A VOW TO BE MORE VISIBLE


by Michelle Johnson

Ben Allen follows two rules: #1. "Lead by example -- do the 
right things and, as a rule, people will follow." 

#2. "While looking toward the future, don't forget to focus 
on today. Overlooking what you are doing right now can get 
you into trouble."

Leading by example and focusing on the tasks at hand have 
landed Allen at the helm of the College of Business. He 
became dean of the college July 1, after serving as interim 
dean for 10 months.

"I decided that I had come to a point in my career where it 
was a question of 'where could I add the most value?'" Allen 
said. "I felt that I could have the greatest impact serving 
as an administrator."  

Many would argue that Allen has had an impact in everything 
he has done. Like serving as chair of the transportation and 
logistics department, the only program of its kind in the 
state and, according to Allen, one of the premier programs in 
the nation. Or leading the proposal-writing team that landed 
ISU and the University of Iowa the Midwest Transportation 
Center, one of only 10 such centers in the United States. Or 
running the basketball court during the weekly faculty game, 
until an ankle injury forced his "retirement" in 1994. Or 
maybe, in his very first classroom, teaching economics to 
military inmates in the Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) U.S. 
Military Disciplinary Barracks. 

It was a strange twist of fate that gave Allen his first 
teaching opportunity at Fort Leavenworth in 1970. That same 
twist of fate kept him out of the Vietnam War. Allen was 
drafted into the Army the year he entered graduate school. It 
was pure luck, he said, coupled with the fact that he 
"couldn't shoot worth a darn," that kept him from going to 
Vietnam.

"The class before me went to Vietnam, the class after me went 
to Vietnam," Allen said. "I went to Kansas."

There, Allen served as an administrator in the Army personnel 
office. When the opportunity to teach arose, he volunteered.

"One thing about it, I had excellent classroom attendance," 
Allen said. "My experience at Fort Leavenworth prison was 
both challenging and rewarding. Many of my students had long-
term sentences. They weren't required to be in my classroom. 
Their being there meant that they were genuinely interested 
in learning. It helped me shape many of my teaching 
philosophies, one of them that being a faculty member isn't a 
right you earn, but a privilege."

In naming him a distinguished professor of business in 1988, 
ISU recognized that Allen takes that privilege very 
seriously. 

Allen has had two stints at Iowa State. From 1979 to 1990, he 
held a number of positions in the School of Business 
Administration and later the College of Business. He left to 
fill the Oren Harris chair in the department of marketing and 
transportation at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. 
That's where he learned that despite the perks of his 
Arkansas post, there really was no place like home. After a 
year, he returned to ISU.

"As a native of the Midwest, the move was a big challenge for 
me and for my family," Allen said. "We found Iowa State and 
the Ames community to be the best match for our value 
system."

Allen, no stranger to challenges, faces many of them as dean. 
One, according to Allen, is to make students and parents 
aware of the strength, quality and uniqueness of the college. 
It is a goal he hopes to achieve by increasing the college's 
visibility through distance learning programs, additional 
outreach programs and more collaborative teaching and 
research projects with other ISU colleges and business 
colleges in the state. 

He also plans to strengthen ties with 
area business and industry and improve students' educational 
experiences by providing more experiential learning 
opportunities.

With an enrollment of 2,800, the College of Business is 
situated in the middle of the ISU college pack, according to 
Allen, who has made growth and retention central to his 
mission as dean.

"Naturally, there are days when we wish we were the largest 
college on campus," Allen said. "But with the outstanding 
talent of our faculty and the growing respect of the 
university, we are making a name for ourselves."

_____
contact:  Michelle Johnson, (515) 294-8986
updated:  9-1-95