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Philanthropy Talks Video Archive

Each spring and fall, an Iowa alum or friend returns to the University of Iowa to share their story about how they give back and empower others. These programs inspire students and the broader campus community to incorporate philanthropy into their lives. Learn about other student philanthropy opportunities available on campus.

Hawkeyes Give Back: Children's Medicine Champion Featuring Jerre Stead

Jerre Stead (65BBA, 11LHD) is a visionary business leader whose transformational support helped build University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Learn about how he and his family are connected to the Hawkeye Wave and give back through philanthropy, volunteering, and leadership.

Hawkeyes Give Back: Combating Climate Change

Through research, education, and advocacy, Hawkeyes are responding to a growing environmental crisis. Watch the video of this previously recorded virtual event to hear how University of Iowa professors Gregory Carmichael and Jerald Schnoor are giving back to combat climate change.

Hawkeyes Give Back: Philanthropy for Social Change

Hear how community engagement manager Brett Burk (14BA), social impact executive Jonathan Chaparro (08BA), underserved populations program supervisor RaQuishia Harrington (05BS), and political activist and writer Stacey Walker (10BA) are using philanthropy for social change.

Fran and Margaret McCaffery

Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery and his wife, Margaret, want to help find a cure for cancer. Learn more about their work with the American Cancer Society and Coaches vs. Cancer—and their role in creating a new cancer center for adolescents and young adults at Iowa. Watch their fall 2019 lecture.

Dave Dierks

Dave Dierks (70BA) is one of the most influential members of Iowa’s philanthropy community. Dierks began his career at the University of Iowa Foundation (now the University of Iowa Center for Advancement), where he has worked to garner support for Iowa for more than 45 years. Watch his spring 2019 lecture.

Kathy Dore

Media industry innovator Kathy Dore (72BA, 84MBA) is the senior advisor of vision and strategy for consulting firm Proteus Inc. Dore previously served as president of broadcasting at Canwest Media and president of entertainment networks for Rainbow Media, overseeing cable networks AMC, IFC, WE, and Bravo. She is vice chair for University of Iowa Center for Advancement Board of Directors and has given back to the University of Iowa’s Department of Communication Studies and the Henry B. Tippie College of Business. Watch her fall 2018 lecture.

Mark Kaufman

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Mark Kaufman (86BS) is the founder and president/CEO of Athletico, one of the largest physical therapy franchises in the nation. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training and Physical Education from the University of Iowa in 1986. After earning secondary degrees from the University of Arizona and Northwestern University, Mark opened the first Athletico clinic in August 1991. Watch his spring 2018 lecture.

Andy Code

Entrepreneur Andy Code (80BBA, 81MBA) is the founder and chairman of Promus Capital and Promus Equity Partners, a multifamily office created in 2008, with a concentration in alternative assets such as private equity, impact investing, hedge funds, managed futures, and real estate. He also established CHS Capital—a $2.9 billion private equity fund—in 1988 and was a partner there for 24 years. Watch his fall 2017 lecture.

Sheri Salata

Media powerhouse Sheri Salata (80BBA) is the former executive producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show and the former president of Harpo Studios and the Oprah Winfrey Network. Salata’s latest professional venture is the launching of STORY, a media company that produces print, television, film, and digital content. Watch her spring 2017 lecture.

Ted Waitt

Sioux City native Ted Waitt (17LHD) is the founder and chairman of the Waitt Foundation. At 22, he co-founded Gateway 2000 Inc., where he helped revolutionize the direct marketing of personal computers, and he became a Fortune 500 CEO and member of the Forbes 400 by the time he was 30. Since his retirement from Gateway in 2004, he has gone on to form multiple business and philanthropic enterprises. Watch his talk from fall 2016.

P. Sue Beckwith, M.D.

Renowned physician and philanthropist P. Sue Beckwith (80BS, 84MD, 15MBA) shared her personal and professional journey and spoke about why she is deeply committed to supporting the University of Iowa. Watch her talk from spring 2016.

John Pappajohn

John Pappajohn (52BSC, 10LHD) is a leading philanthropist and nationally celebrated entrepreneur and business leader. He and his wife, Mary, have contributed millions of dollars to state, educational, and fine-arts endeavors in Iowa and beyond. Among the Pappajohns’ many significant Iowa contributions include naming gifts for the Pappajohn Business Building, the Pappajohn Pavilion at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, the John and Mary Pappajohn Clinical Cancer Center, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, and the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute in the John and Mary Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building. Watch his fall 2015 talk.

Jerre Stead

Jerre Stead (65BBA) is a visionary business leader who has enjoyed a long and illustrious career leading high-tech and information companies. A native of Maquoketa, Iowa, he started out in the business world with the Honeywell Corporation and, during his 21 years with the company, rose from production control planner to head of the firm’s Homes and Buildings Worldwide group. In 1987, Stead left Honeywell for the Square D Company, where he ultimately became chairman, president, and CEO. Watch his spring 2015 lecture.

Henry B. Tippie

Henry B. Tippie (49BSC, 09LHD) is one of the University of Iowa’s most accomplished and generous alumni. Throughout the years, he and his wife, Patricia, have supported important university programs and made a tremendous impact on the university, its students, and faculty. In 1999, in recognition of the Tippies’ visionary giving, Iowa renamed its business college the Henry B. Tippie College of Business. Watch his spring 2014 lecture.

Janice Ellig

Janice Ellig (68BBA) is the co-CEO of Chadick Ellig Executive Search Advisors in New York City and co-author of two books. She also serves as chair of the University of Iowa Center for Advancement Board of Directors. Watch her spring 2013 talk.

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Old Gold: Religious Studies' Long Association with UI

The UI is home to the nation's longest-standing Department of Religious Studies at a public university. PHOTO: F.W. Kent Collection of Photographs, Faculty series, UI Archives Rufus H. Fitzgerald, an early proponent of the School of Religion, circa 1930. Editor's note: In Old Gold, University archivist David McCartney looks back at the UI's history and tradition through materials housed in University Archives, Department of Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries. Religious education was not new to the State University of Iowa when the School of Religion was established in 1927. Attendance at vespers, for example, was expected of students for many years during the 19th century, and courses pertaining to the study of certain religions were offered for credit during the early 20th century before the formation of the school. PHOTO: 1960 Hawkeye yearbook, UI Archives The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's visit to the Iowa Memorial Union on Nov. 11, 1959, was sponsored by the School of Religion. What was new was the concept of organizing such a formalized degree-granting program at a public university. Iowa was the first such institution in the U.S. to do so. Today, the Department of Religious Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as the school is now known, ranks among the nation's 25 leading programs, according to theologydegrees.org. Before going any further, Old Gold should clear up a common misconception. The university has not been, nor is it now, the home of a theological seminary. Instead of offering, say, a master of divinity degree, the university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in religious studies. The distinction is important, particularly in the context of a tax-supported institution. As Stow Persons wrote in The University of Iowa in the Twentieth Century: An Institutional History, "Religious courses simply assured a place for religious studies alongside the various secular disciplines. ... The [approach] adopted to justify religious courses in a public university?studying about religion?tacitly acknowledged the not so subtle distinction between religion as lived and religion as perceived." To some, the coexistence of science and religion at an institution of higher learning may seem paradoxical. Since its inception, however, the Department of Religious Studies has maintained its role of service in the realm of research and instruction. This was, in essence, how the university's administration envisioned the program when President Walter Jessup (34LITTD) appointed a Committee on Religious Education in 1921. The committee secured funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and other private sources to launch the school, with direction provided by Rufus Fitzgerald, secretary of the campus YMCA chapter. (Fitzgerald would later serve as director of the Iowa Memorial Union and the School of Fine Arts.) Its first director was M. Willard Lampe, who served from 1927 to 1954. PHOTO: F.W. Kent Collection of Photographs, Faculty series, UI Archives M. Willard Lampe, the first director of the School of Religion, 1927. In its early years, the program relied upon sectarian gifts to financially support faculty representing Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths, a practice intended to maintain the appearance of separation of church and state. The practice, however, brought its own set of problems. Funding from outside sources in some cases meant that donors could assume responsibility for the hiring and firing of faculty with no approval or participation by the college or administration. Critics also expressed concern about the consistency of faculty and whether they met the academic qualifications that would be expected in any other setting on campus. By about 1940, all faculty and staff in the school were paid by university funds, or were supported by private funds with the understanding that the school would exercise its authority to hire and grant tenure. Endowed chairs or funded fellowships now account for four of the program's 16 active faculty. Today the Department of Religious Studies is interdisciplinary, offering a broad and diverse curriculum of over 120 courses at the undergraduate level alone. They entail ethics, popular culture, environmentalism, human rights, gender and sexuality, politics, and anthropology, as well as its roots: studies of all major world religions. Learn more: clas.uiowa.edu/religion/

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