COLLEGE NEWS
- College developing foot-and-mouth information
- College plans pork lunch for graduating seniors
- ISU named historic landmark by ag engineering society
- Proposals sought for college computer projects
- Retired USDA administrator (and hort alum) to speak April 9
- Ag Man and Ag Woman of the Year named
- Students improving child-care areas for class project
- International ag finance center sponsors farm bill meeting
- Kirschenmann testifies on farm bill in Washington
- Current Issues in Nutrition conference on April 26
- Student internships available in Germany and France
- If it’s spring, it must be Lawn Mower Service Days, April 6-7
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Resources to verify unbelievable e-mail
INFOGRAZING
- ISU Census Services Web site has new census data
- Plant Sciences Institute intern featured on IPTV
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Tribal stories relate to science and natural world
MARGINALIA
- A flash of red amidst the greenhouse green
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C O L L E G E N E W S
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COLLEGE DEVELOPING FOOT-AND-MOUTH INFORMATION
The College of Agriculture is developing a foot-and-mouth-disease advisory for faculty, staff and students who will be traveling abroad this summer or hosting international guests at ISU or on Iowa farms. The advisory will be distributed before semester’s end to help people make appropriate plans for summer activities. The college wants faculty, staff and students to be informed about the disease and what they can do to help protect Iowa agriculture and the agriculture of the college’s international partners. In the college’s summer study-abroad programs (119 students will travel to 13 countries), all visits to farms in infected countries have been cancelled. Groups going to Ireland and Argentina are substituting farm visits with other activities. The college also is asking travelers to carefully follow all regulations in uninfected areas.
COLLEGE PLANS PORK LUNCH FOR GRADUATING SENIORS
The College of Agriculture is planning a lunch for graduating seniors on Friday, April 6, as part of the 2001 Senior Salute during ISU Senior Week. A few faculty or staff volunteers are needed for the event, which will be held at 11:30 a.m. in the Agronomy Courtyard (in case of rain, 2108 Agronomy). Contact Mike Telford, 4-3303 or mtelford@iastate.edu. The grilled-pork lunch is sponsored by the college and the Iowa Pork Producers Association.
ISU NAMED HISTORIC LANDMARK BY AG ENGINEERING SOCIETY
Iowa State University was one of four sites recently named an historical landmark by the American Society of Agricultural Engineering (ASAE). A plaque commemorating the Iowa Grain Aeration Historic Landmark will be placed in Davidson Hall. ISU was chosen for research conducted by George French and William Hukill in the 1940s on the development of mechanical grain aeration. Their research showed that winter-time moisture and resulting fungal infection in grain bins could be eliminated by a low rate of mechanical aeration. Their results led to development of aeration recommendations for stored grain. The new landmark was dedicated at the March meeting of the Iowa Section of ASAE meeting. Davidson Hall was itself named an ASAE historic landmark in 1976 in honor of the ASAE founder and first president, J. Brownlee Davidson.
PROPOSALS SOUGHT FOR COLLEGE COMPUTER PROJECTS
The College of Agriculture’s technology advancement committee is seeking proposals for the use of approximately $45,000 in student computer fees to support the use of computers in resident instruction. The funds will support proposals for which insufficient resources are available from student computer fees allocated directly to the departments. This new call for proposals is in addition to an earlier one issued by the university’s computation advisory committee. But for these proposals, the funds are restricted to the College of Agriculture. The proposal format can be obtained from Philip Spike, 4-6030 or plspike@iastate.edu, or online. Proposals are due April 20.
RETIRED USDA ADMINISTRATOR (AND HORT ALUM) TO SPEAK APRIL 9
On April 9, the Department of Horticulture’s Beach Lecture Series will feature Charles Laughlin, retired administrator of the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service and a professor at the University of Hawaii. Laughlin, who earned his bachelor's degree in horticulture at ISU in 1959, will speak on "The Land-grant Partnership: A Dynamic Paradigm" and on his interests in sustainable agriculture systems. His presentation begins at 4:10 p.m. in 118 Horticulture.
AG MAN AND AG WOMAN OF THE YEAR NAMED
At a breakfast wrapping up Ag Week last Friday, the 2001 Ag Man and Ag Woman of the Year were announced. Dustin Ford, senior in animal science from Northwood, Iowa, was named Ag Man of the Year. Laurie Hueneke, senior in animal science from Bellevue, Iowa, was named Ag Woman of the Year. An Ag Student Council committee made the selections.
STUDENTS IMPROVING CHILD-CARE AREAS FOR CLASS PROJECT
Agriculture students are busy completing a service learning project at the ISU Child Care Center at Veterinary Medicine. The 27 students in Cary Trexler’s Ag Education and Studies 315 class (leadership programs in agriculture) are working on outdoor improvements, including a new toddler play area, a structure to provide shade over a sandbox, a small arbor and garden, railings and a roof for a deck, and landscaping. An open house to mark the completion of the project is scheduled on April 26. The students are collecting donations from individuals, businesses and parents whose children use the facility. For more information regarding donations: Julie Hagen, child care consultant, ISU Human Resource Services, 4-8827.
INTERNATIONAL AG FINANCE CENTER SPONSORS FARM BILL MEETING
ISU’s Center for International Agricultural Finance was one of the sponsors for "Fixing the Farm Bill," a conference held Tuesday in the National Press Club, Washington, D.C. The meeting examined the coming debate on future agricultural policies. Speakers included Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and former USDA secretary Dan Glickman. The conference was organized by Neil Harl, the center’s director, and John Schnittker, an agricultural policy analyst with Schnittker Associates. Several conference papers are posted on the Web. Check the link on Harl’s Web site, http://www.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/harl/.
KIRSCHENMANN TESTIFIES ON FARM BILL IN WASHINGTON
Leopold Center director Fred Kirschenmann testified Tuesday at a farm bill hearing held by the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee in Washington, D.C. The committee was gathering information on research, extension and outreach aspects of the upcoming farm bill. The brief that accompanied Kirschenmann's testimony can be found online. Last Saturday, the Senate committee also hosted Iowa field hearings in Lewis and Spencer. Among those who testified were economist Mike Duffy, associate director of the Leopold Center, and Dave Williams, a Villisca farmer who chairs the center's advisory board.
CURRENT ISSUES IN NUTRITION CONFERENCE ON APRIL 26
The 30th annual Current Issues in Nutrition Conference, a satellite videoconference, will be downlinked April 26 in Benton Auditorium, Scheman Building. This year's program, "Our Changing Food Supply: Choices for the 21st Century," will include presentations on functional foods, organic foods, phytoestrogens, probiotics and consumer attitudes toward biotechnology. Faculty and staff may attend for $20; students may attend at no charge. A PDF of the program may be downloaded online, or by contacting Connie Hardy, 4-3394, chardy@iastate.edu.
STUDENT INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE IN GERMANY AND FRANCE
The Agriculture Study Abroad Office has summer student internships available in Germany and France. Language skills are not required. Two plant biotechnology research internships are available in Germany at the Institute of Phytopathology in Kiel or the Institute of Phytomedicine in Berlin. Room, board and wages are provided. As many as four students can earn four credits studying GMO issues in France, then stay on for a work experience with a French agricultural business. For more information, students can contact Shelley Taylor, 4-5393 or sztaylor@iastate.edu.
IF IT’S SPRING, IT MUST BE LAWN MOWER SERVICE DAYS, APRIL 6-7
The Ag Systems Technology Club will hold its annual lawn mower service days next week. Hours will be Friday, April 6, from 1 to 6 p.m., and Saturday, April 7, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bring mowers to the north side of Davidson Hall. Costs are $35 for riding mowers and $27 for push mowers. Pick-up and delivery is available -- call 4-1434 or 4-0462 by April 5 to request this service. Cost of pick-up and delivery for riding mowers is $18 and $13 for push mowers.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
April 19: Science in Agriculture Day, ISU.
April 23: Deadline, proposals, USDA’s IFAFS grant program
May 10-13: Post-transcriptional Control of Gene Expression in Plants, Plant Sciences Institute Symposium.
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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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RESOURCES TO VERIFY UNBELIEVABLE E-MAIL
Element K Journals, a provider of computer technology newsletters, suggests a few resources to help verify e-mail you receive warning about new viruses or publicizing unbelievable offers. The McAfee Virus Library, http://vil.mcafee.com, has a database of virus reports, real and fake. Vmyths has virus warnings and a newsletter for alerts. The Urban Legend Combat Kit, http://www.netsquirrel.com/combatkit, lists a number of the most popular myths, legends and hoaxes, and includes responses you can copy and send back to those who sent warnings or offers.
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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ISU CENSUS SERVICES WEB SITE HAS NEW CENSUS DATA
ISU Census Services has updated its website with initial information from the 2000 census. Data are available on total population, population 18 years of age or older, and population by racial categories and Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. When possible, 1990 data plus numerical and percentage changes are included. Some maps are available and others will be added. Those wishing to review data for all states can go to the Web site of the U.S. Bureau of the Census, http://www.census.gov, and click on "Redistricting" or "American FactFinder." More detailed census data will arrive this summer.
PLANT SCIENCES INSTITUTE INTERN FEATURED ON IPTV
Michael Clark, a Lamoni High School student who interned last summer in the Plant Sciences Institute, was featured on Iowa Public Television’s "Student Voices" program. The program, which aired March 26, will be repeated at 1:30 p.m., April 6. The show will highlight Iowa high school students who participated in research internships supported by the World Food Prize Youth Institute, which educates young people about international food issues. Clark spent seven weeks at ISU, learning about genetically modified organisms in agriculture. More information about the program, including comments by Clark and others, can be found online.
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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TRIBAL STORIES RELATE TO SCIENCE AND NATURAL WORLD
"As students gathered for general ecology class at Leech Lake Tribal College, a pipecarrier from the Leech Lake community entered the front of the room. In a classroom lined with microscopes, computers and digital measuring devices, he began to tell the Anishinaabe Creation story. He talked about Sky Woman and the Great Flood, the muskrat and the tiny morsel of soil that would become the North American continent. He talked about the four sacred directions and the spirit world. The students, eager to delve into the study of environmental science, were a little surprised to hear tribal stories in a college science class. Afterwards, however, they realized that all Anishinaabe stories are related to science and the natural world." From a paper in the Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, written by Michael Wassegijig Price of Leech Lake Tribal College. Price spoke on campus Thursday on the Native American perspective of biotechnology. ISU and the tribal college are two of nine educational institutions working on a USDA-funded project to address economic, ethical and social aspects of agricultural biotechnology. Price's paper is available online.
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M A R G I N A L I A
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A FLASH OF RED AMIDST THE GREENHOUSE GREEN
(The following item appeared in the March 19 issue of ISU Flash, the ISU Alumni Association’s e-mail newsletter.) ISU's horticulture greenhouse is a luxurious respite from winter. You can dodge into the warm, humid sanctuary, smell the green, and feel a little braver about being an Iowan. These days, there's an added sensory experience: You can hear cardinals singing. Actually, the situation began more than two years ago. Taking their cue from other cold Iowa Staters, a cardinal couple dodged in an opening in the roof vents, and decided to stick around. The environment was warm, and was soon made even more friendly when the horticulture department decided to stop spraying pesticides and began using natural insect predators. The greenhouse was perfect for building a nest and raising a family, but the couple liked to go outside for food. They began to learn the time of day the vents would be opened, the sound they made as they opened, and even who opened them. "They're smart," says Arlen Patrick, greenhouse manager. "If I tarried too long, they would come and find me, and chirp around my head."
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AG ONLINE
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NEXT ISSUE: April 13 DEADLINE: April 11
EDITORS
Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu, and Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
SUBSCRIBE
Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every other Friday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to bmeyer@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe."
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