Regents History: March 22, 1984
Board Membership
- SJ Brownlee, President, Emmetsburg
- Peg Anderson, Cedar Falls
- Charles Duchen, Des Moines
- Percy Harris, Cedar Rapids
- Ann Jorgensen, Garrison
- John McDonald, Dallas Center
- June Murphy, Des Moines
- Arthur Neu, Carroll
Highlights
UI Vice President for Educational Development Duane C. Spriestersbach presented the university’s dealings with professor Edward Haug’s Computer Aided Design Systems, Inc. (CADSI). Haug had developed Dynamic Analysis and Design System (DADS) for the US Army and formed CADSI to develop a commercial version. CADSI became the first spinoff company from the UI Research Park, later selling the commercial version of DADS to customers including Boeing, for $27,000 per license. This presentation, and the continuing expansion of university research for the government and private sectors, helped spur the creation of the Commercialization of Research for Iowa Act in 1988, requiring the Board of Regents to submit an annual Economic Development and Technology Transfer report.
The Board reappointed Keith L. McRoberts as chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering at ISU. McRoberts earned three degrees from ISU and first became department chair in 1974 and held the position until his retirement in1989. McRoberts was an ISU Alumni Medal recipient and an Order of the Knoll member. He died in 2002. The Keith and Helen McRoberts Health Care Scholarship in Industrial Engineering Fund continues in his honor, providing scholarships to students looking to work as an industrial engineer for health care organizations.
President Brownlee read a letter from the ISU Advisory Committee on the Naming of Buildings and Streets, which recommended the naming of the ISU Library in honor of William Robert Parks and Ellen Sorge Parks. Brownlee said he supported the motion “with great enthusiasm” and it passed unanimously. Parks, who remained the sitting President of ISU for another two years, said he was “exceedingly honored and particularly pleased that Mrs. Parks was included. Ellen is a true intellectual. She loves libraries and this one, in particular.” Parks Library remains at the center of the ISU campus to this day.
