4-8-98

Contacts:
Ben Allen, Business, (515) 294-2422
Steve Sullivan, News Service, (515) 294-3720

UP GIFT CREATES FIRST ISU PROFESSORSHIP IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

AMES, Iowa -- A $250,000 gift from the Union Pacific Foundation, matched with an equal commitment from Iowa State University, will establish the Union Pacific Professorship for Information Systems in the ISU College of Business.

The professorship will be based in ISU's management information systems program, currently the largest major in the College of Business. Management information systems is a rapidly growing area of undergraduate study at ISU. Enrollment has doubled in the past year, reaching 321 this spring semester.

"This professorship is pivotal in our educational and research efforts for this rapidly changing area," said Benjamin J. Allen, dean of the College of Business. "It will provide Iowa State a competitive edge over our peer institutions to recruit a distinguished information systems scholar."

A key responsibility for the professorship holder will be to link ISU's management information systems education with "real world" practices, Allen said.

"This gift continues the long-term relationship between Union Pacific and Iowa State," said Darlynn Herweg, director of Union Pacific Foundation and Contributions. "We share a mutual interest in many of Iowa State's programs, and the graduates we've recruited have been some of our most valuable employees."

Union Pacific's financial support to ISU has already created the Union Pacific/Charles B. Handy Professorship in Accounting and has provided scholarship funds for undergraduate and graduate students. An additional gift will fund renovation of the college's accounting suite this summer.

In addition to financial support, Union Pacific executives interact with faculty and students on various projects. One of the most recent examples is an April 9 visit by James Shattuck, Union Pacific Railroad's executive vice president of marketing and sales. As the 1998 R. Dale Voorhees Distinguished Lecturer, he will visit classes in transportation and logistics. He also will present a free public lecture at 2 p.m. in the Scheman Building, entitled "Tackling Impediments to Market Share Growth - What the Railroads and Union Pacific Have to Do to Grow Their Market Share."

Union Pacific's gift is the most recent made to Campaign Destiny: To Become the Best. Conducted by the ISU Foundation, the largest campaign in ISU history has a five-year goal of $300 million. As of March, the campaign had exceeded $242.6 million.

-30-

Iowa State homepage

University Relations, online@iastate.edu
Copyright © 1997, Iowa State University, all rights reserved
URL: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/releases/unionpacific04.08.html
Revised 4/8/98