HISTORY OF THE ISU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION The Iowa State University Alumni Association was founded Nov. 12, 1878, by the first graduating class (1872) of Iowa Agricultural College. The class consisted of 26 alumni—24 men and two women. The original mission, which is still honored today, was to keep alumni close to the college (now university) and to each other. Edgar W. Stanton (class of 1872) served as the Association’s first president. Stanton served as president until 1893. The Association has functioned continuously since that time. Under the leadership of Ward R. Jones (class of 1897), president from 1893 to 1920, the Association was first incorporated in 1904 as an independent, self-governing association and began publication of the periodical Iowa State Alumnus in 1905, which continued publication for 69 years. Membership dues, $1 per alumnus/a, were first charged in 1910. This included an Alumnus subscription. In 1914, the Association employed a professional staff and established an office in Alumni Hall. Harold D. Pride (class of 1897) became president in 1921 and served until 1932. The Association’s office was moved to the Memorial Union in 1928. In 1932, the Alumni Association, under the leadership of Wallace E. Barron (class of 1928), was reincorporated to legalize the organization for the acceptance of gifts and bequests for the college. From 1934-1938, the Association had rights to all potentially patentable processes and devices growing out of the college-supported research. In 1938, the Iowa State Research Foundation was incorporated, and the Association assigned all its interests in the area of patents to the new foundation. Barron served in this role until 1968. By World War II, gifts to Iowa State through the Alumni Association totaled $100,000.
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From 1951 to 1980, alumni gifts were solicited annually by the affiliate organization, the Alumni Achievement Fund, to finance a wide variety of projects and activities that would not be supported by state appropriations alone. During this time, the Association was led by Robert L. Crom (class of 1950) serving from 1968 to 1971, Don F. Gustofson (class of 1955) serving from 1971 to 1979, and James A. Hopson (class of 1969) serving from 1979 to 1999. In the 1970s, the Association expanded its outreach to include the engagement of current students by creating the Student Alumni Association (known today as the Student Alumni Leadership Council).
As the Alumni Association moved into the 1980s, the emphasis on service increased. Ongoing fundraising activities for the university were assumed by the newly incorporated Iowa State University Achievement Foundation, now known as the Iowa State University Foundation. The number of alumni had doubled during the decade of the ’70s, and services to the group expanded rapidly during the ’80s. Memberships in the organization soared, allowing new programs and services to be developed, including VISIONS, a full-color quarterly magazine. Programs and services for alumni in the 1990s were enhanced by an emphasis on research and planning. Since 1990, the Board of Directors has commissioned market research, conducted self-studies and external reviews, and developed five strategic plans designed to focus resources on increasing memberships, visibility, and services to alumni and the university. The recommendations from the 1996 self-study and external review and the 1997-2000 Strategic Plan guided the budget and programming decisions for the Association to better serve Iowa State and its present and future alumni and friends. In 1999, Jeffery W. Johnson (class of 2014) was hired as the Association's eighth leader. The Board also voted in 1999 to create The Circle, a group composed of Iowa State University Alumni Association former presidents/chairs and executive directors/presidents. In 2011, The Circle leadership expanded the group’s membership to include honorary members. Honorary members consisted of spouses and partners of deceased leaders and long-serving staff of the Association. Today, The Circle continues to work on behalf of the university and the Association. The 2001-2006 Strategic Plan focused on strengthening membership, engaging constituents, developing strategic alliances, and enhancing organization health. In 2003, the Board voted to focus its efforts on building a permanent home and planned for the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Alumni Association. A proposal for an alumni center was approved by the Iowa Board of Regents in FY04. Due to the impending renovation of the Memorial Union, the Alumni Association took up temporary residence in Fisher-Nickell Hall. The Alumni Association celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2003-2004 and reached its goal of topping 50,000 members
