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The Iowa Stater
Dec. 15, 1995

New Faculty post honors Mary Louise Smith

A newly created faculty position will honor Mary Louise Smith, the only woman to chair the National Committee of the Republican Party.

Smith is an Eddyville native who led the Republican national committee from 1974 through 1977. She was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1977 and is a founding member of the Iowa Women's Political Caucus.

The faculty chair will be filled annually by a nationally renowned individual, who will engage in teaching, research and outreach activities associated with the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics.

Three couples have given Iowa State more than $500,000 to kick off the $1 million fund-raising effort to establish the Mary Louise Smith Endowed Chair in Women and Politics. Iowa Board of Regents President Marvin Pomerantz and his wife, Rose Lee, Des Moines, provided a $250,000 deferred gift. Marvin Pomerantz is chairman and CEO of Gaylord Container Corp., Deerfield, Ill., and Mid-America Group Ltd., West Des Moines.

ISU alumni John ('64) and Joan ('64) Axel, Muscatine, and Sharon ('71) and Richard ('73) Rodine, Norman, Okla., also presented gifts for the chair. John Axel has been the state's leading fund-raiser for candidates heading the Republican ticket, and Sharon Rodine is past president of the National Women's Political Caucus. All have served in a variety of alumni leadership positions.

John Axel is leading the volunteer effort to raise $1 million to fund the chair.

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