Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. The full official name is Iowa State University of Science and Technology. It was previously Iowa State College, a school created through the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.

The Iowa General Assembly in 1858, prior to the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, enacted legislation to establish a agriculture college and model farm. This college was named the State Agricultural College & Model Farm. The location of Story County was chosen on June 21, 1859 after the state selection board received proposals from Johnson, Kossuth, Marshall, Polk, and Story counties.

Landmarks

Nearing its sesquicentennial in 2008, ISU now has a number of landmarks on campus. Please visit the ISU notables page for many of the beautiful landmarks.

Academics

ISU is best known for its degree programs in engineering and agriculture. The Family and Consumer Sciences and Education colleges are in the process of merging, and a new name has not yet been decided. ISU is also home of one of the first computers, the Atanasoff Berry Computer.

It consists of the following colleges:

• Agriculture (http://www.ag.iastate.edu/)
• Business (http://www.bus.iastate.edu/)
• Design (http://www.design.iastate.edu/)
• Education (http://www.educ.iastate.edu/)
• Engineering (http://www.eng.iastate.edu/)
• Family and Consumer Sciences (http://www.fcs.iastate.edu/)
• Liberal Arts and Sciences (http://www.las.iastate.edu/)
• Veterinary Medicine (http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/)

In addition to these eight colleges, the Graduate College (http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/) oversees graduate study in all fields.

VEISHEA

It is also noted for VEISHEA, an education and entertainment festival held on campus every spring. The name is an acronym created from the names of the original colleges consituting the institution when VEISHEA was established in 1922: Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture. Its organizers claim it to be among the largest student-organized cultural festivals in the world. However in recent years the festival has been marred by problems. Unruly students created a disturbance ("rioted") on Welch Avenue in 1988 at 1992, prompting school officials to take away the traditional Thursday afternoon and Friday holidays before the celebration. Problems continued. In 1997, an underage non-student was fatally stabbed by another non-student outside a fraternity party. In response, alcohol was banned during VEISHEA. In 2004, a riot took place during VEISHEA when police confronted people during an off-campus party. Because of the riot, officials announced that there would be no VEISHEA festival during 2005, and that a decision on the future of the event would be made later.

Athletics

The sports teams are nicknamed the "Cyclones". In 1895, the Iowa State football team went to Northwestern University and defeated its team 36-0. A Chicago newspaper proclaimed that the team "struck like a Cyclone," and the teams have been known by that nickname since. The Cyclone mascot is "Cy the Cardinal", and their colors are cardinal and gold. They play in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big Twelve Conference.

ISU Presidents

1. Adonijah S. Welch (1868 - 1883)
2. Seaman A. Knapp (1883 - 1884)
3. Leigh S.J. Hunt (1885 - 1886)
4. William I. Chamberlain (1886 - 1890)
5. William M. Beardshear (1891 - 1902)
6. Albert B. Storms (1903 - 1910)
7. Raymond A. Pearson (1912 - 1926)
8. Raymond M. Hughes (1927 - 1936)
9. Charles E. Friley (1936 - 1953)
10. James H. Hilton (1953 - 1965)
11. W. Robert Parks (1965 - 1986)
12. Gordon P. Eaton (1986 - 1990)
13. Martin C. Jischke (June 1, 1991 - August 14, 2000)
14. Gregory L. Geoffroy (July 1, 2001 - )

Notable people

See ISU notables for a complete list.

• John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry (see also Atanasoff Berry Computer), developers of the first digital computer
• George Washington Carver
• Carrie Chapman Catt
• Larry Eustachy, former men's basketball coach
• Dan Gable, two-time NCAA wrestling champion and 1972 Olympic gold medalist who later became wrestling coach at the University of Iowa
• Henry Gilman, the "Father of Organometallic Chemistry"
• Christian Petersen, sculptor, whose works appear around campus.
• Cael Sanderson, four-time undefeated NCAA wrestling champion who won a gold medal at the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004
• Jane Smiley, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for fiction
• George W. Snedecor, statistician
• James Wilson, professor who later became US Secretary of Agriculture
• Grant Wood, artist; the Parks Library features numerous murals by Wood.
• John Garang, Commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army

ISU chronology

Events occurring in the same year did not necessarily happen in the order presented here.

See also

• ISU notables
• Land-grant university
• Atanasoff Berry Computer

External links

• Official Site (http://www.iastate.edu/)
• Athletics Site (http://www.cyclones.com/)
• Iowa State Daily (http://www.iowastatedaily.com/) (student newspaper)
• Information from RateMyProfessors.com (http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/SelectTeacher.jsp?sid=452)
• The History of VEISHEA (http://www.veishea.org/Memories/memories.html)