The state Board of Regents unanimously approved a UI request to award an honorary Doctor of Science degree to Robert Osterhaus, honorary Doctor of Law degree to Robert Ray, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Stanley Redeker at the spring 2012 commencement.

Osterhaus has been a practicing pharmacist for more than 50 years and advocates the quality and value of pharmacy education in schools. He has been loyal to the UI, dedicating his time and service.

His pharmacy is one of the most patient-centered in Iowa and focuses on involvement with the pharmacist. He served as a representative for Iowa’s 34th House District from 1995 to 2004; he was the only practicing health-care professional in the Legislature.

Ray served as Iowa’s governor from 1969 to 1983, during which he advanced human rights and founded the first Iowa Conference on the Status of Women. He helped resettle refugees in Iowa after the Vietnam War and was a strong advocate of sustainability. He aided in establishing Character Counts in schools and is considered a "citizen lawyer" by the UI.

Redeker was appointed to the Board of Regents in 1961 and again in 1967 by then-Gov. Harold Hughes and served as the regents’ president from 1965 through the end of his second term, in 1973.

During his time as a regent, he advocated academic values and the importance of universities. He unified the regents in a time when all regent universities were struggling with equal opportunities for women, equality for ethnic minorities, disabled persons, and different sexual orientation, and Vietnam War protests.

— by Dora Grote