earn a PhD at Iowa State. She became assistant professor of botany, a researcher in the Agriculture Experiment Station, and curator of the college’s herbarium. She added more than 40,000 specimens to the herbarium that is now named in her honor.

• J. Elaine Hieber (L) joined ISU athletics in 1979. She served as senior associate athletics director, senior women’s administrator, and interim director of athletics.

• Helen LeBaron Hilton (L) served as dean of the College of Home Economics from 1952-1975 and conducted research related to home and family life. She served under presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy on national committees on education and youth.

• Tahira Hira (L) was professor of personal finance and consumer economics at Iowa State and was assistant to the president. She is a national expert in the field of consumer economics and financial literacy.

• Christina Hixson, in 1980, became the sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust. Her special fondness for hard-working young people who, like her, came from challenging family backgrounds, resulted in the establishment of the Hixson Opportunity Awards Program at Iowa State in 1995.

Darleane C. Christian Hoffman

Darleane Hoffman (’48 chemistry, PhD ’51 nuclear chemistry) (L) was a chemist and leader at the Los Alamos Scientifi c Laboratory, a professor of nuclear chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, and director of the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Among her many career accomplishments are her discovery of Plutonium-244 in nature, confi rming the existence of element 106 seaborgium, and conducting the fi rst aqueous chemistry on element 105. She received the President’s National Medal of Science in 1997 and the Priestley Medal (the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society) in 2000. • Elizabeth (Betsy) Hoffman came to Iowa State in 1993 as the first woman dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. After serving at other institutions, she returned to Iowa State in 2007 as the first female executive vice president and provost.

• Lorraine Hoffman (MS ’68 bacteriology, PhD ’74) (L) was the first female non-DVM faculty member in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State.

• Elizabeth Ellis Hoyt was an Iowa State professor of economics from 1925-1980. She is best known for her efforts that led to the creation of the Consumer Price Index.

• Mary Evelyn Victoria Hunter (MS ’31) was the first African American woman to receive a master's degree from Iowa State in home economics. She became a professor and department head of home economics at Virginia State.

• Agatha Huepenbecker Burnet (MS ’52 textiles & clothing) joined the faculty in textiles & clothing at Iowa State in 1956. From 1973 through 1993 she was head of the department; she also served as president of the American Home Economics Association.

• DeAnne Julius (’70 econ)(L) is known for her distinguished service in economics, business, international relations, government, policy making, and academia in her work in key positions with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the World Bank, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, British Airways, and the Bank of England.

• Karen Kedrowski has been director for the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics since Jan. 1, 2019.

• Isabelle Kelley (MS ’40 econ) was a little-known economist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But over six presidential administrations, from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s to Richard M. Nixon’s, she played a central role in shaping federal food assistance and

Sarah Passig becomes the first woman to lead the ISU Alumni Association board.

1943

The Curtiss-Wright Cadettes Program is established at Iowa State during World War II, to train college women to function during the war as assistants in the Engineering Department. Sponsored by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, the course consisted of work in methods, mechanics, drafting, and processing.

Fraternity houses are used as girls’ dormitories while service men occupy some of the girls’ dormitories.

1962

The women’s curfew is relaxed, allowing them to be away from the residence halls or sororities until midnight Sunday through Thursday, 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Freshmen, however, must still be inside by 10:30 p.m. on week nights.

1966

A no-hours policy for senior women and women over 21 goes into effect.

1973

A proposal for a women’s center is submitted to the vice president for academic affairs. The purpose for the center was to provide coordinated programs of special interest to women and to contribute to the integration of women into the economic, educational, socio/cultural, and political life of the state.

1974

The Departments of Physical Education for Men and Women are combined, and Barbara Forker is named the first department head.

1981

The Margaret Sloss Women’s Center opens in Sloss House, named for Thomas Sloss, superintendent of buildings and grounds. The center is named for his daughter, Margaret Sloss, ISU’s first woman graduate in veterinary medicine.

Continued on next page

nutrition programs. She directed the food stamp program now known as SNAP.

• Lisa Koll Uhl (’08 biology, DVM ’18)(A) is a four-time NCAA Div. I champion, current NCAA record holder in the 10,000 meters, the sixth fastest American woman to ever run 10,000 meters, and one of the university’s most decorated athletes of all time.

• Susan Lamont (L) has served the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for 37 years. She’s been equity adviser since 2010 and served as department chair in animal science.

• Belle Lowe came to Iowa State in 1918 after serving as an emergency home demonstration agent in Story County, Iowa, during World War I. She published Experimental Cookery, which was used as a textbook at many universities.

• Ruth MacDonald (A), professor and chair of food science and human nutrition, was involved through the Dean’s Global Leadership Program, accompanying students to Rome and working with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization on food waste and food value chain projects.

• Catherine MacKay was the first dean of home economics. Under her leadership, the Division of Home Economics and Extension Service grew, and “practice houses” were put in place, simulating real-life situations for students.

• Barbara Mack (’74 journ) started at the Des Moines Register & Tribune in 1969 as a news assistant, became a reporter, and eventually served as general counsel. She joined the ISU faculty and was widely known among journalism students as the toughest teacher they ever loved.

• Bev Madden (’60 home econ, MS ’70 family environ) was a College of Family and Consumer Sciences faculty member, teaching food science for 15 years prior to coordinating the college’s career services office. She later served as the director of Iowa State’s Career Services Office.

• Beth Bailey McLean came to Iowa State in 1919 as an associate professor in the Household Science Department. Her course, Household Science 355: Meal Planning, became an experimental laboratory in table service. She wrote a book, Meal Planning and Table Service in the American Home that was widely used in college courses.

• Patricia “Pat” Miller (’80 psychology)(L) served for 37 years as director of Iowa State’s Lectures Program, a centrally-organized program of approximately 150 visiting speakers each year.

M.K. Hurd

Mary Krumboltz Hurd (’47 civil engr) wrote the “green bible” of the concrete formwork industry. Following graduation from Iowa State, Hurd went to work for the American Concrete Institute in Detroit. In the early 1960s, the institute decided to publish a book on concrete formwork. Hurd’s resulting book, Framework for Concrete, was fi rst published in 1963. The book is used as a textbook at universities, colleges, and professional schools and as a reference book throughout the industry. When the book was being published, Hurd believed that it would be a disadvantage to have a female name on it. She used her initials “M.K.”

• Lenora Moragne (’54 dietetics, MS ’59 food & nutrition) (L) earned a doctorate at Cornell University, where her dissertation was “Influence of Household Differentiation on Food Habits Among Low-Income Urban Negro Families.” Her career was in higher education and in nutrition education for the USDA.

• Olive Mugenda (MS ’83 family environ, PhD ’88) was the first woman vice chancellor of Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. • Precious Mabel Nelson was director of research in food and nutrition and dean of home economics. From the 1920s through the 1950s, she pioneered the development of cooperative research among home economists of land-grant colleges and universities.

• Sarah “Sadie” Hook Passig (1898 home econ) was a political leader and the first woman to head the Iowa State Alumni Association board (1924-27). Passig was active in state affairs and organized suffrage clubs on campus.

• Sally Pederson (’73 hotel, restaurant & instit mgmt) is the former lieutenant governor for the state of Iowa.

• Neva Petersen (’30 applied art, MA ’48)(L) was a professor of applied art at Iowa State. She worked to establish the Brunnier Art Museum and the Farm House Museum.

• Lynette Pohlman (’72, MA ’76 applied art)(L) is an associate professor of art and visual culture and the director and chief curator of ISU’s University Museums, which includes one of the largest campus public art collections in the nation.

• Gayle Roberts (’81 chem engr)(L) was president, CEO, and chair of the board for the engineering firm Stanley Consultants.

• Maria Roberts graduated from Iowa State in 1890 and became a member of the mathematics faculty. She served as vice-dean and later dean of the Junior College.

• Charlotte Roderuck, a professor of food and nutrition at Iowa State, was named a distinguished professor in 1972 and became director of the World Food Institute at Iowa State.

• Dorothy Schwieder (MA ’68 history)(A) started as a part-time history instructor at Iowa State. She developed a popular course on Iowa history, the first of its kind at the university. She became a full professor and Iowa State’s leading historian.

• Fredrica Shattuck was the librarian for the browsing library in the Memorial Union. She created

Continued

1992

ISU English professor Jane Smiley wins the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her Iowa-based novel, A Thousand Acres.

The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics is established.

1995

The Christina Hixson Opportunity Scholarships are introduced, providing financial support for students in every county in Iowa.

The Plaza of Heroines is dedicated in front of Catt Hall to honor Carrie Chapman Catt and other women who have made an impact on families, communities, and society.

1996

The Legacy of Heroines scholarship is established.

1997

More than 60% of Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine graduates are women, up from 15% in 1979. The percentage would continue to grow.

1999

The women’s basketball team reaches the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

Iowa State’s Society of Women Engineers chapter wins five national awards, including first place for the best student outreach program in the nation.

2005

Melinda Cerney is the first Iowa State University student to graduate with a doctorate in human computer interaction (one of three programs in the U.S.)

2006

Elizabeth Hoffman, former ISU liberal arts and sciences dean and former president of the University of Colorado, is named ISU’s first female provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Wendy Wintersteen becomes Iowa State’s first endowed dean.

The Little Country Theatre as an Iowa State Fair exhibit and founded the Iowa State Players.

• Angela Shaw (’03 animal science, MS ’06)(A) is an associate professor and extension specialist in food microbiology and safety. She is an expert in foodborne illness, and she leads ISU-based research with the mission of helping fruit and vegetable growers improve the safety of their operations.

• Margaret MacDonald Stanton was hired by Iowa State as the first dean of women and an instructor in English and French in 1871. She married Edgar Stanton in 1877, and the couple lived on campus. Margaret died after a brief illness in 1895, and Edgar created the memorial carillon on central campus in her honor.

• Rowena Edson Stevens (BS 1873) became socially and politically active, founding and supporting charitable organizations as well as playing a prominent role in the women’s suffrage movement. She organized the first women’s suffrage parade in the U.S. for the Annual Convention of the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association in Boone, Iowa; she was honored by the League of Women Voters in 1931.

• Edith Sunderlin (’24 home econ)(L) joined the child development staff in 1934 as a teacher in the laboratory nursery school. An impromptu reading of a children’s book on the radio led to Edith’s role as the Storybook Lady on WOI Radio.

• Tin-shi Tam is the Cownie Professor of Music and Iowa State University carillonneur. For more than 25 years, she has played daily concerts on central campus.

• Patricia Thiel is a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry and scientist at Ames Laboratory. Her research is in surface chemistry on an atomic scale. Thiel was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.

• Ann Thompson received the international Upton Sinclair Award in 2011. She is a university professor who specializes in instructional technology in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

• Winifred Tilden was “directress” of physical

Lois Hattery Tiffany

Lois Tiffany (’45 botany, MS ’47, PhD ’50) was an accomplished botanist, mycologist, fi eld ecologist, and distinguished professor of botany. Tiffany was well known for her expertise in fungi. She was “The Mushroom Lady” to the public and “Dr. T” to students, colleagues, and friends. She taught in the ISU Botany Department for more than a half century and spent many summers teaching at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. Two species of Iowa fungi were named in her honor: Temperantia tiffanyae in 2001 and Mattirolomyces tiffanyae in 2003.

culture for women at Iowa State from 1904 to 1944. She was a strong leader of physical education for women on campus and was nationally recognized for her efforts.

• Betty Toman (MS ’57 vocational ed)(L) was an instructor of dance who was named a distinguished professor in 1984. She created a dance option major in the Department of Physical Education, established the modern dance concert Barjche, and directed the ISU Dance Tour Company.

• Deborah Turner (’73 distributed studies)(L) served as director of gynecologic oncology and vice president of international outreach programs for Iowa’s Mercy Cancer Center.

• Martha Ellen Tye, a Marshalltown woman who died in 1998, was committed to the arts and arts education. Her $1.1 million in gifts established a performing arts scholarship and the Martha-Ellen Tye Performing Arts Institute, and renovated the recital hall, which was named in her honor.

• Betty Lou Varnum was a TV personality at WOI-TV in central Iowa, hosting a program for children, “The Magic Window.” • Nellie Verne Walker is an Iowa-born sculptor whose bas relief panels can be seen in the upper corners of the east facade of the original library building.

• Elmina Wilson (1892 civil engr, MS 1894) was the first woman to receive a civil engineering degree at Iowa State. She taught civil engineering at Iowa State from 1892 to 1904, when she moved to New York City to work as a structural engineer. She was also active in the women’s suffrage movement.

• Wendy Wintersteen (PhD ’88 entomology)(L) became the 16th president of Iowa State University on Nov. 20, 2017. The first woman to hold the university’s highest office, she has served Iowa State for more than 40 years. She was one of the first female ISU Extension associates in integrated pest management and became a professor of entomology. She held administrative roles in Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, serving 11 years as the first endowed dean of the college and as director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station.

• Meron Wondwosen (’98 pol sci / French) was editor of Uhuru magazine, president of the Black Student Alliance, and a leader of the Sept. 29 Movement. She holds a law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

• Catherine Woteki was the ISU College of Agriculture’s ninth dean and the first woman to hold the position. She served concurrently as director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station from 2002-2005. She then served six years as undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, before returning to the faculty of ISU’s Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

• Elizabeth Dargamo Yetley (’63 human nutrition; MS ’70, PhD ’74)(L) joined the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health in 2004 as a senior nutrition research scientist. She was previously employed by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of the Food and Drug Administration, where she was the lead scientist for nutrition.

2007

Women Impacting ISU calendar is created by the Catt Associates student leadership organization as a tribute to current students, faculty, and staff who distinguish themselves through their accomplishments at Iowa State.

Ready to Run ® Iowa is established as a nonpartisan campaign training program to encourage women to run for elected office. The program is offered through the Catt Center for Women and Politics.

2010

Lisa Koll shatters the collegiate record in the 10,000-meter run, becoming the sixth-fastest American ever in the event.

2014

Five of Iowa State’s seven academic colleges are led by female deans (Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, and Liberal Arts and Sciences).

2017

Wendy Wintersteen (PhD entomology), former dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Science, is named the 16th (and first female) president of Iowa State University.

2019

ISU Theatre’s 2019-20 season features six shows written by women, schedules two female Tony Award winners to appear on campus, and plans a yearlong symposium series on gender in the arts.

The Margaret Sloss Women’s Center changes its name to the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity to better represent its mission and vision.

2020

The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics celebrates 100 years of women’s suffrage with “Hard Won. Not Done,” a statewide kickoff of the 19th Amendment centennial commemoration on Friday, Feb. 14, with performances and lectures.

Going after the cow

How Margaret Sloss became the fi rst graduate of Iowa State’s veterinary program veterinary program By Jane Cox

Margaret Wrang Sloss was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Oct. 3, 1901, the sixth of what would become eight children – five girls and three boys. Her older brother called her “Jum” for Jumbo since she was, in Margaret’s own words, “a sturdy child.” All the family moved to Ames when Margaret was nine and her father, Thomas, was appointed superintendent of buildings, grounds, and construction at Iowa State College. One of the reasons he accepted the position was because he had eight children to educate. Six, including Margaret, graduated from Iowa State, so the decision was correct. Margaret was considered the “tomboy” in the family and would lead her two younger sisters through all sorts of adventures. They would romp through the museum in Morrill Hall, crawl through the underground tunnel from Curtiss to Morrill, and slide down a mail chute at the back of Curtiss Hall. She even opened the stairway door leading up to the dome in Beardshear – and up she climbed. In 1909, $150,000 was appropriated for a new Veterinary Clinic. This was the first building to fall under the purview of Tom Sloss. It was badly needed, for operations on the animals often had to be performed out of doors. At that time Dr. Charles Henry Stange, dean of the Veterinary Division, was 28 years old. The new building was directly opposite the street from where the Sloss family then lived, and Margaret would peek through the glass door and watch the doctors strap the animals on the operating table and begin their work. Although others might come and go, she would watch until the very end. Following the example of her older brothers and sisters, Margaret entered Iowa State College in 1919 and graduated four years later. Immediately after her graduation. E.A. Benbrook, who was the head of veterinary pathology, hired her as a technician in the pathology laboratory. She was the first female staff member and was paid 35 cents an hour. Permission to take her annual two-week vacation had to be granted by the president of the college. After a time, Margaret requested seven hours of time off each week (that she would make up) to take Physics 208, which was required to enter the medical school at Iowa City. A letter of support from the dean of veterinary medicine was sent to the president, who denied it on the grounds that “a new precedent then would be formed.” After four months of negotiating, the president relented, and Margaret was allowed to take the course. However, after the end of her first year of medical school, there was a required physical exam, which she passed, but failed the eye exam and was not allowed to continue. Margaret, when speaking of this later would say, “You can’t sit down in the meadow and wait for the cow to back up and be milked. You have to go after the cow!” She had to be self-supporting and missed her colleagues in pathology. She returned to Ames, and life fell into the same pattern that it had before, except that now she had the title of assistant in veterinary pathology (but still was paid 35 cents an hour). Margaret decided to work for a master’s degree; it took five years to accomplish because she was working at the same time. But in 1932, when she was 31, she achieved that goal and immediately applied for admission to the College of Veterinary Medicine with Dean Stange’s full approval and support. However, the

college was the last “men only” curriculum, and the president of Iowa State denied her request. Margaret wasn’t the kind of woman to quit. She and Dean Stange worked on an argument they felt had merit. Iowa State College was a land-grant institution, open to all, regardless of wealth, race, or gender. The president of Iowa State could think of no reasonable or legal argument to keep her out. Margaret was admitted. She knew it would be a slow process since she was also employed as a full-time staff member and was a supervisor in the clinical laboratory for junior and senior veterinary students, but as she said, “Victories that are easy are cheap – those only are worth having which come as the result of hard fighting.” Margaret admitted there were instructors who were biased, but she said, “Perhaps I wasn’t a very good judge of how prejudiced people were as far as women in the profession. I went on the assumption that I was medically and by while Margaret was at work. A year after her father’s death, in August of 1938 when she was 37, she achieved her academic goal. Some 930 men had graduated from the veterinary school at Iowa State. She became the first woman. When she was asked about her accomplishment, she said, “It’s really nothing at all.” She reasoned, “Two ears and one mouth suggest that you should listen twice as much as you talk.” She took the veterinary examinations for her license to practice and received a letter with the results: Her grade was 93.4%; the grade to qualify to practice in Iowa was 70%. As far as the department was concerned, the only difference in Margaret’s work after acquiring the degree and the veterinary certificate was the addition of even more responsibility and detail than before. Margaret knew it would have been different if Dean Stange had lived. She did a great deal of the photo-microphotography work, prepared for sopho

Women’s expanding presence in veterinary medicine

Margaret Sloss was the first female graduate in Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine. The second was Mary Lois Calhoun (’39). But neither Sloss nor Calhoun was considered an “official” member of their classes, even though they took all the required classes and earned their degrees. The first official female DVM recipients graduated in 1967. Today, women outnumber men in the veterinary program.

By the numbers

Approximate percentage of female graduates in the Iowa State College of Veterinary Medicine

Class of 1967 3%

Class of 1979 15%

Class of 1997 60%

Class of 2022 86%

scientifically minded and I had a right to be there. And besides, the 99 percent of male veterinarians make the unpleasant one percent insignificant (which they usually are anyway).” In 1936, Dean Stange died unexpectedly. He had been a great comfort and help to Margaret; she knew that after his death her prospects would completely change, and they did. Then her father died the following year. After that, Margaret was the decision-maker for the family; she felt her father’s sense of responsibility. Since the family could then no longer live on campus, Margaret bought a small house on Lincoln Way so that her mother, who was in Margaret’s care, could watch the people and cars go more and junior classes in parasitology and special pathology, and took care of the men’s classes when they were absent. She also had one assignment that she enjoyed very much: She was in charge of the clinical laboratory each forenoon for three hours during the students’ clinic hours. Margaret felt highly repaid for all efforts extended as she noted the constantly increasing interest of the students in this portion of the work. During the summer, she practiced veterinary medicine in the clinic; she never worked harder and never enjoyed work so much. As the result of her three degrees and over a span of 16 years from 1923 to 1939, Margaret increased her earning power 100 percent, from 35 cents an hour to 70 cents an hour. In 1941 she was promoted to instructor and two years later to assistant professor. In 1944, something very unexpected happened. An envelope arrived from the White House. Inside, embossed on thick, thick paper, was an invitation: “Mrs. Roosevelt requests the pleasure of the company of Dr. Sloss at luncheon on Friday, Oct. 6, 1944 at one o’clock.” Margaret could hardly believe her eyes, and couldn’t hide her excitement. A few days later, a certain individual called her into his office and told her that she had a choice to make. She could go to the White House or she could keep her job. If she went, he said, he would see to it that she was fired for dereliction of duty. Margaret was too afraid to go since she was only an assistant professor and was supporting her mother. She sent her regrets and was at work, as usual, on Friday, Oct. 6, 1944. She remained an assistant professor for 15 years. In 1947, she helped found the Women’s Veterinary Medical Association and served two terms as its president. She was the only member of the Iowa Chapter and told those around her that if she was seen talking to herself, they should not worry. She was holding a meeting. Margaret often said that her life changed when Dr. Frank Ramsey was appointed the head of the Pathology Department and he began to fight to bring her the recognition he felt she was due. That very year she was made an associate professor, and in 1965, when she was 64, she became a full professor. Dr. Ramsey often called her “The Queen of Veterinary Medicine.” Margaret worked until she was 70, which was then the mandatory retirement age at Iowa State. She retired in 1972 and lived in Ames for the rest of her life.

Jane Cox (’63 English and speech) is professor emerita of Iowa State theatre. She is best known as author and performer of a one-woman show, “The Yellow Rose of Suffrage,” on the life of Carrie Chapman Catt.

To read an excerpt from the commencement address Margaret Sloss gave to Iowa State graduates in 1972, go to www.isualum.org/visions.

A winning plan

Carrie Chapman Catt’s crusade to get women the vote

One of Iowa State’s most esteemed women graduates was Carrie Lane Chapman Catt. Catt entered what was then the Iowa Agricultural College in 1877 and completed a bachelor’s degree in general science in 1880, the only woman in her graduating class. During her years at Iowa State, Catt established military drills for women and became the first female student to give an oration before a debating society. She helped organize the Ladies Military Company G (standing for Girls); the group was later divided into two companies, G and L (for Ladies). Catt served as a library assistant and was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity. Following graduation, Catt returned to her childhood home near Charles City, Iowa, to work as a law clerk, and, in nearby Mason City as a school teacher and principal. In 1883, she became one of the first women to hold the position as school superintendent. In 1887, Catt began her crusade for women’s right to vote. She joined the Iowa Women Suffrage Association, organizing suffrage events throughout the state. She also became active in the newly

formed National formed National American Woman American Woman Suffrage Association; Suffrage Association; she was a delegate to she was a delegate to its national convenits national convention, became head of tion, became head of field organizing, and field organizing, and was elected to succeed Susan B. Anthony as president in 1900. Catt was a leader in the formation of the International Women Suffrage Alliance, serving as its president from 1904 to 1923 and as an honorary chair until her death. In 1916, Catt proposed her “Winning Plan” to campaign simultaneously for suffrage at both the state and federal levels. Under Catt’s leadership, several key states approved women’s suffrage, and on Aug. 26, 1920, Congress and state legislatures produced a ratified 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Catt also founded the national League

of Women Voters, promoted international peace, and worked for child labor protection laws. In 1921, Catt was the first woman to deliver a commencement address at Iowa State. And in 2013 Catt was one of the first four women to be honored in downtown Des Moines’ Women of Achievement Bridge.

Buildings on campus named for women

 CATT HALL is named for

Carrie Chapman Catt (BS 1880), a leader in the women’s suffrage movement and founder of the League of Women Voters. • BARBARA E. FORKER BUILDING is named in honor of Professor Barbara E. Forker, distinguished professor emeritus of physical education.

• LEBARON HALL: This west addition to MacKay Hall honors Helen LeBaron Hilton, dean of home economics from 1952- 1975.

Carrie Chapman Catt and race

By Karen M. Kedrowski

Iowa State alumna Carrie Chapman Catt led the largest women’s suffrage organization, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), from 1900-1904 and 1915-1920. Her leadership resulted in the ratification of the 19th Amendment and the enfranchisement of 20 million women. While Catt’s historic achievements crowned a 70-year struggle for women’s suffrage, some have asserted that some of her words and actions were racist. Were they? The answer is not a simple yes or no. The suffrage debate was always intertwined with the politics of race. The first suffragists were also abolitionists. In 1870, the movement split over the 15th Amendment, which enfranchised African American men but not women. When Catt became active in NAWSA in the 1890s, belief in the superiority of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants was commonplace, and white supremacy was ensconced in the South. Reflecting the biases of the time, Catt made public speeches that referred to the “ignorant foreign vote,” pointed to Native American men’s lack of knowledge of representative government, or noted that the votes of illiterate men in the South were “purchasable.” Yet, in the same speeches, Catt blamed, variously, political corruption, a lack of education, or the tragic vestiges of slavery for these groups’ shortcomings as voters. Her solutions were education and reform, not disenfranchisement. Moreover, after a decade of international travel and suffrage work, Catt repudiated her earlier nativist speeches, calling her past self, “a regular jingoist.” When Catt became NAWSA President in 1915, the suffrage movement was an uncomfortable coalition between those who favored a Constitutional amendment and others, especially in the South, who supported suffrage by state action only, which would allow states to limit suffrage to white women. In 1916, Catt introduced her “Winning Plan,” which involved advocating for suffrage through both a federal amendment and state action. During this final campaign, NAWSA did not invest funds in the South, where the region was steadfastly opposed to suffrage because of the widespread belief that it would undermine white supremacy. In 1917, Catt refuted the white supremacy argument in Woman Suffrage by Federal Constitutional Amendment. Here she wrote, “White supremacy will be strengthened, not weakened, by woman suffrage.” Context, of course, is key. Using 1910 census data, Catt argued this is the case because white women voters will outnumber African American women voters in almost all Southern states. This argument was first articulated by abolitionist and suffragist Henry B. Blackwell in 1867, when Catt was eight years old, and it was used by suffragists for decades. They may have sought to refute the white supremacy argument without endorsing the practice, a rhetorical strategy known as refutation. On the other hand, the suffragists may simply have sought to confuse the issue rather than conceding the point. No matter the motivation, the underlying assumption is that African American women will be enfranchised by the 19th Amendment. In any case, Catt concluded by calling the argument “ridiculous” and stated, “Government by ‘the people’ is expedient or it is not. If it is expedient then obviously all the people must be included.” Also in 1917, Catt made a full-throated call for voting rights for African Americans. Writing in The Crisis, the official journal of the NAACP, Catt said, “… there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color, or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchaseable voice in the government.” Catt also denounced racism she observed In the Tennessee ratification debate as a “cave man prejudice” in a letter to fellow suffragist, Mary Garrett Hay. Upon Catt’s death in 1947, Mary Church Terrell, a prominent African American suffragist, wrote, “The whole world has lost a great, good, and gifted woman who for many years pleaded with it to deal justly with all human beings without regard to sex, race, or religion.” So, was Carrie Chapman Catt a racist? Certainly if we look at some of her statements with 21st century eyes and values, we would have to conclude that yes, she was. Yet, importantly, Catt did not live in the 21st century and had no way to anticipate today’s mores. However, by her own admission, Catt matured and her opinions evolved. I give Catt a lot of credit for this, and I think it speaks well of her character that she repudiated some of her own statements. Moreover, her maturation and evolution speaks well for humanity, indicating that we as people can grow, learn, and become better people during our lifetimes. From my perspective, Carrie Chapman Catt changed the world through her successful advocacy of voting rights and her devotion to improving the human condition throughout her adult life.

FOR FURTHER READING:

Carrie Chapman Catt, editor. Woman Suffrage by Federal Constitutional Amendment. 1917. Available online from the Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/ rbnawsa.n4988/ Robert Booth Fowler. Carrie Catt: Feminist Politician. Northeastern. 1986. Mary Gray Peck. Carrie Chapman Catt: A Biography. Literary Licensing. 2011 (re-release) Jacqueline Van Voris. Carrie Chapman Catt: A Public Life. The Feminist Press. 1987. Elaine Weiss. The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote. Penguin. 2018. Many of Carrie Chapman Catt’s speeches and several key publications are available online in the Catt Center’s Archives of Women’s Political Communication: https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/.

Karen Kedrowski is the director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics.

 HIXSON-LIED STUDENT

SUCCESS CENTER and HIXSONLIED SMALL ANIMAL HOSPITAL are both named for philanthropist Christina Hixson and the Lied Foundation Trust.

 MACKAY HALL is named in

honor of Catharine MacKay, Iowa State’s first dean of home economics, who served from 1912-1921.

Former fi rsts

The public and private lives of Iowa State’s ‘fi rst ladies’

Not much is known about some of the wives of Iowa State’s first 15 (all male) presidents. But many of these women stand out in the historic record. Iowa State’s very first “first lady” was Mary Beaumont Dudley Welch, and she was a star in her own right. Mary Welch was born July 3, 1841, in Lyons, N.Y. She married George E. Dudley and bore two children – Winifred and George Evans, Jr. – before her husband died of typhoid fever in 1860. She married Adonijah Welch, the first president of Iowa State College, on Feb. 3, 1868, and the couple had two children, Lily and Witter Welch. According to University Archives, Mary was the organizer and head of the Department of Domestic Economy at Iowa State from 1875 to 1883. She set forth a course centered around the properties of chemistry, botany, physiology, geology, and physics, teaching from her life experiences and self-study, as well as from her study of cosmetic science at various East Coast institutions. Her domestic science teachings were not reserved for only the women that attended Iowa State. In 1881, Mary taught a class to women in Des Moines, giving her the distinction of initiating the first extension work in home economics at a land-grant institution. Besides teaching, Mary also wrote a cookbook titled Mrs. Welch’s Cookbook. In 1883, Mary resigned from her position at Iowa State, but she continued to give lectures to various clubs, colleges, and the YWCA. In 1992, Mary B. Welch was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.

Iowa State’s much-beloved fifth president, William Beardshear, was married to Josephine Beardshear. The popular president died of a heart attack in 1902, but Josephine and their children remained at the Knoll for more than a year after her husband’s death. Their stay at the president’s house on campus was the first time Iowa State’s sixth president, Albert Storms, a former Methodist minister, his wife, Lovie, and their three daughters had lived in anything besides a parsonage. Lovie was an avid reader, and she named the house the “Knole” after one of England’s finest castles. But upon their arrival, the seventh president, Raymond Pearson, and his wife, Fanny Alice, changed the spelling of their new home to “Knoll.” James H. Hilton (1953-65) met his wife, Lois Baker, at Iowa State in the 1920s. They married, had three children, and moved into the Knoll. As Iowa State’s tenth first lady, Lois (1922 home economics) gained a reputation for being a great cook and hostess. She was known for her southern cooking: ham, sweet potatoes, and coconut cake. Because she wanted more people to see the Knoll, Lois gave frequent teas and asked friends to bring guests who had not yet seen the house. (As a side note, Lois died in 1969, and Hilton married Helen LeBaron, retired dean of the College of Home Economics.) In 1940, W. Robert Parks (1965-86) married Ellen Sorge, the first woman to graduate with a PhD (1940) in political science from the University of Wisconsin. They had two daughters, Andrea (Van Howeling) and Cynthia (Hamilton). Throughout her lifetime, Ellen continued her scholarly interests in political science and British history. An avid user of the Iowa State University Library, she once described the library as “the essence of the university,” and the university library was named in honor of Ellen and her husband. Ellen was also famous for her “Knoll hot chocolate,”

• PALMER BUILDING: Named for Barbara Raeder Palmer (’46 family & cons sci) and her husband, whose gift to Iowa State initiated the project.

RESIDENCE HALLS NAMED FOR WOMEN • BARTON HALL: Named for Clara Barton, founder and first president of the American Red Cross. • FREEMAN HALL: Named to honor Alice Freeman, a University of Michigan alumna and one-time president of Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

• LYON HALL: Named to honor Mary B. Lyon, founder of Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts, the first school of higher education for women. • ROBERTS HALL: Named in honor of Maria Roberts (BS 1890), who served in many capacities as a member of the ISU staff for 52 years, including professor of mathematics and dean of the Junior College.

• WELCH HALL: Named for Mary B. Welch, Iowa State’s first “first lady,” who founded the home economics program at Iowa State.

ALSO: • ADA HAYDEN HERBARIUM: This collection of plant specimens in Bessey Hall is named for the botany professor and first woman to earn the Ph.D. degree from Iowa State. Hayden House in Maple Hall also is named in her honor.

• MARTHA-ELLEN TYE RECITAL HALL: The recital hall, located in ISU’s Simon Estes Music Hall, was named for Marshalltown philanthropist Martha-Ellen Tye shortly after her death in 1998. She left the university a $1.1 million gift to create a

a rich combination of chocolate cream and steamed vanilla milk. Cindy Parks Hamilton told VISIONS in 2002, “My mother was a very warm person, and the house reflected her personality.” When Martin and Patricia Fowler Jischke arrived in 1991, their children, Charles and Marian, were still young. The Jischkes made the Knoll their home from 1991-2000, and Patty’s work had a huge impact on the university. She was highly visible on campus as a volunteer and in the community, working with youth development, the campus landscape and gardens, the library, and other projects. But, first and foremost, she said, she provided support to her husband. “One of the things I learned right away about university presidents is that you don’t get those jobs unless you have strong support at home,” Patty told VISIONS in 2000. “When you are putting everything you have into the job, you need to have the extra energy of another person intensely involved and interested in what you’re doing. I have always been interested in what Martin’s doing.” Patty, who held a law degree, was co-organizer of the President’s Leadership Class, president of Reiman Gardens Co-Horts, a member of the Gardens’ advisory committee, and chair of the ISU Library Development Council. Iowa State’s next president, Gregory Geoffroy (2001-2012), spent the first year on campus differently than his predecessors: without the graceful presence of his wife. Kathleen Carothers Geoffroy remained in Maryland with their youngest son, who was a senior in high school (the Geoffroys have three older children). Her official move to Ames was in June 2002. Steven and Janet Leath had been married 30 years when they came to campus in 2012. Janet had been the owner of a successful State Farm insurance agency in Garner, N.C., before they moved to Iowa, and she had a degree in plant science. Her avocations, which continued at Iowa State, were landscape architecture and gardening. The Leaths have two sons, Eric and Scott. When Wendy Wintersteen was named Iowa State’s 16th president in 2017, it was the first time there would be no official “first lady” on campus. There was some speculation about what her husband, Robert Waggoner, would be called. In the end? “The president’s spouse.”

Thanks to Karol Crosbie for her storytelling in the fall 2002 VISIONS feature “Presidents and their families at the Knoll” and to University Archives/Special Collections for its historic information and photos.

performing arts scholarship endowment, establish a performing arts institute, and renovate the recital hall.

• MERCHANT HOUSE in Elm Hall is named for Iza A. Merchant (MS ’28 English), who taught English, served as Iowa State’s first director of social life, and helped organize various university and community groups during her 35-year tenure.

• TILDEN HOUSE in Eaton Hall is named for Winifred R. Tilden, the first professionally trained director of Iowa State’s physical education program for women. • MARGARET SLOSS CENTER FOR WOMEN AND GENDER EQUITY is named for the first woman veterinary medicine graduate of Iowa State and long-time member of the veterinary medicine faculty. BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING

Three Iowa State alumnae are the fi rst to hold top leadership spots for the state of Iowa

Wendy Wintersteen (PhD ’88 entomology), fi rst woman to serve as Iowa State University president (2017)

Joni Ernst (’92 psychology), fi rst woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Iowa (2014); fi rst female combat veteran from any state to serve in the Senate

Kim Reynolds (’16 liberal studies), fi rst woman elected as governor of the state of Iowa (2018)

12 ways Iowa State women have changed the world

2

The butter cow

The Iowa State Fair would be incomplete were it not for the requisite butter cow, created for 46 years by Norma “Duffy” Lyon (’51 animal science).

Women’s suffrage movement/ League of Women Voters

Carrie Chapman Catt (BS 1880) was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, campaigning for the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. She also founded the League of Women Voters.

Plutonium discovery

Darleane Hoffman (PhD ’51 chemistry) was one of the researchers who produced the element 106 seaborgium at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

3

6

4Groundbreaking chimp research

Former ISU anthropology professor Jill Pruetz made Rice Krispies Treats headlines for her groundWhat would life be without breaking research on savanna crispy squares of rice cereal, chimpanzee behavior. Pruetz chewy marshmallows, and was the fi rst researcher to creamy butter? Thanks to document the chimps’ creation Mildred Day (’28 home ecoand use of tools to hunt other nomics), who helped create vertebrates. the prototype for Rice Krispies Treats while employed at Kellogg, Quantity cooking

we’ll never have to know. 5 The Quantity Recipe File, fi rst published in 1937 by ISU institution management pro

7fessor Lenore Sullivan (MS ’29 institution management), was a revolutionary idea to food Teaching Amelia Earhart to fl y The fi rst woman aviator in Iowa, Neta Snook served as service operations, helping deliver a consistent food product and reducing costs.

Amelia Earhart’s fi rst fl ight 8 instructor. Snook attended Iowa State in the early 1920s.

9Protecting journalists

Once a foreign corre- spondent for National Public Radio, Ann Cooper (’71 home economics journalism) later served as the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization whose mission is defending and protecting journalists 10 and press freedoms worldwide.

Microwave ovens

Helen Van Zante (MS ’42, PhD ’46), an ISU home economics professor in the ’50s, didn’t invent the microwave oven, but her research was instrumental in paving the way for the new kitchen technology. She helped test the product for Tappan, and after leaving Iowa State she taught the country’s fi rst microwave class and wrote the fi rst scientifi c microwave text. Nutritional research Bernice Kunerth Watt (’32 chemistry / food and nutrition) devoted her career to 12 nutritional research. Over a long career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she compiled data on nutrients in 3,000 foods, and she led the USDA Nutrient Data Research Center. Weight gain during pregnancy The research of Janet King (’63 dietetics) demonstrated that calcium and zinc metabolism adapt during pregnancy, leading to a change in nationally accepted weight gain standards for pregnant women. 11 Airline food Ella “Pat” McMullen O’Donnell (’33 home economics) was hired by United Airlines, the fi rst airline in the country to launch full-fl edged food service, to design and implement in-fl ight meals.

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