Report from the fifth annual Named Deanships, Chairs and Professorships Recognition Luncheon

Posted October 6, 2006

IOWA CITY -- Remarkable people can accomplish remarkable things.

A September 22, 2006, gathering at the Levitt Center for University Advancement celebrated the work of some very special people in the University of Iowa community: the UI faculty who change lives and the generous contributors who make change happen. These dedicated individuals have brought innovation and imagination to life on the UI campus and beyond.

By establishing named positions for Iowa's outstanding faculty, visionary alumni and friends have helped ensure a level of excellence that benefits not only UI students, but also all those whom the UI touches through its teaching, research, and service.

These positions ensure that today's first-rate faculty have the resources they need to educate tomorrow's leaders. Together, UI faculty and contributors can help transform the future for us all.

Below are images from the fifth annual Named Deanships, Chairs, and Professorships Recognition Luncheon.

Attendees enter Levitt Center for University Advancement. In the foreground are Carla Carr, director of External Relations for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and her spouse, Horace A. Porter, F. Wendell Miller Professor of English and American Studies.

Executive Vice President and Provost Michael Hogan was one of the featured luncheon speakers.

V. C. Patel, Edwin B. Green Chair in Hydraulics and UI Foundation Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and Jasbir Arora, F. Wendell Miller Professor.

Attendees move from the reception in the Wyrick Rotunda up the dramatic staircase to the luncheon on the Levitt Center's fourth floor.

Approximately 185 guests attended the luncheon.

UI Foundation President Lynette Marshall welcomes attendees and shares introductory remarks.

A member of the UI College of Nursing's Dean's Advisory Board, Marcia A. Congdon (1961 B.S.N.) speaks on behalf of contributors. Congdon is a dedicated advocate for The University of Iowa, as well as a committed volunteer and philanthropist in her home community of Davenport, Iowa. She and her husband, Dr. Ralph H. Congdon (1961 B.A., 1965 M.D., 1972 R.) have supported many UI programs and projects, including the Marcia and Ralph Congdon Professorship in the UI College of Nursing and the Ralph and Marcia Congdon Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery.

Dr. Francois M. Abboud was honored through the creation of the Francois M. Abboud Chair in Internal Medicine.

Ralph and Marcia Congdon, who received a professorship medallion, with Michael Hogan.

Dr. Edwin Stone speaks on behalf of faculty members. Stone (1989 R., 1990 F., 1992 F.) is a renowned scholar and teacher who is a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, director of the Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration, and a Howard Hughes Institute Investigator. Stone holds the Seamans-Hauser Chair in Molecular Ophthalmology in the Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration, which was established in 2005 by Gary F. (1971 B.S.E.E.) and Camille E. Seamans and Leo J. Hauser.

Janet K. Williams (third from left), Kelting Professor of Nursing, was presented a commemorative medallion. She is pictured with Marcia Congdon, contributor; Mary Rettig, UI Foundation; and Martha Craft-Rosenberg, Interim Dean, College of Nursing.

Val C. Sheffield, Martin and Ruth Carver Chair in Genetics; Thomas L. Casavant, Roy J. Carver, Jr. Chair in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology; and Edwin M. Stone, Seamans-Hauser Chair in Molecular Ophthalmology.

Contact Information

Deb Woods
Director, Donor Relations and Event Services
(319) 335-3305 or (800) 648-6973

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