The Eichacker-Harper family has been making Iowa history for five generations. Now, the family has been recognized with the well-deserved University of Iowa Family Spirit Award for their longstanding contributions to the university.
The Libraries is fortunate to work closely with Virginia Eichacker (BS ’87, JD ’92), who is a member of the Libraries Advancement Council (LAC). Her parents, Lois and George, as well as her brother, sister, and aunt, also earned degrees from Iowa—and the Libraries are proud to hold the Lois Eichacker Papers in the Iowa Women’s Archives (IWA).
The Family Spirit Award recognizes a family—spanning at least three generations of UI graduates—that has substantially benefited from and continues to advocate for the university, as well as contributes toward bettering the state of Iowa and its communities.
The family’s story is a testament to their community-minded outlook. Lois was the first African American president of the UI Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. Lois’ sister and her daughter Virginia’s namesake, Virginia Harper, was one of the first five students to integrate Currier Residence Hall in 1946, where a mural now commemorates their achievements at the university and beyond.
Virginia Eichacker has come to treasure a black-and-white photograph of the five women taken during their first days in Currier. In February 2024, she shared a reflection on the image and her aunt’s legacy: “As I look at the picture of the young women who integrated Currier Hall in 1946, the first thing that strikes me was that they were not looking into the camera but at something that appeared to be in the distance,” she wrote. “She did not imagine that 75 years later (in 2021), [the photo] would be part of a mural in a room in Currier Residence Hall—which she had been excluded from the year before.”
The Eichacker-Harper family will be honored at the Iowa football game on Sept. 14, 2024.