Rarely do teachers get recognition and praise from their students. But one teacher’s legacy of knowledge and teaching will live on thanks to a grateful pupil.

Iowa State’s Margaret Sloss Women’s Center has named its library the Wealtha Bevier Library in honor of Wealtha Bevier, a woman who made a sizable impact on students as a teacher of the biological and physical sciences.

For one student in particular, Bevier became a mentor.

Bernie Gerstein, a professor of chemistry at ISU, suggested the library be named after his favorite teacher.

“She was an extremely powerful influence in my life,” he said of his high school physics and chemistry teacher at Sarasota [Fla.] High School. “I’d always wanted to thank her.”

Bevier was instrumental in breaking down barriers against women in education.

The recipient of many awards, Bevier was chosen as the National Science Academy Award winner for having more students choose a career in science than any other teacher in the United States.

Gerstein paid tribute to Bevier as his model when he received the 1967 John Wilkinson Award for excellence in the teaching of chemistry at the graduate level at ISU.

He said he found a career as a physical chemist at ISU “directly due to her powerful influence.”

Gerstein began work on the induction of the library’s name while Bevier was still alive, but in 1993 she died of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The $2,000 Gerstein raised will be used to purchase books about various issues concerning women.

“The books deal explicitly with women in science and implicitly with gender issues,” he explained. “They will be useful to anyone who reads them.”

The library will include a photo memorial to Bevier as well with biographical information and personal effects.

But perhaps the most lasting impression Bevier has left behind is not one of science but humanity.

“I think the most important lesson I learned from her,” Gerstein said, “is that one has to have a high degree of humility.”