Alumni Memories

Robert O. Butler

Rural Sociology, B.S., 1961

Robert O. Butler

It was the spring of 1957 and I entered Iowa State College for the spring term. My decision had been made to leave the family farm after seven years of farming in Worth County and to return to college. I had decided on rural sociology as a major and it was a popular major at the time with George Beal and Joe Bohlen enjoying the height of their careers in research and teaching.

Because I had been farming for seven years I was an "older student" - there were few such students as myself enrolled. Because of my age I had decided that I would go to classes all summer as well as the academic year. In the fall of 1957 I went to Panama on The International Farm Youth Exchange program, living and working on six different "fincas" (a large farm or ranch).

My academic adviser and professor assigned readings and papers to be written while in Panama; I collected data on communities where I was living and made comparisons to my home area of Northwood, Iowa. In the year after returning to Iowa State I made numerous trips to many parts of the state sharing my experiences of living in Panama with more than 130 different audiences.

I returned to Iowa State in the spring of 1958 and moved into Alumni Hall, and most of the time I was head resident which gave me an opportunity to know the students living at Alumni Hall and to use my counseling skills. Because Alumni Hall did not have its own food service we ate our meals at the Memorial Union. But I remember vividly the hundreds of students gathering in the food area each morning for fresh donuts that were made by the thousands every day.

Living in Alumni Hall you were not part of the college dormitory or fraternity systems, but Alumni Hall was accepted in the exchanges within the Greek system and much of the social life within the Alumni Hall system was with sororities and fraternities.

While at Iowa State I had many great experiences: named the "Best Dressed" male on campus, being nominated for student body president and making it to the final ballot, teaching group dynamics for the sociology department and working in the kitchens of a few dorms. I also lived in a house north of Ames called "The Farm House" with three other students.

Iowa State has and continues to have a great impact on my life. As a 4-H member I attended a conference when I was about 14 or 15 years of age and wrote an essay for my annual record book that said I would devote my career to working overseas. I read this essay just a few years ago and could not believe it as I had devoted much of my career to agriculture programs in Africa and the Middle East, and actually lived overseas almost 10 years.

I am ever grateful to the people and faculty at Iowa State who counseled me and guided me in new directions for my career and life. A special comment is made to the local extension agent in Worth County, William (Bill) St. Clair who counseled with me into going back to college and to Iowa State.

Most recently I lived in Ames from 2000-2007 and had the great opportunity to reacquaint myself with ISU, and four decades later it was still a great experience.