For Immediate Release
October 30, 2009
Contact:
Tracy Kruse, NICC Director of External Relations
563.562.3263 x.251; kruset@NICC.edu
Note: Abbreviation for Northeast Iowa Community College is NICC.
Media: Dubuque resident Bob Shafer will be inducted into the
Northeast Iowa Community College Hall of Fame on November 16 at 5:30 p.m.
on the Peosta campus. The media is invited to attend.
NICC HONORS HALL OF FAME ALUMNUS BOB SHAFER
DUBUQUE—Bob Shafer, NICC Accounting Specialist 1973, spent the summer working
on the railroad before making a last-minute decision to enroll at Northeast Iowa Community
College (NICC). His initial career plans included teaching math and coaching high school
athletics. A high school teacher saw his skills differently and encouraged him to study
accounting. The advice proved accurate for Shafer, who has worked at Mercy Medical Center
for 35 years and is currently the hospital’s vice president of finance and chief financial officer.
During the time Shafer attended NICC, classes were only available in Calmar and in
downtown Dubuque. NICC, then named Area One Vocational-Technical School, held its
Dubuque-area accounting classes in the old Roshek building. "I never had an accounting or
bookkeeping class in high school, thus NICC laid the foundation for all the basic accounting I
needed to know," Shafer said.
He attended the college’s accounting program in Dubuque for one year, and then
transferred to Calmar to complete the two-year degree. After his NICC years, he attended
Northland College in Ashland, Wis., and the University of Dubuque. He earned a B.A. in
Economics & Business and a B.S. in Accounting, and later received an M.B.A. from the
University of Dubuque.
Shafer has enjoyed his long tenure at Mercy Medical Center and is proud of his
employer and its accomplishments. In 2008, Mercy was named a Top 100 hospital in the
U.S., was named the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce’s Employer of the Year in 2009,
and has twice earned Magnet status. He has served as the president of the Iowa Chapter of
the Health Financial Management Association (HFMA) and received chapter fellowship status.
Shafer has received bronze, silver and gold awards for his service to the chapter and HFMA’s
highest honor, the Medal of Honor, in 2003. He serves as a board member and treasurer for
United Clinical Laboratories and for Stonehill Care Center’s Benevolent Foundation, and
volunteers his time on the Dubuque Community Y’s Finance Committee.
“The NICC instructors who really had an influence on me where Jim Tharp and Bill
Wermers,” said Shafer. “I try to play in the NICC Foundation golf tournaments in Calmar and
Peosta each year because I like to stay in touch with the people at NICC.”
Shafer and his wife, Barb, have been married for 32 years and have grown two children,
Andrea and Jared. Barb Shafer also works at Mercy Medical Center in the Occupational
Therapy Department.
Since the College was founded in 1966, many students have achieved distinction in their
professions and communities. NICC’s alumni association celebrates distinguished alumni at the
NICC Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies each fall. The alumni inducted are not only chosen
for success in their career but also for what they give back to their local community. Those
chosen fully embody NICC’s values of service, respect, integrity, innovation and stewardship.
For more information on the college’s alumni association, contact Barb O’Hea, associate
director for the NICC Foundation, at (563) 556-5110, ext. 284.
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