For many, college serves as an opportunity for exposure and as a positive path to pursuing their dreams. 

Alumni at Iowa State have proven this to be true through their numerous accomplishments and contributions to the university. Every year, these alumni are honored during the Iowa State University Alumni Association (ISUAA) awards ceremony.

Annually, ISUAA honors alumni with six special awards. Additionally, each college at Iowa State also gives out special awards to deserving alumni.

The 2017 ISUAA Honors and Awards Ceremony will be Friday, Oct. 27 at 1:15 p.m. The awards will be given in alphabetical order of the colleges, followed by the Harold Pride Service Medallion given by the Memorial Union as well as the Alumni Association Awards.

Katie Lickteig, the director of constituent engagement who oversees many of the ISUAA’s awards programs and events, sees the ceremony as a partnership between different university departments. 

“What I think is really special about this awards ceremony is that it’s a partnership between all of the colleges, the Memorial Union and the Alumni Association,” Lickteig said. “We give out our own separate awards and they’re all different nomination and selection processes.

“But then we all work together to have this joint event where we can honor all of the alumni, businesses and friends of the university.” 

The awards given by the Alumni Association include the Alumni Medal, Alumni Merit Award, Outstanding Young Alumni Award, James A. Hopson Volunteer Award, Impact Award and the Alumni Service Award.

This year, Jay G. Chapman and Karen Heldt-Chapman along with Martha Lagomarcino Gleason will be receiving the Alumni Medal.

The premier award honors long, loyal service to the university.

Jay Chapman, who will be sharing this award with his wife, Karen Heldt-Chapman, said, “It is very humbling to receive this award. To look at the list of the names who have received this honor and see some of those names on buildings on campus, puts us in unique company.”

Chapman believes that Iowa State helped shape his life as well as his wife’s in a fundamental way.

“The opportunities that Iowa State afforded us, and the experiences we received at ISU have formed who we are as individuals and as a couple. There is no way our lives would be what they are now without Iowa State University,” he said. 

The Alumni Merit Award will go to Luis E. deBaca and Stanley G. Thurston. 

The award recognizes two alumni’s humanitarian efforts.

Luis deBaca received his degree in political science at Iowa State in 1990. Since then he has made numerous contributions to American law specifically in the fight against human trafficking.

In 2009 he was appointed the ambassador at-large for the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons by then-President Barack Obama.

Just five years later, deBaca became the head of the United States Justice Department’s Office of Sex Offender, Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, and Trafficking (SMART) Office.

Currently, he continues to fight human indecency while partnered with Chambers Lopez Strategies firm in Washington D.C. 

Stanley Thurston, a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran, graduated from Iowa State in 1969 with a degree in Architecture. Thurston spent 29 years working as board chairman, CEO and president of Life Care Services, a company that manages senior living communities which serve over 33,000 retired adults.

Thurston has also been active with Anawin Housing, LifeQuest Ministries, the Nature Conservancy of Iowa Board of Trustees, the Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity and Foundation, as well as the Alzheimer’s Association.

The Outstanding Young Alumni recipients this year are Josiah A. Dykstra, Hanjung Jiang and Nora K. Tobin. 

Kyle S. Flander and Claire E. Masker will be receiving the James A. Hopson volunteer award at the ceremony.

James A. Hopson worked for the Iowa State University Alumni Association for 30 years before retiring in 1999. During Hopson’s time with the ISUAA, membership in the association increased tremendously.

The award named after Hopson recognizes Iowa State graduates under the age of 40 who have demonstrated early volunteer leadership in the ISUAA. 

Both Flander and Masker have directed efforts toward expanding the Alumni Association and have been active in the organization.  

The Impact Award will be given to Constance P. Hargrave and Georges M. Niang.

The Impact Award recognizes individuals, businesses, organizations, or units whose programs or accomplishments brought recognition to the university.

Niang will be the youngest of the alumni to receive an award at the ceremony this year. 

Georges Niang will not be in attendance of the ceremony as he received his award while in Ames over the summer for basketball camp, Lickteig said.

“We had the award printed early and were able to give it to [Georges] then. He did a Facebook live [stream] Q&A. So that was nice that we got a little bit of time with him over the summer,” Lickteig said. 

The Alumni Service Award will be given to Tinika Y. Roland.

She will be receiving this award for her partnership with the ISUAA and efforts to connect Iowa State’s African American alumni with the university.

Roland has lead numerous programs on behalf of the association including the Black College Reunion, the Black College Network, and has also established a book scholarship for current students at Iowa State.  

Each separate college — College of Business, College of Design, College of Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Human Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and College of Veterinary Medicine — will be giving out awards at the event on Friday, as well.

The dean of each college will present the awards and read about the recipients. 

The ceremony, which will be streamed live on the Alumni Association website lasts typically around an hour and a half. For more information about this year’s recipients, visit the ISU Alumni Association website.