Hometown Hawkeye At-A-Glance
Name: Mark Bogue
Degree: B.S. (Civil Engineering) '82
Occupation: Owner, Hi-Way Products, Inc. and Hawkeye Fabrication, Inc.
Residence: Ida Grove, Iowa
For some, the number 13 may be unlucky. But for Ida Grove steel business owner and University of Iowa alumnus Mark Bogue, 13 is a good thing: it’s the number of people—so far—in his immediate family (including his parents and his three children) who have attended or graduated from Iowa, representing three generations.
Ida Grove is in Ida County, Iowa, which includes:
62 UI alumni
4 UI-educated teachers and school administrators
2 UI-educated physicians
1 UI-educated dentist
2 UI-educated pharmacists
Discover how the UI impacts the lives ofIowansborder to border, river to river, at outreach.uiowa.edu.
“When I was younger, this was Iowa State territory, since we were much closer to Ames,” says the structural engineer, guessing the balance of fans at the time was about 80 percent Iowa State University and 20 percent Iowa. Today, he says, it’s more like 50-50.
“I think it has to do with Iowa’s successes and the fact that Ida Grove is a little bit more of a diverse community than when I was growing up,” he says. “It’s not just agriculture anymore.”
Take Bogue’s own businesses, for instance. Hi-Way Products, Inc., started in 1969 by his father, provides steel products for highway and bridge projects across Iowa, including fabricated steel materials, guardrails, and other components, and also represents four other steel fabricators in three additional states. In 1999, Bogue expanded the enterprise by starting Hawkeye Fabrication, Inc., which gave him the ability to fabricate several of his companies’ products locally.
Examples of his companies’ work include the railings along the pedestrian bridge at Burlington Street and Riverside Drive in Iowa City, and the decorative blue arch railings on more than 30 bridges along the reconstructed I-235 through Des Moines.
Despite his success as an engineer and business owner, Bogue’s most eager to talk about his desire to give back to his community, and to his alma mater. In Ida Grove, Bogue has served with the volunteer fire department, on the area economic development board, on the building committee for the Ida Grove Community Rec Center, and on the school board. At the UI, Bogue serves as chair of the College of Engineering’s campaign task force on For Iowa. Forever More: The Campaign for the University of Iowa.
The importance of giving back is one Bogue has stressed with his children, all of whom have been involved in the UI’s Dance Marathon program.
“I believe you have to find a way to give back,” he says. “You can’t be a bystander. If you want things to be better, to change things, you have to stick your neck out and get involved. I truly believe in the quote by Eldridge Cleaver, ‘You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.’”
Did you know? University of Iowa engineering alumni live and work in 91 of Iowa’s 99 counties.
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Hometown Hawkeyes are University of Iowa alumni, students, faculty, and staff living, working, and making a difference in Iowa. Know a Hometown Hawkeye you'd like to see profiled in Iowa Now? Email your suggestion to us at now@uiowa.edu.