Buena Vista University will celebrate the opening of the new Estelle Siebens Science Center with a public dedication event on Friday, Sept. 17. The dedication ceremonies will begin at 3 p.m. in the area outside the main entrance to the new facility. In the event of rain, the dedication will be held in the rotunda, which is referred to on campus as "the beaker." A reception and formal tours of the building will follow at 4 p.m.
     Guests of honor for the occasion will be Estelle Siebens, widow of the late Dr. Harold W. Siebens, and members of the Siebens family. A $13 million challenge grant from a foundation established by Dr. Siebens was the catalyst for the successful fundraising campaign for the $26 million project.
     The science faculty and students have been busy this year planning for the dedication event, which will feature a number of science on display exhibits and activities. Other activities and lectures will be held throughout the academic year.

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     Beaver fans witnessed many thrills courtside during the 2003-04 basketball season, as both the men’s and the women’s teams hosted second-round games of the NCAA Division III National Championships in Storm Lake.
     The BVU women’s basketball team then advanced all the way to the “Sweet 16” round in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, before falling to the University of Puget Sound from Tacoma, Washington.
     The Beavers were led during the season by the two-time “Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player” Amy Meggers, a senior who ranked among the nation’s leading scorers and rebounders. Janet Berry was named “Iowa Conference Coach of the Year” for coaching the Beavers to a 27-3 season record.
     The BVU men’s basketball team made it to the second round of the NCAA Division III, where their post-season was ended by Lawrence University from Appleton, Wisconsin.
     Senior Scott Weber was named “Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player” and Brian VanHaaften was named “Iowa Conference Coach of the Year,” as the Beavers finished the season with a 24-5 record.

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     BVU’s theatre department production of “Radio Daze” made school history as the first performance to be broadcast live worldwide via the internet. A tribute to the golden age of radio, the show was performed during four nights in February, with a different series of skits each night.
      Audiences could view the variety show in the studio, watch it on University Cable Network Channel 3, listen to it on 97.5 KBVU, or catch it on BVU’s web site.
      “The uniqueness of the multimedia broadcast, not to mention the complexity of coordinating four different nights of live performances, made ‘Radio Daze’ one of our most ambitious undertakings,” said Dr. Bethany Larson, assistant professor of theater at BVU and the show’s director.
      The shows included a variety of dramas, thrillers, comedy, music, songs, and an audience-participation game show. Skits ranged from “Who’son First” to “The Bickersons” to “The Shadow.”
      “We did a great deal of research to find the actual scripts from many classic radio programs, sometimes even transcribing them ourselves from the broadcast recordings,” said Larson.
      BVU students were involved in every aspect of the production, serving not only as cast and crew members, but working behind the scenes to distribute the performance via television, radio, and the web.
      The “Radio Daze” performances are archived on the web and available for viewing at www.bvu.edu/streaming/index.asp.

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     Six guest professors moved into the residence halls during January 2004 to teach five out-of-the-ordinary courses during the interim session.
     Emily Endreson, an art professor at Emporia State University, and Constance Hunt, a tapestry artist, teamed up to teach “The Practice of Art Therapy,” which focused on the power of art to heal.
     Photographic artist Dolie Thompson taught “Alternative Photography,” which explored the process of making photographic prints.
     Clint Hughes, a third-degree black belt, taught “Kenpo Karate,” during which students earned their yellow belts and learned the self-defense techniques of the martial art.
     Psychologist Wind Goodfriend taught “Research in Romantic Relationships,” which covered methodology and analysis.
     John Ross, an independent journalist and activist, taught “Bridging Interim: A Different Look at Mexico; Fixing the Zapatistas in History,” which focused on the 1994 Mayan rebellion.

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     BVU students Andy Upah, Tony Pederson, and Michael Bierman, all members of the University’s web and new media development team under the supervision of Robin Garrison, have created the software programming for an online, interactive, informational kiosk system for the entryway of the new Estelle Siebens Science Center.
     Visitors to the science center will see a 3D rendering of the building in an interactive graphic. The user may select a particular room for specific information about its contents and capabilities. For example, touching a particular office will bring up information about the professor who occupies it, along with his or her accomplishments, schedule, and classrooms.
     The kiosk will serve as a directory and as a map, giving users both visual and textual directions. It is searchable by professor, room number, or class.
     The students worked on the project in keeping with BVU’s philosophy of experiential learning: It is not enough to learn in the classroom and then look out upon the real world to apply the new-found knowledge; students must gain the skills that only hands-on experience can give them for turning theory into practice.

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     Twenty-three students enrolled in the BVU course “The Culture and People of Cuba” were offered the trip of a lifetime during the January 2004 Interim.
     With goals of gaining an understanding and appreciation of Cuban history, politics, culture, music, international relations, and literature, along with witnessing firsthand the operations of one of the last Communist nations in the world, the course took the students to Havana, Trinidad, and other locations in Cuba.
     Professors Sally Brecher (Spanish), Eric Eller (economics and finance), and Tim McDaniel (mathematics) led the trip and taught the course, which also included discussions of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea,” team presentations, journal entries, and a reflective paper.
     To scout destinations for the student trip, Eller and McDaniel traveled to Cuba in May 2003 as part of the Iowa Food and Agricultural Trade Mission in a delegation led by Congressman Leonard Boswell and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge. During that trade mission, the professors were introduced to Cuban President Fidel Castro.
     The January 2004 student trip was part of BVU’s new “Bridges” program, an internationally-themed, cross-disciplinary component of the curriculum that is designed to unite three aspects of academics — study travel, Academic and Cultural Events Series (ACES) performances and lectures, and courses from all five BVU schools — around a particular geographical region. Last year’s focus was on Latin America, and the 2004-05 academic year will focus on Central and Eastern Europe.

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     As one of many service projects on Buenafication Day, BVU students sorted through donated clothes at Upper Des Moines Opportunity. Each spring on Buenafication Day, students are excused from class and join forces with faculty and staff to “buenafy” the campus and community as a spring cleaning tradition. The event has also evolved into a day of service during which BVU community members volunteer in the Storm Lake area.
      A morning of service projects throughout the community and on campus is followed by an outdoor picnic, an afternoon full of tournaments and games, and a concert in the evening.

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     Each spring, dozens of BVU students go A.W.O.L. during spring break for an Alternative Week of Off-site Learning. The destinations are selected specifically for service projects, such as the trip to Seattle during March 2004 to help the homeless and those living in poverty.
      It was a moving experience not only for the students, but for the faculty and staff advisors accompanying them, as LaVonda Herron, manager of mail and printing services at BVU, explains.
      “We were working at a food bank and giving out food to about 1,500 people each day. I was outside by the vegetables, and a gentleman came by and shook my hand and squeezed it very meaningfully before moving on. Then I saw him look up and heard him say, ‘God bless them.’ That was quite a rewarding moment.
      “I went into it somewhat apprehensively, thinking the experience might be sad or depressing. But it was actually upbeat, because the people weren’t sorry for themselves and were thankful for what we were giving out. It was one of the most meaningful trips we have ever taken.”

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     Tom Vilsack, governor of Iowa, urged BVU’s 2004 graduates to find their life’s passion, quoting from a children’s fable that they will know it “when hours become minutes, minutes become seconds, until time disappears.”
     Vilsack noted his pride in Iowa’s biotechnological advances that can put a different face on America and expressed confidence that the graduates’ BVU “education for service” will help them meet the challenges of the future.
     Vilsack was re-elected to a second four-year term as governor in 2002, and a top priority of his administration has been to improve education opportunities. He has consistently advocated funding of the Iowa Tuition Grant, which helps needy Iowans attending the state’s private colleges and universities.

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     In keeping with its tradition of providing BVU students and invited guests with access to world leaders discussing current issues underlying American freedoms, BVU has invited David Gergen, an adviser to presidents from Nixon to Clinton, to present the 2004 William W. Siebens American Heritage Lecture on Saturday, Sept. 11.
     Established in 1989, the lecture series has featured Bob Woodward, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, George H.W. Bush, Benazir Bhutto, Shimon Peres, Margaret Thatcher, Walter Cronkite and F. W. de Klerk as recent laureates.
     As a public servant, teacher, editor, political commentator and author, Gergen has participated in politics from every conceivable angle. In the fall of 2000, he published the best-selling book Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton. He currently serves as editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report, is a regular television analyst, and is professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
      The purpose of this annual, endowed lecture series is to deepen our understanding and appreciation of the important ideas, practices and sacrifices that have defined our American freedoms and our free enterprise system. Each laureate spends the afternoon with students and faculty before a private lecture in the evening is presented to invited guests. The lecture series was endowed by the late Dr. Harold Walter Siebens, an Iowa-born entrepreneur and philanthropist, and named in honor of his son.

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These books were recently authored by BVU professors:

Dr. William B. Feis, associate professor of history
Grant’s Secret Service: The Intelligence War from Belmont to Appomattox
A Civil War study that was named an Editor’s Choice for the History Book Club

Dr. Annamaria Formichella-Elsden, assistant professor of English
Roman Fever: Domesticity and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Writing
A critical study of the influence of travel to Italy on literature by nineteenth-century American women

Jerry Johnson, assistant professor of mass communication
Farmer Christmas
A children’s book written as part of the Ag Partners “Read to Grow” project

Brian Van Haaften, instructor of exercise science and men’s basketball head coach
A Look From Within
A basketball coach’s success story about stretching the limits on and off the court

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  Latest Athletic News

Mark Schwab Named New Wrestling Coach

     Buena Vista University has named Mark Schwab as its head wrestling coach. A native of Osage, Iowa, and a former champion wrestler himself, Schwab has been a member of the University of Minnesota coaching staff for the past nine seasons.
     During his tenure at the University of Minnesota, Schwab’s wrestling teams have won two back-to-back NCAA Division I National Championships, along with placing second in the nation three times and third two times.
     “We are thrilled that Coach Schwab has accepted the position,” says BVU President Fred Moore. “He advocates an up-tempo, hard-working, exciting style of wrestling that perfectly fits our tradition at BVU.”
     “I’m excited to be returning to my home state and coaching in the Iowa Conference, which is as competitive as any in the country for wrestling,” says Schwab. “I want to uphold the quality that the legendary Al Baxter has established with the wrestling program at BVU, and maybe even take it up a notch or two!”
     As a high school wrestler, Schwab was a four-time state champion, compiling a 106-1 record. He also was the first wrestler ever to win three Junior National Freestyle titles. Schwab also won a National Greco-Roman title.
     Schwab joined his older brother Mike at the University of Northern Iowa in 1986 and won more matches as a true freshman than anyone else in NCAA history, with a 49-9 overall record, and placed fifth at the NCAA Division I National Championships.
     As a sophomore, Schwab was red-shirted to train for the 1988 Olympic Games. He broke onto the international scene with a third-place finish in what was touted as the toughest freestyle competition in the world in Tiblissi (USSR). Schwab wrestled in several USA vs. USSR duals during 1987-88 and was ranked No. 1 in the USA at 114.5 pounds. Schwab represented the U.S. in the World Cup competition in Ulan Bator (Mongolia) and earned a bronze medal.
     Returning to the college scene, Schwab was still ranked No. 1 in the U.S. at 114.5 pounds and No. 1 in the college rankings at 118 pounds. After compiling a record of 17-1-1, Schwab was injured in a dual meet and required surgery, and he was later diagnosed with a severe staph infection that required a total of nine knee operations. He missed the remainder of the season and most of the next season before being cleared to wrestle again.
     Schwab climbed to the top of the polls and once again was crowned with All-America honors at 118 pounds. Schwab completed his college career with a record of 115-18.
     After earning his bachelor’s degree in criminology from the University of Northern Iowa in 1990, Schwab coached at UNI from 1990-91 before moving to West Lafayette, Ind., and serving as an assistant coach at Purdue from 1991-93. He then joined J Robinson and the rest of the Minnesota coaching staff in the fall of 1995. Schwab earned his master’s degree in education from University of Minnesota in 2003.
     Besides working with the nationally-ranked Golden Gopher program, Schwab was a co-head coach with the Minnesota Storm club team in Minnesota. Along with assistant coach Joe Russell, Schwab coached the Minnesota Storm to three Espoir National Championships in 1996, 1997 and 1999. He was also an assistant coach for the United States Junior World team in Sydney, Australia, in 1999.
     In the summer of 2001, Schwab served as head coach of United States’ 2001 Junior World Freestyle Championships team. Schwab coached the team of 20-and-under wrestlers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
     “We are excited and enthusiastic about having Mark join our coaching team,” says BVU Athletics Director Jan Travis. “He brings dynamic leadership, experience and energy to our wrestling program.”
     Schwab will assume his duties as head wrestling coach at BVU later this summer.

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  Latest Campus News

Events Planned for New Estelle Siebens Science Center
By Kristen Waggener
Features Co-Editor
The Tack

     Though students are leaving school within the next week, and the campus will not be buzzing with life, construction will continue on the new Estelle Siebens Science Center. The construction workers will stay late each afternoon, working to finish the $26-million-dollar project before the building is scheduled to be officially turned over to the university.
     Ken Schweller, Dean of the School of Science, said the tentative date for the building to be turned over to Buena Vista University is July 8, 2004, but students and faculty have already begun preparing for the summer move.
     "We will actually be moving stuff over there a few weeks after graduation," Schweller said. "We are already boxing up the laboratories, and as soon as school is out, we will be carrying everything over."
     The building is scheduled to be up and running for classes to begin on August 30, 2004. Schweller said there are plans for an opening dedication ceremony to be held on September 17, 2004.
     "Representatives from the Siebens foundation will be here to help us open the new building," Schweller said. "There will be speeches, tours of the new building, and the science faculty and students will be putting on demonstrations, also."
     He said there are many exciting features that will be part of the new facility, including a bed of prairie grass right outside the building, which has already started to be planted. Schweller said there will also be a fossil wall located on the second floor of the building, including a collection of fossils arranged in a timeline from early to present times. Along with the fossil wall, there will be three aquariums located on the second floor: one saltwater aquarium and two freshwater. Schweller said these would measure 15 feet by three feet by four feet.
     One of the features Schweller said he was most excited about was a student- developed plasma screen kiosk. Junior Michael Bierman and seniors Any Upah and Tony Pederson developed an interactive building map that will be displayed in the main entrance to the building.
     Schweller has also set up a series of science-related lectures, titled "Speaking of Science," in which noted scientists will present on a variety of different topics, beginning on September 30 and running through second semester. The topics to be presented include Herto fossils and their implications, organelle heredity and ice-crystals in Antarctica, among others.
     There are also plans further in the future to open up the awaited human anatomy lab, which has more commonly been called the "cadaver lab."
     "We were not able to complete the necessary OSHA ventilation requirements to have a lab for four to six cadavers up and running in time for the start of next fall's semester, but (we) are seeking grant finds and working on plans to have the facility in place a year from now," Schweller said.
     Currently, the university is holding tours of the new building on a limited basis, allowing students to see the functions of the new building.
     "There are so many exciting things," Schweller said. "The most exciting things for me are the new facilities and laboratory spaces for the students. Student labs will be much better suited to doing collaborative research with faculty as well."

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Donath Receives Wythe Award

     Buena Vista University’s highest faculty honor was presented during the annual BVU Faculty/Staff Recognition Dinner held Saturday, May 22. Ben Donath, associate professor of mathematics, received the prestigious George Wythe Award for Teaching Excellence.
     “This is indeed a humbling and heart-warming experience!” said Donath at the beginning of his acceptance s