The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics is pleased to recognize the accomplishments and activities of its faculty, staff, students and alumni:
Brooke Almasi, Catt Center public relations/events planning intern, is a recipient of the 2018 Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award. The Iowa State University Alumni Association established this award in 1968 to recognize outstanding seniors who display high character, outstanding achievement in academics and university/community activities, and promise for continuing these exemplary qualities as alumni. Almasi, a senior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is studying public relations and minoring in American Indian Studies. She is one of seven seniors to receive this prestigious award.
Emily Barske, an honoree on the 2018 Women Impacting ISU calendar, is also a recipient of the 2018 Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award. Barske, a senior from Marshalltown, Iowa, is studying journalism and mass communication and marketing. She is the editor-in-chief of the Iowa State Daily, a position she’s held for two years.
Johanna Bergan, who attended all six Ready to Run Iowa workshops in 2017, was elected in November 2017 as the Ward 5 representative to the Decorah City Council. She chairs the council’s Community Betterment Committee and serves on the Budget and Finance and Public Utilities committees. Currently, she is the only female member of the city council in Decorah, which also elected its first female mayor, Lorraine Borowski, in the Nov. 8 election. Bergan is the executive director of Youth MOVE National, a youth-driven organization that trains young people to become advocates and leaders to improve the mental health and other social systems. She is an active member in the local PTO and her faith community.
Vivian Cook, a senior in performing arts and a Lauri K. and James R. Young Legacy of Heroines scholar, competed in the inaugural College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Entrepreneurial Pitch Off competition on Feb. 23 in Hach Hall. The first-ever pitch off event took place in each of Iowa State’s seven colleges, open to the first 25 students to apply. Those who presented were given 90 seconds to pitch their idea to a panel of judges for cash prizes. Cook is from Prescott, Arizona.
Dr. Lauren Hughes, deputy secretary for health innovation for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, is one of 59 leaders selected to participate in the fourth annual 2018 class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars. PLS serves as a catalyst for a diverse network of leaders brought together to collaborate and make a difference in the world as they learn about leadership through the lens of the presidential experiences of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson. The program began Feb. 6 in Washington, D.C. Over the course of several months, the scholars will travel to each of the participating presidential centers to learn from former presidents, key former administration officials and leading academics. Hughes was affiliated with the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics as a Helen Jensen Howe Legacy of Heroines scholar from 2000-02 during her time at Iowa State University. She graduated from Iowa State in 2002 with bachelor’s degrees in zoology and Spanish and from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in 2009. Hughes also earned a master’s degree in public health from George Washington University in 2007.
Annie Steenson, a senior in software engineering with a certificate in leadership studies, competed in the inaugural College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Entrepreneurial Pitch Off competition on Feb. 23 in Hach Hall. The first-ever pitch off event took place in each of Iowa State’s seven colleges, open to the first 25 students to apply. Those who presented were given 90 seconds to pitch their idea to a panel of judges for cash prizes. Steenson is from Omaha, Nebraska.
Clint Stephens accepted a position as the director of the Madison A. and Lila Self Engineering Leadership Fellows Program at the University of Kansas. The mission of the program, which was established in 2007 in the KU School of Engineering, is to develop engineering and computer science graduates who are strongly goal-oriented and who bring the business skills and vision needed to guide the technology-based corporations of tomorrow. Stephens taught classes and coordinated the Catt Center’s Leadership Studies Program as a graduate assistant from 2010-2012 and as the program’s first lecturer from 2012-2015. A native of Kansas, he left Iowa State in August 2015 to begin a position as an assistant professor and director of the Leadership Studies Center at Emporia State University. Stephens began his position at KU in January 2018.
Alissa Stoehr, affiliate faculty member of the Leadership Studies Program, was recently named the interim director of the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center. A lecturer in women’s and gender studies and sociology, she began her interim director role on Feb. 1. Stoehr earned bachelor degrees in women’s studies and liberal studies, a master’s degree in interdisciplinary graduate studies and a Ph.D. in higher education from Iowa State University. She worked for the Catt Center as a graduate assistant/communications specialist in 2009 and as a graduate assistant in 2014.
Kelly Winfrey, assistant professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and research and outreach coordinator for the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, presented “The Power of Women in Politics” March 1 at the Ames Public Library. The presentation was sponsored by the American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters of Ames and Story County, Catt Center and the Ames Public Library.