Regents History: June 23-24, 1955
Board of Regents Membership
- Dwight Rider, President, Fort Dodge
- Estelle Archie, Shenandoah
- Laura Jean Brooks, Mount Vernon
- Carl Fredricksen, Sioux City
- Harry Hagemann, Waverly
- V.B. Hamilton, Hampton
- Richard Plock, Burlington
- Roy Stevens, Ottumwa
- Clifford Strawman, Anamosa
Highlights
The Iowa State Board of Education first referred to itself as the Iowa State Board of Regents at its June 1955 meeting. The name was changed by the passing of H.F. 108 by the fifty-sixth general assembly of Iowa. The Act was approved on May 6, 1955.
President Virgil Hancher presented the State University of Iowa’s proposed 1955-56 budget. Hancher’s total proposed budget for the entire university was $9,467,338.
The Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) requested approval for the creation of a new on-campus radio station. Herbert Hake was appointed as faculty adviser to the new station, saying “Such a station would supplement the college newspaper as an on-campus news medium and provide a laboratory for students from the fields of speech and industrial arts.” KYTC radio (Now KULT) began broadcasting at 94.5 MHz from the third floor of the Old Aud Building (now Lang Hall).
President James Maucker at UNI recommended to the Board that the Iowa State Teachers College move from the quarter plan to the semester plan of organization, effective at the beginning of the 1957 summer session, to “meet the rising tide of students.”
The Board ratified an agreement that established WOI-TV as an affiliate of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Previously, WOI had agreements with all four broadcasting companies; ABC, CBS, DuMont, and NBC. However, NBC elected to cancel its agreement with WOI in April, 1954 and move to WHO in Des Moines. CBS had informed WOI that it would be leaving for KRNT-TV on July 31, 1955.
A resolution to repair Iowa State College’s (now ISU) Marston Hall using $45,000 in state appropriations was approved. General engineering offices on the building’s first floor were approved for remodel, in addition to new stair rails and doors. Marston Hall was named in honor of Anson Marston, Dean of Engineering from 1904-1932, and received extensive renovations between 2014 and 2016.
