The Harpoles Pay It Forward

For many years, Murray Harpole and his wife Ruth have reached out to advance the mission of the Iowa State University College of Engineering. Recently their passion for helping electrical and computer engineering students took an unexpected turn, as they extended a helping hand across the ocean.

Fama Lo was a high school foreign exchange student from Senegal, West Africa, and Murray Harpole was a retired corporate executive from St. Paul, Minn. After almost a decade of friendship, the two have developed a lifelong connection through Iowa State University.

Fama and Murray met through Rotary International, the organization that arranged for Fama to come to the United States to spend a year at Roseville Area High School in suburban St. Paul. She was the first Rotary exchange student to come to the U.S. from Senegal and arrived a stranger to U.S. culture and language.

“As the year was drawing to an end, I felt saddened that I had to go back home,” Fama says. “I was happy to go back to see my family, but I was sad that I hadn’t yet accomplished my goal, which was to obtain my college degree from the U.S.”

As part of her high school exchange student duties, Fama would tell Rotary groups around the U.S. about life in her country. “One day, while delivering a speech, the audience asked me what I was going to do after high school,” Fama recalls. “I told them I wanted to go to a university to be an engineer.”

Murray, an engineer who had founded the Pentair Corporation — now a global leader in water handling equipment and enclosures for electrical equipment — was in the audience and heard Fama express her dream. Later, he gave her a call. “Say, are you serious about going to college?” Fama recalls him asking.

Murray and his wife, Ruth, took Fama to visit a replica of the Atanasoff-Berry computer that was built at Iowa State and on display in St. Paul. Soon after, the couple arranged a trip to Ames. A 1943 graduate of Iowa State in electrical engineering, Murray wanted Fama to see his alma mater. “He showed me all around,” Fama says. “He even took me to meet the president. And then he asked me ‘Do you like Iowa State?’”

Of course, she did, and Fama entered Iowa State as a freshman in 1999. From that day forward, Murray and Ruth have remained involved in her life — as supporters, mentors and very good friends. Fama worked 15 to 20 hours per week while Murray and Ruth continued to support her by linking her with an internship, attending her graduation and, remaining her confidants, friends and extended family.

Fama graduated from Iowa State in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a minor in Spanish. She is now married and living in Cincinnati, Ohio, working for Sprint Nextel as a radio frequency engineer optimizing cell phone networks and designing new cell sites. Her next step is graduate school and she has applied for enrollment in an MBA program.

The Harpoles have been exceptional donors to Iowa State through the years, and their impact upon the entire university has been remarkable. They have contributed to the Engineering Teaching and Research Complex (ETRC), and the Harpole Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Their scholarships have helped many students attain engineering degrees.

Because of contributions from Murray and Ruth, the first phase of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building expansion has been a tremendous success. They donated considerable funds to stimulate the project, including the creation of the building’s center atrium — the largest meeting space within the College of Engineering. As a result, the first floor of the renovated home to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been named in their honor.

Four generations of Harpoles have been associated with Iowa State, including Murray’s father (who attended a short course in 1918) and the couple’s three children: Kenneth, a 1973 earth science graduate; daughter Kathryn Rude, who graduated in 1974 with a degree in physical education; and David, a 1977 graduate in civil engineering. Granddaughter Lauren Jessen is a fall 2008 freshman in pre-business.

Someday, Fama hopes to return to Senegal to pass on to others the legacy of caring she has received from the Harpoles. “Murray and Ruth have done everything for me,” she says. “I want everyone to know that they are great people. Their help will never go in vain and I will be grateful to them for the rest of my life.”

“I encourage everybody who has the means to help other people, to do so,” Fama says. “There are people out there who just need a push to go forward. My goal is to get experience, go back home and make a difference by giving a chance to other people, just like Murray and Ruth have given me.”