History of Iowa State: Time Line, 1975-2008

  Campus:

The Scheman Center for Continuing Education (the final building of the Iowa State Center) and the new football stadium are dedicated and opened.
 

  Campus:

Farm House is opened to the public, following extensive renovations. By 1979, more than 22,000 visitors will have toured Iowa State's first building.

  University:

U.S. President Gerald Ford visits the Iowa State campus during a campaign trek, delivering an address that includes the line, "It's great to be here at Ohio . . . Iowa State University."
 

  University:

Extension's Iowa Master Gardener Program is piloted in Scott County.

  Academic life:

The faculty recommend switching from a quarter to a semester system.
 

  Academic life:

The College of Design is established, with a focus on the visual arts, design, architecture, and community/regional planning.
 

 Athletics:

"Hereeee's Johnny!" Johnny Orr arrives at Iowa State to coach the men's basketball team.

  Campus:

H. Summerfield Day, former university architect, publishes The Iowa State University Campus and Its Buildings, 1859-1979.

University:

The Alumni Band is formed.

 University:

The Iowa State Women's Center is located in Sloss House, named for Thomas Sloss, superintendent of buildings and grounds (1910-1932) and mechanical equipment (1932-1937). The center is named for his daughter, Margaret Sloss, ISU's first woman graduate in veterinary medicine.

 Academic life:

The Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll begins as a collaborative research and Extension project in the Department of Sociology. The poll monitors changes in Iowa's agricultural and rural life, by surveying farm operators on policies, conservation practices, and Extension needs and activities.

 Campus:

The new library addition is opened, incorporating the 1925 building.

 University:

The Brunnier Gallery and Museum receives national accreditation from the American Association of Museums.

  Academic life:

The School of Business officially becomes the College of Business.

 Athletics:

The football stadium is officially named Cyclone Stadium and Jack Trice Field.

 University:

The ISU Library is officially dedicated as the W. Robert and Ellen Sorge Parks Library.

 

 University:

The National Crisis Action Rally is held in Cyclone Stadium, with 14,000 farmers from all over the U.S. attending.

Campus:

The building housing the College of Education (the former Veterinary Medicine Quadrangle) is named in honor of the first dean of education, Virgil Lagomarcino.

  Student life:

The Program for Women in Science and Engineering is founded.

  Academic life:

The Institute for Physical Research and Technology, is established as a group of campus scientific centers. Its mission is to focus on the development of new technologies through interdisciplinary research in science and engineering.
 

The Leopold Center is established, a research and education center with statewide programs to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources
 

  University:

The College of Home Economics is renamed the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The Iowa State University Research Park (230 acre development) is founded to provide space and resources for technology-based firms and research organizations.
 

  Academic life:

The ISU Library introduces the computerized catalog system, SCHOLAR. It will eventually replace the card catalog.

  University:

ISU opens a Wellness Center, focusing on fitness, relationship issues, stress management, and nutrition.

There are riots at VEISHEA; coaches Jim Walden and Johnny Orr calm the crowds.

 

 Academic life:

ISU hosts the first national conference of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council.

 Athletics:

The term "Hilton Magic" is coined by a Des Moines Register writer after the Cyclones stun third-ranked Missouri.

  Campus:

Construction begins on the Molecular Biology Building and Lied Recreation Center.

The Charles W. Durham and Margre Henningson Durham Center for Computation and Communication is opened.

  University:

The first "Take Back the Night" event is held, to emphasize women's right to safety.

   Student life:

The first solar car, PrISUm, is developed as a Tau Beta Pi project. Eventually, the group becomes Team PrISUm, and incorporates the PrISUm name into every car.

  University:

Project Vincent, a campus-wide computer network (named for John Vincent Atanasoff) is created and work stations are installed across campus.

The College of Sciences and Humanities becomes the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
 

   Academic life:

Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., purchases the rights to create new varieties of a new soybean developed by Walter Fehr and Earl Hammond.

Iowa State hosts the world's first university Bioethics Institute to address ethical issues in the life sciences.

  Campus:

ISU/Sasaki and Associates prepare a comprehensive Master Plan to guide campus planning over the next 30 years.

   Student life:

ISU students begin paying a university-wide computer fee.

Martin and Patty Jischke initiate the President's Leadership Class for 34 incoming freshmen.

  University:

ISU alumni Tom Sutherland and Terry Anderson, taken hostage in 1985 in Lebanon, are released
 
 

   Academic life:

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.
 

  Athletics:

The All-American Grove is created at Jack Trice Stadium to honor ISU athletes.

 

   Academic life:

The Center for Teaching Excellence, now the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, is established.

The Center for Designing Foods to Improve Nutrition is opened.
 

  University:

Farm Aid VI, a country music concert to benefit farmers, comes to Cyclone Stadium. The lineup includes Lyle Lovett, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, the Charlie Daniels Band, Bruce Hornsby, and Ringo Starr.

Flood waters reach the eastern part of the ISU campus, including Hilton Coliseum.
 

   Academic life:

The 2 millionth volume, Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventu' italiana, a rare 2-volume treatise by the woman mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi, is added to the ISU Library's collections. The Archives of Women in Science and Engineering is inaugurated.

   Student life:

The M-Shop wins the W.C. Handy Award for Best Blues Club in America.

   University:

U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore address a full capacity crowd in Hilton Coliseum as part of the National Rural Conference.

ISU's TV station, WOI-TV, is sold, despite the objections of many faculty, staff, and community members.

 

   Academics:

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

   Campus:

Reiman Gardens is dedicated.
 

   University:

A conference is held at the Memorial Union, exploring strategies for Iowa and other Midwest states to expand export and trade opportunities with Canada and Mexico.
 

   Academics:

The Miller Faculty Fellowships for curricular innovation are established.

   Campus:

C2, a virtual reality environment, is officially opened. C6 will open in 2000 as the country's first six-sided virtual reality room and in 2006 will undergo a multi-million-dollar renovation.

   Student life:

The ISU Student Organic Farm opens, later to move to the ISU Horticulture Station.

   University:

The ISU Card is introduced, providing ISU students, faculty, and staff with a universal card for identification, library privileges, access to university events, and optional banking/finance services.

Iowa State University ranks in the top 10 public universities nationwide that enroll National Merit Scholars, according to a new annual report.
 

  Academic life:

The ABC Team (consisting of Ames Laboratory and Iowa State engineers, technicians, researchers and students) unveils a working replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer.

The Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship is established, providing assistance, connections, and resources for ISU faculty and students with the business and corporate world.

   Campus:

 The ISU Library opens a new, high density Library Storage Building, with a capacity of 750,000 volumes.

   Student life:

After the murder of Uri Sellers at the previous VEISHEA, President Jischke announces the continuation of VEISHEA as an alcohol-free event.

The Student Answer Center opens in the lower level of Beardshear Hall.

A Student Health Center is built and named for Thomas Thielen, the former dean of students.


   University:

The "Safe Zone" sticker is introduced on the Iowa State campus. Display of the sticker in individual and departmental offices is seen as a demonstration of commitment and support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
 

   Academic life:

Youssef Asar, an award-winning painter from Egypt, is appointed as ISU's George Washington Carver artist-in-residence during the 1998-99 academic year.

Thirty-eight representatives from the 17 Tribal Colleges (named as land-grant institutions in 1994) are invited by the College of Agriculture to attend the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) national meeting at Iowa State. The Tribal College Task Force is formed to pursue additional initiatives and collaboration.

   University:

Iowa State signs cooperative agreements with Fudan University, one of the top three universities in China. The same year, ISU has 154 agreements with universities and agencies in more than 50 countries, including Australia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Mexico, People's Republic of China, Russia, and Ukraine.
 

   Academic life:

The Plant Sciences Institute (PSI) is approved by the Board of Regents. PSI, composed of nine centers, focuses on plant genomics and bioinformatics.
 

   Athletics:

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

   Campus:

Iowa State's central campus is named a Centennial Medallion site by the American Society of Landscape Architects, one of only three U.S. universities to be so honored.

Stanley and Helen Howe Hall is built, part of the Engineering Teaching and Research Complex.

University:
Iowa State's College of Agriculture receives an $80 million gift, the largest in its history as well as one of the largest to a public university in the United States.