Jerry Pierce (IA 95) began a “foreign odyssey” in 2003 by teaching in the Ukraine while staying with a family that eventually immigrated to the United States.  Jerry hosted both these family members and another Ukrainian student, so he had a total of five Ukrainians in his home for six months.  Jerry described the situation as “a fun experience.”  The father of the Ukrainian family has maintained his conn ection with Jerry through the years by participating in his weekly tutoring sessions.

Sergei Khrushchev (son of Nikita Khrushchev) and Jerry Pierce (IA 95) This photo was taken on August 30, 2009 at the National Guard Camp Dodge in Des Moines, Iowa at the fiftieth anniversary celebration of Nikita Khrushchev's visit to Iowa in 1959.

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 Jerry attended the

Veterinary Medicine

Sustaining Dinner at

Iowa State in April 2009.

(left to right) Oleg (wife of Vladimir), Vladimir (father of the family Jerry stayed with while teaching in the Ukraine), Jerry, Lidia (from Spain)

The experience with Ukrainian students is only one example of Jerry’s efforts to reach out to students across the globe.  He has hosted students from 15 countries and has traveled all over the world.  Most recently, he has been tutoring a Ukrainian family of three in English three days each week, a student from Columbia who is working on a Master’s Degree in political science at Iowa State, and a student from Spain who has just passed her oral exam for a PHD in agriculture and is now doing research in Ireland.

This is not an unusual experience for Jerry, who hosted Oleg Antipin, a Russian student, for a year while he earned a PhD in nuclear physics.  Jerry read the Oleg’s 107-page PhD thesis before it was submitted to his committee. The paper was written in English, but the Russian language has no articles (a, an, the) or linking verbs (am, is, are, was).  Jerry spent 24 hours of actual reading time to insert the English words in such a way that the research results remained intact. Oleg is now in Finland, pursuing post-doctoral studies.

	Jerry Pierce (IA 95) with Oleg Antipin, a Russian student who stayed with Jerry while earning a PhD in nuclear physics at Iowa State.  In the background are flags of several of the 15 native countries of students Jerry has hosted, as well as souvenirs he has collected during his international travels.
	Oleg Antipin and his wife Dina, whom he married in Russia in July 2008.  They met in Ames, Iowa.  Jerry hosted Oleg for a year while he was working on a PhD at Iowa State University.

Jerry is also tutoring a Ukrainian family who came to America in December.  He has been helping them with English three days each week.  Vladimir is working on a PhD in math at Iowa State.  With Jerry’s help, he has already mastered complex English sentence structure.  One of Vladimir’s assignments was to compose a lengthy sentence needing no punctuation except for the ending punctuation mark.  Jerry recently wrote him a 200-word sentence needing only a period at the end and was pleased with his comprehension.

Jerry attributes his success in teaching English to the 12-step, yes-or-no, 135-word process that he developed 40 years ago.  Based on quantum physics, the program is designed for students who know no English.  The process worked so well with Jerry’s foreign students that he started using it with his English-speaking students.  He reduced the school curriculum from three years to 12 weeks with no outside homework. The average score of his eighth grade students was 12th grade, 6th month level in English on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.

Jerry is also active in a variety of civic endeavors.  He works with the Iowa Sister State/Sister City programs.  He has established a scholarship in memory of his wife Kay, who worked in the College of Veterinary Medicine until her death in 1989.  He truly reaches a global audience through his many activities.

Lidia, a student from Spain, and Hector, her boyfriend from Colombia, hug a small replica of the Statue of Liberty in Osceola, Iowa.  Jerry Pierce grew up and attended high school in this city.
This Ukrainian family arrived in America in December of 2008.  Jerry has been tutoring Natasha, Eugene, and Vladimir (left to right).