The Presidents: Owen Newlin
The 15th President of the Board of Regents, Owen Newlin served as a Regent from 1993 to 2005 and led the Board as president from 1996 to 2004. Newlin’s terms can be described as a time of transformation and modernization as the Board led Iowa’s public universities into the 21st century.
Newlin was born in Des Moines on February 6, 1928 to Jay and Ruth Newlin. He attended Iowa State University and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in agronomy and a master of science degree in crop production. He met Doris Jean (D.J.) Coxon while at ISU and the two were married in 1952. They had four children. He also earned a Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1955.
That same year, Newlin joined Pioneer as a research assistant and ascended to the role of Vice President of the company in 1978 and senior vice president in 1986. During this stretch, Newlin gave back to his alma mater, serving as chair for the committee in support of new agronomy facilities at ISU from 1978-83 and president of the ISU Achievement Foundation from 1985-86.
When he retired from Pioneer in 1993, Newlin had already received numerous lifetime awards from ISU, including the Order of the Knoll in 1993, the Floyd Andre Award for Contributions to Agriculture, the Distinguished Achievement Award in 1988 and the Alumni Merit Award in 1990.
Following his retirement from Pioneer, Newlin was appointed to the Board by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. He was elected as its 15th president on May 1, 1996.
Newlin began his first term shortly after the 1996 Pappas Study was presented to the Board. The study, essentially an assessment and expansion of a 1989 Peat Marwick organizational audit, presented the Board with numerous recommendations on the future of the Regents Enterprise. Among these recommendations included organizational changes to the Board that included the creation of standing committees, an emphasis on collaboration and collective strategizing among the Regents universities, and the expansion of resource reallocation to fund university priorities.
The reallocation system, emphasized partly in reaction to reduced state appropriation levels, shuffled university resources toward strategic priorities. Many of these priorities included an expanded emphasis on technology, internet connectivity and web-based infrastructure. One of Newlin’s earliest actions was a recommendation to approve significant funding reallocations at all three universities for use in electronic infrastructure upgrades. Essentially, Newlin’s expansion of reallocation helped usher in the information age at Iowa’s public universities.
Further changes included increased attention to continuity of administration with the creation of the Board’s President Pro Tem position following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Newlin addressed members of the Board, the media and attendees at the September 12, 2001 meeting in Iowa City:
“[I speak] for the whole Board [in saying we] were shocked and saddened by the reprehensible attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. The people who have been affected are in our thoughts and prayers. Each of the Regent institutions has taken special steps to address the many issues and challenges that such tragedies create for the safety and welfare of faculty, staff and students. The Board acknowledges and greatly appreciates these efforts.”
As one of Iowa State’s most celebrated alums, it is perhaps fitting that Newlin oversaw the largest ISU campus expansion since the Iowa State Center was completed in the mid-1970s. The long-planned Engineering Teaching and Research Complex (ETRC) broke ground in 1998 with the entire complex finished and open for general use in 2004. ETRC, now known as Howe and Hoover Halls, remains the largest building project in ISU history.
Newlin resigned as President of the Board in 2004 but remained a Regent until his term expired in 2005.
Iowa State presented him with the first True and Valiant Award and the Henry A. Wallace Award in 2008. He received the first Iowa Corn Growers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Seed Trade Association in 2016. That award is named in his honor.
Newlin died July 12, 2020 in Des Moines. He was 92.