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On Friday, Oct. 25, agricultural business senior Riley Arthur stepped onto the stage at the Alumni Association Awards ceremony in Scheman to accept the ISU Alumni Association Impact Award on behalf of the Iowa State University Agricultural Business Club.
Jeffery W. Johnson, president and CEO of the ISU Alumni Association, presented the award, which was set up in 2000 to recognize individuals, businesses, organizations, or units whose programs or accomplishments bring broad recognition to the university and increase the involvement of ISU constituents in the life of the university.
The nearly 300-member Agricultural Business Club is one of the largest student organizations at Iowa State, comprising more than 60 percent of all agricultural business students.
Established in 1954, the club hosts monthly speakers, industry tours, career day events, and fundraising activities. In addition to helping students develop their leadership skills, the club fosters a spirit of cooperation and unity among agricultural business students, publicizes and promotes career opportunities in agricultural business and related fields, and provides opportunities to interact with professionals in various agricultural fields.
Ron Deiter, professor of economics, who has been advising the club for 42 years, along with Amy Brandau, academic adviser, and the late Georgeanne Artz, assistant professor of economics, have guided the club to an impressive record of awards and accomplishments through the years. For 15 of the last 20 years, ISU’s Agricultural Business Club has won the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association’s national outstanding club award or its national creative club award–or both. In 1976, the club was responsible for creating ISU’s now-renowned Ag Career Day.
"This is a crowning achievement by our Ag Bus Club for work and success over forty years," says Deiter. "To be the only student club to ever have won this award speaks volumes about the quality of our students and our program."
The Agricultural Business program in the Department of Economics is one of the largest undergraduate majors on the Iowa State campus, with a fall 2018 enrollment of 471. The major has a longstanding tradition of excellence, combining an education in business, management, and economics with solid technical knowledge in production agriculture and skills in communication and problem-solving. Agricultural business graduates are sought after by employers, earning the major an amazing 99 percent placement rate.