Karen A. Kolschowsky

Oak Brook, Ill.

Karen Kolschowsky earned her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in 1963, but over the years she has fervently embraced her husband Gerald’s (’62 agricultural business) alma mater, Iowa State University, as her own.

One of Kolschowsky’s most evident expressions of dedication to Iowa State is her commitment to philanthropy. Together with her husband, she has made generous contributions to the University Museums, animal science, athletics, and the ISU Alumni Association, as well as established the largest multicultural scholarship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: the Kolschowsky Foundation Scholarships. But the gift for which she and her husband are best known is the creation of the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods, a program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The Sustainable Rural Livelihoods initiative works with partners in the developing world to secure better lives for rural people. Iowa State’s first partner nation in the initiative is Uganda, and Kolschowsky has visited the country frequently to assist with food security, nutrition, business development, and other programs designed to help Ugandan farmers and their families. She takes an active role in the program, communicating with ISU staff and students, as well as with the farm families involved.

“When I think about the people who have inspired me the most at Iowa State, Karen Kolschowsky is one of the first persons to come to mind,” wrote one of the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods program’s undergraduate student participants. “She has changed my life and so many others; she is a true Cyclone.”

Indeed her giving philosophy that includes not just financial but personal investment has made a true impact on Iowa State.

Because of her strong commitment to philanthropy at the university, Kolschowsky is one of 11 vice chairs for Campaign Iowa State: With Pride and Purpose, the university’s historic comprehensive fundraising campaign. She has been involved with the Iowa State University Museums Curators Associates since 1994, and she is a life member of the American Association of University Women.

Karen and Gerald Kolschowsky received Iowa State’s Order of the Knoll Campanile Award in 2006, and Karen received the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago’s Distinguished Service Award in 2007.

She is a life member of the ISU Alumni Association and regularly purchases life memberships for her scholarship recipients. She and Gerald are also members of the Order of the Knoll President’s Circle, W.M. Beardshear Society, Campanile Society, and the National Cyclone Club.

The Kolschowskys reside in Oak Brook, Ill. They have two sons: Timothy and Michael (’92 agricultural business).