College News
Animal Health Symposium Set for July 13-15
The third International Symposium on Genetics of Animal Health is scheduled for July 13-15 at the Scheman Center. The conference will bring together researchers from academia and industry to discuss the latest developments in genetics and genomics of disease prevention in farm, wild and companion animals. It is being organized by Susan Lamont, Hank Harris and Max Rothschild, animal science. Iowa State sponsors include: the College of Agriculture, Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Center for Integrated Animal Genomics, College of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Animal Science.
Graduate Students Presented Teaching and Research Awards
The university honored graduate students for achievements in teaching and research last semester. The Teaching Excellence Award was presented to 39 students out of about 700 assistant educators. The seven from the College of Agriculture were: James Correia Jr., agronomy; Jessica Chisham, Kira Barclay and Ellis Ott, statistics; Kristy Halverson, ecology, evolution and organismal biology; and Kanlaya Jintanakul and Yevhen Yankovskyy, economics. Five of the 21 graduate students presented the Research Excellence Award were from the College: Michael Retallick, ag education and studies; Kelly Wilhelms, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology; Mark Haussmann, ecology, evolution and organismal biology; Dusan Palic, natural resource ecology and management; and Ericka Havecker, genetics, development and cell biology. Award winners will receive a congratulatory letter from President Gregory Geoffroy, an honorary note on their transcript and a distinctive cord to be worn during graduation ceremonies.
Cast Hires Alumnus as Executive Vice President
The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology has selected John Bonner as its new executive vice president effective July 1, 2005. Bonner earned a bachelor's degree in dairy science in 1968, a master's in animal science in 1971 and his doctorate in animal science in 1974, all from Iowa State. Bonner has been employed by Land O'Lakes Purina Feed LLC for the past 15 years, most recently as training and marketing manager and eastern sales manager.
Stem Cell Biology in Plants Subject of Conference
More than 150 plant scientists from throughout the world will gather at Iowa State this week to discuss meristem biology. Plant meristems contain stem cells, capable of differentiation into many cell types. They are the centers of growth and cellular production. Meristems 2005 is the sixth annual Plant Sciences Institute Symposium at Iowa State. It will be in the Scheman Building June 2-5.
Deadlines and Reminders
June 23: Research and Demonstration Farm Field Days begin, Southeast farm, 1:30 p.m., more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings
July 6-8: Agricultural policy summit, "New Directions in Federal Farm Policy: Issues for the 2007 Farm Bill"
July 12: Lauren Christian Pork Chop Open, Veenker Memorial Golf Course, Ames
Communications Kiosk
Improve Writing by Deleting 'There'
Starting a sentence with a meaningless word wastes an opportunity to write a more specific, dynamic statement according to Carolyn Mulford, who writes for the Writing That Works newsletter. She said the growing resistance to reading requires that writers sharpen and shorten their sentences. One way to do both is to rewrite sentences that begin with "There are" or "There is." Before: "There's a lot of talk about the new health benefits." After: "The new health benefits have prompted debate." (Writing That Works, April 2005)
Infograzing
Iowa 4-H Foundation Director Retires
Florine Swanson, executive director of the Iowa 4-H Foundation, will retire June 30. Swanson became the executive director in 1987, after serving on the board of directors. The foundation has grown from having $750,000 in assets in 1987 to nearly $6 million in 2005. A public retirement reception for Swanson will be from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. June 11 at the Iowa 4-H Center near Madrid.
External Voices
The More Experiments, The Better
"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Marginalia
Butter Tiger Bound for State Fair
College alumna Norma "Duffy" Lyon, better known as the "butter cow lady" for her life-size butter sculptures of dairy cows, plans to sculpt golfer Tiger Woods at the Iowa State Fair, according to the Associated Press. "He's going to be sitting down with a club next to him and he's going to be scratching a live tiger, so to speak, on the head," she said. Lyon, 75, lives on a dairy farm near Toledo. She carves a full-size dairy cow out of butter at the fair each year as she has for nearly five decades. In recent years, she started adding other sculptures, including Elvis, Garth Brooks and John Wayne, and in 1999, she celebrated her 40th year at the fair with a life-size butter version of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." Lyon doesn't play golf, but says she enjoys watching it -- especially when Tiger's playing. Lyon earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Iowa State in 1951.
Next issue: June 6
Ag Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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