UNI professor recognized for work combining recreation, tourism and nonprofit leadership
UNI professor recognized for work combining recreation, tourism and nonprofit leadership
For nearly a decade, UNI Professor Rodney Dieser, recreation, tourism and nonprofit leadership, has had a bit of an obsession with Frank Lloyd Wright. Now that passion has led to co-authoring a multi-award-winning book “Cedar Rock by Frank Lloyd Wright.”
The book shares the history and uniqueness of Lowell and Agnes Walter’s beloved estate Cedar Rock, located near Independence, Iowa, which is recognized as one of Wright’s signature homes. Dieser wrote the book in the summer of 2022, funded by a College of Education summer fellowship grant.
The project was borne out of visitors coming to the house and asking for a book to help them remember their experience. Previously, Kathyrn Hund, who manages the park where the estate is located and co-authored the book with Dieser, was unable to point them toward a publication. Now she can direct them to “Cedar Rock by Frank Lloyd Wright,” which is sold at the house, online and the UNESCO World Heritage Taliesin Preserve in Wisconsin.
“What I'm most proud of is that we wrote this book for the everyday person,” said Dieser. “We wrote it for the tourists. But it's so well done academically, too. We balance those two opposites. It’s written for the everyday person, and it still has 50 academic references from really good primary sources and these incredible photos.”
Rather than merely consulting books that have already been published on Frank Lloyd Wright, Dieser went straight to the source, drawing on Wright’s letters in archives as well as his own books. It’s because of this that Dieser believes the book has now received two awards: the 2024 Loren Horton Community History Award by the State Historical Society of Iowa and the 2024 Ney C. Landrum Park History Award by the National Association of State Park Directors. The book has also been accepted as an archive piece at Columbia University’s Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, which is the premier holding of the Wright Collections.
Dieser also loves the fact that this work is highly interdisciplinary, connecting recreation, tourism and nonprofit leadership. The estate is in a park, highlighting the recreation aspect. It draws 10,000 tourists a year. Proceeds from the book benefit the house, and Dieser is even president of Friends of Cedar Rock, which ties in the nonprofit piece.
“I teach in recreation, tourism and nonprofit leadership, and I really work hard at trying to blend the three,” he said. “I'm constantly trying to share with students that they don't need to be siloed.”
Dieser’s passion for all things Frank Lloyd Wright doesn’t stop with his book. He also served as a co-editor for the upcoming issue of Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly and wrote two articles for the publication. Because of Dieser’s knowledge, he was also able to contribute to a travel itinerary focused on Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in Iowa, in collaboration with Travel Iowa, Cedar Rock State Park and Mason City tourism.
Dieser would love for other students to experience the same passion for Frank Lloyd Wright that he has. That’s why he’s also been working on setting up an internship for UNI students at Taliesin in Wisconsin, which has the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage site. These sites are renowned for their outstanding universal value. If the internship works out, students will be trained on how to work at a UNESCO World Heritage site, which links tourism, outdoor recreation, youth services and nonprofit leadership.
