UNI Legislative Update
The Office of Governmental Relations provides legislative updates to the campus community through online communication and bimonthly campus presentations. These updates will inform faculty, staff and students of hot topics facing the legislature and legislative actions affecting UNI and the Regents institutions.
March 24, 2008
Thank you Senator and Mrs. Grassley
UNI Alum and United States Senator Chuck Grassley and his wife Barbara have announced their gift of an endowed professorship to UNI. A very special UNITE thank you to Senator and Mrs. Grassley for their continuing support of UNI! Go Panthers!
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The University of Northern Iowa today announced receipt of a gift through a provision in the estate of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley and his wife, Barbara, which will be used to endow a professorship.
"When I was at Iowa State Teachers College, now UNI, I received a world-class education from outstanding professors like Dr. Erma Plaehn, Dr. George Robinson and Dr. Leland Sage. Today, faculty members continue a tradition of excellence. Looking ahead, the recruitment of top-notch teachers is fundamental to UNI's strength and the education of the next generation," said Sen. Grassley.
"We received excellent educations and are both proud graduates of UNI. Now, as we look to the future of our alma mater, we want to be sure new students have the same kind of opportunities to learn from the best professors, whether the students are recently out of high school like Chuck was, or returning to the classroom after a long absence like me," said Barbara Grassley.
Both Grassleys are UNI graduates. Sen. Grassley received a bachelor's degree in political-science education in 1955, and a master's degree in social-science education in 1956, from the Iowa State Teachers College. Today, he is an honorary trustee of the UNI Foundation, an honorary UNI athletics letter winner, and an honorary member of the UNI chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society. Barbara Grassley received a bachelor's degree in accounting from UNI in 1983. She became a UNI student in 1954 but left for 26 years to raise their five children.
The professorship, housed in the Department of Political Science, will be called the Chuck and Barbara Grassley Endowed Professorship in Political Science.
"Through the years, the university has benefited in so many ways from the active involvement of these two wonderful alumni," said UNI President Benjamin Allen. "The engagement and support of people like the Grassleys have helped UNI become one of the leading undergraduate institutions in the country. This endowed professorship will help ensure that the UNI of the future will be an even better place to pursue a top-quality education."