III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 475 

Congratulating Iowa State University of Science and Technology on its 150 

years of leadership and service to the United States and the world 

as Iowa’s land-grant university. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 6, 2008 

Mr. HARKIN (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) submitted the following 

resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Congratulating Iowa State University of Science and Technology on its 150 years of leadership and service to 

the United States and the world as Iowa’s land-grant 

university. 

Whereas Iowa State University of Science and Technology 

was established by the Iowa General Assembly on March 

22, 1858, as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model 

Farm in response to the State of Iowa’s desire to provide 

higher education opportunities to farm families and working classes in Iowa, predating the passage of the Federal 

Morrill Act by 4 years; 

Whereas on September 3, 1862, Iowa became the first State 

in the Nation to accept the terms and conditions of the 


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•SRES 475 ATS 

Morrill Act creating the land-grant system of colleges and 

universities; 

Whereas the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, 

known today as Iowa State University of Science and 

Technology (Iowa State), received Iowa’s land-grant 

charter on March 29, 1864, making it one of the first 

land-grant institutions in the Nation; 

Whereas Iowa State was a pioneer in all 3 parts of the landgrant mission, including—(1) access to all, regardless of 

race, gender or social class, being the first land-grant institution to be coeducational from its opening, with 16 

women in its first class and later students including future suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt, an 1880 graduate, 

and George Washington Carver, the first African American student, who earned a bachelor’s degree in 1894 and 

a master’s degree in 1896, and was also the institution’s 

first African American faculty member; (2) practical research, establishing the Nation’s first Engineering Experiment Station and domestic economy experimental kitchen, and one of the first agriculture experiment stations; 

and (3) outreach, including some of the earliest landgrant institution outreach activities such as the establishment of the Farmers Institutes in the winter of 1869-70 

by Iowa State President Adonijah Welch, and the organization of the Nation’s first county Extension Service in 

1903 in Sioux County in northwest Iowa by Professor 

Perry Holden; 

Whereas some of the most important technological advancements of the modern world were the result of research at 

Iowa State, including—(1) the development of hybrid 

seed corn in the 1920s; (2) pioneering work on soybean 

oil extraction and producing ethanol from corn and other 


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•SRES 475 ATS 

plant materials by Professor Orland Sweeney in the 

1930s; (3) the invention of the electronic digital computer in the late 1930s by Professor John Atanasoff and 

graduate student Clifford Berry, whose Atanasoff-Berry 

Computer was the first to incorporate the 7 basic principles of modern computing; (4) the foundation for the 

modern plastics industry laid by polyethylene research by 

Professor Henry Gilman; (5) development of the process 

still used today to refine pure rare-earth materials, including reactor-grade uranium, by Professor Frank 

Spedding and Harley Wilhelm, as a result of Iowa State’s 

key role in the Manhattan Project during World War II; 

(6) development of modern livestock animal genetics by 

Professor Jay Lush; and (7) the first field-testing of a 

genetically altered plant (tobacco) in 1987 and genetically 

altered tree (poplar) in 1989 by Professor Robert Thornburg; 

Whereas Iowa State hired one of the first permanent campus 

artists-in-residence, with sculptor Christian Petersen 

holding that position from 1934 to 1955 and providing 

hundreds of sculptures and other art objects to the university, whose Art on Campus collection today includes 

more than 600 major public works of art; 

Whereas Iowa State has had a technology transfer office 

since 1935, longer than all but one other university in 

the Nation, and is acknowledged today as a national leader in putting technology to work, being cited as a ‘‘model 

of economic development’’ and ‘‘licensing powerhouse’’ in 

a 2007 study commissioned by the National Science 

Foundation; 

Whereas Iowa State University is today spearheading new advances in science and technology, including new mateVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:59 Mar 07, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR475.ATS SR475

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•SRES 475 ATS 

rials, information sciences, green architecture, biological 

research, and the development of biorenewable fuels and 

other resources to support the bioeconomy and the Nation’s independence from nonrenewable petroleum resources; and 

Whereas more than 257,000 degrees have been awarded by 

Iowa State, and its graduates include heads of State, 

leaders of industry, great humanitarians, and gifted scientists, whose work has improved the quality of life for 

people worldwide: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) congratulates Iowa State University of 

3 Science and Technology on its 150 years of out4 standing service to the State of Iowa, the United 

5 States, and the world in fulfilling its mission as a 

6 land-grant university; and 

7 (2) thanks the State of Iowa for its visionary 

8 leadership in the beginning of the land-grant move9 ment in the United States of America. 

Æ 


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