COLLEGE NEWS
- ISU ag programs in the spotlight on Capitol Hill
- Vote by Monday, March 8, on animal science changes
- Grants awarded to ag grad students, post-docs
- Animal waste research proposals sought
- Lasso some mulch from the Rodeo Club
- Plant Transformation Facilty greenhouse ready next month
- Free conference on global ag and the Midwest
- NIH grantsmanship workshop on March 30
- World Bank grant workshop in April
- Internationalization grant proposals due April 5
- New plant biochemistry and molecular biology series
- North Central Teaching Symposium at ISU in June
- ISU organizes global conference on higher ed in ag
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Clear writing but above all avoid the barbarous
INFOGRAZING
- NASULGC endorses ag budget increase; names top issues
- More trees growing in America . . .
- . . . and in Iowa forests, too
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Farming as stamp collecting -- not a good idea
MARGINALIA
- Memories of dowsing in Ida County
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C O L L E G E N E W S
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ISU AG PROGRAMS IN THE SPOTLIGHT ON CAPITOL HILL
This week the College of Agriculture presented exhibits on Capitol Hill as part of a reception for congressional representatives, senators and their staffs. About 50 displays from land-grant universities and USDA agencies were part of the event, which was sponsored by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. It provided an opportunity for elected officials and their staffs to get better acquainted with agricultural programs at academic institutions around the country. ISU’s exhibits provided information on the work of FAPRI, RUPRI and the Center for Crops Utilization Research. ISU also was part of an exhibit on the six-university Animal Waste Management Consortium. The reception capped a visit to Iowa's elected officials and their agricultural staff members by Donald Latham and Joyce Neill, ISU's representatives on the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching, Stuart Hadley of ISU's Office of Governmental Affairs and Gerald Klonglan, the college’s associate dean of research and national programs.
VOTE BY MONDAY, MARCH 8, ON ANIMAL SCIENCE CHANGES
College of Agriculture faculty should vote by Monday, March 8, on changes to graduate majors in the Department of Animal Science. An e-mail ballot was mailed last week from Eric Hoiberg’s office. It can be returned via e-mail or mailed to 134 Curtiss. Animal science has restructured its graduate programs from seven to five majors, and the college faculty must approve the changes. For more information: Jerry Young, 4-5889 or jwyoung@iastate.edu, or Joe Colletti, 4-4912 or colletti@iastate.edu.
GRANTS AWARDED TO AG GRAD STUDENTS, POST-DOCS
International Agriculture Programs has awarded $27,850 in grants to graduate students and post-doctoral fellows for international research and education projects. Twenty-nine projects were funded in 18 countries. The funds were awarded to grad students and post-docs in 11 departments.
ANIMAL WASTE RESEARCH PROPOSALS SOUGHT
Requests for proposals are sought for collaborative research, demonstration and outreach in animal waste management. The multi-state Consortium on Animal Waste Management, of which ISU is a founding member, is especially interested in proposals that offer a systems or holistic approach to solving animal waste problems and delivering information to appropriate audiences. There is $1.6 million available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the consortium and the North Carolina State Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center. RFP information is available at the college website.
LASSO SOME MULCH FROM THE RODEO CLUB
The ISU Rodeo Club is selling wood chip mulch. There is a four-bag minimum, and each bag is $4. Reserve your bags by March 26 for delivery on April 9-10. For more information: Lesa Call, 292-9332, 119 Kildee.
PLANT TRANSFORMATION GREENHOUSE READY NEXT MONTH
Plants from the Plant Transformation Facility are expected to move into a new greenhouse in mid-April. The 3,000 square foot greenhouse attached to the agronomy greenhouse will be dedicated to the growing of transgenic soybean and corn plants. The state's soybean and corn promotion boards and the Experiment Station are the contributors to the project.
FREE CONFERENCE ON GLOBAL AG AND THE MIDWEST
The conference "Global Agriculture and the American Midwest: A Win-Win Exchange" will be held March 18-19 in the Scheman Building. The free conference, which is sponsored by ISU and the U.S. Agency for International Development, will examine global markets, international R&D and learning from businesses and organizations that have helped create markets overseas. USAID administrator Brian Atwood and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin are among the speakers. To register: Janet Gardner, 4-5366 or x1jrgard@exnet.iastate.edu.
NIH GRANTSMANSHIP WORKSHOP ON MARCH 30
Contact Deanne Brill, 4-2517 or dbrill@iastate.edu, by March 24 if you plan to attend the grantsmanship workshop on NIH grants on March 30 at the Gateway Holiday Inn. The workshop, which will run 7 to 9 p.m., will include an overview of NIH funding opportunities. Presentations will be given by faculty in zoology and genetics, sociology and food science and human nutrition. Carol Meeks, dean of family and consumer sciences, will moderate.
WORLD BANK GRANT WORKSHOP IN APRIL
Alex McCalla of the World Bank will present "Understanding World Bank Funding Opportunities: Learning How to Develop Projects and Partnerships with the World Bank," a Successful Grantsmanship workshop on April 29, Memorial Union, 1 to 3:30 p.m. Contact Deanne Brill, 4-2517 or dbrill@iastate.edu, by April 23 if you plan to attend.
INTERNATIONALIZATION GRANT PROPOSALS DUE APRIL 5
ISU's Council on International Programs has announced its 1999-2000 Internationalization/Globalization Grants program. A total of $100,000 will be awarded to five to seven proposals. Deadline for applications is April 5. For more information: Sorrel Brown, 4-8802 or sorrel@iastate.edu, or Elena Polouchkina, 4-8493 or elenap@iastate.edu.
NEW PLANT BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY SERIES
A new symposium series on plant biochemistry and molecular biology will kick off in April. The first symposium, April 22-25, is on metabolic networking in plants. Speakers will be from around the country and also from Japan and Germany. The National Science Foundation is one of the meeting's sponsors. For more information, check online. The series is sponsored by two departments -- biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology and botany. The organizing committee includes faculty at ISU, University of Arizona and Washington State University.
NORTH CENTRAL TEACHING SYMPOSIUM AT ISU IN JUNE
Mark your calendars for June 6-8 when ISU will host the North Central Teaching Symposium. The theme for the meeting is "Engaging Learners through Communication." Faculty, graduate students and post-docs are encouraged to attend. The registration fee will be waived for ISU participants. There will be a charge for meals. There also will be a pre-symposium conference on "Building the Land-Grant Community with Tribal Colleges/Universities," June 4-6. Further details on both events will follow. For more information: Bill Graves, 4-0034 or graves@iastate.edu.
ISU ORGANIZES GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON HIGHER ED IN AG
The Global Consortium of Agricultural Universities will hold a conference on "Leadership for Higher Education in Agriculture," July 22-23, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ISU President Martin Jischke is president of the consortium, which was formed last fall to foster global cooperation for the improvement of higher agricultural education. President Jischke is organizing the conference with support from International Agriculture Programs.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
March 12: Foreign travel grants due, 138 Curtiss.
March 13-16: Project LEA/RN workshop for ag faculty, Scheman Building, 4-1167.
March 15-19: Spring break.
March 18-19: Global Agriculture and the American Midwest: A Win-Win Exchange Conference, Scheman Building, 4-5366.
March 20: National Agriculture Day.
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C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
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CLEAR WRITING, BUT ABOVE ALL AVOID THE BARBAROUS
In his essay, "Politics And The English Language," English novelist and journalist George Orwell included these six rules for clear writing:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are
used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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NASULGC ENDORSES AG BUDGET INCREASE; NAMES TOP ISSUES
The President’s FY2000 budget for federal agricultural programs proposes a net increase of $174.2 million for research, extension and teaching from the FY99 funding. The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) has endorsed the proposed increase, but is asking for a different mix of funding mechanisms that matches the total increase. NASULGC also has identified critical issues to be addressed in FY2000. The issues’ goals are summarized as: an ag production system that is highly competitive in the global economy; a safe and secure food and fiber system; a healthier, more well-nourished population; greater harmony between ag and the environment; and enhanced economic opportunities and quality of life for Americans.
MORE TREES GROWING IN AMERICA . . .
More trees are growing in America’s forests than at any time since the early 1900s. University of Tennessee forester Larry Tankersley says annual forest growth rates back then were a fraction of the yearly tree harvest. Today, forest growth exceeds the harvest by 37 percent. (The Furrow, 1999 Conservation Issue)
. . . AND IN IOWA FORESTS, TOO
ISU forestry professor Paul Wray says Iowa statistics based on the last Forest Service survey (1990) follow the trends toward more trees (see item above). From 1974 to 1990, Iowa increased in forest area from 1.6 million acres to 2.1 million acres. Also, the number of live trees per acre increased 10 percent during this period. On Iowa's forest land, average net annual growth exceeded removals. Removals were 55 percent of growing stock growth and 46 percent of sawtimber growth. Growing stock are trees too small to contain lumber.
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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FARMING AS STAMP COLLECTING -- NOT A GOOD IDEA
"We cannot allow a system of agricultural Darwinism to prevail, with the survival of the fittest becoming the survival of the largest. This is what farming could look like in the middle of the 21st century: mega-farms on the one hand and hobby-farming on the other -- men and women who farm on the side while earning their living doing something else. I don't think it's a good idea to let farming become stamp collecting." Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman at the USDA Annual Ag Outlook Forum in February.
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M A R G I N A L I A
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MEMORIES OF DOWSING IN IDA COUNTY
Memories on growing up along Battle Creek in Ida County were solicited by an ISU Extension newsletter published for the Ida County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Battle Creek Watershed Groundwater Protection Project. The winter issue contained a memory from Gordon Marshall, a graduate of Battle Creek High School and of ISU, on dowsers -- people who found water by using a willow twig or other forked object. Marshall wrote: "It’s a bit ironic that this overeducated son had a father . . . who witched for water. A metal coat hanger was all he needed in his large hands. He cut out the crossbar of the hanger to make a forked device. When the hook bobbed down, supposedly he had found a stream of water . . . No, Dad never converted me to a believer in dowsing. But I know that my practical father could locate a well, dowser stick or no."