Duane Calvin Acker was born in Atlantic, Iowa, March 13, 1931 to Clayton and Ruth Kimball Acker. In 1952 he married Shirley Hansen; they have two daughters. He received his B.S. degree in Animal Husbandry at Iowa State College in 1952 and his M.S. degree in 1953 in swine nutrition. He received his Ph.D. degree from Oklahoma State University in 1957, serving as an instructor there in animal husbandry 1952-55 and from 1958-1962 was also associate professor in charge of the farm operation curriculum. He joined the animal husbandry faculty at Iowa State University in 1955-62 where he was professor in charge of farm operation curriculum. He went to Kansas State University at Manhattan from 1962-66 where he was associate dean of agriculture and director of resident instruction. From 1966-74, he was dean of agriculture and director of the agriculture experiment station at South Dakota State University at Brookings from 1966-74 and director of the Cooperative Extenson Service 1971-74. At the University of Nebraska 1974-75 he served as vice chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Dr. Acker returned to Manhattan as president of Kansas State University, 1975-86. From there he served during the Reagan and Bush administration in Washington, D.C., where he headed food and agriculture programs of the U.S. Agency for International Development 1986-1990. From 1990-93, he served as administrator of the International Cooperation and Development and Foreign Agricultural Service, and then as assistant secretary of USDA for Science and Education.
Dr. Acker has served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He was a member of the U.S. team for reviewing Marshall plan aid to West Germany in 1967. He served as co-chairman of the USA Experiment Station task force on quality of the enrironment 1967-68. He was a delegate to the OECD conference on higher education in agriculture held in Paris in 1970. He was chairman of the North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 1971-72. He was a member of the South Dakota Commission on Executive Reorganization 1971-72 and director of the U.S. Council of Agricultural Science and Technology, 1978-81. He was a member of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development 1983-86 and a member of the President's Commission, National Collegiate Athletics Association 1984-86.
Dr. Acker authored of Animal Science and Industry in 1963. The sixth edition, with a 2001 copyright, is co-authored by Dr. Merle Cunningham of Purdue University. Dr. Acker was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1980) and a Fellow of the American Society of Animal Science (1984). Dr. Acker has been presented the Distinguished Alumni Award from Iowa State University and Oklahoma State University. He has teaching and academic advising awards from Iowa State University, college of Agriculture; National 4-H Alumni Gold Key Award; and Honorary American FFA degree. He served as international president of Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture, 1974-76.
Following has lectured at Belarus Agrotechnical University in Minsk and the National Agricultural University of Ukraine. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank in the Republic of Georgia. After being a professor, dean, university president, leader of several foreign agricultural programs and an assistant secretary of agriculture, Dr. Acker bought a line of used equipment and operated his 1500-acre Iowa farm, Talycoed II near Atlantic, Iowa, several years. Now, utilizing anecdotes and illustrations from his several careers, he speaks to audiences and works with businesses and agencies that seek to be successful in the 21st century. He is Board Chair of a 275-owner egg production cooperative and of the Iowa Agricultural Finance Corporation, a private entity that invests, along with producers, in agricultural processing and in biotechnology.
Dr. Acker can be reached at Talycoed II, 66344 Troublesome Creek Road, Atlantic, Iowa 50022. Telephone is 712/243-4757; fax is 712/243-5766; e-mail is talycoed@metc.net