A Matter of Giving Back

Nancy and Richard Degner thought it would be nice if their son Christopher would attend Iowa State University. After all, both Nancy and Richard are Iowa State alumni, they lived just down the road in Ankeny and their son was one of the valedictorians of his high school class.

But in the early ’90s, academic scholarships at Iowa State weren’t all that prevalent.

So instead of attending Iowa State, Christopher went to the University of Illinois.

Now Nancy (’72 food science) and Richard (’72 agriculture education, ’77 M.S. agriculture education) are doing something for future generations of prospective Iowa State students — at least for future animal science majors.

The couple has set up a scholarship endowment in animal science, which was first awarded to two students in the spring of 2008.

“We wanted to create a scholarship that the animal science department could utilize in attracting top-notch students to Iowa State,” Nancy said. “We felt it was important to give an added ‘carrot’ to get these types of students to campus.”

Animal science is natural for both Nancy and Richard to support. Nancy serves as the executive director of the Iowa Beef Industry Council, while Richard is the executive director of the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

“Because both of us have worked in agriculture so long, we feel it is important to support the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,” Nancy said. “We both understand the value of an education and what we have received from Iowa State.

“We’ve had careers we’ve really enjoyed, and you get to a point in your lives when you don’t need anything else. Then it’s just a matter of giving back.”

Nancy and Richard have given back more than just to the animal science department. The couple has made a long-term commitment to Iowa State and targeted several different areas to support.

These included not only animal science, but ISU Extension, the College of Human Sciences (Nancy’s college), the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (Richard’s college) and 4-H.

“These were areas that were important to one or both of our lives and careers,” Nancy said.

And their support is being recognized, and not just by the departments and scholarship recipients. Nancy recalled being at a meeting when a cattle producer came up to her to thank her for creating the scholarship.

“It turned out that it was being used as a recruitment tool to encourage her son to come to Iowa State,” Nancy said. “That’s exactly what we intended for the scholarship to do.”