House Resolution 140 - Introduced
PAG LIN
H.R. ________ S.R. ________
1 1 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO.
1 2 BY HEDDENS, WESSEL=KROESCHELL,
1 3 DEYOE, and D. OLSON
1 4 A Resolution congratulating Iowa State University of
1 5 Science and Technology for 150 years of leadership
1 6 and service to the nation and the world as Iowa's
1 7 land=grant university.
1 8 WHEREAS, Iowa State University of Science and
1 9 Technology was established by the General Assembly on
1 10 March 22, 1858, as the Iowa Agricultural College and
1 11 Model Farm in response to the state's desire to
1 12 provide higher education opportunities to farm
1 13 families and working classes in Iowa; and
1 14 WHEREAS, on September 11, 1862, Iowa became the
1 15 first state in the nation to accept the terms and
1 16 conditions of the federal Morrill Act creating the
1 17 land=grant system of colleges and universities; and
1 18 WHEREAS, the Iowa Agricultural College and Model
1 19 Farm, today Iowa State University of Science and
1 20 Technology, received Iowa's land=grant charter on
1 21 March 29, 1864, making it one of the first land=grant
1 22 institutions in the nation; and
1 23 WHEREAS, Iowa State University was a pioneer in all
1 24 three parts of the land=grant mission, namely:
1 25 1. Access to all, regardless of race, gender, or
1 26 social class: Iowa State University was the first
1 27 land=grant institution to be coeducational from its
1 28 opening, with 16 women in its first class; future
1 29 suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt was an 1880 graduate;
1 30 and George Washington Carver was the first
2 1 African=American student, earning a bachelor's degree
2 2 in 1894 and a master's degree in 1896, and was also
2 3 the institution's first African=American faculty
2 4 member;
2 5 2. Practical research: Iowa State University
2 6 established the nation's first engineering experiment
2 7 station and domestic economy experimental kitchen, and
2 8 one of the first agriculture experiment stations;
2 9 3. Outreach: Among the earliest land=grant
2 10 institution outreach activities were the Farmers
2 11 Institutes in the winter of 1869=1870 by Iowa State
2 12 University President Adonijah Welch, and the nation's
2 13 first county extension service was organized in 1903
2 14 in Sioux County in northwest Iowa by Professor Perry
2 15 Holden; and
2 16 WHEREAS, some of the most important technological
2 17 advancements of the modern world were the result of
2 18 research at Iowa State University, including:
2 19 development of hybrid seed corn in the 1920s;
2 20 pioneering work on soybean oil extraction and
2 21 producing ethanol from corn and other plant materials
2 22 by Professor Orland Sweeney in the 1930s; invention of
2 23 the electronic digital computer in the late 1930s by
2 24 Professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford
2 25 Berry, whose Atanasoff=Berry computer was the first to
2 26 incorporate the seven basic principles of modern
2 27 computing; development of modern livestock animal
2 28 genetics by Professor Jay Lush; development of a
2 29 digital encoding process that made the fax machine a
2 30 business office staple, by graduate student David
3 1 Nicholas in 1971; and first field=testing of a
3 2 genetically altered woody plant in 1989 by Professor
3 3 Robert Thornburg; and
3 4 WHEREAS, Iowa State University hired one of the
3 5 nation's first permanent campus artists=in=residence,
3 6 with sculptor Christian Petersen holding that position
3 7 from 1934 to 1955; and
3 8 WHEREAS, Iowa State University has had a technology
3 9 transfer office since 1935, longer than all but one
3 10 other university in the nation, and is today
3 11 acknowledged as a national leader in putting
3 12 technology to work, being cited as a "model of
3 13 economic development" and "licensing powerhouse" in a
3 14 2007 study commissioned by the National Science
3 15 Foundation; and
3 16 WHEREAS, Iowa State University is today
3 17 spearheading new advances in science and technology,
3 18 including new materials, information sciences, green
3 19 architecture, biological research, and the development
3 20 of biorenewable fuels and other resources to support
3 21 the bioeconomy and the nation's independence from
3 22 nonrenewable petroleum resources; and
3 23 WHEREAS, more than 257,000 degrees have been
3 24 awarded by Iowa State University, and its graduates
3 25 include heads of state, leaders of industry, great
3 26 humanitarians, and gifted scientists, whose work has
3 27 improved the quality of life for people worldwide; NOW
3 28 THEREFORE,
3 29 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
3 30 That the House of Representatives congratulates Iowa
4 1 State University of Science and Technology for 150
4 2 years of outstanding service to the State of Iowa, the
4 3 United States, and the world in fulfilling its mission
4 4 as a land=grant university, and thanks the State of
4 5 Iowa for its visionary leadership in the beginning of
4 6 the land=grant movement in the United States.
4 7 LSB 6639HH 82
4 8 jr/nh/14