150 Points of Pride

The Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has a proud and distinguished history. As part of Iowa State's sesquicentennial celebration, 150 points of pride related to the College - accomplishments, discoveries, contributions, highlights, famous and interesting people - will be posted here. These postings will coincide with 150 days of the 2007-2008 academic year, beginning Aug. 20, 2007 and ending May 2, 2008, with time off for the Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks. Check back each Monday for five new items.

Lauren Soth

Lauren Soth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Iowa State in 1932 and a master’s degree in agricultural economics in 1938. From 1933 to 1947, Soth worked for Iowa State, authoring economic studies and later, the monthly Farm Science publication aimed at farmers. In 1947 he was hired to write editorials about agricultural issues for the Des Moines Register and Tribune, a position he held for 29 years. In 1956, he won a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing for his invitation to the Soviet Premier Krushchev to send a delegation to Iowa to “get the low-down on raising high-quality cattle, hogs, sheep and chickens.” He continued, “We promise to hide none of our secrets. Everything we Iowans know about corn, other fed grains, forage crops, meat animals and the dairy and poulry industries will be available to the Russians for the asking. We ask nothing in return.” The public, printed invitation was made during the Cold War era when relations between the United States and the U.S.S.R. were strained. The Soviets responded immediately, sending their agricultural commissar to visit Iowa. The same year, Soth was the only journalist in the agricultural exchange delegation that visited the Soviet Union. Four years later, Krushchev came to Iowa.

Fast fact: Soth authored five books in which he analyzed the basic problem that has plagued farmers for decades — surplus food production and low returns.

Elizabeth Hoyt

Elizabeth Hoyt

Elizabeth Hoyt was born in 1893 in Augusta, Maine. She received a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and master’s and doctorate degrees from Harvard. She was an instructor at Wesley College before joining the economics faculty at Iowa State in 1925, where she spent the next 55 years. Hoyt is perhaps most well-known for her association with early professional efforts that led to the creation of the Consumer Price Index, now used to gauge inflation and the cost of living. She was the author of five books, and her teaching was a pioneering effort in the new field of consumer ecnomics. She also was an internationally respected economist, with a particular interest in under-developed countries. Hoyt received a Fulbright award in 1950 to do research on social conditions in Uganda. One result of her African experience was a program of upgrading libraries. In the 1970s, a library in South Africa was named in her honor. She also participated in standard-of-living studies in Japan, China, Guatemala and the West Indies. She was listed in the first edition of “Who’s Who of American Women” in 1954.

Fast fact: Upon her death in 1980, Hoyt bequeathed $800,000 to Iowa State, one of the largest amounts ever given by a faculty member, to help needy students from foreign countries study at Iowa State.

Theodore W. Schultz

T.W. Schultz joined the economics and sociology faculty in 1930, after earning his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. He was named head of the two departments in 1934. In the 1940s, under his direction, the Experiment Station put aside regular research to focus on a series of reports that addressed the World War II economy. The fifth in that series was Pamphlet No. 4, “Putting Dairying on a War Footing.” The controversial paper on oleomargarine compared the new soybean spread favorably with the taste and palatability of the higher-cost butter. The dairy industry, plus the Iowa Legislature, pressured Charles Friley, president of Iowa State, to approve a recommendation for a “revised study” of the oleo versus butter issue. This was seen by Schultz, and others, as an attack on academic freedom and in 1943 he and more than a dozen other researchers resigned in protest. Schultz joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, and received international recognition for his teachings and writings.

Fast fact: In 1979, at the age of 77, Schultz was back on the Iowa State campus to give a lecture when he received word he had won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work with low-income countries. An impromptu news conference was held in President W. Robert Parks’ conference room.

Karl Fox

Karl Fox

Karl Fox was appointed head of the economics department in 1955. He had graduated from the University of Utah in 1937 with a bachelor's degree in English and minor in math. He received a master’s in sociology from the University of Utah and his doctorate in economics from the University of California Berkeley in 1954. Prior to coming to Iowa State, he worked for the War Food Administration during World War II. During his 17 years of leadership in the economics department, many significant changes occurred. In 1957, the Iowa Legislature appropriated $100,000 to establish the forerunner of today’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, known as CARD. Fox also secured a larger budget for the overall department and increased staff in general economics. From 1955 to 1971, there was almost a 100 percent increase in economics staff, with the number of full professors increasing from 17 to 40. Undergraduate enrollment in the department increased 160 during the same period.

Fast fact: For decades, the economics and sociology departments were united in one department. Fox worked to create two separate administrative units and under his leadership, the official separation occurred in 1966.

John Timmons

John Timmons joined the economics department faculty in 1946. He received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in 1945. He began his career as an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By the age of 34, he was regarded as one of the outstanding land economists in the United States and a pioneering environmental economist. His research focused on soil conservation, water quality and land use problems at the international level. He published more than 140 articles, bulletins, monographs and books on natural resource issues. He also held positions in economics and agriculture on national and international committees including the World Food Institute, National Academy of Sciences and numerous university committees. Timmons was named a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture in 1972. He retired from Iowa State in 1983 and passed away in 1999 in Story City.

Fast fact: During his distinguished career, Timmons was involved with international aid to Peru through the United States Aid in Development (USAID) program from 1960 to 1980 and was a consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture in Brazil and the Sudan.

*Some historic photographs courtesy of the University Archives.

150 Points of Pride Archives