A $100,000 gift from Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, and her husband Kenneth Coleman, was made to the University of Northern Iowa to establish the Leland Wilson Chemistry Lectureship.
 The Coleman’s endowment gift will fund an annual lecture in chemistry and honor Wilson, who is Mary Sue Coleman’s father. Wilson became the first head of the Department of Chemistry at UNI in 1968 and served in that capacity until 1975. He retired as a professor of chemistry in 1979, and died in 1993 at the age of 79.
During his 24 years at UNI, Wilson taught physical science and chemistry, specializing in instrumental analysis. He became an expert in a number of newly emerging instrumental techniques, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. Wilson received a B.S. degree from Eastern Kentucky University, M.S. from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
The Leland Wilson Lecture Series was originally established in 1997 and has continued through annual gifts from his family and colleagues. The new endowment will ensure perpetual funding for the lectureship. The Leland and Margaret Harvin Wilson Scholarship Endowment also was established to honor Wilson and his late wife.
Mary Sue Coleman, a biochemist and the lecture series’ first speaker in 1997, said she is very pleased to create an endowment that will continue to recognize the contributions her father made to UNI and his field.
“My father had genuine affection and admiration for his students and he was an extraordinarily gifted teacher,” Mary Sue Coleman said. “He was very proud that UNI chemistry graduates were, and are, highly competitive for graduate school and professional school placements. This is not just any Department of Chemistry; it is a very special one.”
UNI’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is reputed as one of the top undergraduate programs in the nation. For the past several years, the department has graduated more bachelor degree chemists than any other public university in the state of Iowa. The Bachelor of Science program is accredited by the American Chemical Society. Bill Harwood, head of the chemistry department, said the lectureship will allow UNI to bring nationally recognized scholars and leaders in chemistry and science to campus.
“We will have speakers who can talk about their fields in a compelling way that provides a wider public with a better understanding of what makes science exciting and valuable,” Harwood said. “The Leland Wilson Chemistry Lectureship will give us another opportunity to show that good science is going on at UNI and that we are equipping our students well for professions in chemistry and biochemistry. Students will have an opportunity to hear and interact with leaders who are successful in the students’ future career arenas.”
UNI alumni receive Grammy nominations for jazz album
Warren Hatfield and James Linahon, University of Northern Iowa alumni, have received Grammy Award nominations from The Recording Academy. The Grammys are awarded to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry.
Hatfield received six nominations in four categories for his album “Smile,” which is a tribute to jazz legend Paul Desmond. UNI alumni Linahon, Jeff Tower and Jim Coffin also appear on the album. Linahon is nominated in two award categories for his engineering work.
Produced by Hatfield, Gretchen Hatfield and Linahon, “Smile” was recorded at Linahon’s LMP Studios in Claremont, Calif. The CD features Hatfield on saxophone and oboe with a jazz rhythm section and strings. Coffin, Tower and Linahon also perform, along with a number of other studio musicians from the Los Angeles area. Linahon was the head recording engineer and mixer for the album. Internationally renowned arranger and conductor John Cacavas contributed several arrangements.
Hatfield currently resides in Phoenix and performs with his jazz quintet, his nonet “déjà vu” and with various groups as a freelancer. Hatfield taught at South Dakota State University for 33 years and served as head of the music department there for 27 years. He was a member and chair of the South Dakota Arts Council from 1981 to 1993. He recently recorded an album for the Italian jazz trumpet artist Andrea Tofanelli, to be released soon.
Tower is an award-winning director of bands at Hemet High School in Hemet, Calif. Coffin directed the UNI Jazz Band program from 1964-1972 and currently lives in Garden Grove, Calif.
UNI Institute for Decision Making Celebrates 20 Years of Service in Economic Development
Twenty years of combining vision, academic expertise and practical experience has allowed the University of Northern Iowa’s Institute for Decision Making to leave its mark on Iowa. Since its inception in 1987, IDM has assisted clients in all of Iowa’s 99 counties, serving more than 450 communities and nine regional economic development groups.
 “We started to build our program with just a couple of clients in 1987,” said Randy Pilkington, executive director of IDM and UNI’s Business and Community Services division. “Our services began primarily with planning but have grown to include organizational management, target-industry studies, board training, economic-impact analysis, community assessments, fund raising, assisting with hiring professional staff, leading the well-respected Heartland Economic Development Course and other economic development services.”
IDM began when Robert Waller, former dean of the UNI College of Business Administration, sought a solution to the hand-wringing and talk about community advancement in Iowa. Today, IDM serves nearly 50 community partner clients each year, creating 1,500 to 2,000 jobs annually, and through its role in the Heartland Economic Development Course has enabled more than 500 new professionals to be trained in the fundamental strategies of economic development.
After 20 years of planning, analyzing and training in communities across Iowa, IDM continues to progress and lead organizations and governments, including new projects in Black Hawk County and Fairfield.
Staying on top of economic trends, changes and challenges keeps IDM on the cutting edge of economic development, allowing the organization to remain a key resource for development organizations at the local, regional and state level.
IDM is a program of the Business and Community Services division within the UNI College of Business Administration.
University of Northern Iowa Alumni Legislators
They celebrated Homecoming, rallied behind the Panther athletic teams and shared memories and perhaps a few tears at graduation.
They studied subjects as diverse as political science, mass communications, biology, elementary education, public policy and liberal studies.
They’ve enjoyed successful careers and now work collectively to improve and enhance the lives of all Iowans by serving in the Iowa Legislature.
University of Northern Iowa alumni have served in the Iowa Legislature for more than a century, beginning with Edward D. Chassell of LeMars in 1893. Currently, 14 members of the Iowa Legislature are graduates of UNI, including the president pro tempore, a former assistant majority leader, a co-chair of the budget committee, a retired general in the Iowa National Guard, and one of the youngest members of the legislature who once was a clerk for the president pro tempore.
UNI Alumni/2008 Iowa Legislators
President Pro Tempore
Sen. Jeff Danielson (D-Cedar Falls) 2004 M.A. public policy; 2001 B.A. public administration
Assistant Majority Leader, House of Representatives, 1996-2002
Sen. Bill Dotzler (D-Waterloo), 1975 B.A. biology; daughter, Melissa Dotzler Messerschmidt is 1994 alumna
Assistant Minority Leader, Former President Pro Tempore
Sen. Larry McKibben (R-Marshalltown), 1970 B.A., political science; son, Mark is 1994 alumus
Other UNI Alumni/2008 Iowa Legislators include:
Rep. Paul Bell (D-Newton), 1973 B.A., political science
Rep. Deborah Berry (D-Waterloo), 2006 M.A., mass communications
Rep. Marcella Frevert (D-Emmetsburg), 1980 M.A. education
Rep. Polly Granzow (R-Eldora), 1995 M.A., Spanish
Rep. David Jacoby (D-Coralville), 1992 B.A. liberal studies
Rep. Janet Petersen (D-Des Moines), 1992 B.A. communications, public relations
Sen. Brian Schoenjahn (D-Arlington), 1972 M.A. political science; 1971 B.A. political science
Rep. Jodi Tymeson (R-Winterset), 1988 B.A. elementary education
Rep. Andrew Wenthe (D-Hawkeye), 2001 B.A., political communications (served as Danielson’s clerk)
Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D-Ames), 1981, B.A. English (teaching)
Rep. Cindy Winckler (D-Davenport), 2000 M.A., educational technology
Business and Community Services Building dedicated Aug. 25
 UNI’s new Business and Community Services Building was dedicated during a ceremony on Aug. 25. The facility is an entrepreneurial and interactive environment for public-private partnerships. Programs within the new facility include the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, Innovation Incubator, Student Business Incubator, Institute for Decision Making, Intellectual Property Office and Office of Technology Transfer and Business Incubation.
UNI’s BCS programs have provided services in all 99 Iowa counties, impacting 3,500 businesses, 457 communities and 32,600 employees and community leaders.
Begeman Hall dedicated Oct. 5
Dick Jourdan speaks at the dedication ceremony of the renovated Begeman Hall, named in honor of Jourdan’s grandfather, Louis Begeman.
This fall, UNI’s Department of Physics moved back into the renovated physics building, now named Begeman Hall to honor the former physics professor and first department head of physics at UNI. |
