Richard H. Stanley
Richard H. Stanley, 2001 Hoover Medal Recipient
For the advancement of engineering practice, and an exceptional contribution toward building a global community through his leadership in education and policy development, Richard H. Stanley is 2001's Hoover Medal Winner.
Richard H. Stanley, currently the chair of The Stanley Group and chair and president of The Stanley Foundation, is known for his integrity, energy, and dedication to a more enlightened world. Stanley is accurately characterized as a world citizen. His most significant contributions to humanity have been through his leadership of The Stanley Foundation, a private operating foundation conducting policy and educational programs that foster a secure peace with freedom and justice.
Born in Muscatine, Iowa, Dick Stanley received bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering from Iowa State University in 1955 and a master's degree in sanitary engineering from the University of Iowa in 1963.
The Stanley Foundation does programming in four strategic areas: global governance, U. S. foreign policy, global education, and media. It conducts over 20 conferences a year. Stanley's leadership efforts to promote thought and encourage dialogue about world affairs serve multiple constituencies ranging from diplomats, scholars, and political and business leaders to pre-teen youth in rural Iowa.
One of Dick Stanley's nominators said, "The Foundation is playing an excellent role in keeping current with issues and human concerns, which challenge all of uswith peace, security, economic, and social change."Another nominator said, "Under Dick's direction, the Stanley Foundation has served as an invaluable partner to the United Nations." Another said, "I have on various occasions participated at Stanley Foundation events and have seen, first-hand, Dick's strong leadership abilities in engaging policymakers, opinion leaders and citizens interested in solving problems and finding opportunities that present themselves in an increasingly interdependent world. Through the planning and critical thought that flows into such conferences and meetings, Dick has made a major contribution in the service of humanity."
Under Dick Stanley's leadership, media efforts include: producing a weekly half-hour radio program called, "Common Ground" (carried on 110 radio stations), and publishing World Press Review, a monthly news magazine with a circulation of some 55,000. Both of these broaden the world understanding and perceptions of American citizens, helping them to be more conscious of the need for multilateral solutions to conflicts and more open to creating better circumstances and opportunities for all the world's people.
What started as a local experiment to try to inject global education into his hometown's secondary schools has grown into a national program to encourage global learning for students, ranging from the early secondary grades through the community college level. One nominator said, ". . . the foundation's work with community colleges has been little short of amazing." Dick works with state and national leaders of community college associations to clarify public policy issues seen as barriers to global involvement, builds frameworks for community colleges to produce globally competent learners, and explores new collaborations to strengthen the effectiveness of global education initiatives.
The foundation has consistently worked to strengthen the ability of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions to fulfill their mandates. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, it explored new issues consistent with its vision of a secure peace with freedom and justice. It has played a part in-advancing the concept of sustainable development, and continues to work on human rights and human protection issues, as well as difficult U. S. bilateral relationships.
As an individual, Dick Stanley has also contributed greatly to strengthening human service institutions close to home. He was the initial Chair of the Board of Directors of Eastern Iowa Community College. He chaired the task force that led to vertical integration of healthcare services in his community, and continues to serve as the chair of Unity Healthcare.
In his professional engineering career, Stanley is Chair of The Stanley Group, which has offered design professional service since 1913. Under Dick's leadership, the Group is the largest engineering firm in Iowa. In its 2000 annual listing of "The Top 500 Design Firms", Engineering News-Record (ENR) rates The Stanley Group among the nation's leading architecture/engineering firms, with a ranking of 101.
Throughout his professional career, Dick Stanley has been heavily involved in strengthening engineering practice and its service to the public. He has consistently worked to strengthen the societies, encourage collaboration and cooperation among them, and orient their focus toward service of the public good. He remains the youngest national president in the history of the American Consulting Engineers Council.
In recognition of a lifetime of humanitarian efforts, Dick Stanley joins the illustrious list of Hoover Medalists.
The Medal was presented to Richard H. Stanley by Michael J. Skelly, Chair of the Hoover Medal Board of Award, during the Honors Assembly at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Congress at the Hilton Hotel in New York, New York, on November 14, 2001.