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UI renames famed lab for Iowa legend
Posted June 20, 2003
IOWA CITY -- The University of Iowa's landmark hydraulics laboratory building, a fixture on the Iowa River in Iowa City since 1932, has been renamed the C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Laboratory for UI graduate C. Maxwell Stanley (1926 B.S.E., engineering; 1930 M.S., hydraulics), the prominent Iowa industrialist and philanthropist who died in 1984. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved the renaming in May, and on June 6 more than 100 of Stanley's friends, colleagues and family members attended a renaming and dedication ceremony on the UI campus. The C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Laboratory houses the UI College of Engineering's IIHR -- Hydroscience & Engineering program, one of the world's premier and oldest fluids research and engineering laboratories. Students and visitors from around the world come to IIHR to study and conduct research and to carry acquired expertise back to their home countries. The renaming is a tribute to Stanley's wide-ranging contributions to the UI during his lifetime and to the structure that now bears his name, a building he helped "draft" in the late 1920s. Stanley began work on the design and construction of a three-story hydraulics laboratory (what is now the north wing of the building) following his graduation from the UI in 1926. The renaming also recognizes nearly $1 million in commitments to the Hydraulics Laboratory Renovation Project from Stanley's family, friends and many business colleagues in the Muscatine community and beyond. This amount includes a leadership gift from Richard and Mary Jo Stanley of Muscatine, Iowa. Richard is chair of The Stanley Group and the son of Max Stanley. The extensive renovation of the hydraulics laboratory building was completed in 2002. All floors were remodeled and modernized while retaining the integrity of the building's structural components and its historical significance. Throughout the building, riveted steel beams and walls of the original construction are featured to reflect IIHR's rich research tradition and the generations of students and staff who began or made careers there. Exterior changes included the addition of a penthouse that houses utilities and the construction of a plaza and structure for a new north entrance, which allows on-grade accessibility. In the 1930s, Max became co-owner of a two-man consulting firm in Muscatine -- Central States Engineering -- where he directed development of the firm into Stanley Consultants, Inc., a nationally ranked multidisciplinary company that serves public and private clients around the world. He also founded HON Industries, which he led to become a top manufacturer and marketer of office furniture and hearth products. During his career, Stanley received numerous honors for his achievements in engineering, community affairs and the advancement of world peace, including the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award from the Iowa Engineering Society, the Past Presidents Award from the American Consulting Engineers Council, the Oscar Schmidt Iowa Business Leadership Award from the UI Henry B. Tippie College of Business and the Eisenhower Tribute Award from the Business Executives for National Security and several honorary degrees. In the 1950s, Max and his wife, Betty, created The Stanley Foundation, a private foundation that promotes a secure peace with freedom and justice, through dialogue and education. As one of the UI College of Engineering's most outstanding graduates, Max was inducted into the college's Distinguished Engineering Alumni Academy as a charter member in 1996. He extensively supported the university's educational mission through substantial contributions, years of service on volunteer boards (he chaired the UI Foundation Board of Directors from 1970 to 1975) and the posthumous donation of a major African art collection to the University of Iowa Museum of Art. The Hydraulics Laboratory Renovation Project is part of the UI's $850 million comprehensive campaign, which will run through 2005 and is being conducted under the guidance of the UI Foundation. Named Good. Better. Best. Iowa: The Campaign to Advance Our Great University, the seven-year effort is raising private funds to help launch a variety of initiatives across the university, substantially increase the number of UI scholarships and endowed faculty positions, support new educational and research facilities, build the UI's endowment and fund outreach and service programs to benefit Iowans. The UI Foundation is acknowledged by the UI as a preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information about the Good. Better. Best. Iowa campaign, visit its web site at www.GoodBetterBestIowa.org. Contact Information
Kevin Collins Additional information about ways to support the UI College of Engineering also is available on this site. |