Our Progress

In 18 months, three of six degree programs Iowa State faculty are developing to address student and workforce demands have crossed or reached the finish line. The other three are moving through department and college curriculum committees and should be evaluated in the spring by the Faculty Senate. The last stop is at the state Board of Regents.

Thirty years in, seniors are still learning at Iowa State through a special institute. As with other school settings, they’re also making new friends.

About a third of Iowa’s 99 counties have a community produce garden, tended by local volunteers and ISU Extension and Outreach’s Master Gardeners. Together, they’re tackling hunger relief and nutrition education for clients.

Strategic plan support keeps a vital internship program going at Reiman Gardens while revenue streams bounce back from the pandemic.

It’s been a good couple of years. Teaching professor of music, pianist and composer Jodi Goble recently won the 2024 Art Song Composition Award from the National Association of Teachers of Singing, celebrated world premieres for two operas and wrote a song for a 2024 Grammy-nominated album.

Academic advisor Andrea Klocke recognizes that a college education is about more than lecture notes and a GPA. Relationships with peers and mentors are integral to the Iowa State student experience, and Klocke is an enthusiastic connector of students, faculty and staff members.

An experimental marketing course signed on with an existing engineering course about product development. Cross-functional team members learned what’s important to the other side as they moved from product concept to introduction into the market.

Through the Community Visioning Program, 258 Iowa towns — 10 at a time — have received research and design expertise to beautify downtowns, improve transportation and support outdoor recreation. Community and economic development specialists from ISU Extension and Outreach work with local governments, state agencies, community organizations and others to deliver services tailored to local needs.

A virtual dissection table is a common teaching tool in medical and nursing schools — and a rare opportunity for animal science undergraduates. But students in Domestic Animal Physiology, the animal science department’s foundational anatomy lab, have used the technology to supplement their hands-on learning for about two years, making Iowa State the first animal science and pre-veterinary program in the nation to do so.

In July, Iowa State’s College of Design, in partnership with the City of Des Moines, hosted a session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in Des Moines. The ISU College of Design was competitively selected from among top U.S. design institutions to host the technical assistance workshop, one of several the institute holds each year around the country to help mayors find solutions to critical planning and design challenges facing their cities. Iowa State brought in top design talent from across the U.S. and Iowa and created an opportunity for mayors to engage in problem-solving.