LINK - Spring 2010, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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 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

We want to hear from you!

—Steve Jones, editor

Stay connected! www.las.iastate.edu/social

CONTENTS

Associate Dean Dawn Bratsch-Prince Associate Dean Arne Hallam

Head of the Nittany pride

Associate Dean David Oliver

LAS graduate Graham Spanier does it all as Penn State’s president.

Associate Dean Zora Zimmerman LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES DEVELOPMENT TEAM Senior Director of Development Michael Gens Directors of Development Stephanie Greiner Lisa Fry Progam Assistant Erin Steinkamp LINK STAFF Director of College Relations Mark Imerman

Learning the culture of business Language program also teaches how to conduct global business.

Creating opportunities and more Iowa Staters are enriching the learning experience for all students.

Editor Steve Jones Writers Laura Engelson Steve Jones David Gieseke Graphic Designer Sheena Lara Photographers David Gieseke Steve Jones Ann Hawkins Bob Elbert

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, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3680 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.

At the top of their music After nearly three decades, the Ames Piano Quartet is among the very best.

Reeling in the bad guys President Obama tabbed alumnus Luis CdeBaca to combat human trafficking.

Sliding glaciers at Iowa State Neal Iverson’s one-of-a-kind machine puts pressure on ice.

Letter from the Dean...Past several months ’have been interesting’ Dear Friends, As you read this letter, spring should be in full bloom with green grass and warming temperatures. Winter in Ames, and throughout the Midwest, was another matter. I heard that Iowa set records for the most snow in January and February and the most days below freezing. I have actually encountered a couple of individuals who seemed terribly proud to be witness to these accomplishments. I, meanwhile, kept looking out my window onto the central quad expecting to see a herd of musk oxen traipsing through the snow. No such sightings, fortunately.

The past several months have been interesting in other respects, as well. On the one hand, the university continues to respond to the challenges of adjusting to a difficult state budget. In other words, we’re trying to figure out how to do more with less. A colleague recently pointed out, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that he was having problems trying to do the same with less. Of course we are not alone. Universities across the country are adjusting to a sagging economy and (as an independent phenomenon) decreasing taxpayer support to public universities. For much of the past decade, Iowa State has wrestled with these financial issues, the results of which you will hear about for some time to come.

I will not dwell on this now.

On the other hand, and this is really positive and exciting, we continue to attract topnotch undergraduate students to ISU …we continue to attract because they know they are going to have a first-class collegiate experience. top-notch undergraduate In addition to a wide assortment of academic majors, we offer an incredible students to ISU because array of extracurricular activities. away in absolute awe of the creative Coupled with internships, service genius and intellectual proclivities they know they are learning opportunities, research with our faculty possess. Some examples engaging professors, and more study of these accomplishments are found going to have a first-class abroad options than one can imagine, between the covers of this magazine. you can understand why this university Let me close by thanking you for collegiate experience. continues to draw families searching for your support of the College of Liberal the complete collegiate experience.

Arts and Sciences. In early February I can’t say enough positive we wrapped up the 50th anniversary things about our faculty and staff. While the economic celebration of this college. We look forward to sharing with situation is unsettling, I’ve seen no evidence that it has you the accomplishments of the next 50 years. impacted productivity or institutional loyalty. I couldn’t Regards, be surrounded by a better group of dedicated or more knowledgeable individuals. Recently we finished reviewing faculty applications for promotion (and tenure for many).

Whether it is reading about condensed matter physics, genetic control of aging in turtles and snakes, models showing protein interaction, 19th-century London history, Michael B. Whiteford, Dean or fascinating Latin American science fiction, I always come

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Tackling tuberculosis Researchers at Iowa State have identified an enzyme that helps make tuberculosis resistant to a human’s natural defense system. They’ve also found a method to possibly neutralize the enzyme, which may someday lead to a cure for tuberculosis. Reuben Peters, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, is leading the team of scientists attempting to minimize the disease that kills 1.5 to 2 million people worldwide annually.

Wilson researching stockpile security Alyson Wilson, associate professor of statistics, is working with scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop improved estimates of the reliability and safety of the U.S. nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. Wilson combines information from computer models, historical testing, expert engineering judgment and material studies to assess aging nuclear weapons Electron microscope photo of a systems. Her work can also be used to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (yellow oval). assess the reliability of conventional weapons systems.

This isn’t Wilson’s first research job in defense and security. She worked as More than 60 years after dropping an Army contractor for a small El Paso, out of Iowa State to raise a family and Texas, company, performing operational work in real estate, Shirley Smith earned evaluation of air defense artillery at Ft. a degree in Liberal Studies along with Bliss and White Sands Missile Range. a well-deserved sense of pride and She is a founding member and past chair accomplishment. “From the time I left of the American Statistical Association’s school, I always wanted to come back,” Section on Statistics in Defense and Smith said. “I wanted the degree.”

Security, she co-edited a volume on After about a year and a half of Statistical Methods in Counterterrorism classes, Smith graduated in December (published by Springer), and she 2009. She bought her cap and gown the is currently serving as a member of first day they were available and attended the National Academy of Sciences’ all of the commencement activities. Her Committee on Testing of Body Armor plans after graduation? Sit and look at Materials for Use by the U.S. Army. her diploma, she said.

Alum, 60 years later

Shirley Smith

Beautiful data coming to ISU LAS physicists who took fall and winter trips to the Large Hadron Collider in 2009 are starting to see real data from the planet’s biggest science experiment. The multibillion-dollar collider made international news in September 2008 when it sent its first beam of protons around 17 miles of underground tunnel near Geneva, Switzerland. After a long shutdown due to breakdowns, the collider once again sent protons racing through its tunnel on Nov. 20, 2009. Three days later the machine recorded its first proton-proton collisions. It set a new world record on Nov. 30 when it accelerated two beams of protons to a total energy of 2.36 trillion electron volts.

“The data look just beautiful,” said Soeren Prell, associate professor of physics and astronomy. Prell is looking at the first data recorded with the ATLAS experiment’s silicon pixel detector, the innermost part of ATLAS, one of two giant, general purpose detectors at the collider.

Large Hadron Collider in Europe.

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Happy 125th birthday, Ada Hayden Last fall, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology celebrated the 125th anniversary of the birth of an early alumna whose vast contributions continue to impact students. Ada Hayden earned a bachelor’s degree in 1908 from Iowa State University and 10 years later became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. at ISU. Hayden was on the botany faculty from 1911 to 1950 and was curator of the ISU herbarium from 1934 to 1950. During her time at Iowa State, Hayden published nearly 30 papers on Iowa’s plants and ecology. She added more than 12,000 plant specimens that reside in the ISU herbarium, which now bears her name.

Regulating growth Researchers at Iowa State have discovered a previously unknown pathway in plant cells that regulates plant growth. The HERK1 pathway (named for Hercules—the Greek and Roman god who possessed superhuman strength) is controlling much of that growth. Yanhai Yin, assistant professor of genetics, development and cell biology, and his team found that by over-expressing HERK1, they were able to increase a plant’s size by 10 to 15 percent. They are now trying to find what regulates HERK1 and how it controls growth. The research could be a critical component when producing grain and biomass for biofuels.

Yanhai Yin

English professor starts new journal

Matthew Sivils

Matthew Sivils, assistant professor of English, noticed a lack of scholarly, peer-reviewed journals devoted to his teaching and writing specialty: the study of literature from the Early Republic period of the United States.

He and a colleague, Jeffrey Walker from Oklahoma State University, developed the idea and are now co-editors for Literature in the Early American Republic (LEAR). The publication includes peer-reviewed scholarly articles on the writers, works and literary culture of the Early Republic period of U.S. history— roughly spanning from the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 to the death of James Fenimore Cooper in 1851. The first volume was published in summer 2009, and Sivils and Walker will publish new volumes annually.

Non-attentive gamers focus of ISU study

Helping history

A new Iowa State study found that high-volume action video game players— those who play around 40 hours per week—had more difficulty keeping focused on tasks requiring longer, more proactive attention than those who played video games less than a couple hours per week.

“Our thinking right now is the sort of real world effect that you might be seeing is that these are individuals who would really have difficulty trying to maintain their attention independently over time,” said Rob West, one of the study’s authors, an associate professor of psychology and director of ISU’s cognitive psychology program.

Fifty-one ISU undergraduate men (ages 18 to 33) were the focus of the study.

They were nearly evenly divided between those who reported playing less than a couple of hours of video games per week and those who played video games an average of 43 hours per week.

Middle school and high school history instruction in Des Moines Public Schools is getting redesigned, thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. ISU history and curriculum and instruction faculty are training approximately 225 teachers in the the state’s largest school district over the next five years to make history education more effective. The program’s main goal is for teachers to learn new ways to make history more relevant, exciting and engaging for students.

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From Senegal to Smithsonian

Student jury says ‘not guilty’

Photo: Smithsonian Institution

Jill Pruetz

A spear-shaped hunting tool used by savanna chimpanzees in Senegal and provided by Jill Pruetz, associate professor of anthropology, is on display in a new exhibition hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of History in Washington, D.C. The spear is displayed with two other original tools made by chimpanzees: a stone anvil and hammerstone with oil palm nuts, and an ant-dipping utensil (stick).

Pruetz’s discovery that the chimps at her Fongoli site are the first non-humans to routinely use primitive spear-shaped tools to hunt other vertebrates (smaller primates called bush babies) rocked the science world nearly three years ago.

Students in Bill Simpkins’ hydrogeology course again reenacted the trial that became A Civil Action, a bestselling book and motion picture. The story involves a toxic tort lawsuit brought by Woburn, Mass., residents in 1982, charging that three companies had allowed the solvent trichloroethylene to leak into groundwater and be drawn by Woburn city wells.

The students, divided into two groups representing the plaintiffs and the defendants, assume the identities of real characters in the case and argue in front of a jury consisting of primarily non-science majors. Although evidence for the mock trial comes from the actual case, Simpkins, professor in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, said nothing is scripted and the verdict is always in doubt.

This year the jury said “not guilty”—only the third time in the reenactment’s seven years that a student jury has sided with the defendants.

Geology students also get a glimpse of their future profession, part of which may be spent in cases like this one, Simpkins said. “In the field of hydrogeology, you’ll likely end up testifying in a courtroom someday. In that sense, this is a good trial run.”

Replica of Atanasoff-Berry Computer on California display A full-scale, working replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC), a groundbreaking machine built on the Iowa State campus from 1939 to 1942, is part of a major new exhibition at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. The replica was built as a tribute to the late inventors of the ABC: John Vincent Atanasoff, a former Iowa State professor of physics and mathematics, and Clifford Berry, a former physics graduate student. The replica will be on display for 10 years with the possibility of an additional five years.

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Alumni Awards

Six alumni received College of Liberal Arts and Sciences awards during Homecoming 2009:

Kent Lucken (B.A. political science ’86) received the Carrie Chapman Catt Public Engagement Award for his 14 years of service in U.S. Diplomatic Corps.

Sandra Davis (B.S. modern language and psychology ’68) received a Citation of Merit for her national recognition in the field of talent management, leadership development and organizational performance.

Suzanne Zaffarano received the Dean’s Arts and Humanities Award for her support of the arts at ISU.

Mark Fleming (B.S. physics ’70) received the Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the college and the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Sallie Keller (Ph.D. statistics ’83) received the John V. Atanasoff Research and Discovery Award for her leadership in the area of statistical research.

Gentry Collins (B.A. political science ’98) received the Young Alumnus Award for his leadership to Republican presidential campaigns.

More than words

Mary Swander (far right) and students.

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Two undergraduate poetry classes led by Iowa’s poet laureate and Iowa State English professor Mary Swander transformed their poems into works of art for the Iowa Department of the Blind.

The exhibit, “More than Words: A Tactile and Audible Poetry Experience,” displays poems that were altered to works that can be heard or touched.

One group of students focused on autumn. They considered objects related to that time of year, such as leaves or mittens, which the observer could touch while listening to the words of the poem. Another group created a spinning object that depicted different stars and constellations with raised pegs and bumps for visitor interaction.

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Beating the drum for Penn State U. Graham Spanier, Penn State University president and Iowa State sociology graduate, performs magic in leading one of the biggest, most comprehensive American universities.

By Steve Jones

A

s president of one of America’s largest universities, Graham Spanier stays busy. For instance, he might play bass drum with the marching band, wear the mascot uniform at a university event or do magic tricks for students into the wee hours of the night. Those duties plus a few more traditional presidential tasks fill up the sometimes 100-hour workweeks of Spanier, president of Penn State University and an Iowa State University sociology alumnus.

The Highland Park, Ill., native was at Iowa State in February 2010 giving a keynote lecture for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ 50th anniversary celebration. He returns to central Iowa regularly. He met his wife, Sandra, on campus, and her parents (Iowa Staters themselves who met at a Memorial Union dance) live in Des Moines. His last official campus visit came in 2006 when Iowa State presented him with an honorary doctorate.

Spanier is a distinguished scholar and nationally recognized leader in higher education. He also is one of the nation’s most energetic and interesting university presidents.

Man of many pursuits He is a magician who has performed with Penn State’s Musical Theatre students, the marching band and other campus ensembles. He has subbed for Penn State’s Nittany Lion mascot. He has run with the bulls in Pamplona, has a commercial pilot’s license and plays the washboard with area bands. Spanier and his racquetball partner are 10-time Penn State co-ed intramural racquetball champions. He hosts live, call-in programs on public television and radio, and he reviews movies.

That’s in addition to presiding over one of the nation’s biggest and most comprehensive universities, with 24 campuses and a $4 billion annual budget serving 94,000 students and 46,000 employees. Add in a half million living

Graham Spanier, subbing with the Penn State band (above), keeps his finger on the pulse of students. Penn State photos.

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Penn State alumni, and Spanier touches the lives of many.

It’s a big job for the man who had never set foot on a college campus until he arrived at Iowa State in 1966—with only a suitcase in one hand, a green desk lamp in the other.

Graham Spanier was the first person in his family to attend college. Arriving on campus amidst other Baby Boomers, he planned to study math until discovering sociology.

“I had to have a social science course, so I took an introductory sociology course with Elmer Schwieder,” Spanier told students in the LAS Dean’s Leadership Council. “I was so fascinated by it, I almost memorized the textbook.” Later he took a courtship and marriage course from Ed Powers and became totally hooked. “Halfway through the course, I switched to sociology and wanted to become a professor and do research.”

The new sociology student made the most of his Iowa State experience. He was an RA (resident assistant) in his dorm, was involved in student government, wrote a column for the Iowa State Daily and worked at the local radio station, KASI. That was just a start.

Showed him what was possible A student asked if attending Iowa State changed him. “It didn’t change me,” Spanier replied, “but it showed me what was possible in a way I didn’t know before. There were 16,000 students at the time, but the campus felt small. It was easy to get connected. Iowa State encouraged that right from the start.”

Spanier wasted little time earning a B.S. in 1969 and an

During his February visit to campus, Graham Spanier glowingly talked about his days as an Iowa State student that included serving as an RA in the residence halls and writing an Iowa State Daily column.

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M.S. in 1971, both in sociology. By the time he was 24, he had a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, and he joined the Penn State faculty in 1973. It was there he met a young Penn State chemistry professor, Greg Geoffroy, now president of Iowa State University. They later became Penn State administrative colleagues and have maintained a friendship over the years.

In 1982 Spanier moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook to become vice provost for undergraduate studies. He continued to climb the administrative ladder, going to Oregon State University as provost and vice president for academic affairs before becoming chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was named Penn State’s 16th president in 1995.

Another Iowa State student asked Spanier if he had planned to become a university president. “You can’t start out saying you’re going to be a college president,” he answered.

“If you think that, you’ll probably never do it.” He added, however, when he became vice provost at Stony Brook, he realized a presidency could be possible someday.

Spanier works to stay connected with students. “That’s the best part of my job,” he said. Annually during move-in week at Penn State, he sleeps a couple nights in a residence hall. “I help [students] move in, eat with them and share living quarters with them. I do this to keep my finger on the pulse of our student population.”

Student-centered research university Lodging in the residence halls offers an insider’s view of the young adults he is charged with housing and educating.

Spanier sees students who are socially conscious and technologically connected. They are multitaskers who enjoy late hours. “Creatures of the night,” he described them. He stays up with them, talking, asking questions and even doing card tricks way past his normal bedtime.

Spanier is high on today’s students with one glaring exception—problem drinking. “I do believe, as a college president, that the single most troubling problem with students is excessive consumption of alcohol,” he said. He cited its negative impact—poor academic performances, hospital ER admissions, DUIs and other misfortunes.

Thirty-nine years after leaving Ames, the PSU president still glowingly talks about his Iowa State days. He wants Penn State to be a student-centered research university, he told his Ames audience, adding he is glad Iowa State still holds that distinction.

Among all his many accomplishments, he said his best came at Iowa State.

“I owe a great deal to my alma mater and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In addition to getting an outstanding education and making lifelong friends here, I met my wife on this campus. And as Winston Churchill once said, ‘My most brilliant achievement was to persuade my wife to marry me.’”

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Students go global with culture program

By Laura Engelson

A unique program in the Department of World

“All LCP graduates have either studied abroad for a period of at least six weeks and/or completed an international Languages and Cultures has made graduates more internship in the target language with a leading company,” he said. “Employers value the ‘hands-on’ experience that LCP competitive in the work force. The Languages and majors have gathered during global internships in a second language and during study abroad.”

Cultures for Professions (LCP) program began Due to the program’s success, it may soon expand to other academic areas on campus. in 2002 to integrate languages and cultures with “Interest in the program remains high, and we are now beginning to receive requests for an expansion of the program professional courses for engineering and business into the sciences, agriculture and life sciences,” Gasta said.

“This interest testifies to the strength of the program.” students at ISU. LCP was founded by Mark Rectanus, now chair of World The program offers courses through Liberal Arts Languages and Cultures. As its popularity has grown, so has and Sciences in Chinese, French, German, Russian and its support. Liberal Arts and Sciences alum Donald Soults Spanish that meet the demands of professionals in a global (B.S. statistics ’61, Ph.D. statistics ’68) funded a new LCP marketplace. program coordinator position, held by Nathan Henceroth.

Chad Gasta, LCP program director, said the uniqueness Soults learned from his international business experiences of the program is its focus not only on language and culture how important it is for professionals to gain knowledge about but also on professional areas that transpire through both languages and cultures as part of their global skill set. coursework and experiential learning such as study abroad and The following stories highlight three students’ LCP international internships. experiences.

‘It All Started with German 101’ Thinking it would be “fun” to take a class from an ISU lecturer who is a family friend, David Prater studied German 101 and 102 during his freshman year. Little did he know that those entry-level courses would lead to a second major, a study abroad trip, an international internship and graduate school.

Prater first considered his German classes to be a break from the math and science of his primary major, mechanical engineering. But he also knew Germany’s impressive reputation with engineering, particularly precision engineering.

As Prater progressed with the language and declared LCP German as a second major, he set forth with plans to travel abroad for a year. Mannheim, Germany, became Prater’s home away from home from August 2007 to June 2008. During the first half of his trip, he took classes in Mannheim. The courses further prepared him for an internship during the second half of his trip.

At Mercedes-Benz, Prater used his engineering skills to research failure identification and avoidance for the company’s truck engine factory. He also had plenty of opportunities to practice his German language skills as all of his classes and the internship were completely in German.

Back in the U.S., the experience overseas led to more opportunities. “The internship opened all kinds of doors,” Prater said. “Recruiters paid attention to me with that internship on my resume.”

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A professor in ISU’s Virtual Reality Applications Center also took notice. After Prater spoke to an ISU group about his experiences abroad, the professor offered him a graduate assistantship following his December 2009 graduation.

Prater is now studying Human Computer Interaction.

He hopes to study abroad in Germany again, this time as a graduate student.

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Two Majors in Four Years

Many of Erica Velasco’s Bolivian relatives speak Spanish, and she always wanted to speak with them in their native language. After entering the LCP program in her freshman year, Velasco now has a good grasp on the language and is set to graduate in four years with two majors: civil engineering and Spanish.

Velasco said even with her high-level engineering courses, she is still able to graduate on time in May 2011. She takes about one LCP class per semester, which she said allows her to retain the language better over time.

Through the LCP program, Velasco studied abroad in Spain from January through May 2009. She interned for a civil engineering firm where she translated dam and bridge inspection information from English to Spanish.

Even with a semester overseas, her four-year plan is on track. “I took a semester off from engineering to study abroad in Spain, but it shows that I’m dedicated to two areas and that I’m working toward a common goal to put them both together,” she said.

After graduation, Velasco hopes to find a job where she can use both her engineering and Spanish degrees. She also wants to return to Spain, particularly to the area where her Bolivian ancestors once lived.

Now that she has become more fluent in Spanish, Velasco is able to communicate with her Bolivian relatives. Her dad and sister are now learning the language from her as well.

Heritage Trail Leads to Career Ruozhu (Cathy) Du grew up in the U.S. speaking English and a dialect of Chinese, but said she didn’t have the background in Chinese culture and couldn’t read or write in her family’s native language. Du chose a Chinese minor in the LCP program to learn more about her heritage.

Her decision has already paid academic dividends, even before Du graduates in May 2010 with a double major in finance and accounting through the College of Business. Du has completed an internship in China and traveled there on two other occasions.

From September through December 2008, Du was an events coordinator intern in Shanghai for a public relations firm. One of her main projects was helping to coordinate the Fall Fashion

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Show for Elle magazine. Her LCP background not only helped her with knowledge of the Chinese language, but also the culture.

“Immediately I had to use what I learned in class, such as the proper way to greet people, shake hands, request appointments and exchange business cards,” she said. “LCP paved the way for me to get the internship, which then paved the way for me to get a wellrounded experience for my future career goals.”

In June, Du will start a full-time position in a finance leadership development program with a St. Paul, Minn., business. She hopes to eventually travel abroad with the international company.

“The biggest challenge for a

corporation moving into a new country is the ability to completely integrate into the culture,” Du said. “LCP positions me to be a cultural bridge for these corporations.”

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Mei Hong (left), John Corbett and Victor Lin

A Difference Maker An endowed professorship by John Corbett is aiding researchers Mei Hong and Victor Lin, ultimately resulting in better educational experiences for Iowa State students.

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or a brief time in his long, distinguished career at Iowa State University, John Corbett chaired the Department of Chemistry.

He observed firsthand the department’s difficulties in keeping outstanding faculty on campus.

“People who do well here get national recognition and are very attractive to other colleges and universities,” said Corbett, a distinguished professor of chemistry.

The observation led Corbett to create through his retirement funds the John D. Corbett Professorship in Chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Endowed professorships provide annual funds for professors to

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supplement their work at Iowa State.

The funds support course development, graduate assistants, lab equipment, salary enhancements and research projects.

Often, they are the difference needed to attract or retain the very best faculty.

Corbett’s generosity is an example of how philanthropy can make a great university better. Private giving to a university is a difference maker, ultimately creating a better learning experience and environment for students.

“Philanthropy is the margin of excellence,” said Dan Saftig. He is the president and chief executive officer of the Iowa State University Foundation, the private nonprofit organization that raises funds that benefit the university.

“Iowa State would continue to move forward without private giving,” he continued. “However, it just wouldn’t be nearly as enriching an experience for students. Philanthropy helps create and maintain a special Iowa State experience and makes this a special place in which to learn.”

‘Immeasurable good’ for LAS Michael Whiteford, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said private contributions to LAS do “immeasurable good” for the college.

“The private dollars that come to the college allow us to do things we might not or could not do otherwise,” Whiteford said. “Funds for scholarships allow students to come to Iowa State rather than to go elsewhere. Or they might allow students to spend a semester in a life-changing locale somewhere around the globe.”

Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni and donors create opportunities when they give to the college, said Michael Gens, senior director of development for the College of LAS. “They’re making many dreams come true for students.”

Gens said scholarships are often the deciding factor whether a student comes to Iowa State, and in many cases whether they can afford to remain in school.

“We often hear from students and alumni that a single scholarship made the difference in whether they remained

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Charlie and Barb Hunt established two scholarships.

Proud of their scholarships When a financial reward came Charlie and Barb (Worth) Hunt’s way recently, the Chicago-area couple did what they had always wanted to do.

They established not one but two scholarships—one each in their academic majors, statistics and computer science.

“Since I graduated, I always thought of setting up a scholarship,” Barb said. “I know what the scholarships and graduate assistantships I received while at Iowa State meant to me. Hopefully these scholarships will make it a little easier for some students.”

They endowed a pair of scholarships in their respective majors relatively early in their professional careers. Barb received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in statistics, and Charlie is a computer science graduate.

The couple was able to make the scholarship commitment as a result of profits from exercising stock options. Call it the perfect storm.

“There’s not one particular reason why we created the scholarships,” Charlie said. “There were several simultaneous events that occurred, which allowed us to do it. Everything kind of came together at the same time.”

The Hunts say their positive experiences at Iowa State and their strong interest and commitment to education were two of the driving forces.

“Knowing what our educations from Iowa State enabled us to accomplish, we cannot think of a better way to say thank you,” Charlie said.

“Looking back on the things we have done, and the things we’ve accomplished, I think we are as proud of this as we are of anything we’ve done.”

Charlie added, “Who knows, maybe someday down the road we will inspire some students to establish their own scholarships.”

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Life changing opportunities Annually many College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students benefit from life-changing opportunities through scholarships. The generosity of donors who create new scholarships or contribute to existing ones provide students with better experiences at Iowa State.

Two of those students are seniors T.J. Clark, a biochemistry major from Plymouth, Iowa, near Mason City, and Nora Tobin, a political science and international studies major from Clive.

Clark will attend medical school in fall 2010 at the University of Iowa. Among the scholarships he has received was the Charles Jorgensen Endowed Scholarship for premedical students. Jorgensen, an Iowa State alumnus, is a retired physician in Minneapolis.

Clark said the Jorgensen scholarship provided funds that, he believes, increased his opportunity of being admitted to med school.

“The scholarship helped create more time for me to focus on my studies and extracurricular activities,” said Clark. “I didn’t have the added pressure of having to work to finance my education.”

Clark, who is leaning toward cardiology, knew medical colleges want well-rounded applicants plus good grades and test scores. He had the time to serve on the executive committee of ISU’s Dance Marathon, a fund-raising event through the Children’s Miracle Network. He ran a committee of 26 student volunteers.

“I think my Dance Marathon experience assisted my application,” he said. “They look at the entire package, not only grades.”

Tobin hopes someday to have a job in which she can merge her interests in politics and international development.

Her study abroad experience to the Netherlands and South Africa should help.

Her global studies were made possible by a study abroad scholarship established by Iowa State alumni Trudy Huskamp Peterson and Gary Peterson of Washington, D.C. Trudy served as the deputy U.S. Archivist and from 1993 to 1995 was the acting U.S. Archivist, and her husband is a retired Justice Department attorney.

Tobin said the South Africa experience was academically challenging and pushed her outside of her “personal comfort zone daily” as she completed a certificate program in Community Engagement. Part of her work involved HIV prevention and supervising an on-campus HIV testing campaign.

“By living in a country, as opposed to just traveling during holidays for a week or two,” she explained, “I was able to better understand the culture and how simply eliminating a socially unjust policy like apartheid does not make for change overnight.”

She spent her first semester abroad in the Netherlands at Leiden University, which has a heritage in international law.

Nora Torbin studied in Europe, South Africa.

T.J. Clark is off to medical school.

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Endowed chair brings reseacher to ISU at Iowa State, or perhaps allowed them to not work or work less and thus concentrate on their studies,” Gens said.

Iowa State is in the final stages of its $800 million fundraising effort, Campaign Iowa State: With Pride and Purpose. The campaign has four priorities: student scholarships, faculty support, academic and other programs, and facilities. Thus far, more than $745 million has been raised across the university, including more than $60 million towards the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ $65 million goal.

Despite the economy, Saftig said Iowa State alumni and other donors are “very upbeat” about giving to the university.

“The enthusiasm, loyalty and good feeling toward Iowa State University is off the chart,” he said. “People are feeling good about Iowa State, and Iowa State remains at the top of their philanthropic list. They believe in supporting a winning cause.”

Endowing faculty excellence John Corbett has been a faculty member at Iowa State since 1952. A member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1992, he has nearly every award his profession offers. Corbett made plans through his estate to support a professorship for chemistry faculty members at $100,000 a year over a period of time.

“This is designed to reward outstanding faculty members,” said Corbett. “I’m hopeful this will help in the reward and retention of those current and future faculty members.

“I thought it would really help the Department of Chemistry.”

The first two recipients of the three-year Corbett Professorships have been called “rising stars” within their field. Professor Mei Hong was the first in 2007, and Professor Victor Lin will become the second beginning with the 2010-11 academic year.

Hong said a named professorship provided much-needed funding to pursue new research directions.

“Holding the Corbett Professorship is an honor,” Hong said. “It carries prestige,

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At the 2009 ceremony installing David Weiss as the first Lanh and Oanh Nguyen Endowed Chair in Software Engineering were, from left, Michael Whiteford, dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Long V. Nguyen, who funded the endowed chair; Weiss; and Carl Chang, professor and chair of computer science.

David Weiss has some novel ideas for software development to put into practice.

Because of a generous alumnus gift, Weiss is able to explore his concepts at Iowa State University. Weiss is the first holder of the Lanh and Oanh Nguyen Endowed Chair in Software Engineering at Iowa State.

The endowed faculty position was established in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Department of Computer Science by Long V. Nguyen, who earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Iowa State in 1975, and his wife Kimmy of McLean, Va. It is named in honor of Nguyen’s father and mother.

The Nguyens’ gift made the difference in bringing Weiss, a well-respected industrial software researcher, to campus.

Weiss was recruited to Iowa State in support of the recently created undergraduate software engineering degree program, and in anticipation of the establishment of a graduate program in software engineering. Software engineering is rapidly evolving within the computer science field and has become a significant focus of instruction and research.

Endowed faculty positions allow Iowa State to recruit and retain world-class educators. Funds generated by the endowment support course development, graduate assistants, laboratory equipment, salary enhancements and research projects. An endowed faculty position also is the highest level of faculty recognition.

“There is considerable prestige in holding an endowed chair,” said Weiss. “There are not many software engineering endowed chairs in the U.S.” Weiss came to Ames from Avaya Laboratories, where he was director of its software technology research ISU President Gregory Geoffroy presents department. He likes having the flexibility David Weiss with a medallion in honor of at Iowa State to pursue emerging his endowed chair. research topics, such as distributed software development. Weiss said global software centers need to collaborate across different cultures, languages and time zones.

“Companies must know how to negotiate those collaborative challenges,” he explained. “Most companies do distributed development, but few do it well, and there are few places that provide the education and training for it. We need to combine expertise from several disciplines to be successful.

“I have some radical ideas about how software engineering can be done, and I hope to develop some of those ideas further at Iowa State.”

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Opening a world to foreign affairs

Kent Lucken created a SCUSA fund for students.

Kent Lucken has no idea how the Department of Political Science came up with the funds.

But somehow, more than 20 years ago, the then-Iowa State University junior was able to travel to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., to attend the Student Conference on United States Affairs (SCUSA). Over the past 61 years, some of the country’s most influential foreign policy minds have gone through the program.

Lucken, a 1986 Iowa State political science graduate, was one of those students. He knew it was an important moment.

“I was a farm kid from Iowa, and for the first time I got to discuss foreign affairs issues with people from all over the country,” said Lucken. “It wasn’t the key turning point that made me decide my career, but it came together with other experiences I had to inspire me to go into the diplomatic service.”

Lucken served as a U.S. diplomat in Moscow, Georgia and Eastern European nations. Now a managing director of Citigroup in Boston, he and his wife, Kristen, have established an award for Iowa State political science students to attend the SCUSA conference at West Point and also the Naval and Air Force academies.

“When we were able to start giving back to Iowa State, I thought supporting students to attend this conference was a good place to begin,” Lucken said.

One of those students was Jeff Rothblum, who, as an Iowa State senior, attended SCUSA through financial assistance provided by Lucken’s award.

A double major in aerospace engineering and political science, Rothblum was interested in international security policy and was looking to combine the two fields.

“While I enjoy being an engineer [for Lockheed Martin in Denver], what I realized at the conference is that my passion is international security,” said Rothblum, who will attend Georgetown University in the fall for a master’s program in international security studies.

And just like Lucken, Rothblum created a similar fund for students to attend the SCUSA conferences.

“The conference had a tremendous impact on me,” he said, adding that helping other students to attend “seemed like the best way I could make a difference.”

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but more than that the professorship has provided us with the type of flexible funds we need to not only purchase new equipment but to explore new research topics.”

Hong is an award-winning, creative researcher. Her work into antimicrobial peptides may one day lead to antibiotic drugs to curb the rampant bacterial resistance against existing antibiotics.

Recent research on how an antiviral drug binds to influenza viruses cleared the way for the development of new drugs against flu.

Primarily because of the Corbett Professorship, Hong said her research group was able to upgrade their NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer. Her research team uses the spectrometer 24-7 and needed a new one.

“NMR spectroscopy is our principal research tool, and we have to have a workhorse machine,” Hong said.

“The technology has been significantly improved over the past few years, and without the Corbett funds we wouldn’t have been able to purchase this.”

Leveraged $1 million grant The Corbett Professorship also provided the initial seed money for a research project on plant cell wall structure and other complex biomaterials. Results were so promising that the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Hong a four-year, $1 million grant to continue the research.

Victor Lin’s work is small. He is investigating the use of nanoparticles— millions are needed to stretch one meter—as catalysts for biomedical applications, plant and animal biotechnology, and biodiesel fuel production.

“It’s important for a basic physical scientist like myself to develop new science and new catalytic principles to better interface with the needs of the real world,” said Lin, also an award-winning scientist. “This professorship gives me a great degree of freedom and allows me to invest the research and development money in areas that I’m interested in.”

C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

Lin is grateful for the professorship.

“This award was established by a chemist I deeply respect and who has had a very successful scientific career,” he said.

“John’s intention is to use this as an incentive to nourish a new generation of chemists, and it’s a responsibility to utilize this money in the most effective way.”

While proceeds from professorships go directly to a researcher, students ultimately benefit.

“When we have an installation ceremony for a named professorship,” said LAS’ Whiteford, “I almost always hear the professors say they are able to direct funds to students—graduate and undergraduate students. It really ties the donation to student support.”

Paying forward for students People give to higher education for many reasons, said LAS’ Gens.

“Some give because they believe in the notion of paying forward and helping someone just as they were helped by the generosity of someone before them,” he said. “A primary reason people give to ISU is the great experience they had on campus and the foundation an Iowa State education provided them. They believe in our mission and want to support it.”

The ISU Foundation’s Saftig said what separates Iowa State from many organizations is donor choice. The university has a growing list of more than 3,000 gift designations. Liberal Arts and Sciences, with its many programs, offers many of those designations.

“We encourage donors to follow their dreams and make a gift closest to their hearts,” Saftig said. “Our job is to identify the gifts that are exciting to benefactors and find a way to fulfill their objectives.”

By Steve Jones, David Gieseke and Laura Engelson

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Deferred gift says ‘thanks’ to Iowa State

Charles Jorgensen

Charles R. Jorgensen, M.D., admits he came to Iowa State University more than 50 years ago “poorly prepared for college.” Yet the Nebraska native took advantage of the opportunities available at Iowa State to excel and gained admission to Harvard Medical School.

Now the retired Minneapolis cardiologist is giving back to Iowa State, including the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, through deferred gifts in his estate plans.

Deferred gifts are a popular form of contributing to Iowa State.

Unlike cash donations, they tend to come from the assets in the donor’s estate and take effect upon the donor’s death. Deferred giving enables donors to arrange charitable contributions in a manner that maximizes personal objectives and financial goals.

Jorgensen is known for his generosity, providing funds to several organizations. His Iowa State commitments, which are funding a pre-medical scholarship, are the result of his campus experience and desire to help students.

Jorgensen switched from animal husbandry to a pre-medical curriculum his first year in Ames.

Because his high school background did not adequately prepare him for

Iowa State, he took some “noncredit, remedial course work” on campus. It propelled him in a new direction.

“Fortunately this was available at Iowa State,” he said. “With hard work I did well academically, and this plus the fact Iowa State had a good academic reputation allowed me to have my choice from several of the top medical schools in the country.

“Thus Iowa State did a lot for me and my career.”

Jorgensen helped pay for college by working and with scholarship support, something he knows is still important today.

“I know that now students country-wide must pay a much higher proportion of the total cost of instruction per year than we did 50 years ago, making scholarship support even more important,” he explained.

Iowa State in the 1950s had narrow offerings in the humanities, arts and social sciences. Jorgensen is pleased those curricular areas have broadened.

“This has been a factor in my specifying the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to receive a certain proportion of the bequest to ISU from the Charitable Remainder Trust in my estate plan.”

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Overall Campaign Goal: $65 million Student Support - $13.3 million Goal is to create 100 new scholarships during the campaign Faculty Support - $22 million Goal is to create 15 new chairs, professorships and fellowships Programmatic Support - $13 million Capital Projects - $16.7 million New Chemistry Facility - $15.3 million Geology Field Camp - $500,000 Snedecor Hall - $500,000

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Piano quartets are few and far between, yet one of

Mahlon Darlington

Jonathan Sturm

the entire repertoire. These guys own this repertoire.”

Some concertgoers don’t know what to expect from a piano quartet and are surprised by the group’s sheer volume of sound. “I’ve heard people say, ‘I never thought you could get so Chamber music followers know a piano quartet features much sound out of four instruments,’” Work said. “The sound one keyboard and three strings, and chamber music is almost like an orchestra.” aficionados know the Ames Piano Quartet is among the very Bruce Owen runs the annual Colours of Music festival best in the world at what it does.

The quartet is the resident chamber ensemble at Iowa State in Barre, Ontario, where the quartet was in residence last University. It’s a foursome of music professors—William David, September. “Of course, string quartet music is wonderful,” he said, “but the piano adds a richness—a solidness, a texture— piano, Mahlon Darlington, violin, Jonathan Sturm, viola, and which cannot be found in all-strings repertoire.”

George Work, cello—who have mastered their repertoire via Despite the piano’s extra tonal dimension, some chamber gifted musicianship, years of work and, with one exception, no music disciples turn up their noses at piano quartet music. membership turnover.

“The culture in America and particularly in Europe,” said They boast a professional manager, perform around the Sturm, “can tend toward the idea that only string quartets globe and have become the most recorded piano quartet ever and piano trios own the best chamber music, which I feel is with a collection of a dozen albums.

Not bad for a group once introduced as hailing from Idaho patently wrong.”

With only one personnel change in nearly three decades, State University. consistency is a hallmark of the Ames Quartet. David joined “Piano quartets are few and far between,” said John Gilbert, then-ISU orchestra director Larry Burkhalter in the midprofessor of music and chair of strings at Texas Tech University 1970s to form half of the original “Iowa State Piano Quartet.”

Darlington became a member in 1976 and Work in 1981. The and a colleague of the Ames Quartet. “The body of literature retooled foursome started playing concerts, traveled more and for piano quartets is much smaller than for a string quartet. hired a professional manager. Two years later they moved to a You can master the entire repertoire, which is why they are so new management company that still represents them today. good.

Along the way the group acquired its present name.

“They are exceptional at what they do.”

“There was confusion with our original Iowa State name,” said Gilbert, who has performed with the Ames group, emphasizes, however, that piano quartets are not without great Darlington. “People would ask, ‘Are you from Iowa City?’” Not only did the title Ames Piano Quartet better identify the group, music. Brahms, Dvorak, Mozart, Faure, Beethoven and others “It also sounded better,” Work added. each composed masterpieces for this combination.

Sturm joined in 1998 when Burkhalter retired, ensuring “Almost every one of the great composers who wrote chamber music made a significant contribution to this music,” another long stint of continuity rarely found among ensembles Gilbert said. “And the Ames Piano Quartet has recorded almost including string quartets and trios.

It’s not uncommon for the Ames Piano Quartet to be asked, “Where are all the pianos?”

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C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

the best is home at Iowa State University

William David Often piano quartets are formed groups of four top musicians joining sounds for a festival or another event.

“While these international stars bring their own panache to a performance,” said Sturm, “the Ames Quartet’s signature style has evolved over months of rehearsal, creating a tight ensemble less frequently encountered from some of the ad hoc pairings.”

“There are only a few long-standing piano quartets, so we’re playing music not very often played by a group with a history of working together,” Darlington said.

By Steve Jones

George Work the keyboard,” David explained, “and I certainly didn’t do any solos.”

One need not spend much time with Bill David, Mahlon Darlington, George Work and Jonathan Sturm to realize they like one another. They good-naturedly kid around as if it were league night for their bowling team. While some ensembles unite only for rehearsals and performances, the Ames bunch travels together, shares hotel rooms and enjoys each other’s company socially.

Music has taken the Ames Piano Quartet to Europe, “This group functions so well because it found itself out Taiwan, South Africa, Cuba and throughout North America. of the desire of its members to make music,” Darlington said.

They were packing for a Russian visit as this article went to “There was no edict from above.” press.

Said David, “We were not brought in as a group and told The 2003 Cuban trip was the first by an American chamber to form a quartet. We evolved along our own lines to our own ensemble in more than 40 years. In addition to performances, drummer, as it were.” the quartet taught gifted albeit poor students playing “We artistically, personally, even politically get along,” dilapidated, second-hand instruments.

Sturm added.

“They were like sponges, taking in everything we told Work concluded, “We respect each other, and have learned them,” recalled David. “The perspective they provided—to how to make suggestions without causing rancor or insecurity.” work hard for your dream—was one we had begun to miss in And the proof is in the quality of the music. our own country.”

“Whenever I hear piano quartet music performed on the Work remembered, “When we left them our music stands radio in Canada or in Europe,” said Owen, “invariably it is as a gift, it was as if we had given them each a Mercedes Benz!” the Ames performing it. There are a few piano quartets in The 2006 South Africa visit was an eye opener. One Europe but they have never seemed to approach the quality of lesson was given in a former prison converted into a school. excellence of the Ames. The decades of playing together by the Barbed wire was still visible. Another time they arrived for a Ames shows in their performance and in the diversity of their performance at a small church in a crime-ridden shantytown repertoire.” to find no piano. A frantic search turned up a small Casio “All four are masters of their instruments,” said Gilbert. electric keyboard with half the normal keys. David did his “These performers are sought after. Very few university best in a shortened program as Sturm’s wife turned the pages ensembles are under full-time professional management, not and worked the volume because the instrument had no other even string quartets. means of dynamic control.

“What an amazing thing to have this group on the Iowa “There were pieces we couldn’t play because of the range of State faculty.”

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What do all of these things have in common? The answer may surprise you.

Ambassador CdeBaca—A responsibility to serve

By Steve Jones

A

s a student living in Iowa State University’s old Alumni Hall, Luis CdeBaca had some fun. From the east balcony CdeBaca and friends were known to tie a dollar bill on the end of a fishing line. Slowly cranking the line, they enjoyed watching unsuspecting fellow students chasing the elusive George Washingtons.

Today CdeBaca is still trying to reel in people, but only the bad guys who exploit humans through forced labor or sexual servitude.

The 1990 political science graduate was appointed in May 2009 by President Obama as the United States’ Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. He serves as a senior advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and has the challenge of coordinating the government’s fight against modern-day forms of slavery and servitude. It’s a large war fought on multiple battlefronts.

Citing International Labor Organization estimates, CdeBaca said some 12.3 million persons worldwide are “laboring in bondage around the

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world.” That includes nine to 10 million in forced labor situations and two to three million in sex trafficking. Up to 60 percent are female. Many are victims of vulnerability—race, class, migratory status, lack of language skills, and physical or mental illness. Perpetrators range from individuals to large cartels.

The number of U.S. victims is imprecise, he said, but it is believed to be in the “tens of thousands.”

CdeBaca is the only U.S. ambassador with domestic and global responsibilities.

In addition to combating servitude and slavery in the U.S., he works with foreign governments to free and empower those held in modern slavery. He also asks Americans to question how their imported goods are manufactured.

“We need to look at the supply chain,” said the Huxley, Iowa, native and University of Michigan Law School graduate. “Where does this commodity come from?”

Much attention in recent years was aimed at tee shirt and other foreign garment makers using sweatshop labor.

However, enslaved workers make more

than tees, CdeBaca said. Imported commodities such as coffee and chocolate and even precious metals used in our cell phones can all be the result of enslaved labor. Hence, his role goes beyond U.S. borders.

CdeBaca joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., after graduating from Michigan in 1993. He began investigating and prosecuting cases such as police brutality and racial violence.

Four years later he became the Division’s Involuntary Servitude and Slavery Coordinator. He specialized in slavery cases within the Hispanic community.

“Latinos were identified as a majority of the trafficking victims, but it hits all populations,” he said. “Victims were held for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, farm labor, domestic service and factory work.” CdeBaca is proud that he convicted “dozens of abusive pimps and employers and helped liberate hundreds of victims from servitude.”

He prosecuted some of the Justice Department’s most significant human trafficking cases. CdeBaca was the lead

C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

President Obama in 2009 named ISU alumnus Luis CdeBaca to coordinate U.S. efforts to fight modern-day forms of slavery and servitude.

trial counsel in the U.S. vs. Kil Soo Lee case, the largest U.S. slavery prosecution.

More than 300 Vietnamese and Chinese garment workers were enslaved in a U.S. Samoa factory, resulting in prison sentences in the early 2000s for Lee and co-conspirators.

In the late 1990s CdeBaca successfully prosecuted the “deaf Mexican” trinket case in which scores of hearing-impaired Mexicans were forced to peddle trinkets on U.S. streets and subways. He also was lead counsel in a case that broke a Florida prostitution slavery case.

CdeBaca earned major Justice Department awards for his litigation ferocity and his victim-centered approach to his work. He was an advocate for the rights of trafficking survivors in the U.S., often here with little more than the clothes on their backs. The national trafficking victim service, the Freedom Network, recognized his efforts with its Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award.

To understand CdeBaca’s drive to

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aid victims of civil rights violations, especially women, minorities and those from other nations, one only needs to look to his parents.

His late father, Robert C. de Baca, was an Extension livestock specialist at Iowa State. He was a leader in “cutting-edge international agricultural development in Latin America during the Kennedy era,” CdeBaca said.

CdeBaca’s mother, Mary de Baca, was involved in international study programs and now coordinates diversity efforts for Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She has been honored for her efforts promoting students of color, women and diversity both on and off campus.

Robert left Iowa State when Luis was quite young, and he and Mary started a cattle operation near Huxley. CdeBaca said he and his two sisters “learned priceless lessons about family, work and the hard times of the Farm Crisis” of the 1980s.

The 1990 political science graduate was appointed in May 2009

by President Obama as the United States’ Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

“Growing up in and around Iowa State always made us feel that we were part of a bigger world, and that we had a responsibility to serve,” he said.

As a youth visiting Washington, D.C., with a 4-H group, CdeBaca met members of Iowa’s Congressional Delegation. His mother recalls her son

was “dreamy eyed” by the experience.

She said he later wrote about wanting to someday work in Washington.

He entered Iowa State, joined some ag organizations, and participated in a jazz ensemble, Stars Over Veishea and the Varieties talent show, winning in 1988. CdeBaca excelled in his political science and international agriculture studies and believed he would eventually work in an international development capacity.

He approached Story County Attorney Mary Richards about working in her office. She created a position for him, and over the next couple years he did a variety of tasks including helping her with the “logistics” of two highprofile murder cases. It was his first experience with a prosecutor.

“I believe it gave him an idea of what you could do with the law,” said Richards, who served 20 years as county attorney. “It gave him a view of what’s possible.”

Richards and her predecessor, Ruth Harkin (wife of Iowa Senator Tom Harkin), were pioneers in victim advocacy and support programs. The concept stayed with him.

“I’m sure,” said Mary de Baca, “his being in a courtroom with Mary Richards inspired him to go into that type of law.”

CdeBaca’s U.S. ambassadorial job is daunting, to say the least. The industries that enslave workers are as widespread as the nations in which they operate.

He believes, however, he is well suited for the challenge, with his experience in traditional civil rights work and an inherited interest in international development along with “the positive criminal law gains from the women’s movement” in recent years.

“I ended up being one of the few people who sit at the confluence of these different traditions, and I can bring them together.

“In a way,” he added, “I’m now doing the international development work I came to Iowa State for many years ago.

I just took a very circuitous route to get to it.”

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Icy proposition—Geologist’s new machine could help predict how glaciers will react to climate change and contribute to rising sea levels

N

eal Iverson opened his laboratory’s walk-in freezer and said the one-of-a-kind machine inside could help scientists understand how glaciers slide across their beds. And that could help researchers predict how glaciers will react to climate change and contribute to rising sea levels.

Iverson is professor of geological and atmospheric sciences. He’s worked for three years on his big new machine, which is over nine feet tall, that he calls a glacier sliding simulator.

At the center of the machine is a ring of ice about eight inches thick and about three feet across. Below the ice is a hydraulic press that can put as much as 170 tons of force on the ice, creating pressures equal to those beneath a glacier 1,300 feet thick. Above are motors that can rotate the ice ring at its centerline at speeds of 100 to 7,000 feet per year.

Either the speed of the ice or the stress dragging it forward can be controlled.

Around the ice is circulating fluid—its temperature controlled to 1/100th of a degree Celsius—that keeps the ice at its melting point so it slides on a thin film of water.

As Iverson starts running experiments with the simulator, he’ll be looking for data that help explain glacier movement.

“For a particular stress, which depends on a glacier’s size and shape, we’d like to know how fast a glacier will slide,” Iverson said.

Glacier sliding is something that matters far from the ice fields. As the climate warms, Iverson said glaciers slide faster. When they hit coasts, they dump ice into the ocean. And when those icebergs melt they contribute to rising sea levels.

But there’s a lot about the process researchers still don’t know.

“We can’t predict how fast glaciers slide—even to a factor of 10,” Iverson said. “We don’t know enough about how they slide to do that.”

And so Iverson came up with the idea of a glacier in a freezer that allows

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Neal Iverson worked with a team of engineers to develop a machine that can simulate how glaciers slide across their beds. At the bottom of the machine is a hydraulic press that can create pressures equal to those beneath a glacier 1,300 feet thick.

him to isolate effects of stress, temperature and melt-water on speeds of glacier sliding.

The project is supported by a $529,922 grant from the National Science Foundation. While Iverson had a rough design for the simulator, he said a team of three engineers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory—Terry Herrman, Dan Jones and Jerry Musselman—improved the design and turned it into a working machine.

Iverson said the machine won’t simulate everything about glacier sliding.

“The fact is we can’t simulate the real process,” he said. “We can only simulate key elements of the process. The purpose of these experiments will be to idealize how the system works and thereby learn

fundamentals of the sliding process that can’t be learned in the field because of the complexity there.”

Iverson, who also does field studies at glaciers in Sweden and Norway, said glaciology needs work on the ground and in the lab. But it’s been decades since anybody has attempted the kind of laboratory simulations he is doing.

“There hasn’t been a device to do this,” Iverson said. “And so there haven’t been any experiments.”

To change that, Iverson is pulling on a coat, hat and gloves and working in his lab’s freezer. He has ice rings to build. Equipment to calibrate. And experiments to run.

—Mike Krapfl, ISU News Service

C O L L E G E O F L I B E R A L A RT S & SCIENCES

Giving makes the difference in LAS What is great about being a member of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences development team is knowing so many wonderful people who hold such fond memories of Iowa State University.

On pages 10 through 15 of this alumni magazine, you will find articles about some of these individuals whose charitable giving is making a difference in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

They are articles about creating opportunities and making dreams come true for students. They highlight the students and faculty who benefit from the generosity of others, and they highlight the donors and their motivations for supporting our college.

Iowa State is in the latter stages of its historic fundraising endeavor—Campaign Iowa State: With Pride and Purpose.

Thus far, thanks to you, Liberal Arts and Sciences has raised more than $60 million towards its $65 million campaign goal. This is truly exciting and shows the commitment you have in creating the best possible experience for our students in the Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Your support has helped create additional and much-needed scholarships for our students. These funds can be the deciding factor for a student choosing whether to attend

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Development Team, from left, Michael Gens, Erin Steinkamp, Stephanie Greiner and Lisa Fry.

facilities are important not only for these nationally ranked academic units, but they also serve students from throughout campus in many disciplines across the university.

Also, you have helped create new endowed faculty chairs, professorships and fellowships in several Liberal Arts and Sciences departments. These

Your gifts, pledges or planned legacy gift provide the margin of difference between a great college and university and an extraordinary college and university.

Iowa State, or perhaps whether he or she remains in college here. Scholarships can also provide life-changing experiences, such as the opportunity to study in another country.

You have helped fund new buildings, such as the Department of Chemistry’s Hach Hall, and renovated others, such as Statistics’ Snedecor Hall. These

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faculty positions are difference makers in recruiting and retaining the very best faculty members, who teach, mentor and attract great students.

Your gifts, pledges or planned legacy gift provide the margin of difference between a great college and university and an extraordinary college and university. We are making great strides,

but there is much yet to accomplish before Campaign Iowa State concludes.

We need your continued help, whether it is additional scholarship support or the sustained effort to attract and retain the very best educators and scholars on campus.

As my team and I travel about the nation, we are thankful for the opportunities to visit with you and learn how Iowa State made a difference in your life. If you are interested to learn more about what you can accomplish in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and your academic unit through your philanthropy, please contact me or any of our outstanding LAS fundraising development professionals at mgens@ iastate.edu or at 1-866-419-6768.

Thank you for your continuing interest and support of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and its programs.

Michael Gens Senior Director of Development College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 223 Carrie Chapman Catt Hall Ames, Iowa 50011