Our Progress

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.

More than 40 Iowa State instructors use open educational resources (OER) in their courses. Some they’ve created, and some they’ve adopted or customized. The bottom line? An estimated $2.5 million in savings for students since 2018.

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.

Clients of Iowa State’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, a world-class leader in animal health, say the lab’s speed, responsiveness, expertise and devoted service make it the behind-the-scenes foundation of Iowa’s livestock and poultry industries. In fiscal year 2023, the lab processed more than 124,000 cases — about 75% of them for swine –involving nearly 1.7 million individual tests.

For nearly two decades, Iowa State seniors, through their capstone courses, have addressed real problems confronting real Iowa companies. Those businesses get multiple teams tackling the same problem for about the cost of a single intern. Teams across the university have completed more than 1,280 capstone projects for more than 440 businesses and delivered an economic impact of more than $447 million.

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.

Following a June 2021 fire that destroyed its Lake City workshop, Dobson Pipe Organ Builders relied on the Center for Industrial Research and Service for everything from temporary desks to help with grant applications to incorporating Lean principles in the design of its new home.

Costume shop supervisor Doris Nash can turn a Sharpie-on-a-napkin sketch into a perfectly fitted stage costume. She’s been dressing ISU Theatre actors — and gently guiding student stitchers — since 1989.

Officially, he’s the safety coordinator for the agricultural and biosystems engineering department and manager of its student concept teaming lab, a makerspace for the department. But when he sees a need, Hoa Chi steps up to help students, staff and faculty in many more instances.