Barbara Mack teaches Journalism at Iowa State University. She received a B.A. from ISU in 1974 and earned a J.D. from Drake University Law School in 1977. She has served as executive assistant to ISU President Martin Jischke and is a former reporter and Attorney for the Des Moines Register. She is a Des Moines native and currently lives in Des Moines.
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Trying to summarize in fourteen letters what Barbara Mack means to four of her former students, and likely hundreds of others, is an
impossible task. For so many of us, she is a teacher, a mentor, a counselor, a confidante, a mother, a friend. The four women who are honoring Barbara with this brick settled upon the words "Teacher-Mentor" more to fulfill the project's requirements than to describe fully our feelings about Barbara. In actuality, these words do not begin to capture the ways in which this strong, empowering woman contributed to our educations, our careers, indeed, our lives.
To us, she is an institution.
Barbara Mack is the epitome of all we hope
to achieve. We credit her for much of our current accomplishments and future success. This brick is a token of our appreciation, affection, and adoration for such an wonderful person.
Thank you, Barbara Mack, for touching our lives.
Julie Harders (ISU class of 1992); Holli Hartman (ISU class of 1992); Chris Romans (ISU class of 1993); Nicki Saylor (ISU class of 1992).
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Barbara Mack stood like a marine corp. sergeant before my Journalism 101 class that
sweaty day in August 1988. She was cool, self-confident; the class was tense, self-conscious. She began her lecture by warning of her tendency to run late in the mornings (this woman can put on pantyhose while doing 80 mph on I-35) and recounting her experiences as a gourmet food critic who visited unsuspecting restaurants incognito wearing a wig, button-up housecoat, and knee-high pantyhose worn at the ankles. Within minutes, she had us laughing. Not one of those nervous, half-laughs that students often give teachers out of courtesy
rather than amusement, but deep, gut-burning laughter. It was then that I knew everything was going to be all right. In later, more advanced classes, Barbara would breeze in with boxes of double chocolate donuts, at her expense, and would often invite the class to house parties where her guests included the governor and various state representatives. Barbara is much more than a professor to me. She has challenged, encouraged, and inspired me as a student, a journalist, a woman, a leader. Barbara enriched my college years, and continues toinfluence me as I finish law school and start my career. With her coaching, I am certain I have become a better writer, a better scholar, a better person.
-- Julie Harders
ISU class of 1992; B.A. Journalism and Mass Communications
Drake University Law School class of 1997
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For many of her students, Barbara Mack is more than just a professor of journalism. She is a career counselor, a personal life mentor, a friend. Barbara has the ability to recognize the most important quality in a
journalism student -- the fire in the belly. She stokes it with her inspiring lectures, her sound advice and dedication to the craft. Thanks to Barbara's spark, my fire is roaring.
-- Holli Hartman
ISU class of 1992
B.A. Journalism and Mass Communication 4/19/95 |
