When Professor Corlice Petersen came to Iowa State in 1977, finding adequate child care meant shuttling her preschool-aged daughter to two separate day care facilities on opposite sides of Ames.

Twenty years later, Petersen said little improvement has been made in child-care options for ISU faculty, staff and students.

Petersen, a professor in human development and family studies, spoke as part of a child-care presentation made to the state Board of Regents at the board’s meeting Wednesday, held this month in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

The purpose of the child-care presentation was to bring board members “up to snuff” with the child-care services provided at the regent universities, said Regent Ellengray Kennedy, of Bancroft.

Speakers from the University of Iowa, ISU and the University of Northern Iowa reported on the child-care needs of the three regent universities.

“Fifty percent of colleges now provide on-site child care,” said Lesia Oesterreich, program specialist for the ISU Extension’s human development and family studies. Each of the three state universities does provide some on-campus child care for students and faculty.

According to the report, a large portion of these on-site centers are dedicated to caring for the children of students. At ISU’s four child-care centers, children of students occupy 71 percent of the slots. Student parents at each center pay lower fees than faculty and staff parents.

While specialists agree that providing child care for university students is important, they say improving child care availability for the faculty and staff of the universities is vital to recruitment and retention of faculty and staff.

“Providing quality on-site [child care] centers would meet many needs,” Petersen said.

Regent Tom Dorr, of Marcus, questioned whether providing more child care for faculty and staff is the responsibility of the universities.

“If it would service students, that’s fine, but I caution that in this climate of resource limitations we need to be careful,” Dorr said.

Oesterreich said bringing and keeping quality faculty at the universities would benefit students. She also said students in education and child and family services majors can benefit from observing children at the child care centers.

“A lot of times we hear about kids’ development, but when you actually go to the day care, you can better comprehend what you’re taught,” said Nikole Rubel, a senior in child and family services.

In other news

The board voted to allow Iowa State to award international opera star Simon Estes an honorary doctorate of humane letters at the commencement ceremony May 10. Estes, who is from Centerville, is being honored for his achievements in operatic music, contributions to disadvantaged children and philanthropy activities.

“We feel a certain kinship with him, and we would like to recognize that,” said ISU President Martin Jischke. Estes will give the commencement address at the ceremony.