The University of Iowa Committee on the Celebration of Excellence and Achievement Among Women announces that the Distinguished Achievement Award for Faculty has been renamed the May Brodbeck Distinguished Achievement Award for Faculty in honor of the UI's first female vice president.

May Brodbeck (1917-1983) served as vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculties at the UI from 1974-1981. She worked as a physicist on the Manhattan Project before earning a doctorate in philosophy from the UI in 1947. She taught philosophy at the University of Minnesota from 1947-1972 and gained an international reputation as a scholar in philosophy, known particularly for her work in the philosophy of science. She was dean of the Graduate School at Minnesota for two years before returning to Iowa in 1974 to become vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculties.

As Iowa's vice president for academic affairs, Brodbeck provided inspirational and effective leadership in a period of enormous faculty growth and intellectual ferment.

As a distinguished scholar, teacher, and venturesome administrator, she combined wisdom and courage to create change and advance excellence. She expanded the program of faculty developmental leaves, placed the Women’s Studies program (now the Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies program) on a firm footing, and, in general, improved the place of women in the academic world by example, by encouragement, and by administrative achievement.

As she stepped down from her position as vice president, Brodbeck wrote of the early years of her academic life: “I can remember too well being virtually the only tenured woman in liberal arts in a huge university. I was tolerated and even pampered because I was among so few. Now it is less lonely for women—and how much richer we and the universities are for it.”

The committee also awards a Distinguished Achievement Award for Staff. The two awards recognize outstanding achievement and impact by persons affiliated with the university, particularly those considered role models or mentors for women or girls. The nomination form for either a staff or faculty nomination can be found here.

The awards will be granted at the annual Celebration of Excellence and Achievement Among Women on Wednesday, April 8, at 3 p.m. in the Second Floor Ballroom of the Iowa Memorial Union.

To submit a nomination for the award, download this PDF to complete the nomination form or call 319-335-6148 for a faxed copy of the form.

Nomination materials should be returned to Jan Warren via email to jan-warren@uiowa.edu no later than Friday, Feb. 6.

The members of this year's nominating committee for the Distinguished Achievement Awards are: Alejandra Almazan, Linda Bolton, Sue Buckley, Carolyn Colvin, Monique DiCarlo, Vicki Grassian, Mei-ling Joiner, Tong Li, Pat Mason-Browne, Jennifer Modestou, Nicole Nisly,Michelene Pesantubbee, Cheryl Reardon, Sharon Tucker, Jan Warren, and Rachel Williams.