News Releases: Iowa State University

QUICK LINKS
Today's News
News releases
ISU homepage

NEWS RELEASE

08-01-02

Iowa State Alumni Featured at the State Fair exhibit 2002
(see news story)

Des Moines
King Au, '82 Architecture, '85 Master's Architecture
Photographer/Owner, Studio Au, Inc.
Ann Au, '81 Craft Design
Designer/Owner, 2AU Ltd.

While other artists are compelled to leave the state for the East or West Coast, King and Ann Au shared their creative talents with Iowa after graduation from Iowa State. Ann's one-of-a-kind, handmade contemporary jewelry, which she sells from her shop in Valley Junction, is worn by Iowans across the state. King has a thriving photography and design business that serves clients in Iowa and beyond, and his photographs are displayed in private homes, businesses and galleries throughout the state. Staying in Iowa, King and Ann have contributed to Iowa's rich artistic diversity.

Marshalltown
Chris Clover, '91 Aerospace Engineering, '92 MBA, '96 Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering
Founder/CEO, Mechdyne

Chris Clover's company had an international reputation for designing large-scale visualization and simulation systems--including comprehensive and flexible training simulations that will better prepare our soldiers for future missions and virtual reality theaters that help engineers improve farm equipment. Mechdyne's ultra-high-tech jobs help keep highly educated young people in Iowa. The company employs 41, boasts $1.5 million in payroll and brings millions of dollars of sales into our state.

Jefferson
Tom Feldmann, '60 Agricultural Business
Agribusiness Consultant

For Tom Feldmann, retirement after 36 years as marketing manager of one of the state's largest independent farmer cooperatives could have meant a life of leisure. But instead, he put his experience to work for cooperatives throughout the state. By helping agricultural cooperatives determine how to maintain viable services and providing expert advice about regulatory issues, he has helped numerous Iowa co-ops avoid suffering losses--which has benefited 30,000 co-op farmer members across the state.

Clear Lake
Bob Furleigh, '58 Economics
Owner, Furleigh Farms

For the past 46 years, more than 4,000 people annually have flocked to Bob Furleigh's strawberry patches throughout the state to pick their own luscious fruit. Folks know Furleigh Farms for growing high-quality, fresh produce--including strawberries, sweet corn, pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes and more. Bob and his wife have employed more than 3,000 people over the years and estimate that Iowans have enjoyed more than 1,000 tons of their delicious strawberries.

Denison
Georgia Hollrah, '72 Spanish and History
Spanish Teacher, Denison Community Schools

This year, Georgia Hollrah won the Iowa State Education Association Human Relations Award, for her many years of helping the growing Hispanic community in Denison. In the early 1990s, Georgia was asked to offer English classes to the new residents. As a result of her efforts, hundreds of Spanish-speaking residents enrolled in her classes--and dozens of English-speaking residents have volunteered to help. Through their efforts, Denison citizens are making connections to embrace the new diversity in their western Iowa community.

Muscatine
Stanley Howe, '46 Engineering
Chairman Emeritus, HONIndustries

At HONIndustries, employees are called "members." And in 1948, Stanley Howe became member #21 of the start-up company in Muscatine. Throughout his 50-year-tenure, he helped build the small company into the nation's largest producer of midmarket office furniture--which can be found in hundreds of business, industry and educational environments across the state. Today the company has grown and expanded beyond the state of Iowa, but the company still employs approximately 3,000 people in Muscatine where its corporate headquarters remain.

Cedar Rapids
Dwight Hughes, Jr., '70 Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Owner, Hughes Nursery

Throughout his 30+ year career, third generation nurseryman Dwight Hughes, Jr. has beautified our landscape, selling and planting more than one million specimen plants in Iowa. As a national leader in the horticultural field, Dwight has made significant contributions that have improved and advanced mechanization for the green industry. And for Iowans, the flowering trees, evergreens and shrubs grown and planted by him and his family is a legacy we all enjoy.

Des Moines
Ric Jurgens, '71 Industrial Administration
President and Chief Administrative Officer, Hy-Vee, Inc.

After 30 years with the company, Ric Jurgens is now president and chief administrative officer of Hy-Vee, Inc.--ranked one of the top 15 grocery store chains in the country. Hy-Vee employs 25,000 Iowans, operates Drug Town drug stores across Iowa and has numerous subsidiaries including Hy-Vee Weitz, L.C. Construction, Meyocks & Priebe Advertising, and Midwest Heritage Bank. As an Iowa State student, 19-year-old Jurgens spent weekends and evenings at Hy-Vee in Ames checking groceries and stocking shelves. Upon graduation, he went full-time and advanced through the ranks to his present position.

Toledo
Norma "Duffy" Lyon, '51 Animal Husbandry
Dairy Farming Partner and Artist

As a young Iowa State student, Duffy Lyon's first sculpture of a cow was created in the snow outside her sorority house. It caught the eye of art professor Christian Petersen, who invited her to enroll in his art classes. She graduated with a degree in agriculture, but has used her artistic talent to promote Iowa agriculture and Iowa farm life for the past 43 years. Known across the nation as the "Butter Cow Lady," millions have passed by her annual butter sculptures of dairy cows displayed at the Iowa State Fair since 1959.

Eddyville
Dianne Milianta, '85 Chemical Engineering
Assistant Vice President, Worldwide Operations Manager, Cargill Acidulants

Dianne Milianta's oversight of the construction and start-up of Cargill's first ethanol plant in Eddyville has resulted in a new agri-customer for Iowa farmers. Built under Dianne's supervision in 1992, the plant now uses 40,000 bushels of corn every day to produce 30 million gallons of ethanol a year. The plant not only helps Iowa farmers, but its product provides benefits to Iowans through lower pollution levels.

Dubuque
Gordon Mills, '65 Architecture
CEO/Chairman, The Durrant Group, Inc.

Throughout his career at The Durrant Group, a professional architecture, engineering and construction management company, Gordon Mills developed expertise in planning health care facilities. Since 1960, Durrant has had 18 Iowa hospitals as clients and has planned more than two million square feet of space. Today, more than 2.5 million days of inpatient care have been provided, more than 47,000 babies have been born, and more than 400,000 surgical procedures have been completed and more than two million outpatients have been seen in facilities in Iowa designed by his company.

Urbandale
Karol DeWulf Nickell, '79 Home Economics Journalism
Vice President/Editor in Chief, Better Homes and Gardens

Every month, 36 million Americans read the Iowa-based, 80-year-young magazine Better Homes and Gardens. But when a new issue comes out, the magazine's editor in chief, Karol DeWulf Nickell, wants to hear what her mother in Durant, Iowa, thinks of it. The third largest magazine in the country, Better Homes and Gardens, is published by Meredith Corporation. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Meredith is a billion-dollar media and marketing company headquartered in Des Moines and employs 952 Iowans in its work force of more than 2,700.

Cedar Rapids
Norm Nielsen, '69 Master's Education
President, Kirkwood Community College

Norm Nielsen's 40-year career in education as a teacher, principal, superintendent and president of Kirkwood Community College has influenced the lives of nearly 200,000 students in Iowa. Since 1983, through Norm's leadership at Kirkwood and in community development, Kirkwood has administered 286 Iowa New Jobs Training projects which has resulted in a projected number of 20,185 planned new jobs and $92,204,495 in training assistance to qualifying businesses.

Sioux City
J. Ken Roach, '61 Veterinary Medicine
Veterinarian/Owner, Roach Veterinary Clinic

For the past 39 years, Dr. Roach has been involved in Sioux City's Little Yellow Dog Auction--a volunteer effort that for nearly 70 years has helped raise more than $3,000,000 during the holidays for deserving children and families. Each year, Dr. Roach helps select a puppy that is auctioned to the highest bidder. Since 1963, Dr. Roach's "little yellow dogs" have raised more than $700,000.

Mediapolis
Don Schmidgall, '74 Engineering Operations
Aaron Schmidgall, '95 Mechanical Engineering
Ron Schmidgall, '74 Engineering Operations
Owners, The Hawkeye Group

Two generations of Iowa State graduates are making The Hawkeye Group an attractive employer in rural Iowa. Highly educated employees are recruited from across the nation to locate in this rural community of 1,600 people and help the company design, manufacture and sell high-tech machinery to the concrete industry around the world. The Schmidgalls have six Iowa State graduates and two current Iowa State students in their family, all contributing professionally and personally to the betterment of Iowa.

Sioux City
Kathryn Schroer, '64 Child Development and Family Relations
Owner/Director, Early Childhood Learning Center

When Kathryn Schroer opened the Early Childhood Learning Center in Sioux City in 1980, her goal was to provide a positive, stimulating and fun first school experience for children ages 3-6. Twenty-one years later, she has helped more than 2,000 young children discover and develop their own natural abilities. Many of her students later became valedictorians of their respective high school classes. Kathy has touched thousands of families, too. Her program reaches out to parents, providing support in the important task of raising children--the key to Iowa's future.

Sioux Center
Jan Schuiteman, '74 Veterinary Medicine
CEO, Pro Edge, Ltd.

Founder of Pro Edge, Ltd., a group of agribusiness and biotechnology companies, Dr. Schuiteman is helping make Iowa the "Silicon Valley" of bioprotein production and keep high-tech jobs in our state. His companies provide technology to improve livestock quality as well as to create new markets for producers. His Genetic Advancement Center is working to develop cows that produce pharmaceuticals in their milk for use as cancer treatments, protection from bioterrorism and to treat antibiotic-resistant diseases.

Malcolm and Newton
Walter W. Smith, '69 Industrial Administration
Chairman and CEO, Thombert, Inc., ITWC, Inc. and Cyko, Inc.

Not satisfied with creating one viable business, entrepreneur Walter Smith has three successful companies and spends much of his time promoting business growth in Iowa communities. Smith's companies--which he expanded tenfold over the past 25 years--employ 125 people and bring $25 million in revenue to Iowa. His companies manufacture forklift truck wheels and tires, polyurethane chemicals and processing machinery as well as in-line skate wheels.

Des Moines
Jack Taylor, '69 Construction Engineering
CEO, Taylor Construction Group

During his 30-year career in Iowa, Jack Taylor has managed the building or remodeling of thousands of buildings throughout Iowa, representing $1 billion in construction. His company has created millions of square feet in buildings in more than 40 Iowa communities, including offices, hospitals, convention centers, shopping malls, schools, stadiums, arenas, art centers, museums, banks and warehouses. As one of the largest contractors in the state, Taylor Construction directly employs 250 people, and more than 1,000 are currently involved in Iowa projects.

DeWitt
Alan Tubbs, '66 Animal Science
President, Ohnward Bancshares, Inc.

During his 30-year banking career, Alan Tubbs, through his affiliated banks in DeWitt, Maquoketa, Cascade and Clinton, has provided millions of dollars to support production agriculture. During the farm crisis of the mid-1980s, Alan's leadership of the agricultural division of the American Bankers Association resulted in USDA programs that helped stabilize farm asset values and support farmers in need, saving countless Iowa farm enterprises.

Des Moines
Deborah Turner, '73 Distributed Studies
Gynecological Oncologist, Mercy Medical Center

Dr. Turner is one of only 690 board-certified gynecologic oncologists in the entire United States--and the only one in Iowa outside of Iowa City. She has practiced medicine in the Quad Cities, at the University of Iowa Hospitals, at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, as well as in outreach clinics at North Iowa Mercy Cancer Center in Mason City. Since 1985, Dr. Turner has made a critical difference in the lives of women in all 99 counties of Iowa who might not otherwise have access to her medical expertise in treating cancer.

-30-