Distinguished Alumni Award


Nancy Barcelo 72MA, 80PhD

2010 Achievement Award

Nancy "Rusty" Barceló, 72MA, 80PhD, is a pioneer for multiculturalism who has literally changed the face of higher education in America.

Throughout an illustrious career in academic administration that spans four decades, including 20 trailblazing years at the University of Iowa, Barceló has championed the idea that equity and diversity are fundamental to the academic enterprise—and that promoting this belief is not just the responsibility of one administrator, program, or office, but of an entire university.

When Barceló arrived at the University of Iowa in 1970, she was the only Chicana graduate student on campus. She soon became involved in opening the UI's first Chicano Latino Native American Cultural Center. Her passionate and impeccable performance in a variety of roles and research assistantships in the UI offices of Affirmative Action, Academic Affairs, and Special Support Service caught the attention of central administration.

The year after earning her Ph.D., she accepted her first full-time UI position as assistant dean in the Office of Academic Affairs. She determined to use this platform as a vehicle toward strengthening the university's embrace of equality and diversity principles. She went on to further climb the leadership ranks, filling roles as the interim director for the Opportunity at Iowa program and as assistant provost.

Even when she finished her "official" work in Jessup Hall, Barceló often devoted evenings or weekends to the cause so close to her heart. With her boundless energy, she would speak at events, sing at rallies, or host activities for first-generation college students.

Barceló's more recent professional contributions have taken place outside Iowa. From 1996 to 2001, she served as associate vice president for multicultural and academic affairs at the University of Minnesota. She then accepted the position of vice president and vice provost for minority affairs and diversity at the University of Washington. In 2006, Minnesota managed to recruit her back to its campus, where she serves as vice president and vice provost for equity and diversity. She recently was appointed president of Northern New Mexico College and will begin her presidency on July 1, 2010.

Respected on a national level for her leadership, courage, and collaborative approach, Barceló has improved diversity at all levels in the institutions where she's worked, instilling a greater understanding of its value amongst faculty, staff, and students. Her efforts have resulted in the acceptance of diversity as a core university value, greater recruitment of multicultural populations, and improved retention and support of underrepresented groups.

In addition to her academic endeavors, Barceló has participated on numerous regional and national boards, spoken at hundreds of conferences and cultural events, and received awards from more than 20 organizations. Her latest honor, the Ohtli Award from the Mexican government, recognizes her work to enhance U.S.-Mexican relations and improve the lives of people of Mexican heritage living in this country.

With warmth, compassion, and humanity, Rusty Barceló has cultivated educational atmospheres that value and affirm difference, benefiting countless individuals as well as the teaching, research, and service missions of universities.

Barceló is a member of the UI Alumni Association's Old Capitol Club.


About Distinguished Alumni Awards

Since 1963, the University of Iowa has annually recognized accomplished alumni and friends with Distinguished Alumni Awards. Awards are presented in seven categories: Achievement, Service, Hickerson Recognition, Faculty, Staff, Recent Graduate, and Friend of the University.


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L.A.-based artist Charles Ray to receive CLAS Alumni Fellow award, give talks this month. Unpainted sculpture by Charles Ray, 1997, fiberglass and paint, 60x78x171 inches. Photograph by Josh White and courtesy of the Matthew Marks Gallery. Charles Ray (75BFA) was walking through the UI physics and astronomy department one day when he came across an inspiring scene. Ray, an art student whose curiosity extended far beyond the studio, hoped to hitch a ride out to the observatory for some evening stargazing. Instead, he found a group of students constructing a satellite bound for a space mission. "It just blew my mind," recalls Ray. Just as mind-blowing were the sculptures Ray was creating across the river, years before he would establish himself as one of the world's most important artists. For one physics-defying piece, he fashioned a 2,000-pound slab of concrete atop a slender tree trunk. For another, he dropped a massive wrecking ball onto a crumpled steel plate, as if Sputnik had just crashed outside the old Art Building. Charles Ray "It was such a formative experience for me," the Los Angeles-based sculptor says of his time in Iowa City. "It did something to my soul and my brain. Even though I was young, the university and my mentors gave me a great deal of independence. My curiosity was endless." A professor emeritus at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, Ray returns to campus this month to speak and receive the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Alumni Fellow award. Rather than just waxing nostalgic about his time at Iowa, Ray has organized a three-day lecture series April 16-18 with two fellow art scholars. Iowa native Graham Harman, a philosophy professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, will open the series by discussing his theory of aesthetics known as object-oriented ontology. On the second day, Ray will speak about the nature of sculptural objects. And Richard Neer, an art historian at the University of Chicago, will bookend the series by lecturing on the question of provenance, or art's origin. Ray will also give a separate public lecture April 17 in Art Building West titled "My Soul is an Object." Recognized as one of the leading artists of his generation, Ray is known for his strange and enigmatic sculptures so loaded with nods to the past that they've been called "catnip for art historians." His 2014 Horse and Rider, for example, is a 10-ton solid stainless steel work in the tradition of a war memorial, but depicts the artist slouch-shouldered atop a weary nag. Ray is also famous for his wry re-imaginings of familiar objects, like the 47-foot-long replica of a red toy fire truck that he parked in front of New York's Whitney Museum of American Art for a 1993 biennial exhibition. Ray and his studio team often spend years working on a given piece, which can fetch as much as seven figures at auction. His sculptures can be found at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among other major U.S. museums. Ray is currently preparing for a retrospective show in Paris next year?one of several upcoming international exhibitions. Isabel Barbuzza, UI associate professor of sculpture, describes Ray's work as beautiful and witty, while using scale in unexpected ways. Ray's 8-foot-tall Boy with Frog?commissioned for a prominent spot in Venice, Italy, then removed after some controversy (a version now stands outside the Getty Museum in Los Angeles)?is among Barbuzza's favorites. "His sculptures have a presence you can only see when you're in front of the work," she says. "They're very moving, and to me it's interesting what happens with scale?the viewer relates to the piece in a very profound way." Steve McGuire (83MA, 90PhD), director of the School of Art and Art History, says few others have contributed more to contemporary art than Ray. "This is a big deal for us to be able to celebrate his career," McGuire says of presenting Ray with the alumni fellow award. "I think it's pretty meaningful to him, and of course it's really meaningful for our school." A Chicago native, Ray arrived at Iowa as a gifted artist but hardly a model student. Ray's dyslexia made schoolwork a chore, and his parents had sent him to military school with the hopes of straightening out his academics. It was at the UI, however, where he finally found his language in the studio and, in turn, his footing in the classroom. "Through the syntax of sculpture, I could express myself intellectually for the first time," Ray says. "That gave me a kind of confidence." Ray studied under UI art school pillars like Wallace Tomasini, Julius Schmidt, and Hans Breder. But it was his bond with Roland Brenner?a South African professor and former pupil of sculptor Anthony Caro?that proved to be the most influential. Ray still remembers his first sculpture in Brenner's class, a steel configuration with long stems and discs at the end. Its bouquet-like resemblance didn't sit well with Brenner. "That showed me you made something, but didn't want to discover something," Ray recalls Brenner telling him. "Don't ever do that in my class again." The two would become lifelong friends. Iowa City is a different place today than the 1970s, particularly the transformation of the arts campus after the flood of 2008, Ray says. Still, his visits back to campus over the years always remind him of those crisp and clear Iowa nights at the observatory and gazing out the studio window while exploring the frontiers of sculpture. "It feels like you can see right through the galaxy when you look up," Ray says. Handheld bird by Charles Ray, 2006, painted steel, 2x4x3 inches The UI is home to six pieces by Ray, all found in the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building and displayed through the university's Art on Campus program. Among them is Handheld bird, a tiny but ornate piece depicting a creature in an embryonic state. Lunchtime Lecture Series What: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences fellow Charles Ray and two guest art scholars?Graham Harman and Richard Neer?will deliver a series of public lectures this month at the UI. When, where: 12:20 p.m. April 16?18 at Art Building West, room 240, 141 N. Riverside Drive, Iowa City More information: events.uiowa.edu/26915 My Soul is an Object: Artist Talk with Charles Ray What: A public lecture by renowned sculptor and UI alumnus Charles Ray When, where: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 17, at Art Building West, room 240, 141 N. Riverside Drive, Iowa City More about Ray: charlesraysculpture.com/ Support the UI School of Art and Art History

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