Posted April 29, 2014

Iowa State University President Steven Leath, Deb and Jeff Hansen and ISU Alumni Association President/CEO Jeffery W. Johnson pose for a photo at the Distinguished Awards Celebration.

Jeff and Deb Hansen, founders and owners of Iowa Select Farms, recently received the Honorary Alumni Award from the Iowa State University Alumni Association.

Iowa Falls–based Iowa Select Farms employs nearly 1,000 Iowans in 46 counties and is both the state’s largest pork producer and one of the most technologically and environmentally advanced producers in the nation.

The Honorary Alumni Award is the highest honor given by Iowa State University through the ISU Alumni Association to individuals who have made significant contributions to the university, but are not graduates of Iowa State.

“Although neither Jeff nor Deb Hansen graduated from Iowa State, they have served our institution as though it was their own,” said ISU President Steven Leath as he presented the award to the Hansens on April 11 at the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Awards Celebration.

The Hansens are transforming the educational experience for Iowa State students, Leath added, through their gifts to the Jeff Hansen/Iowa Select Farms Pork Industry Scholarship, their Iowa Foundation for Agricultural Advancement scholarship, the Animal Science Judging Endowment Campaign and the Jeff and Deb Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center, which was completed earlier this year.

Iowa State, Leath said, also has benefited from the Hansens’ willingness to fund research, appear as guest speakers on campus and hire Iowa State graduates. He also noted that the Hansens were instrumental in the re-establishment of Iowa Swine Day at ISU, plus they have opened up their farms for faculty to conduct research in state-of-the-art facilities.

“Deb and I are deeply honored to become honorary alumni of Iowa State University,” Jeff Hansen said. “We will continue to support the university’s efforts to achieve its mission to create, share and apply knowledge to make Iowa and the world a better place.”