Henry A. Wallace Award
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Established in 1978 to honor an Iowa State University alumnus who has made an outstanding contribution to national or international agriculture in agricultural writing, teaching, research, or leadership

Owen J. Newlin

BS Agronomy ’51
MS Crop Production ’53
Des Moines, Iowa

Owen J. Newlin is a retired senior vice president and board member of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., a company with which he has been associated since 1955. Newlin’s professional activities include terms as chair or president of the Iowa Seed Association, the American Seed Trade Association, the American Seed Research Foundation, the U.S. Grains Council, and the National Sponsor’s Board of the FFA Foundation.

A past member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Directors and a governor of the foundation, Newlin has received numerous awards for his professional and civic activities, including the Distinguished Achievement Award and the True and Valiant Award from Iowa State University; the Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota; the Iowa Business Hall of Fame Award from the Greater Des Moines Committee; and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a past president of the ISU Achievement Foundation and also served two six-year terms as a member and eight years as president of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. He was one of the longest-serving presidents in the board’s history and was recognized for his service to higher education by Gov. Thomas Vilsack.

Newlin earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1955 and is a graduate of Harvard University’s Advanced Management Program.  He is an Order of the Knoll member, Cyclone Club member, and a lifetime member of the ISU Alumni Association.