Series 2 description:

Dr. Joe Dan Coulter (Neshnabé, or Potawatomi) arrived at the University of Iowa in 1985 to serve as head of the Department of Anatomy. He served in this position until fall 1992, when he resigned to devote more time as chair (1988-1996) of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Coulter then served concurrently as associate provost for diversity and as director of Opportunity at Iowa via the Office of the Provost, from November 1999 until July 2004, when he was named associate dean for diversity within the College of Public Health, a position in which he served until 2008. Dr. Coulter was teaching in the College of Public Health when he retired in 2015.

Coulter was one of the architects to establish the American Indian and Native Studies Program in fall 1993, where he served as the first director. It was renamed the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program in fall 2018.

Coulter’s professional service includes the National Science Foundation, Behavioral and Neurosciences Division, where he was the associate program director. Within the Association of American Medical Colleges, he served as chair, Council of Academic Societies. He served as president of the Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs.

The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) was established in 1977 by T. Arnold Anderson and five others. It is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has chapters nationwide. The organization promotes the education and advancement of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, First Nations and other indigenous peoples of North America, through scholarships and job postings on their website, as well as through the society’s publication, Winds of Change magazine. An annual national conference is scheduled in October.

Dr. Joe Coulter worked to establish the University of Iowa chapter of AISES in October 1993, and was named director. He then immediately enrolled six University of Iowa students in the AISES conference held in Spokane, Washington that November, four who received scholarships.