Regents History: July 26-27, 1973
Board Membership
Mary Louise Petersen, President, Harlan
Ray Bailey, Milford
John Baldridge, Chariton
Stanley Barber, Wellman
S.J. Brownlee, Cedar Falls
Margaret Collison, Oskaloosa
Donald Shaw, Davenport
Harry Slife, Cedar Falls
Steven Zumbach, West Des Moines
Meeting Highlights
The Board elected Mary Louise Petersen of Harlan as President of the Board of Regents. Petersen succeed Stan Redeker, whose term had expired on June 30, and stated she would try to follow his fine example upon her election. Petersen served as Board President until 1981, was the first woman to serve in that capacity, and was the only woman elected Board President until Sherry Bates was elected in 2024.
The meeting served as the first meeting for Regents Stanley Barber, S.J. Brownlee and Harry Slife. Barber was the former president of the Independent Bankers Association of America and a B-24 pilot during the second world war. Brownlee would go on to succeed Petersen as the 10th President of the Board of Regents. Slife would go on to become a state senator and philanthropist before his untimely death in a car accident in 1994. UNI’s Slife Ballroom, location of numerous Board of Regents meetings over the years, was named in his honor shortly after.
Debate on allocation of more than $10 million in capital appropriations spilled over from the June 1973 meeting, when ISU President Robert Parks advocated for the money to be spent on replacing the ISU Meat Lab. Built in 1917, the ISU Meat Lab badly needed upgrades and, according to presenters Larry Kallen from the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and Paul Bernhard from the Iowa Pork Producers Association, an upgrade would pay for itself many times over in increased service to Iowa farmers. Though the appropriation would be allocated elsewhere in 1973, Parks, Kallen and Bernhard would continue to lobby the Board and the Iowa Legislature for Meat Lab funding over the next two sessions, culminating in capital appropriations in 1974 and 1975 and supplemental appropriations in 1977. The New ISU Meat Lab opened in 1977 and is still in service to this day.
The Board approved the appointment of Robert J. Barak as Research and Information Officer at the Board Office. Dr. Barak would serve the Board Office in many capacities over the next 32 years, including as Interim Executive Director following the resignation of Frank Stork.
