Class Notes

Emily Toribio of Fareway Stores Inc., has been selected to the 17th annual list of Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40" honorees. The award recognizes local business leaders who are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement. The 2016 awards ceremony is March 30 at the Sheraton Hotel, West Des Moines.

Catherine Swoboda of the World Food Prize Foundation has been selected to the 17th annual list of Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40" honorees. The award recognizes local business leaders who are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement. The 2016 awards ceremony is March 30 at the Sheraton Hotel, West Des Moines.

Cory Scott of RDG Planning & Design has been selected to the 17th annual list of Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40" honorees. The award recognizes local business leaders who are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement. The 2016 awards ceremony is March 30 at the Sheraton Hotel, West Des Moines.

Susan Rathjen, vice president at Bankers Trust Co., has been selected to the 17th annual list of Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40" honorees. The award recognizes local business leaders who are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement. The 2016 awards ceremony is March 30 at the Sheraton Hotel, West Des Moines.

Josh Ehlen, CPCU, ARM, CLCS, an account executive at Reynolds & Reynolds Inc., has been selected to the 17th annual list of Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40" honorees. The award recognizes local business leaders who are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement. The 2016 awards ceremony is March 30 at the Sheraton Hotel, West Des Moines.

Josh Braby of Neumann Brothers Inc. has been selected to the 17th annual list of Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40" honorees. The award recognizes local business leaders who are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement. The 2016 awards ceremony is March 30 at the Sheraton Hotel, West Des Moines.

Collin Barnes, an interior design focus market leader/designer with RDG Planning & Design, has been selected to the 17th annual list of Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40" honorees. The award recognizes local business leaders who are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement. The 2016 awards ceremony is March 30 at the Sheraton Hotel, West Des Moines.

Ryan Chapman has been accepted as a member of the Class VI of the Nebraska Water Leaders Academy, a one-year program that educates participants about the vital role rivers, streams and aquifers play in the economic sustainability of the state. Chapman is water quality assessment supervisor for the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, a position held since 2014. He supervises DEQ’s groundwater and surface water units, which include 20 employees and 10 programs. He has been affiliated with DEQ since 2009. Among his civic activities are active memberships in the Ground Water Protection Council, the Soil and Water Conservation Society, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, and Alpha Gamma Sigma fraternity. He is interested in both the physical and societal aspects of water and in water policies. Water Leaders Academy sessions feature classroom and field trip experiences presented by acknowledged experts in leadership and natural resource topics held at locations across the state. The Nebraska State Irrigation Association sponsors the program. The Water Leaders Academy is partially funded through a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust and more than 25 other organizations and individuals. More information can be found at www.waterleadersacademy.org.

Theaster Gates was featured in an October 2015 piece on “The Eye,” Slate magazine’s design blog, and a cool story in The New York Times T Magazine in December 2015. The Times article was titled “Three Artists Who Think Outside the Box” and featured Gates and two other artists who are “changing what art can – and should – do for the world.” The Eye focused on Gates’ Stony Island Art Bank, a formerly dilapidated 1920s savings and loan building turned cultural center on the South Side of Chicago.

Peter Aitchison (’89 speech communication) and Kristin Halsey Aitchison (’90 speech communication) met as students in the theatre department at Iowa State. Since graduation, Peter has worked in summer stock, commercials, film, and theatre; Kris is both an actor and a director. The couple recently launched their own company, Hero Now Theatre, along with a third partner, in the Twin Cities. In January, Hero Now presented its second production: Terra Nova. This show is notable for two reasons. First, Peter and Kristin met while performing in the production at Iowa State. Second, the company presented the show outside. In January. In Minnesota. In a crazy way, this makes perfect sense. Terra Nova tells the story of two expeditions, both heading for the South Pole at the same time in 1911. One never returned. So Hero Now’s winter theatre experience began the minute theatre-goers got out of their cars. Performances took place inside a performance tent set up on a soccer field in a northeast Minneapolis suburb. According to its website, Hero Now Theatre aims to “engage audiences with stories about everyday people making extraordinary choices, unique performance atmosphere in nontraditional venues, and thoughtful conversation before and after each performance. We aim to tell stories so compelling that you experience something new – an insight, self-understanding, an idea for change – that leads you to respond, to be a hero, now.”

Peter Aitchison (’89 speech communication) and Kristin Halsey Aitchison (’90 speech communication) met as students in the theatre department at Iowa State. Since graduation, Peter has worked in summer stock, commercials, film, and theatre; Kris is both an actor and a director. The couple recently launched their own company, Hero Now Theatre, along with a third partner, in the Twin Cities. In January, Hero Now presented its second production: Terra Nova. This show is notable for two reasons. First, Peter and Kristin met while performing in the production at Iowa State. Second, the company presented the show outside. In January. In Minnesota. In a crazy way, this makes perfect sense. Terra Nova tells the story of two expeditions, both heading for the South Pole at the same time in 1911. One never returned. So Hero Now’s winter theatre experience began the minute theatre-goers got out of their cars. Performances took place inside a performance tent set up on a soccer field in a northeast Minneapolis suburb. According to its website, Hero Now Theatre aims to “engage audiences with stories about everyday people making extraordinary choices, unique performance atmosphere in nontraditional venues, and thoughtful conversation before and after each performance. We aim to tell stories so compelling that you experience something new – an insight, self-understanding, an idea for change – that leads you to respond, to be a hero, now.”

Patrick James Brown is the author of The Mick. He sent a copy to the ISU Alumni Association, noting: “Not only did I graduate from Iowa State, but so did my editor, Greg Lauser [’70 political science], whom I asked to edit my novel because he is so much smarter than I am. Greg was editor of the Iowa State Daily, I merely the sports editor of the 1972 Bomb.” The Mick tells the story of Jack O’Connor, a poor Irish lad, as his life takes him from the Easter Rebellion in 1916, through World War I, back home to Ireland (where he discovers an unspeakable tragedy), and then on to America, where he works as a Mob enforcer.

Brandon Schaefer (’03 Spanish/international ag/ag business) has published Build A Better Life: Practical Tools and Strategies to Develop and Lead Your Life and Business the Way Jesus Would. The book provides practical assistance with strategies to empower readers to live a more productive, healthier, and happier life. Schaefer is the founder and executive director of Five Capitals, a global initiative working with business and church leaders in the areas of personal development, leadership skills, and organizational growth.

Kelly Norris, director of horticulture for the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, recently released a new gardening book, Plants with Style: A Plantsman’s Choices for a Vibrant, 21st-Century Garden. His earlier titles include A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts and Iowa Gardener’s Travel Guide. Norris also won a 2015 Martha Stewart American Made Award for his iris-breeding business, Rainbow Iris Farms.

Rhodeside & Harwell, a landscape architecture and planning practice headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area, has named Kurt Parker as a principal of the firm. Parker joined Rhodeside & Harwell in 1994. He is a landscape architect who has overseen major projects for the firm, including site and landscape development for new U.S. Embassy campuses in North and West Central Africa, the Balkans, and the Southwestern Pacific Region.

On Jan. 11, 2016, the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) Governing Council selected Judson Horras to become president and CEO of the trade association representing inter/national men’s fraternities. Horras most recently served as the administrative secretary of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, while concurrently serving as interim president and CEO of the NIC during its historic restructuring in fall 2015. Founded in 1909, the NIC is the trade association representing inter/national men’s fraternities. The NIC’s member organizations include more than 6,000 chapters located on more than 800 campuses in the United States and Canada, with approximately 375,000 undergraduate members and nearly five million alumni.

The American Institute of Architects, Iowa Chapter, has announced that architect Edd Soenke recently received an award from the National Institute of Building Sciences.
 Soenke accepted the NIBS Honor Award, the association’s highest award, on Jan. 14 for his seven years of work on the Design Guidelines for the Visual Environment as the chairperson of the Low Vision Design Committee. Design Guidelines is the first document of its kind in the United States to offer assistance to design professionals and others in accommodating a growing segment of the population who lives with the spectrum of vision disorders contributing to low vision. Soenke is owner/architect at The Design Partnership in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Jeff Grummer and Rod Bodholdt, co-owners of B&G Productions in Ames, have collaborated on many memorable projects. Now, one of them has been recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. “I Will – The Jack Trice Story” was nominated for a Midwest Emmy in the Sports Documentary category. B&G, along with production partner Cyclones.tv, was informed that the show was one of just two finalists. “It’s been a blessing and honor to bring the Jack Trice story to light in a new way,” Grummer said. “It’s always great to work with the people at Cyclones.tv. They are first rate in every way. It’s humbling for all of us to be recognized by the Academy.”

Jeff Grummer and Rod Bodholdt, co-owners of B&G Productions in Ames, have collaborated on many memorable projects. Now, one of them has been recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. “I Will – The Jack Trice Story” was nominated for a Midwest Emmy in the Sports Documentary category. B&G, along with production partner Cyclones.tv, was informed that the show was one of just two finalists. “It’s been a blessing and honor to bring the Jack Trice story to light in a new way,” Grummer said. “It’s always great to work with the people at Cyclones.tv. They are first rate in every way. It’s humbling for all of us to be recognized by the Academy.”

Mike Retallick, an associate professor in agricultural education and studies at Iowa State, is one of six individuals to receive the National Association of Agricultural Educators Teacher Mentor Award. Retallick is a scholar of experiential learning. He has been recognized nationally for his theoretical work in the field, but is well known for his practical applications for classroom teachers. Retallick has mentored undergraduate and graduate students seeking certification and careers in agricultural education, helped agriculture teachers improve their instruction and taught them to manage the career-life balance, and supports teachers and students by volunteering with FFA, the FFA Foundation, and through local leadership positions.

When the Allegheny Arboretum at Indiana University of Pennsylvania was recently recognized as having one of the most beautiful campus arboretums in the United States by Best College Reviews, an Iowa State alum was honored by association. Jerry Pickering, a retired professor of biology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania had, near the final years of his tenure, taken a sabbatical to investigate and help create an arboretum for the campus. The result: a living museum that provides not only beauty to the campus in southwestern Pennsylvania but also an outdoor classroom where each specimen is carefully labeled, maintained, catalogued, and mapped. Pickering remains a member of the Allegheny Arboretum board.

Lisa Hermsen, the Caroline Werner Gannett Chair of Humanities at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., worked on a proposal that resulted in RIT becoming the first in the nation to offer a degree in digital humanities. Hermsen was the lead on the proposal in terms of its design and was primary author of the proposal, which was submitted to the New York Department of Education for approval. She will be teaching the first course in the degree requirements next semester and is organizing a regional conference on the topic of undergraduate digital humanities and social sciences.

A research project for the Diabetes Research Connection by Subhadra Gunawardana recently raised more than $50,000 through a crowdfunding campaign. Her research project aims to reverse type 1 diabetes without insulin replacement. The Diabetes Research Connection, a nonprofit organization headquartered in San Diego, Calif., was established in 2012 to help prevent and cure type 1 diabetes, minimize its complications, and improve the quality of life for those living with the disease.

Andrew Ryder, assistant professor of Higher Education at the Watson College, has been named an Emerging Scholar Designee by ACPA - College Student Educators International, a leading international professional association for the study and practice of student affairs and higher education. The award “supports, encourages, and honors early-career individuals who are emerging as contributors to student affairs and higher education scholarship and who are pursuing research initiatives congruent with the mission, interests, and strategic goals of ACPA.” As an Emerging Scholar Designee from 2016-2018, Ryder will receive a $3,000 grant to support his continued research on a set of policy-based indicators of campus climate to augment an existing national assessment of campus climate for personal and social responsibility. He will also create a video presentation on his scholarship on assessing campus climates that the organization will host on its website, and co-plan a conference symposium in partnership with ACPA's Senior Scholars, with a focus on teaching and helping practitioners contribute to and identify venues for scholarship and writing. “There are a number of tremendously gifted early-career scholars engaged in innovative research in higher education and student affairs,” Ryder said. “I’m extremely humbled to receive this recognition.”

The Iowa Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers has presented its Distinguished Service to Iowa Agriculture Award to the dean of the Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Wendy K. Wintersteen. Wintersteen received the award at the February meeting of the Iowa Chapter of ASFMRA in Ames. The award is designed to recognize persons who have made significant contributions to Iowa agriculture. Wintersteen was recognized for her leadership in the growth of undergraduate education in the College, serving the state as an extension specialist, and being a "champion for the students, faculty, and staff in the college and for the agricultural industry in Iowa."