President Flannery brought the meeting to order and introduced Susan Judkins for the invocation.  Susan noted it was Albert Einstein’s birthday, and compared some of Einstein’s thoughts about creativity and scientific discovery with today’s speaker, Mike Richards.

 

Skeet Wootten introduced the many guests of Rotarians. There were no visiting Rotarians.

 

Steve Jacobs introduced Dr. Michael Richards, his one-time personal physician. Mike is currently the chair of the Iowa Board of Regents.  He was a practicing physician in Des Moines for 21 years, and chief medical officer for then Iowa Health Systems.  Most recently he was managing partner for Quatro Composites, and was Chair of MEDTEC, a medical services and equipment company.

 

Mike provided some highlights about the state’s three universities, which are governed by the nine-member Board of Regents.  Enrollment is around 75,000 with 10,000 students per year graduating into the state’s economy.  The universities are also huge research engines.  With relatively little state direct investment in research, the universities bring in over $1 billion in research funds each year.

 

At 81.9 percent, Iowa’s system has the top graduation rate in the country.