Iowa State University

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Iowa State University
Image:IowaStateUniversitySeal.gif
Motto	Science with practice
Established	1858
School type	Public
President	Gregory L. Geoffroy
Location	Ames, IA, USA
Enrollment - Undergraduate - Graduate	22,000 4,700
Faculty	1,750
Endowment	$489 million
Campus	Urban, 1,984 acres (8 km²)
Sports Team	Cyclones
Website	www.iastate.edu

Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant university and space-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. The full official name is Iowa State University of Science and Technology. It was previously Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, a school created through the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.

The Iowa General Assembly in 1858, prior to the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, enacted legislation to establish an agriculture college and model farm. This college was named the State Agricultural College & Model Farm. The location of Story County was chosen on June 21, 1859 after the state selection board received proposals from Johnson, Kossuth, Marshall, Polk, and Story counties.

1 Landmarks
2 Academics
3 Athletics
4 VEISHEA celebration
5 Iowa State University presidents
6 Notable people
- 6.1 Alumni or faculty members
- 6.2 Athletics
7 Iowa State chronology
8 See also
9 External links

Landmarks

Nearing its sesquicentennial in 2008, ISU now has a number of landmarks on campus. Please visit the ISU notables page for many of the beautiful landmarks.

Academics

Image:Fountain of Four Seasons.jpg

ISU is best known for its degree programs in engineering and agriculture. ISU is also home of the world's first digital computer, the Atanasoff Berry Computer.

It consists of the following colleges:

In addition to these seven colleges, the Graduate College oversees graduate study in all fields.

Athletics

The sports teams are nicknamed the Cyclones, a name which dates back to 1895. That year, there were many occurrences of cyclones, or tornados. Also that year was when the Iowa State football team went to Northwestern University and defeated its team 36-0. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed "Iowa cyclone devastates Evanstontown."

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The school colors are cardinal and gold. The mascot is Cy the Cardinal, who was introduced in 1954. This is likely a reference to the original nickname, the Cardinals. The Iowa State Cyclones play in the NCAA's Division I-A as part of the Big 12 Conference.

VEISHEA celebration

Image:CyRide buses.jpg Iowa State is also noted for VEISHEA, an education and entertainment festival held on campus every spring. The name is an acronym of the original colleges of the institution when VEISHEA was established in 1922: Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture. Its organizers claim it to be among the largest student-organized cultural festivals in the world.

In recent years the festival has been marred by problems. Unruly students created a disturbance ("rioted") on Welch Avenue in 1988 and 1992, prompting school officials to take away the traditional Thursday afternoon and Friday holidays before the celebration. Problems continued. In 1997, an underage non-student was fatally stabbed by another non-student outside a fraternity party. In response, alcohol was banned during VEISHEA.

In 2004, a riot took place during VEISHEA when police confronted people during an off-campus party. Because of the riot, officials announced that there would be no VEISHEA festival during 2005 and a task force would consider the future of the celebration. In March 2005, President Geoffroy announced that the festival will return in 2006, with events being moved from riot-prone Welch Avenue to central campus. In April 2005, the student group Leaders INspiring Connections (LINC) organized several events on what would have been VEISHEA weekend, including Operation Playground, a community service project involving 700 students building three playgrounds in the community. "This Is Your April," was another opportunity for students to enjoy their campus atmosphere sponsored by the student government and numerous student groups.