Iowa State University
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Template:University information Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant university and space-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. The full official name is Iowa State University of Science and Technology. It was previously Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, a school created through the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.
The Iowa General Assembly in 1858, prior to the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, enacted legislation to establish a agriculture college and model farm. This college was named the State Agricultural College & Model Farm. The location of Story County was chosen on June 21, 1859 after the state selection board received proposals from Johnson, Kossuth, Marshall, Polk, and Story counties.
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Landmarks
Nearing its sesquicentennial in 2008, ISU now has a number of landmarks on campus. Please visit the ISU notables page for many of the beautiful landmarks.
Academics
Fountain_of_Four_Seasons.jpg
ISU is best known for its degree programs in engineering and agriculture. The Family and Consumer Sciences and Education colleges are in the process of merging, and a new name has not yet been decided. ISU is also home of the world's first digital computer, the Atanasoff Berry Computer.
It consists of the following colleges:
- Agriculture (http://www.ag.iastate.edu/)
- Business (http://www.bus.iastate.edu/)
- Design (http://www.design.iastate.edu/)
- Education (http://www.educ.iastate.edu/)
- Engineering (http://www.eng.iastate.edu/)
- Family and Consumer Sciences (http://www.fcs.iastate.edu/)
- Liberal Arts and Sciences (http://www.las.iastate.edu/)
- Veterinary Medicine (http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/)
In addition to these eight colleges, the Graduate College (http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/) oversees graduate study in all fields.
Athletics
The sports teams are nicknamed the Cyclones, a name which dates back to 1895. That year, there were many occurances of cyclones, or tornados. Also that year was when the Iowa State football team went to Northwestern University and defeated its team 36-0. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed "Iowa cyclone devastates Evanstontown."
The school colors are cardinal and gold. The mascot is Cy the Cardinal, who was introduced in 1954. This is likely a reference to the original nickname, the Cardinals. The Iowa State Cyclones play in the NCAA's Division I-A as part of the Big Twelve Conference.
VEISHEA celebration
CyRide_buses.jpg
Iowa State is also noted for VEISHEA, an education and entertainment festival held on campus every spring. The name is an acronym of the original colleges of the institution when VEISHEA was established in 1922: Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture. Its organizers claim it to be among the largest student-organized cultural festivals in the world.
In recent years the festival has been marred by problems. Unruly students created a disturbance ("rioted") on Welch Avenue in 1988 and 1992, prompting school officials to take away the traditional Thursday afternoon and Friday holidays before the celebration. Problems continued. In 1997, an underage non-student was fatally stabbed by another non-student outside a fraternity party. In response, alcohol was banned during VEISHEA.
In 2004, a riot took place during VEISHEA when police confronted people during an off-campus party. Because of the riot, officials announced that there would be no VEISHEA festival during 2005 and a task force would consider the future of the celebration. In March 2005, President Geoffroy announced that the festival will return in 2006, with events being moved from riot-prone Welch Avenue to central campus.
Iowa State presidents
- Adonijah S. Welch (1868 – 1883)
- Seaman A. Knapp (1883 – 1884)
- Leigh S.J. Hunt (1885 – 1886)
- William I. Chamberlain (1886 – 1890)
- William M. Beardshear (1891 – 1902)
- Albert B. Storms (1903 – 1910)
- Raymond A. Pearson (1912 – 1926)
- Raymond M. Hughes (1927 – 1936)
- Charles E. Friley (1936 – 1953)
- James H. Hilton (1953 – 1965)
- W. Robert Parks (1965 – 1986)
- Gordon P. Eaton (1986 – 1990)
- Martin C. Jischke (June 1, 1991 – August 14, 2000)
- Gregory L. Geoffroy (July 1, 2001 – present)
Notable people
See ISU notables for a complete list.
Alumni or faculty members
- Roberta Green Ahmanson, author and philanthropist
- John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry (see also Atanasoff Berry Computer), developers of the first digital computer
- Georgina Jinkinson Bonesteel, author and television show host
- Griffith Buck, alumnus and professor of horticulture; developed nearly 100 new varieties of roses
- George Washington Carver, first African-American student and faculty member; musician, artist, orator, athletic trainer and student leader
- Carrie Chapman Catt, women's rights activist
- Clarence Chamberlin, aviation pioneer
- Lawrence D. Downing, President of the Sierra Club
- John Garang, Commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army
- Henry Gilman, the "Father of Organometallic Chemistry"
- Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner
- Robert Krasa, President of Dow Corning
- Norma “Duffy” Lyon, sculptor and butter artist
- Christian Petersen, sculptor, whose works appear around campus.
- Jane Smiley, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for fiction
- George W. Snedecor, statistician
- Stephen R. Walker, television show host
- Henry Agard Wallace, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, United States Secretary of Commerce, Vice President of the United States, and founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred
- James Wilson, professor who later became U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Athletics
- Dan Gable, two-time NCAA wrestling champion and 1972 Olympic gold medalist who later became wrestling coach at the University of Iowa
- Cael Sanderson, four-time undefeated NCAA wrestling champion who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece
Iowa State chronology
Events occurring in the same year did not necessarily happen in the order presented here.
Year | Event |
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1858 | Iowa General Assembly enacted legislation for creation of the State Agricultural College & Model Farm |
1859 | Story County was the chosen county for the State Agricultural College & Model Farm |
1860 | Construction starts on Farm House |
1862 | Morrill Act of 1862 was passed; college to be named Iowa State Agricultural College |
1884 | Construction of English Office Building finished |
1891 | Construction of Morrill Hall finished |
1891 | First run of Dinkey on July 4 |
1892 | Addition made to the English Office Building |
1892 | Construction of The Hub |
1895 | Football team nicknamed Cyclones for their performance against Northwestern University |
1895 | Severe water shortage; classes cancelled; spurred construction of the Marston Water Tower |
1897 | Construction for the Campanile was started on Central Campus |
1897 | Construction of the Marston Water Tower |
1898 | Renamed the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts |
1903 | Construction of Marston Hall finished |
1904 | Construction first started on what would be the Alumni Hall |
1897 | End of operation of Dinkey; start of operation of an electric streetcar |
1908 | Construction of Central Building finished |
1908 | President's, Vice-president's, & Treasurer's offices moved from Office Building to Beardshear Hall |
1920 | Edgar W. Stanton dies and 26 bells are added to the carillon in the Campanile (36 bells total) |
1922 | VEISHEA was established |
1929 | Construction of the Memorial Union finished |
1938 | Central Building renamed to Beardshear Hall |
1939 | The Atanasoff Berry Computer is first demonstrated |
1940 | English department moves into Office Building and is renamed to English Office Building |
1941 | The Fountain of Four Seasons is sculpted by Christian Petersen |
1954 | 13 more bells were added to the carillon in the Campnaile (49 bells total) |
1959 | Renamed the Iowa State University of Science and Technology |
1967 | Bessey Hall opens for use |
1967 | 1 more bell was added to the carillon in the Campanile (50 bells total) |
1969 | Construction of Stephens Auditorium finished |
1973 | English and speech departments relocate from English Office Building to Ross Hall & Pearson Hall, respectively |
1978 | Alumni Hall placed on the National Register of Historic Places |
1978 | The Marston Water Tower is disconnected from use |
1982 | The Marston Water Tower is added to the National Register of Historic Places |
1983 | Marston Hall placed on the National Register of Historic Places |
1984 | Library named the W. Robert and Ellen Sorge Parks Library |
1996 | Morrill Hall determined unsafe for occupancy |
1997 | Restoration of the Marston Water Tower |
1999 | Central Campus is listed as a "medallion site" by the American Society of Landscape Architects |
2003 | Control of the Memorial Union was transferred to ISU |
2004 | VEISHEA riot; resulted in VEISHEA for 2005 being cancelled |
2004 | English Office Building demolished |
2005 | Two of the Towers residence halls, Knapp and Storms, to be demolished |
2008 | Sesquicentennial of Iowa State |
See also
External links
- Official Site (http://www.iastate.edu/)
- Athletics Site (http://www.cyclones.com/)
- Iowa State Daily (http://www.iowastatedaily.com/) (student newspaper)
- Information from RateMyProfessors.com (http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/SelectTeacher.jsp?sid=452)
- The History of VEISHEA (http://www.veishea.org/Memories/memories.html)