Honors and awards

November 2021

Hassall honored for work with course design Institute

Instructional technology specialist Lesya Hassall was recognized by the United States Distance Learning Association for her work leading the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching's Course Design Institute (CDI). CDI earned second-place honors in the International Distance Learning Award Excellence in Teaching Award. The award is given to an outstanding individual or team of individuals whose teaching demonstrates extraordinary achievements. The training must demonstrate effective learning facilitated through technology with measurable outcomes.

Supporting entrepreneurship across Iowa earns ISU national recognition

Iowa State has received the 2021 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Place award from the the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). It's the third time in five years APLU has recognized Iowa State for its economic engagement. Iowa State received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity Innovation award in 2020 and the Innovation and Economic Prosperity Talent award in 2017. 

Gold seal recognizes student voter participation last fall

Iowa State, with leadership from the Catt Center for Women and Politics, earned a Gold Seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for nonpartisan student voter participation efforts in the 2020 national election. Gold, the third highest seal, indicates a student voter participation rate between 70% and 80%. The challenge is a national, nonpartisan initiative of the not-for profit organization, Civic Nation. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. More than 840 colleges and universities are participating in ALL IN across all 50 states and the District of Columbia enrolling more than 9.1 million students.

Younger to serve on executive team for APLU council

Senior vice president for student affairs Toyia Younger has been elected to a three-year term on the Council on Student Affairs executive committee, an operational council of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Her term runs 2022-24. The council advocates within APLU and works cooperatively with other councils and commissions to enhance institutional effectiveness and the student experience in areas such as cocurricular opportunities, personal and professional growth, academic progress and completion, mental and physical wellness, and fundamental needs such as housing, financial aid, transportation and food.

Halbur receives Pope Award

Dr. Pat Halbur, chair of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine and executive director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, has received the 2021 E.P. Pope Memorial Award from the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. The Pope Award is the organization's highest honor and is named in honor of Dr. E.P. Pope, a 1949 graduate of Iowa State's College of Veterinary Medicine.

McKenny novel selected for 'All Iowa Reads' program

The Iowa Center for the Book, State Library of Iowa, announced that Rachel Mans McKenny's novel, "The Butterfly Effect," was chosen as the "All-Iowa Reads" adult selection for 2022. McKenny is the assistant director of ISU's Writing and Media Center, and "The Butterfly Effect," a story about an entomologist set in Ames, is her debut novel. The aim of All Iowa Reads is to encourage Iowans statewide to read and talk about a single title in the same year. It features adult, teen and kids recommendations each year.