2011 Winter Catalyst Newsletter

winter 2011
A longtime Kirkwood
Community College
benefactor, Orville
Bloethe, and his late wife,
Loanna, have earned the
highest honor bestowed
on friends of the college:
The Samuel J. Kirkwood
Society Legacy Award.
Orville is recognized as
a true lawyer-statesman
and believes gifts to
education are gifts that
benefit everyone, calling
education the heart and
soul of every community.
Inside
From the Vice President
Page 2
Key support and scholarships
help student succeed
Page 2
Mansfield Trust provides
support for Kirkwood
Page 4
From the Director of
Planned and Endowed Giving
Page 5
Arbe Bareis makes art an
integral part of Kirkwood
Page 6
Legacy
Alyssa Foster: Key Su
Helped This Kirkwoo
Dear Friends,
With today’s focus on the creation of jobs, more and more people are
recognizing the significant role played by community colleges in workforce
preparation and development.
Governor Branstad’s campaign goal of producing 200,000 jobs relies on the
availability of a skilled workforce. President Obama’s White House Summit on
Community Colleges last October pointed to the extremely important role of twoyear institutions in both educational and economic development.
Community colleges across the nation are working to advance a “completion
agenda” – increasing the number of students who complete degrees, certificates,
and other credentials with value in the workplace. Major funders across the
country are weighing in by supporting community college initiatives designed to
increase learner success.
•
The Lumina Foundation’s “Big Goal” is to increase the percentage of
Americans who hold high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent
by 2025.
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $100 million
to dramatically improve the effectiveness of remedial programs so more
Americans can obtain the degrees necessary to land good jobs and keep our
economy strong.
•
Achieving the Dream’s “One Goal – Student Success and Completion”
seeks to help more students earn postsecondary credentials, including
occupational certificates and degrees.
Here in eastern Iowa, Kirkwood Community College has been training
skilled workers for more than forty years. Today Kirkwood’s enrollment is at an alltime high, with 18,456 credit students and 48,648 learners registered in non-credit
programs. It’s clear that Kirkwood’s significance to the region’s economic vitality
will continue to grow.
Alyssa Foster’s backpack is so heavy with textbooks
and notebooks that it’s hard to hoist onto her shoulder.
Fortunately, it’s well-made, sturdy and up to the task.
That says it all about this Kirkwood Community
College student: well-suited and ready to go as she
pursues her educational and career goals, thanks to a
good start at Kirkwood with scholarship support and
a clear focus. This fall, Alyssa will transfer to Iowa State
University to continue her studies in agriculture to
become an agriculture instructor.
Alyssa embodies Kirkwood’s motto, “Start Here.
Go Anywhere!” She’s already covered a lot of ground to
stretch her learning opportunities, making the best of
every chance to broaden her knowledge.
It hasn’t been easy. She had to overcome dyslexia, which she was diagnosed with in second grade.
But, Alyssa drew from strong family support to make
the most of her talents. Growing up on a farm near
Riverside, Alyssa was the oldest of three. In addition to
raising goats and show horses, her dad teaches middle
school agriculture and health science classes; her mom
is an office manager in their church. They taught her by
example that community and education matter.
“Farm life has made me realize the importance of
hard work and dedication,” Alyssa says.
Alyssa always thought she’d go to Iowa State,
but decided that Kirkwood was a better option for
starting college.
How does the Kirkwood Foundation fit in? The Foundation is a catalyst
to generate necessary support to help make this happen. Private financial
support given for scholarships and other tuition assistance, unique programs and
innovative ideas translates to more student success that contributes to this area’s
economic health.
“I knew Kirkwood’s reputation and when I came to
visit, I just fell in love with it,” Alyssa recalls. “I liked the
classrooms. I could see myself there. And I talked with
the academic advisors. You really can start here and go
anywhere.”
The investment of many donors creates a brighter future for our learners and
this region. Thank you for the critical role you play in achieving success.
Kirkwood offered a supportive, smaller college
environment, a perfect transition from Alyssa’s graduating class of 85 at Mid-Prairie High School. Alyssa also
connected with the VITAL (Vocational Individualized
Training and Learning) program, which helps high
school students transition from high school to a vocational/technical major at Kirkwood. Kirkwood, Grant
Wood Area Education Agency and local school districts
jointly sponsor VITAL.
Sincerely,
Kathy L. Hall, CFRE
Vice President, Resource Development
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The Kirkwood Foundation Catalyst Winter 2011
“Looking at the big picture, Kirkwood is financially
my best decision and also educationally, because I can
upport, Scholarships
d Student Succeed
get through some of those tougher classes with teachers
who will support me,” Alyssa notes.
In high school, Alyssa was active in cross country
and track, the arts and student council. But it was her involvement in 4H and FFA (Future Farmers of America)
that drew her to agricultural studies.
“4H was my first real passion and that was all about
community service and helping others,” Alyssa explains.
She was also a student leader on the 4H state council;
and in 2008, she was Johnson County Fair Queen.
At Kirkwood, Alyssa is a student senate member,
president of the Ag Business Club and is also Kirkwood’s ambassador on the student advisory committee
of the Iowa Corn Board.
Last year, Alyssa was one of five Kirkwood students
on a lobbying trip to Des Moines with the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees. She was
also one of six Kirkwood students to go to Washington,
D.C. to meet with Iowa’s Congressional representatives.
This year, she was one of the student senate members
chosen to attend a regional programming conference in
the Quad Cities.
Alyssa credits support from Kirkwood scholarships with helping her stay in school, including a Kline
Family Endowed Scholarship, a Diamond V Mills
Scholarship and a STEM Scholars Program Scholarship. (STEM, which stands for Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics disciplines, is a scholarship program Kirkwood administers for the National
Science Foundation.)
Kirkwood allows students to complete
one application to contend for more than 300
scholarships available.
“Those scholarships have helped me greatly,”
Alyssa says. “I really find scholarships help you in giving
back to the community. There’s a feeling of pride. And
they provide support, but also help keep you on track
with your goals. They make a real difference.”
Alyssa admits she’ll miss Kirkwood when she heads
for ISU this fall. But she feels well-prepared and ready.
“Academics are a challenge,” she says, “But Kirkwood offers real-life experiences in the classroom. That’s
a big part of why I’m so passionate about Kirkwood: it’s
relevant to our real life, but it’s also a challenge.”
“That’s a big part of why I’m so passionate
about Kirkwood: it’s relevant to our real life,
but it’s also a challenge.”
Alyssa Foster
The Kirkwood Foundation Catalyst Winter 2011
3
Mansfield Trust Provides Steady, Key Supp
Kirkwood Community College’s impact as a first-rate
provider of affordable, accessible education has grown
steadily over the years, leading to its widespread
recognition today as a valued regional resource.
That achievement has come because of steady,
ongoing support from key donors over the years,
partners in building and improving Kirkwood as an
educational center.
Dreibelbis, a trustee and board chairman for the
Mansfield Trust, personifies the fundamental care
and encouragement the Trust has offered Kirkwood
over the years. He has served as a volunteer solicitor
during Kirkwood campaigns and spearheaded
many lead gifts for the college. He joined the
Kirkwood Foundation board in 1989 and has
advocated for Kirkwood and its students ever since.
His brother Lewis was another major Kirkwood
supporter, serving as Jones County representative on
Kirkwood’s original Board of Trustees for 15 years.
Pat Dreibelbis has played a vital role in
sustaining Kirkwood through his leadership with the
Mansfield Charitable Trust Foundation, established
in 1985 by Wesley and Irene Mansfield.
Dreibelbis worked for 29 years at the Citizens
State Bank in Belle Plaine (now Citizens Bank
and Trust), becoming good friends with Wesley
Mansfield, a director of the bank.
When Wesley decided he wanted to make
some provisions for charitable giving, a charitable
foundation was established by Larry Schlue, the
lawyer for Wesley. When Wesley and Irene died,
their wills bequeathed all of their assets to the
Mansfield Trust so that charities would benefit into
the future.
“We saw an opportunity to do good,” Dreibelbis
explains. He and Schlue worked to ensure that
the Mansfield Trust reflected Wesley’s intent and
philosophy.
Having no family, the Mansfields created their
trust as a vehicle for giving to benefit charitable
organizations in Iowa. Neither Wesley nor his wife
Irene, who lived near Tama, were college graduates,
but both believed firmly in the value of education.
That became the focus of the Trust’s giving —
helping schools, colleges and universities in Iowa, as
well as in Boone County, Nebraska, the Mansfield’s
home county.
Over the years, the Mansfield Trust has
provided more than $2 million in cash and pledges
to Kirkwood for many projects, scholarships and
emergency needs. Kirkwood’s Mansfield Center
is named for the Mansfields, honoring their
community spirit and generous philanthropy.
The Belle Plaine-Kirkwood connection also
included Norm Nielsen, then school superintendent
for Belle Plaine and later Kirkwood’s long-time
president. Nielsen and Dreibelbis also became good
friends.
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The Kirkwood Foundation Catalyst Winter 2011
port for Kirkwood
The Mansfield Trust and Henry B. Tippie
provided lead gifts to buy and renovate a Belle Plaine
library to become the Tippie-Mansfield Learning
Center, which today offers a high school completion
program, guided self-study classes and college
credit classes. The Mansfield Trust also helped add
Iowa Communications Network capabilities so the
center’s services now include all Kirkwood classes
throughout rural Iowa.
The profound impact of the Mansfields’
generosity and Dreibelbis’ leadership is felt
continuously at Kirkwood because of unrestricted
funds the Mansfield Trust has provided. That allowed
Kirkwood to continue its Project START program,
originally funded by the Hall-Perrine Foundation.
The Project START program provides mentoring
and scholarhip support for our community’s most
at-risk and fragile population of learners.
Unrestricted gifts from the Mansfield Trust have
allowed the Foundation to use the support where
it is needed most. These gifts have helped with the
creation of an emergency fund to assist Kirkwood
students with unexpected financial burdens and have
funded many scholarship opportunities for minority
students, student leaders and displaced homemakers.
“We’ve been able to provide funds for projects
that otherwise might not have been done,” Schlue
says. “The thing that’s been most inspirational for
us are the things we’ve seen Kirkwood do for its
students, both traditional and nontraditional. Wesley
would have been interested in helping young people
achieve their educational goals.”
Adds Dreibelbis, “It’s been a nice relationship.
There are a lot of good causes that need money. But
Kirkwood has been such a success because it’s had
great leadership.”
Working with the Mansfield Trust has been
satisfying, he says.
“I’ve benefited just as much, along with the
people we’ve helped.”
On December 17, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Tax
Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act
of 2010, which provides a two-year retroactive extension of the IRA
Charitable Rollover, a provision that allows tax-free distributions of up
to $100,000 per year from an IRA to a qualified charity for the years 2010
and 2011.
The new expiration date for the Charitable Rollover is
December 31, 2011.
The principal rules for direct transfers from an IRA to a qualified charity
are as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Donor must be 70 ½ or older on the date of the gift.
The IRA is a traditional or Roth.
Maximum transfer of $100,000 per donor per tax year.
IRA custodian must make distribution direction to the charity.
Transfers must be to a public charity either outright or for a specific
purpose, but may not be to a donor advised fund or supporting
organization.
The transfer generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so
even those who do not itemize on their tax returns receive the benefit.
Donors who would like to make a very convenient gift to The
Kirkwood Foundation should contact their IRA custodian. Most financial
companies who are IRA custodians have an e-mail address on their
website for client contacts. Many banks and other custodians will require
use of their forms, but an e-mail to them is a simple way to start the
process. If the custodian responds by e-mailing a form to a donor, he or
she may print, sign and fax it back to the custodian the same day.
In addition to the rollover extension, the new law restores a number
of charitable tax extenders that are applicable from January 1, 2010, until
December 31, 2011. Included is a two-year extension of various charitable
giving provisions, one of which allows a Subchapter S corporation to
give appreciated stock or land to charity. It is wise to consult your tax
professional if you are contemplating a gift under this new law.
For further information please visit www.kirkwood.edu/foundation
and/or www.pgdc.com/kccf . You may also contact Susan Ovel, Director of
Planned and Endowed Giving at (319)398-5409 or susan.ovel@kirkwood.
edu. Please consider how you can help strengthen our tomorrows by
making your commitment today! Thank you.
The Kirkwood Foundation Catalyst Winter 2011
5
Arbe Bareis
Making art an integral part of Kirkwood
Finding just the right mix of elements – environment, colors, inspiration –
is critical to making art “work.”
Arbe Bareis, as both artist and person, has
found that perfect fusion in his work at Kirkwood
Community College.
on the Cultural Heritage Task Force for Rebuild Iowa
and is on the Cedar Rapids Visual Arts Commission
and the Mural Trail Society.
“I feel that Kirkwood is a place of vision, a place
that turns dreams into reality,” Bareis says. “It’s the
best place I’ve ever worked.”
Bareis, a member of the Samuel J. Kirkwood
Society, is recognized for the consideration he has
made for the college as part of his estate plans. He
holds Kirkwood and the Kirkwood Foundation
in high regard and believes his commitment is a
meaningful way to support the college’s mission
beyond his lifetime.
Since 2006, Bareis has been Kirkwood’s Fine
and Performing Arts Coordinator, curating gallery
shows and selecting all art for Kirkwood’s campus.
He also teaches Drawing, Painting, Encounters in
Humanities and Art Appreciation. Bareis has served
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The Kirkwood Foundation Catalyst Winter 2011
“I believe in Kirkwood’s mission. The students’
interests are always No. 1, starting with President
Mick Starcevich and the board,” Bareis says. “This
is another way of giving back. From being on the
scholarship committee, I’ve seen the Foundation
help change people’s lives. Education is the most
important thing that we can do for people to make
the world a better place.”
Bareis has also worked with Foundation donors
who enjoy art, those who donate art and worked on
collaborative Foundation projects, including several
fine arts dinners to thank donors who targeted gifts
to the Foundation and Kirkwood’s performing arts.
As an artist, Bareis has exhibited his paintings
locally, nationally and internationally. But it was an
online display of his paintings that led to an impressive
invitation to display his works in two U.S. embassies.
In choosing art, Bareis considers a building’s
architecture and the programs it houses. The art,
Bareis says, should speak to the people who use that
space. Bareis keeps in touch with local artists and
galleries and incorporates Kirkwood art students’
work in campus displays.
In his teaching, Bareis focuses on preparing
his students to transfer on to four-year colleges and
beyond. Building confidence is key.
“I love to see my students succeed in their
studies,” Bareis explains. “And it’s wonderful to help
them see their potential.”
“It’s all about helping them discover new ways of
thinking. That’s why I’m here.”
An American diplomat discovered Bareis’ work
online. In 2007 and again this year, Bareis was invited
by the U.S. State Department to have his paintings
displayed in two U.S. embassies in Africa, Eritrea
and the Kingdom of Swaziland, as part of the Art in
Embassies Program.
An Iowa native, Bareis majored in art at Coe
College, spending a term in New York City. After
graduating from Coe, he returned to New York
and taught in public schools, had his own business
and worked for a bank CEO on Wall Street. His
art skills were untapped for years until a friend’s
experience with a drawing class inspired him to
rekindle these interests.
“A little spark can change your life,” Bareis says.
“It’s all about taking chances, taking risks. I didn’t
start painting again until the late 1990s. I was a
late bloomer, which is why I am such a good fit for
Kirkwood. I tell my students, it’s never too late to
start something new.”
Being flexible and open to change has been
integral in Bareis’ life, especially in his 20 years in
New York. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was working in
Midtown New York City when the terrorist attacks
occurred.
“Life changed with 9/11,” he says; and in 2002,
he returned to Iowa. “At age 42, I started graduate
school at the University of Iowa.”
Bareis ultimately received both an MA and
MFA in painting with a minor in sculpture from
the University of Iowa and then taught there. But
Kirkwood is where Bareis found a rare place of
support for his vision of incorporating more art
into Kirkwood’s environment.
Kirkwood Alumni & Friends
Open House
On December 2, more than 500 Kirkwood
alumni and friends gathered to explore the new Hotel
at Kirkwood Center, enjoy hors d’oeuvres and spirits,
and view departmental demonstrations. This large
organized alumni event, one of the first at Kirkwood,
was a huge success and will serve as a springboard
for future events. Alums were given a unique
opportunity to rediscover Kirkwood and witness the
many changes that have fueled the college’s success.
Above: Bradley Marcus, Amy
Marcus, Pam Koch and Terry
Koch at the Kirkwood Alumni
Open House.
The Kirkwood Alumni & Friends program,
directed by the Kirkwood Foundation, is guided
by a leadership council comprised of twenty-four
individuals, each of whom share their professional
expertise and leadership skills to help past, present
and future alumni form meaningful and lasting
connections to the college and with one another.
The Kirkwood Foundation Catalyst Winter 2011
7
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Cedar Rapids, IA
Permit No. 94
6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW
PO Box 2068
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406-2068
Foundation Board
Emeritus Board
Stephen West, President
Steve Caves,Vice President George F. Grask, Treasurer John C. Bloomhall, Secretary Don Canfield
Patrick Falconio
Kathy Lamb
Robert Sierk
John Vernon
Robert W. Allsop
Pat Baird
Barry Boyer
Pat Cobb
Mike Denney
Pat Dreibelbis
Steven Dummermuth
Jim Dunn
Richard L. Ferguson
Jay Gruenwald
Barbara Hennings
Dwight Hughes, Jr.
G. Richard Johnson
Kevin King
Gerald Meis
James Mollenhauer
Greg Neumeyer
Chuck Peters
Bernard Rehnstrom
Marcia Rogers
Sara Sauter
Audrey Savage
Kent Statler
David Unzeitig
Foundation
Staff
Kathy L. Hall, CFRE
Vice President,
Resource Development
Susan Ovel
Director of Planned
and Endowed Giving
Kirkwood Leadership
Kathy L. Hall, CFRE
Vice President, Resource Development
Mick Starcevich
President of Kirkwood Community College
Phone (319) 398-5442
Fax (319) 398-7106
www.kirkwood.edu/foundation
Newsletter writer: Sherry Crawford
Newsletter design: Benson & Hepker Design
Eric Weiler
Annual Giving Director
Jody Donaldson
Scholarship and
Alumni Director
Sarah Peters
Accounting and
Database Analyst
Suzanne Nelson
Administrative Assistant