Alumni Awards
Christian Petersen Design Award
Established in 1980 to recognize alumni, staff and friends of the university for contributions to the advancement of design through personal aesthetic achievement, exceptional support or extraordinary encouragement and service.
2022
Kevin W. Monson
BA 1973 Architecture with distinction
Iowa City, Iowa
Kevin Monson established Neumann Monson Architects with Roy Neumann in 1977. After accepting the role of president in 1993, he guided the firm from seven employees to 50 professionals anchored in Iowa City and Des Moines. Under his leadership, Neumann Monson has helped set the standard for innovative architecture and sustainable design in Iowa and grown to become one of the largest and most respected firms in the Midwest. Monson retired as president in 2018 and board chairman in 2020.
Over his nearly 50-year career, Monson contributed to the profession in myriad ways, including service on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Iowa chapter board of directors (president in 2007), Iowa Architectural Examining Board (president from 1998-2000 and 2002-2003), National Council of Architectural Registration Boards’ Professional Conduct Committee (chair from 1997-2000) and Procedures and Documents Committee (chair from 2002-2004), and ISU Department of Architecture Advisory Council (chair from 2012-2015).
In 2018, Monson received the AIA Iowa Medal of Honor in recognition of distinguished service to the profession. He also received numerous state, regional and national design awards for his work on Neumann Monson projects that challenged the status quo and reshaped the urban fabric of Iowa City, Coralville’s Iowa River Landing District, and Des Moines’ East Village, as well as the Sukup South End Zone addition to Jack Trice Stadium.
Monson has been a generous supporter of the ISU College of Design and Department of Architecture through gifts to lecture series, scholarships and building funds. He is a life member of the ISU Alumni Association and belongs to the Order of the Knoll Campanile Society.
2022
Deb Pulver and the late Bob Pulver
BA ’81 Interior Design
West Des Moines, Iowa
Deb Pulver worked for Onthank Company (now Onthank Interiors) in Urbandale and Savage Ver Ploeg Associates (now SVPA Architects) in West Des Moines until the mid-1990s. Throughout her professional career, she has been involved in many organizations supporting architecture and design across Iowa.
Deb and her late husband, Bob, also believed in giving back to their community and contributed their time, talent, and treasure to groups including Manhattan College, Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, MercyOne Richard Deming Cancer Center, and UnityPoint Health – Blank Children’s Hospital, Blank Children’s STAR Center, and John Stoddard Cancer Center. In 2016 they were named Blank Children’s Hospital Festival of Trees and Lights honorary chairs.
In 2011, Deb founded Strands of Strength, a nonprofit organization that provides new wigs free of charge to cancer patients in financial need who suffer hair loss due to treatment. The organization has helped more than 4,000 Iowans. For several years, Deb has invited students in the ISU digital textile design course to design head scarves for Strands of Strength as a service-learning project. In 2020, Deb — herself a breast cancer survivor — was inducted into the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame for her efforts.
The Pulvers also sought ways to provide students with immersive international design experiences. As a member of the College of Design Advancement Council in 2000, Deb co-chaired Serata a Roma, a gala fundraising event for the college’s Rome Program. In 2010, the Pulvers established the Debra L. Furman Pulver and Robert G. Pulver Study Abroad Scholarship, awarded annually to three interior design students.
Deb is an ISU Foundation governor and member of the Order of the Knoll, President’s Circle and Campanile Society, as was Bob until his death in 2021.
2020
Ann (Wright) Au
BA 1981 Craft Design
King Au
BArch 1982 Architecture
MArch 1985 Architecture
Des Moines, Iowa
Ann (Wright) Au and King Au are co-founders of 2AU Limited, a jewelry design studio and art gallery in West Des Moines’ Historic Valley Junction. King also owns Studio Au Inc., a multidisciplinary design practice specializing in visual designs.
At 2AU, Ann designs custom and one-of-a-kind jewelry and curates the gallery’s collection of art from artists worldwide. She co-produces Gallery Night twice a year in Valley Junction.
Ann’s work is in numerous art collections throughout the U.S. She is a member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths, American Craft Council, Jewelers of America, Des Moines Art Center and Historic Valley Junction Foundation.
Ann received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the ISU Alumni Association in 1996. She has served on the College of Design Dean’s Advancement Council and the Department of Art and Visual Culture Advisory Council. Prior to founding 2AU, she was a jeweler at the Goldsmiths and Susan Noland Designs in Gold.
King is a freelance merchandising photographer for Williams Sonoma Inc. and other major national brands. He received the ISU Alumni Association’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 1995.
Before founding Studio Au and 2AU, King was an architectural intern and associate architectural photographer with Charles Herbert and Associates (later HLKB) and an associate architectural designer and architectural photographer with FEH Associates. He served as a freelance editorial photographer for Meredith Corporation from 1993-2015.
The Aus recently established the Design United Award, a scholarship that celebrates students’ contributions to diversity, inclusion and social justice within the college, university, and greater design community.
2019
James P. Cramer
Atlanta, Georgia
James Cramer is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Design Futures Council and its journal, DesignIntelligence, which conducts the only national college ranking survey that focuses exclusively on design. He is a past chief executive officer of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
An expert on trends in design and technology, Cramer has authored eight books, including How Firms Succeed: A Field Guide to Design Management (with Scott Simpson), now in its fifth edition, and The Next Architect: A New Twist on the Future of Design, now in its third edition. His latest book, Small Firm Success, is forthcoming in 2019.
Cramer is a Richard Upjohn Fellow of the AIA, a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, and an honorary member of the International Interior Design Association. He is a founding board member of the Aerial Futures Foundation and has served on the boards of dozens of organizations, including the National Building Museum and the Society of Architectural Historians.
Among Cramer’s consulting clients over the past 25 years are top architecture and engineering firms including SOM, Perkins and Will, Foster and Partners, BIG, HDR, and many others. Currently a lecturer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he has taught at Arizona State University, the University of Minnesota, and the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Cramer has received more than 70 awards in design and environmental stewardship. In 2009, he was honored with the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
2018
Douglas C. Smith
BS 1987 Landscape Architecture
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
As president and principal of EDSA, Doug Smith is responsible for the leadership, management and strategic growth of the 130-person design firm as well as for running his own studio team. Smith has been integral to the continued expansion of EDSA’s global reach while also advancing the role of landscape architects as leaders in responsible land use and site development. As a strong advocate for performance-based design, Smith has strengthened EDSA’s commitment to creating healthy and sustainable places that demonstrate value and quality of life.
Over his 31-year career, Smith has worked throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and the U.S. Notable projects include Ancient Sands Golf Resort, El Gouna, Egypt; Barbary New Town, Grand Bahama Island; Bexley, Pasco County, Florida; Florida Nature and Culture Center, Broward County, Florida; Lustica Bay, Radovici, Montenegro; Ocean Way Streetscape, Deerfield Beach, Florida; Prince George Wharf Revitalization, Nassau, Bahamas; Punta Cana Resort, Dominican Republic; and Valletta Waterfront, Valletta, Malta.
Smith has led and participated in more than 125 multidisciplinary design charrettes, educating clients and colleagues on the value landscape architects bring to the development process. He believes in an inclusive and integrated team approach that combines analysis, technology, strategy and creativity to solve problems and generate meaningful design solutions.
Smith is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the CEO Roundtable for Landscape Architecture, and the ISU Department of Landscape Architecture Practitioners Advisory Council. He currently serves as president of the Historic Stranahan House Museum board of directors in Fort Lauderdale. He is a life member of the ISU Alumni Association.
2017
Stan Thurston
BArch 1969 Architecture
Dotty Thurston
BS 2000 Marketing
Des Moines, Iowa
Stan and Dotty Thurston highly value the education they received from Iowa State University and seek to provide current students with enriching experiences. They have invested in the College of Design’s Curriculum-Based Design Outreach Fund, LEED Platinum-certified King Pavilion building addition and Rome Program. Since 2005, Stan has served on the college’s Advancement Council. In 2014, he established the Stan G. Thurston Professorship in Design Build to support the convergence of high-end digital fabrication technology and its application to design-build projects that benefit local communities.
The Thurstons also established an Alpha Sigma Phi Foundation fund to help undergraduate students attend leadership programs. Stan has been active with Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity and Foundation for nearly 50 years, including leadership roles on national boards and several service awards.
A U.S. Army Vietnam veteran who earned the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in 1971, Stan received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1974. Prior to his retirement in 2006, he served as president, CEO and board chairman of Des Moines-based Life Care Services, which has developed and now manages more than 70 senior-living and continuing-care communities nationwide. He received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Seniors Housing Committee in 2007. He has served on the Alzheimer’s Association’s Greater Iowa Leadership Council since 2007 and was a member of its national board of directors from 2014-2016. He is president of LifeQuest Ministries, a nondenominational church he and Dotty co-founded with friends in 2015.
After studying interior design at Iowa State in the early 1970s, Dotty created a successful career in banking and residential real estate sales and appraisals. She received an associate’s degree from Des Moines Area Community College in 1998 and returned to ISU to complete her marketing degree. Since then she has served on the boards of organizations including Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity, Blank Park Zoo, DMACC Foundation and LifeQuest Ministries. She is a past president of Anawim Housing, a nonprofit that helps provide safe, affordable housing in Des Moines neighborhoods. In 2010 she co-founded 100+ Women Who Care, a group of women who come together quarterly to support local charities.
The Thurstons are members of the Order of the Knoll, the President’s Circle and the Campanile Society, as well as life members of the ISU Alumni Association.
2016
Kate Schwennsen
BA 1978 Architecture, with distinction
MArch 1980 Architecture
Clemson, South Carolina
Kate Schwennsen, FAIA, is a recognized leader in bridging architectural education and practice, with expertise on issues of design leadership, diversity and evolving models of practice and education in architecture. Since 2010 she has been a professor and director of the Clemson University School of Architecture, where she leads more than 50 faculty and staff members in a program enrolling approximately 380 bachelor’s and master’s students. She also serves as co-director of the International Union of Architects (UIA) Education Commission and co-reporter of the UNESCO/UIA Validation Council for Architectural Education.
Schwennsen was the 2006 president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the second woman to serve as the elected leader of this then 149-year-old, 82,000-member organization. From 1991-2010 she served on the Iowa State architecture faculty at all ranks from adjunct to full professor and from 2001-2010 she was the associate dean for academic programs in the College of Design. Her contributions to the profession of architecture have been recognized with a number of honors and awards.
Schwennsen is a Fellow of the AIA and an Honorary Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. She received the 2002 Presidential Medal for Distinguished Service from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, the 2003 Medal of Honor and 2010 Education Award from AIA Iowa, a 2015 Presidential Citation from AIA South Carolina and the 2006 Design Achievement Award from the ISU College of Design. She was named one of DesignIntelligence’s 30 Most Influential Design Educators for 2015.
2015
Debi Durham
Sioux City, Iowa
Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Debi Durham director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) in January 2011. As one of her first orders of business, Durham worked with the governor and legislators to restructure the department and create a public-private partnership—the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress—to improve Iowa’s delivery of economic development services.
Durham now serves as director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), the public arm that replaces IDED and oversees the traditional economic development programs. Additionally, Durham oversees IEDA’s efforts to expand Iowa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in collaboration with the Iowa Innovation Corporation, the private side of the partnership.
Durham also serves as a senior adviser on the Home Base Iowa initiative to place veterans in rewarding careers with Iowa employers and as a member of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. Under her leadership, efforts to expand Iowa’s apprenticeship programs were successful in 2014.
Durham previously was president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, Siouxland Initiative and Siouxland Chamber Foundation for 15 years. She was recognized as a Janus Fellow by the Janus Institute in 2014. She received the Key-Way Award from the Sioux City Downtown Rotary Club in 2009 and was named one of “Five Women You Should Know” by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry in 2007. Durham is a member of the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame. She was the Republican Lieutenant Gubernatorial candidate in 2002.
Durham holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Missouri Southern State University. She is a member of the Briar Cliff University board of directors and the ISU College of Design Advancement Council.
2014
Roger Baer
Ames, Iowa
Soon after his arrival at Iowa State University in 1980, Roger Baer began to transform what was then the advertising design program into one of the nation’s most respected and competitive graphic design programs. He recruited talented new faculty members; revised the curriculum to include coursework in packaging, exhibition, signage and information design; established an internship program and navigated the major through the advent of desktop and online publishing and beyond.
Baer has taught classes at every level of the undergraduate and graduate graphic design programs. He established the practicum class—which provides practical experience for students through work on real projects with nonprofit organizations before graduation—and the professional practice class, which was unique at the time and still uncommon in programs in the U.S. He also founded the Graphic Design Student Association on campus.
In his 10 years as an active adviser, Baer placed roughly 150 graphic design students in internships throughout the U.S. He advised scores of graduate students and served as the program’s director of graduate education for nine years. In 2000, he led the first group of graphic design students to participate in the College of Design Rome Program. And in 2010, Baer helmed the effort leading to approval of the college’s industrial design major.
Baer served as the College of Design’s assistant dean for six years under Dean Emeritus Mark Engelbrecht and chaired the college’s art and design department for nine years. He and his wife, Peggy, generously support scholarships for design students.
Baer holds a bachelor of arts in graphic design from California State University, Long Beach (1968), and a master of fine arts in graphic design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His professional work has been published in nearly two dozen books and journal articles. In recent years, he has self-published several online books of his international landscape photography. When he retires in May 2015, Baer will leave a profound legacy of design excellence and dedicated service as an administrator, faculty member and student mentor.
2013
James Patchett
BS 1975 Landscape Architecture
MLA 1981 Landscape Architecture
MS 1985 Civil Engineering
Elmhurst, Illinois
Considered one of the innovators in melding art, science and engineering in design, James Patchett, FAIA, LEED AP, founded Conservation Design Forum in 1994, with offices in Elmhurst, Ill., and Ann Arbor, Mich. Patchett and his team renovate landscapes with particular emphasis in the areas of sustainable site planning and development, the advancement of innovative water resource-management techniques, the integration of native landscape systems and the promotion of ecological restoration strategies.
Among CDF’s projects are the award-winning green roof atop Chicago’s City Hall; site development and green roof of the ISU College of Design’s King Pavilion; West Union, Iowa’s downtown restoration; Ann Arbor’s new Municipal Center; Advocate Lutheran General Hospital’s patient tower in Park Ridge, Ill.; and a new campus master plan for Chicago’s Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.
In the mid-1990s, Patchett helped established the Conservation Land Stewardship to ensure trained installation and management of restored native ecosystems; and the Conservation Research Institute, dedicated to scholarship and investigation of sustainability issues.
Last year, Patchett co-founded Whole Systems Integration, a collaborative of more than a dozen leading U.S. sustainable design firms, to offer turn-key design, building and management services for high-performance projects. Two years ago, he led the formation of Solutions in the Land, a for-profit consortium to help farmers restore their lands’ vitality and surrounding watershed.
Patchett is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a LEED Accredited Professional. He received the Natural Leader Award from the Chicago chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council in 2008. He lectures nationwide on sustainable design and has taught in Iowa State’s landscape architecture department.
2012
Rebecca Greco
BA 1976 Architecture
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Rebecca Greco, AIA, heads the public and corporate practice group at Hammel, Green and Abrahamson (HGA), one of the nation’s leading architecture and design firms. As an architect, planner and strategic business leader, Greco has 35 years of experience successfully coordinating all phases of project development. Among her notable commissions are four regional headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Minnesota State Capitol restoration, the Minnesota Departments of Health and Agriculture Orville L. Freeman Office Building, Medtronic World Headquarters and University of Minnesota Science Teaching and Student Services Building.
Greco is widely known for creating efficient, flexible and stimulating workplaces. She recognizes the profound impact a building can have on a community, whether in an urban, suburban, or academic setting. She also appreciates the impact architecture has on the environment, and she works closely with clients, industry leaders, legislators and policy makers to research and design architecture that stewards the environment.
Greco’s work has been published in Businessweek, The New York Times and numerous trade and design journals. She has received countless regional and state awards and honors. In 2003 Greco was recognized as one of 15 Women Changing the World of Architecture by DesignIntelligence. She received the 2002 Design Achievement Award from the ISU College of Design.
Greco demonstrates an uncanny ability to build and lead effective design teams. She recognizes potential, guides professional development and inspires those around her to perform at their highest level. She is a significant role model for aspiring design professionals. Greco regularly visits Iowa State classes and attends Career Days to highlight the architecture profession to students. She helped establish the Hammel, Green and Abrahamson Architecture Scholarship and HGA Studio in the College of Design.
Greco is a member of the American Institute of Architects, AIA Minnesota, CoreNet Global and Lambda Alpha International, where she served as a past board member and treasurer. She previously served on a National Institutes of Health technical review board and on the AIA Minnesota board of directors. Greco is a member of the ISU College of Design Advancement Council, a past chair of the ISU Architecture Advisory Council and a life member of the ISU Alumni Association.
2011
Kenneth W. Smith
BS 1976 Landscape Architecture
New York, New York
Ken Smith is one of the best known of a new generation of landscape architects equally at home in the worlds of art, architecture and urbanism. Trained in both design and the fine arts, he explores the relationship between art, contemporary culture and landscape in projects throughout the United States and around the world. Smith is the founder and principal of Workshop: Ken Smith Landscape Architect, with offices in New York and Irvine, Calif. He previously worked with the Iowa State Conservation Commission, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, Office of Peter Walker and Martha Schwartz, and Martha Schwartz Ken Smith David Meyer Inc.
Smith is committed to creating landscapes that improve the quality of urban life. His public, commercial and private work ranges from small residential gardens and urban pocket parks to public art commissions, urban development and multiuse projects, waterfront planning and design, and modern landscape restoration.
Among Smith’s best-known projects are the MoMA Roof Garden in New York and Orange County Great Park in southern California. A recently completed section of the East River Waterfront Esplanade, a collaboration with ShoP Architects to revitalize a two-mile stretch of shoreline property in Lower Manhattan, opened in July. Smith currently is leading the redesign of Nollen Plaza in Des Moines with local firm RDG Planning and Design and San Francisco artist Jim Campbell.
Smith’s many honors include several national awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects; a National Park Service Site Design Merit Award, a P/A Design Award, a Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Silver Medal, and three Excellence in Design Awards from the New York City Public Design Commission. He received the Design Achievement Award from the ISU College of Design in 2002.
Smith holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has taught and lectured at Harvard, the City College of New York, and other universities and institutions around the world. Smith’s work has been published widely in the popular and trade press, and his monograph of nearly 20 projects,Ken Smith Landscape Architect (Monacelli Press, 2009), received a 2010 ASLA Communications Honor Award. He serves on the board of the Architectural League of New York.
2010
Mark C. Engelbrecht
BArch 1963 Architecture
Des Moines, Iowa
For Mark C. Engelbrecht, FAIA, community has been the focus of a 40-year career as an educator and architect. After earning a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University in 1964, he served as principal of Engelbrecht & Griffin PC, Des Moines and Newburyport, Mass., from its founding in 1967 to 2000. The firm is best known for designing the University of Northern Iowa’s Maucker Union, which earned national honors when it was built in 1968 and was named one of Iowa’s top 50 buildings of the 20th century by the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2000.
Engelbrecht joined the Iowa State University architecture faculty in 1969 and served as dean of the College of Design from 1994 to 2009. As dean, he oversaw development of the Core Design Program, uniting all first-year students in a common curriculum; successful fund-raising efforts to construct the Kocimski Auditorium and the LEED Platinum-certified King Pavilion; and the opening of the Design Café—a first for the ISU campus.
He integrated community-based projects into studio instruction and established college outreach centers in Perry and Sioux City. Internationally, Engelbrecht developed the College of Design’s Rome Program into a fully licensed branch of Iowa State University in Italy, which has hosted more than 1,600 design students since 1991. He also completed an agreement with China’s Lanzhou Jiaotong Technical University to allow Chinese transfer students to earn ISU design degrees.
Engelbrecht is a Fellow of the AIA. He serves on the ISU Foundation Board of Governors and as a trustee of the Octagon Center for the Arts in Ames. He has received numerous awards for personal and professional achievement, including the AIA Iowa Medal of Honor in 2008 and ISU Order of the Knoll Faculty-Staff Award in 2009.
Engelbrecht is an Order of the Knoll member of the ISU Foundation’s Campanile Society and President’s Circle, and an annual member of the ISU Alumni Association.
2009
Bryce D. Pearsall
BArch 1971 Architecture
Phoenix, Arizona
Bryce D. Pearsall, FAIA, has distinguished himself across the broadest range of leadership, management and design responsibilities. A managing principal of DLR Group since 1986, he has been central to its growth into one of the nation’s largest and most successful architecture and engineering firms, with offices in 14 cities. In 2004, the Phoenix office became the first in Arizona and fourth in the United States to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Commercial Interiors certification. In 2009, DLR Group ranked eighth in The Architect 50, Architect’s list of the top 50 U.S.-based architecture firms.
Pearsall is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, national chair of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable, and a LEED Accredited Professional. His project leadership and design work have appeared in national and international professional publications, including Architectural Record, Architecture, American School and University, Architekt + Wettbewerbe (Stuttgart), Arizona Business, Corrections Today, Education Facility Planner, Learning by Design, L’Industria Delle Construzioni (Rome), New York Times, Progressive Architecture, and USA Today.
Pearsall is chair of the ISU College of Design’s Advancement Council and a past chair of the ISU Architecture Advisory Council. He served on the ISU College of Design Dean Search Committee in 2008-09. In 2003, Pearsall received a Design Achievement Award from the ISU College of Design. He is a member of the Order of the Knoll and a life member of the ISU Alumni Association.
2008
Priscilla Kepner Sage
Ames, Iowa
An internationally acclaimed artist and Iowa State University associate professor emerita of art and design, Priscilla Kepner Sage has spent the past 50 years expanding the boundaries of textile and fiber media into the realm of sculpture and fine art. Her work expresses essential relationships between humans and nature, embodying and expanding upon the patterns and forms found in natural objects while taking full advantage of the new materials made available by the latest technologies.
Sage’s fabric sculptures have been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States and beyond. Her first major commission–a 12-foot-long spiral sculpture for the lobby of the Hoover State Office Building in Des Moines–was the first project funded by the Iowa Art in State Buildings program. Since then, her works have enlivened architecture throughout the state and include installations in the ISU College of Human Sciences, Jischke Honors Building, the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union and the dean’s suite of the College of Business.
Sage was on the art and design faculty at Iowa State from 1984 until her retirement in 2000, and taught at Drake University for 18 years. Her talents and effectiveness as a teacher mirror her accomplishments as an artist, and she is honored with this award as an exemplar of a faculty colleague deeply, and productively, engaged in both the making and the teaching of her art.
2007
William D. Chilton
BA 1976 Architecture
New Haven, Connecticut
William D. Chilton, co-founder and principal of Pickard Chilton, an international architectural practice in New Haven, Connecticut, has directed projects for leading corporate and institutional clients worldwide. He collaborated on the design of Four Seasons Place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Crawford Long Hospital and Conservatory in Atlanta, Georgia; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia; ConocoPhillips West Campus headquarters expansion and AIM Corporate Headquarters in Houston, Texas; and the CalPERS Headquarters Complex in Sacramento, California, for the largest pension fund in the United States. The EPA and CalPERS headquarters each earned a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold rating.
Prior to the founding of Pickard Chilton, Chilton was Ellerbe Becket’s President of Architecture and worked on such notable buildings as Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which, when completed, was the tallest mixed-use complex in Europe and the Middle East; the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul; as well as numerous projects for Dow Chemical, DuPont, and other international corporations.
Chilton is actively involved in teaching and has lectured extensively at such institutions as the University of Minnesota, Yale University and Oklahoma State University, where he served as an advanced design studio visiting critic. He has served on charitable, corporate and academic boards, including the ISU Architecture Advisory Council from 1994-1999 (chair in 1997-98) and as a board member of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota.
Chilton holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota. In 1995 he received a Design Achievement Award from the ISU College of Design. He is a member of the Order of the Knoll and a life member of the ISU Alumni Association.
2007
Jon Pickard
BA 1976 Architecture
New Haven, Connecticut
Jon Pickard, co-founder and principal of Pickard Chilton, an international architectural practice in New Haven, Connecticut, has designed or collaborated in the design of some of the world’s most recognized buildings. Prominent projects include 1180 Peachtree (LEED Gold) for King & Spalding in Atlanta, Georgia; 300 North LaSalle (LEED Gold) for Kirkland & Ellis in downtown Chicago; the CalPERS Headquarters Complex (LEED Gold) in Sacramento, California; Wells Fargo Financial Headquarters in Des Moines; the Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters (LEED Gold) in Arlington, Virginia; and Four Seasons Place, a mixed-use complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Four of these projects, noted in parentheses, earned LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold ratings.
Prior to the founding of Pickard Chilton, Pickard collaborated with Cesar Pelli in the design of numerous landmark and award-winning projects, including two of the largest commercial developments ever built: the World Financial Center in New York, and Kuala Lumpur City Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a development that includes Malaysia’s national symphony hall and two of the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers.
Pickard is actively involved in architectural education. He serves as a visiting critic at Yale University, has led an advanced design studio at Iowa State University, and has lectured extensively. He was a member of the ISU Architecture Advisory Council from 1994 to 1999.
Pickard holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Yale University School of Architecture. He received a Design Achievement Award from the ISU College of Design in 1989, and the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston recognized Pickard as its 2006 Honoree. He is a member of the Order of the Knoll and a life member of the ISU Alumni Association.
2006
Nancy Polster
BS 1960 Applied Art
Tucson, Arizona
During her 35-year career at Iowa State University, Nancy Polster taught a variety of design courses and served in a number of administrative roles, including chair of the art and design department from 1990 to 1997 and interim associate dean of the College of Design in 1999. She served on numerous college and university committees and organized, curated and juried many exhibitions both at Iowa State and throughout the nation.
A professional artist for 45 years, Polster has shown her own work nationally in juried and invitational exhibitions. Locally, she reviewed art for the Ames Tribune and chaired the Ames Public Art Commission. After retiring from Iowa State in 2000, Polster moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she continues to create fiberart.Known for her support of faculty advancement and her dedication to students, Polster has made gifts to the university that respond to the needs of the students and faculty in the College of Design. Most recently, she gave a significant deferred gift to help fund the Marjorie S. Garfield Scholarship for design students. In 1996, in honor of her late parents, she established the Raymond G. and Lula G. Polster Teaching Award to recognize exceptional teaching performance by a College of Design faculty member early in his or her professional career.
For her contributions to the college, university and education, Polster received the Cardinal and Gold Award from the ISU Foundation in 1999, the College of Design Award for Extraordinary Performance in 1987 and 1997, the Carrie Chapman Catt Sex Equity Award in 1997, the Amoco Outstanding Teacher Award in 1987 and a Faculty Citation from the ISU Alumni Association in 1982. She was named a Wakonse Fellow in 1994 in recognition of teaching excellence and initiated into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society in 1993.
Polster received an MS in art education from Syracuse University in 1964.
2005
Steven G. King
BLA 1968 Landscape Architecture
Barbara King
BS 1968 Food Science
Maple Plain, Minnesota
Countless children throughout the world have benefited from the playscapes developed and produced by the partnership of Steven and Barbara King. Based upon Steve’s original concept of “continuous play”–created while he was a student at Iowa State–these environments provide an endless array of well-designed and -crafted components that both delight and exercise the minds and bodies of children.
Landscape Structures, Inc., a company founded by Barb and Steve in 1971, is quite as extraordinary as its products. Headquartered in Delano, Minnesota, the company has continuously pioneered innovative products, processes and safety features, and was the first manufacturer of its type to achieve ISO 9001 certification for quality management and ISO 14001 certification for its conservation and recycling process.
Chairman of Landscape Structures, Steve is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and founding member and current president of the International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association. He has written and lectured widely on playground and skatepark safety and accessibility, and is the chair of a task group to develop safety and accessibility standards for playground equipment for children between 2 and 12 years of age.
Barb serves as president of the company, responsible for the firm’s financial, marketing, operations and administrative management. She was selected Woman Business Owner of the Year for the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2000, and inducted as an honorary member of the ASLA in 2005. In 1992, Barb and Steve were named Minnesota’s Entrepreneur of the Year and inducted into the Institute of American Entrepreneurs.
In 2000, Barb established the Barbara King Landscape Architecture Scholarships for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University, and Steve provided resources for the outfitting of the landscape architecture graduate studios in the College of Design.
2004
Lynette L. Pohlman
BA 1972 / MA 1976 Applied Art
Ames, Iowa
As the director and chief curator of University Museums, Lynette Pohlman oversees the Brunnier Art Museum, Farm House Museum and Art on Campus Program at Iowa State University. She has a distinguished record of achievement in the development, coordination and management of innovative exhibitions as well as related educational and interpretive programming and publications. Her steadfast advocacy of visual and cultural arts literacy and education has led to the creation of the Christian Petersen Art Museum slated for the renovated Morrill Hall building.
Pohlman administers the Art on Campus Program and Collection, which includes the Art in State Buildings acquisition program that has completed 61 projects and added more than 275 public works of art to the Iowa State campus. She has overseen 17 major campus art conservation projects, including Christian Petersen’s “Fountain of the Four Seasons” at the Memorial Union and the “Gentle Doctor” at the College of Veterinary Medicine.
An adjunct associate professor of art and design, Pohlman teaches courses on museums and public art, and has made numerous opportunities available to students and faculty interested in museum-related studies and internships. In addition, Pohlman has conceived and developed several art education programs, such as Sundays at the Brunnier, Wednesday Walks, and Victorian Holidays at the Farm House. She is a founding member of the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries and a public art and museum consultant to corporations, schools, foundations and libraries in Iowa.
Pohlman is a tireless proponent for a cause that is easily overlooked at a large university of science and technology, and her voice has helped establish the role of the arts as a vital part of our university culture.
2003
Roberta Green Ahmanson
Orange County, California
Journalist, scholar, entrepreneur and patron of the arts, Roberta Green Ahmanson has illuminated the origins and destiny of the American Town through her imaginative and compelling restoration of the Hotel Pattee and associated institutions and environments in Perry, Iowa. As the founder of “Hometown Perry, Iowa,” she has established both the means and a venue to further study the uniquely American Midwestern community experience.
In association with her distinguished husband, Howard Ahmanson, she has advanced nationally countless interdisciplinary ventures at the intersections of the arts, letters and sciences, while locally she has been of great assistance to the College of Design and Iowa State University, offering generous support for its scholars, artists, students and museum programs. Her good works are exemplary in creative correlation, rigorous execution and demanding taste, qualities embodied in the private and public art and craft she has collected for the Perry enterprise and set into an environment of consistently sympathetic design.
Overarching her many, and continuing, accomplishments, however, is the keen curiosity of the pilgrim and the generosity of a kind, insightful and inspiring collaborator and community builder.
The College of Design at Iowa State University is deeply honored to inscribe Roberta Green Ahmanson as the 30th recipient of its Christian Petersen Design Award.
2002
David Kruidenier
Des Moines, Iowa
David Kruidenier has had a profound influence on the arts and the built environment in Des Moines and throughout Iowa. He has been instrumental in seeing a number of major projects in Des Moines come to fruition, including the Civic Center, the Simon Estes Amphitheater, Gray’s Lake, and the Forest Avenue Library branch in the Enterprise Community. He is also involved in the new Des Moines Central Library campaign and supported the recent renovation of the nearby Masonic Temple for use as a Temple for the Performing Arts.
Kruidenier additionally has been involved with capital projects for Drake University, the Des Moines Art Center, Grinnell College, Simpson College, and the Salisbury House Foundation. As president of the Gardner and Florence Call Cowles Foundation, he played a key role in that foundation’s awarding the College of Design a grant for the Cowles Design X.PoRT, an electronic conference center and distance learning facility.
The common thread running through all of these projects is his desire to provide broad public access to information, recreation, and the arts. He is the epitome of a philanthropist, offering personal and financial support to a variety of public and private causes not for personal gain or recognition, but exclusively to serve the communities and organizations that he values.
Kruidenier is president of the Kruidenier Charitable Foundation; former president, CEO, vice chairman and chairman of the board of Cowles Media Company; former president, publisher, board chairman and CEO of the Des Moines Register & Tribune Company; and former president of the Gardner and Florence Call Cowles Foundation, Inc. He has also served on the boards of trustees of Drake University, the Des Moines Art Center, Grinnell College, and the Salisbury House Foundation.
2001
Rabindra N. Mukerjea
West Lafayette, Indiana
Rabindra N. Mukerjea, now the director of strategic planning and assessment at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has a long and distinguished record of service at Iowa State University.
He joined the Iowa State architecture faculty in 1971. During his time here, he held a number of leadership positions in the College of Design, including associate dean (1983-95) interim dean (1992-94 and 1984-85), acting chair (1986-87) and assistant to the chair (1976-81) of architecture, and coordinator of graduate programs in architecture (1981-83). He served as assistant to the president for budget planning and analysis under former ISU President Martin Jischke and ISU Interim President Richard Seagrave from 1995 through February 2001.
Mukerjea received a bachelor of architecture from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India, in 1966, and a master of applied science in systems design from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, in 1969.
He is a member of the Association of Computer-Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He received a Faculty Citation from the ISU Alumni Association in 1994 and was inducted into the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society in Architecture and Applied Arts in 1974.
1999
Elizabeth S. Miller
Des Moines, Iowa
Elizabeth S. “Betty” Miller is a nationally known landscape artist and a distinguished professor emerita of the Department of Art and Design. She began teaching at Iowa State University in 1969 as an assistant professor of painting and drawing, became an associate professor in 1974 and achieved the rank of professor in 1979. She was awarded a Distinguished Professorship in 1987 and retired in 1994.
During her 24 years at Iowa State, Miller was an active member of nearly 60 different departmental, college, and university committees, in many cases serving as the committee’s chairperson or co-chairperson. She is remembered as an extraordinary artist, educator, mentor and friend both by former students and faculty colleagues who deeply appreciate the time and attention she devoted to their continued learning.
Throughout her teaching career as well as since retirement, Miller also has led a distinguished life as a professional artist, participating in numerous solo, two-person, and group exhibitions and receiving many awards for her magnificent oil and watercolor landscape paintings. Her works appear in a wide range of corporate, public and private collections, including Bankers Trust Co., the Des Moines Art Center, The Gazette Company, Iowa State Memorial Union, Luther College, Meredith Corporation, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, The Principal Financial Group, and Rolscreen Corporation.
1998
Wilbert R. Hasbrouck
BS 1954 Architectural Engineering
Chicago, Illinois
Wilbert R. Hasbrouck has been chairman and principal of Hasbrouck Enterprises, Ltd., since 1996. He was the principal of Hasbrouck Peterson Zimoch Sirirattumrong, Chicago, from 1973 until retiring from full-time activity in 1996. In 1992-93, he assisted in the organization of the Master’s Program in Historic Preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1997 was named a “Distinguished Lecturer” in historic preservation.
A native of Mapleton, Iowa, Hasbrouck received a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from Iowa State College in 1954. He then worked for the Illinois Central Railroad, served for two years in the US Army, and did graduate study in architectural history at the University of Chicago Downtown Center. From 1968 through 1975, Mr. Hasbrouck was executive director of the Chicago Chapter and Illinois Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He is a member emeritus and fellow of the AIA, and founder and past president of the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
In 1994, Mr. Hasbrouck was selected as one of five alumni at ISU’s College of Design to receive special recognition for his professional accomplishments. He was featured in the 1992 Design Alumni Invitational exhibition, and he is active on the college’s Dean’s Council.
Mr. Hasbrouck has received numerous awards for his work and service, including work on such notable structures as Dearborn Station and the Rookery in Chicago, the Dana Thomas House in Springfield, Ill., and People’s Savings Bank/Northwest Bank in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded him a Citation for Significant Achievement in 1974 for his cumulative efforts in restoration and preservation architecture. That award also recognized his work for 14 years as editor and publisher of The Prairie School Review. Mr. Hasbrouck received a Distinguished Service award in 1975 from the Chicago Chapter of the AIA, and was named Preservationist of the Year by the Chicago Coordinating Conference for Landmarks Preservation in 1986.
For his outstanding accomplishments and extraordinary service, the College of Design proudly honors Wilbert R. Hasbrouck with the Christian Petersen Design Award.
1996
John Stephens Rice
BS 1948 Architectural Engineering
Ames, Iowa
Professor John Stephens Rice has contributed his tireless efforts, unfailing wit, analytical abilities, and boundless knowledge to the Department of Architecture for four decades. Starting as an informal visiting lecturer in 1956, he has influenced generations of ISU students and faculty. Particularly adept at connecting with youth, Rice mentors and maintains connections with students and with junior faculty.
Rice has taught studio at every level of the undergraduate and graduate programs while maintaining an active professional practice. He has been honored with 15 AIA Iowa design awards, two AIA Iowa citations, and one Progressive Architecture award.
Rice has served on numerous professional, college, and departmental committees, consistently contributing to the discourse of the college, adding his voice to decisions of leadership, curricula, administration, and education. This “part-timer” sets an example of dedication to us all. The College of Design proudly honors John Stephens Rice with the Christian Petersen Design Award.
1995
Albert J. Rutledge
Ames, Iowa
Landscape Architecture Professor Albert Rutledge is a national leader in landscape architecture instruction. He was named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1986, and now serves on the society’s Fellows Selection Committee. He has served a number of key posts in professional organizations, including chair of the society’s Council of Education, chair of the council’s Program Guidance Committee, regional director of the Council of Education in Landscape Architecture and president of the Iowa Chapter of the ASLA.
Rutledge’s writings have been equally well received. His Anatomy of a Park, still in print 24 years after its original publication, is considered a classic. It also has been published in Japanese. He has published numerous magazine and journal articles, as well.
He led the Department of Landscape Architecture for more than a decade. He gave unfailing support to faculty, and was dedicated to working with students and faculty alike to constantly improve the quality of education. The College of Design proudly honors Albert Rutledge with the Christian Petersen Design Award.
1994
H. Kennard Bussard, FAIA
BAR 1960 Architecture
Des Moines, Iowa
H. Kennard Bussard is president of the Renaissance Design Group, a leading architectural firm in the Midwest with most significant accomplishments to its record. He is also president of the Des Moines, Iowa office of RDG Bussard Dikis, Inc., a diversified corporation with a major part of the firm’s practice being devoted to institutional and higher educational facilities.
RDG Bussard Dikis has received state, regional, and national awards. The firm’s recent work includes: Campus Consulting Architect for Drake University in Des Moines; new recreation sports facilities at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Drake University, University of Northern Iowa, Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, Loyola College in Maryland, and the City of Mankato, Minnesota; a research facility for E.I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company; a strategic facility plan for the Des Moines Schools; and the seventh phase of renovation to the Iowa State Capitol. The firm’s work at Iowa State University includes the award winning Agronomy Building and Recreation/Sports Building, the recently completed Dairy Science expansion, and a master plan for the Memorial Union, the Iowa State University Research Park and the Gateway Center Holiday Inn.
Mr. Bussard was the first chair of the Professional Advisory Board to the ISU Department of Architecture, and in 1977 received a Professional Achievement Citation from the university. In 1989 he was elected to the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Mr. Bussard was elected president of the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1976, in 1983 served as national chair of the AIA Architecture for Education Committee, and later served as Director for the AIA from 1985 to 1987. From 1987 through 1993, Mr. Bussard has assisted in various special assignments for the AIA including the 1988 Vision 2000 Conference; the AIA’s representative to the ACEC Peer Review Steering Committee 1991-1994; and the Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice Review Team, 12th Edition, 1993. Mr. Bussard is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and received the 1993 Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Medal of Honor. He also serves on a host of professional and community programs and boards.
1994
Stanley J. How
BAR 1951 Architecture
Omaha, Nebraska
Since 1959, Stanley J. How has been the Chairman of Stanley J. How and Associates in Omaha, Nebraska. From 1951 to 1959, he was Chief Designer with the Leo A. Daly Company. In the last 35 years, he has designed more than 2,700 projects in 34 states, including: Union Plaza in Las Vegas, Nevada; Westroads Shopping Center in Omaha; First National Plaza; the Library, Eppley Administration Building and Alumni Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; and the Historic Renovations of the Blackstone Center and the Orpheum Tower.
Mr. How’s firm has had a 20-year association with the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, and has designed over 30 exhibits such as the Sea Lion Pool and Pavilion, the Giraffe Complex, the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom Pavilion, the Bear Grottos and the Orangutan and Gorilla buildings. Plans are complete and construction is underway for the new $16 million Aquarium. Time magazine recognized How’s Lied Jungle at the Zoo as one of the 10 best designs of 1992. Time called the Zoo’s rainforest “architecturally stupendous … and zoologically thrilling.” The Lied Jungle also received the 1993 Outstanding Exhibit Award by the AAZPA and numerous engineering awards.
Mr. How is professionally involved with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and the Nebraska AIA. He continues to serve on a host of professional and community programs and boards.
1993
Thomas D. Galloway, PhD, AICP
Atlanta, Georgia
As a visionary leader and dynamic role model, Thomas Galloway effectively led the ISU College of Design toward preeminence in American design education. Dean of the college from 1985 to 1992, Galloway crafted a long-range plan upon his arrival and established goals for the college that continue to stimulate creativity, instruction, and broad-based interdisciplinary scholarship. He was instrumental in the “integrated outreach” initiative that combines research and instruction in programming to extend design education beyond the university. The recently established state-of-the-art computer aided design laboratory exemplifies his remarkably successful leadership in developing fundraising and alumni relations for the college, as well.
Now dean of the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, Galloway is an internationally recognized authority in planning theory and an innovative educator who integrates theory and practice as a new paradigm for the future of planning education. His professional contributions have been acclaimed in the US and abroad as landmarks in planning practice and education. The College of Design has benefited greatly from his leadership and is proud to honor Galloway’s achievements.
1993
J. Michael Poellot
BS 1966
Saratoga, California
As president and founding principal of J. Michael Poellot Golf Design Group, Inc., Poellot has redefined international golf course design. He has designed more than 200 courses throughout the world and has been principal in his own firm since 1980. His courses in the United States, France, and the Pacific Rim countries demonstrate his special interest in environmental harmony and equalizing the playing challenge for men and women.
Poellot is a member and has held offices in the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Society of Golf Course Architects, Urban Land Institute and National Golf Foundation. He has authored numerous articles for journals such as Golf for Women and Golf Course Management, Developments and Urban Land, and his work has been featured in the Scottsdale Scene Magazine, NCGA News, Golf & Sports TURF, and Golf Today. Poellot’s designs have earned many awards, including the 1986 Crescordia Award for Environmental Excellence for his Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, and the 1987 Best New Golf Course in Asia for his Beijing Golf Club. The College of Design is proud to honor his achievements.
1992
James Goettsch
BAR 1967 Architecture
Chicago, Illinois
Goettsch has completed 17 years of service at the renowned firm of Murphy/Jahn, where he was a Vice President for 10 years and Executive Vice President and Associate Director of Planning and Design for five years. He is a founding partner of DeStefano and Goettsch, the Chicago firm in which he now practices.
Goettsch has been intricately involved in all phases of the design and construction of more than 20 major buildings and numerous interiors projects as well as the design of more than a dozen unbuilt projects. His commissions are located throughout the United States and overseas. He has worked on a wide variety of building types, including high-rise and low-rise office buildings, residential apartment buildings, long span structures (arenas and convention centers), and health care facilities.
For five years, beginning in 1983, Goettsch managed Murphy/Jahn’s New York City office directly supervising the design of local buildings and several design competitions and proposals. His projects range from the design of the world’s tallest building for entrepreneur Donald Trump to providing design assistance for the escalator division of the Otis Elevator Company.
Professionally, Goettsch has served on a host of programs and boards, including the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Iowa State University’s Professional Advisory Board. He has taught architecture at the University of Illinois and frequently serves on architectural juries for design competitions.
1991
John H. Lind
BAR 1955 Architecture
Iowa City, Iowa
With vision, commitment, persistence, and gentle humor, Mr. Lind has demonstrated in service to his university the same skills that enabled him to develop a small architectural practice into one of the country’s top design firms. In 1963, Mr. Lind and fellow Iowa Staters Richard Hansen and Carl Meyer founded Hansen Lind Meyer (HLM). The Iowa City firm forged a unique niche by specializing in the design of medical facilities, and in 20 years became Iowa’s largest architectural firm, with branch offices in Chicago and Orlando, Florida. HLM has designed major medical facilities throughout the United States including the Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando; St. Vincent’s Hospital, Birmingham; and the Dover General Hospital and Medical Center, Dover. Some projects in Iowa include the University of Iowa hospitals, Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, the Soil Tilth Laboratory, and the Molecular Biology Building at Iowa State University.
1990
Carolyn Saul Logan
BS 1957 Art Education
Sydney, Australia
A 1957 graduate in Art Education, Logan received the college’s prestigious Christian Petersen Award in 1990, bestowed for “the advance of design though personal aesthetic achievement, exceptional support, or extraordinary encouragement and service.” She is currently senior evaluation officer of the Resources Evaluation Service for Australian Ministry of Education. She taught in Peru’s remote mining camps and later authored children’s books, for which she has gained international acclaim. Her first novel, The Power of the Rellard, was published in Sydney in 1986 and in the U.S. in 1988. It received the 1987 Agnus and Robertson Writers Award. Her second novel, published in 1988, has been translated into Dutch.
1989
Don H. Olson
BS 1955 Landscape Architecture
Watertown, Massachusetts
Mr. Olson received his Master of Landscape Architecture in 1956 from Harvard University. As a principal and senior landscape architect, Mr. Olson has helped to bring international acclaim to the design and planning firm of Sasaki Associates. Projects under his personal direction have ranged from a 3,500 acre community near Williamsburg, Virginia; a resort in Sardinio, Italy; tourism planning for the government of Tunisia; to the development of private estates for the Rockefeller family and His Highness the Aga Khan. His plans for the Sea Pines Plantation Resort in South Carolina and for a 3,000 acre community near Savannah, Georgia, earned consecutive awards for large-scale planning from the Urban Land Institute. The environmental improvement plan proposed under his supervision for Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, received the coveted 1988 Presidential Award for Design Excellence.
1988
Theodore Osmundson
BS 1943 Landscape Architecture
Kensington, California
Mr. Osmundson has been called the premier living landscape architect in the world today. He is quite likely the most articulate advocate for the benefit of comprehensive planning and design that this century has produced in any field. His work in all aspects of the exterior environment is of a level achieved by only a few of the great landscape architects in the history of the profession. In 1967, he was elected president of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the youngest person at that time to assume that responsibility. Mr. Osmundson’s illustrious career has brought great credit to Iowa State University.
1987
Michael P. Donovan
BS 1967 Applied Art
Rye, New York
Mr. Donovan is an award-winning designer and cofounder of the New York-based communications firm, Donovan and Green. His work includes exhibitions, graphics, product design, interiors, and architectural signage for major American corporations and institutions. Following a stint as an instructor at Parsons School of Design, Mr. Donovan, encouraged by his interest in design education, began an involvement with the National Endowment for the Arts that led to his pioneering of its current Architects-in-the-Schools Program.
1986
Marvin R. Springer
BS 1940 Landscape Architecture
Dallas, Texas
Throughout the nation, planners agree that Marvin Springer is among the very best. A drive through Dallas is filled with examples of his leadership as that city’s planner during the 1950s. Over 50 other cities, towns, and counties can also boast result of the “Springer Touch,” thanks to his foresight as the principal and driving force of Marvin Springer and Associates. Through his own firm, from which he retired in 1982, Mr. Springer directed plans for new towns; residential, commercial, and industrial developments; and park systems. The American Planning Association has recognized Mr. Springer for his outstanding professional accomplishments with its Distinguished Professional Achievement Award.
1985
Mary Jane Rice Leland
BS 1945 Applied Art
Los Angeles, California
A gifted fiber artist, Ms. Leland has established herself nationally as an expert weaver, designer, historian, and teacher. She began teaching at the University of Illinois, followed by a position with the American Crayon Company, and then through advanced study she earned a Master of Fine Arts in 1951 at the Cranbrook Academy of Fine Arts, where she learned from two of the most important weavers of that period. Ms. Leland shares her knowledge and creative expertise with students as a professor of art at California State at Long Beach. She maintains a close association with the American Crafts Council, writing articles for their publications, and judging various competitions. She is influential in the Handweavers Guild of America, and participates in symposiums such as Design with Fibers, presented at Iowa State a few years ago.
1985
Charles E. “Chick” Herbert
BAR 1951 Architecture
Des Moines, Iowa
The name Chick Herbert is synonymous with success in Midwestern architecture. Whether the project is modest or grandiose, his building designs are noted consistently for combining aesthetic quality with pragmatic considerations for function. His renovation and restoration projects are marked by a sensitivity and respect for the past. Mr. Herbert generously shares his knowledge through service to organizations such as the Des Moines Art Center, where he is a trustee; the American Institute of Architects, of which he is a Fellow; and the Des Moines Architects Council, where he served as president. For his alma mater, Mr. Herbert has been president of the National Cyclone Club, and a member of the Order of the Knoll, the university’s premier donor organization. In his service and in his profession, Mr. Herbert seeks opportunities for society to be served in useful and creative environments.
1984
Martha J. Benson
Ames, Iowa
Since she cofounded the Ames Society for the Arts in 1966, Ms. Benson has continually made major contributions to the promotion of the arts in central Iowa. She has served as director of The Octagon Center for the Arts in Ames since 1968, and has been responsible for organizing many noteworthy national exhibitions for the center. Her interest in serving all ages has led to a major commitment and sponsorship of programs for the elderly and the young. Ames has a rich cultural environment, thanks to her dedication to bringing well-known artists and innovative visual and performing arts programs to central Iowa.
1984
Renata E. Sack
Waterloo, Iowa
Ms. Sack is responsible for initiating the Cedar Arts Forum, the arts council for Black Hawk County. Director of that organization since 1977, she has placed emphasis on high-quality and in-depth programming for children, students, the elderly, the handicapped, and a broad range of the county’s population. She was one of nine individuals to form the Iowa Assembly of Local Arts Agencies, and currently serves as its vice president. Ms. Sack has expanded her role as a caring, creative individual to include service to both her community and the state.
1984
Kathy O. Wine
Davenport, Iowa
When the city of Davenport decided to celebrate the Mississippi with “The Year of the River,” Ms. Wine was responsible for chairing the entire event. She has been active in riverfront activities for several years as a member of Citizens for a Scenic Riverfront and Junior League of the Quad Cities Riverfront committee. She organized a task force commissioned to encourage and implement urban waterfront development.