William Robert Parks (October 13, 1915 – July 13, 2003) was the 11th president of Iowa State University.
Education:
- B.A. political science Berea College, Kentucky (1937)
- M.A. political science University of Kentucky (1938)
- PhD political science University of Wisconsin–Madison (1945)
Achievements:
- Research & administration with the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (1940 - 1948)
- Lieutenant of the United States Navy during World War II
- Professor of government at ISU (1948 - 1956)
- Professor of agricultural economics at University of Wisconsin–Madison (1956 - 1958)
- Dean of Instruction at ISU (1958 - 1961)
- Vice President of Academic Affairs (1961 - 1965)
- 11th president of ISU from 1965 to 1986
- Head of National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges
- Head of Association of American Universities
- Head of Council of Presidents
- Head of Mid-American State Universities Association
- Head of Association of Iowa College Presidents
- Member of the board of trustees of the Teachers Insurance and Annuities-College Retirement Equities Fund
- On board of directors of Norwestern Bell
- On board of directors of Central Life Assurance
- Honorary doctorate from Bear College (1966)
- Honorary doctorate from Westmar College (1968)
- Honorary doctorate from Drake University (1968)
- Named honorary alumnus of ISU (1969)
- Honorary doctorate from University of Kentucky (1973)
- Library named W. Robert and Ellen Sorge Parks Library (1984)
- Received the first Christian Petersen Design Award for his leadership in establishing the College of Design
He married Ellen Sorge (1914 - 1999) and had two daughters: Andrea (Van Howeling) and Cynthia (Hamilton). Ellen was the first woman to receive a PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Famous quotes containing the words robert and/or parks:
“Punctually at Christmas the soft plush
Of sentiment snows down, embosoms all
The sharp and pointed shapes of venom,”
—William Robert Rodgers (1909–1969)
“Towns are full of people, houses full of tenants, hotels full of guests, trains full of travelers, cafés full of customers, parks full of promenaders, consulting-rooms of famous doctors full of patients, theatres full of spectators, and beaches full of bathers. What previously was, in general, no problem, now begins to be an everyday one, namely, to find room.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)