College News
Fall Freshman Class Sees Increase from 2004
This fall semester, the freshman class in the College of Agriculture saw an increase of 62 students compared to a year ago -- 505 freshmen, up from last fall's 443. Overall, 2,448 undergraduate students are enrolled in the College, compared with 2,477 a year ago. Graduate students number 679, compared with 690 a year ago. The split by gender for undergraduates is 1,452 men (59 percent) and 996 women (41 percent). Freshman students are nearly equal by gender -- 261 men and 244 women.
Horticulture Chair Assesses Campus Tree Damage
Jeff Iles, chair of the Department of Horticulture, was out shooting photos of tree damage following the tornado on campus Thursday afternoon. When asked for his assessment of the situation, Iles commented: "For the ISU campus, there can be no denying, this was a bad and destructive storm. A combination of tree species and ages were affected. Some of the damage was predictable. Old silver maples and hackberry with columns of internal decay and poor branch architecture were easy prey for high winds and driving rain. More surprising was the damage done to younger trees. In particular, two relatively young sugar maple on central campus were literally snapped off at the ground. I suspect girdling roots -- roots that had grown around the stem right at ground level -- provided the perfect place for these trees to snap. Where do we go from here? Well, we pick up the pieces, and our grounds professionals are already putting the campus back in order. In fact, I had to scramble to get pictures before they cleaned the mess up! We also need to take stock of the big trees on campus and make sure they are safe to walk beneath. And of course, there's no time like the present to plant trees for the benefit of future students, and visitors to campus."
FAPRI Analyst to Keynote USDA Meeting
Jacinto Fabiosa, an international livestock analyst at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, will deliver the keynote speech at the Animal Health National Program Planning Workshop Sept. 20 and 21. The USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service are holding the workshop in Kansas City. Fabiosa's speech is titled, "Future Trends in Agriculture from a Global Perspective."
Jones to Speak on International Collaboration at China Meeting
Lynn Jones, agricultural education and studies, will speak in China this week on the topic of international organizational collaboration. His presentation is before the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture. The conference theme is, "Strengthening the Service Mission of Universities and Research Institutions for Sustainable Global Development." Jones also will deliver a seminar in the agricultural economics department at Zhejiang University encouraging Asian involvement in the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education, for which he serves as president.
Distance Education Grant Program Seeks Proposals
Oct. 15 is the deadline for submitting applications to the College's Grants for Distance Education: Expanding Quality Asynchronous Distance Education Offerings program. The purpose of the grant program is to expand and strengthen College of Agriculture distance education course offerings by providing funds for faculty to develop or convert a course to asynchronous web-based and/or CD-ROM/DVD delivery. Courses may be 1-3 credits.
100th Celebration of ISU Ag Engineering Department Oct. 6-8
Three days of activities will cap the yearlong centennial celebration for Iowa State University's Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.
Think Tank on Animal Agriculture's First Meeting Sept. 26
The leaders of six Iowa animal commodity groups will lead a discussion at the Sept. 26 meeting of the Think Tank on Animal Agriculture. The Iowa Cattlemen's Association, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Midwest Dairy Association, Iowa Turkey Federation, Iowa Egg Council and Iowa Poultry Association and Iowa Sheep Industry Association will be represented at the meeting. They will discuss major challenges of Iowa animal agriculture, research priorities of each organization and future programs and possible action with Iowa State. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Cardinal Room, Memorial Union. Register by contacting Julie Roberts at jrober@iastate.edu by noon Sept. 23. Cost of the buffet will be $15, which is payable at the door.
World Food Prize Laureate to Present Oct. 11
This year's World Food Prize Laureate Modadugu Vijay Gupta of India will deliver a lecture Oct. 11 titled, "The Blue Revolution: Helping to End Hunger in Southeast Asia." Gupta, the assistant director general, International Relations and Partnerships, WorldFish Center Research Coordinator, International Network on Genetics in Aquaculture pioneered the development and dissemination of low-cost techniques for freshwater fish farming by the rural poor, providing farmers and their families with a nutritious food source bringing a "Blue Revolution" to Southeast Asia and beyond. The presentation begins at 2 p.m. in Lebaron Auditorium 1210.
Symposium to Explore Collaboration Between Arts and Sciences
The College of Agriculture is helping fund a Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities symposium Oct. 13 to 15 that will bring together those interested in bridging the barriers that traditionally separate the arts and sciences. "Breaking The Creative Barriers: The Arts and Sciences in Collaboration" will examine the history of interactions between art and science; the experience of artists and scientists who have collaborated on projects; the creative, intellectual and structural barriers that traditionally separate the arts and sciences; and the potential for collaborations between art and science. There is no charge to attend the symposium, but advanced registration is encouraged to guarantee adequate seating. All sessions will be in the Memorial Union. Contact: Dennis Dake, 4-4476 or ddake@iastate.edu.
Deadlines and Reminders
Sept. 12: Armstrong Research and Demonstration Farm field day on high tunnels, 4:30 p.m., near Lewis, more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings
Sept. 12-14: "A Conference to Reinvigorate Public Breeding of Seeds and Animals for a Healthy 21st Century Agriculture," Gateway Center, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2005/seeds_072705.htm
Sept. 13: Muscatine Island Research and Demonstration Farm field day, 3 p.m., near Fruitland, more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings
Sept. 14: Southeast Research and Demonstration Farm field day, 1:30 p.m., near Crawfordsville, more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings
Sept. 15: Farm Estate and Business Planning Seminar
Sept. 15: Rhodes Research and Demonstration Farm field day, 6 p.m., near Rhodes, more: https://farms.cals.iastate.edu/research-farms-field-days-and-meetings
Sept. 19: Department of Entomology seminar in observance of 125 years of insect science instruction, Tom Turpin, professor of entomology at Purdue University, "The Pedagogy of Hexapodology: Teaching about Insects," 4:10 p.m., E-164 Lagomarcino
Sept. 20: AgComm workshop, noon to 1:15 p.m., 8 Curtiss, RSVP to Cheryl Abrams, 4-5872 or cabrams@iastate.edu
Sept. 22: 22nd annual Iowa Real Estate and Insurance Seminar
Sept. 26-28: Workshop on hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and other water quality issues, campus
Sept. 30: Norman Borlaug Lectureship Poster Competition entry deadline, contact: Patricia Murphy, pmurphy@iastate.edu
Oct. 7: Center for Integrated Animal Genomics grant proposal deadline.
Communications Kiosk
Use Metaphors to Communicate, Not Decorate
Good metaphors emerge from a writer's experience and observation. They connect the readers' knowledge to new ideas or information through concrete images. No matter what you're writing, you can use metaphors to create images that make the abstract concrete, says writer and writing teacher Rebecca McClanahan. "When you work in images, you are connecting with the sensory experience of your reader," she says. Appealing to several parts of the brain, good metaphors connect with readers at a deeper level than straight facts and help them remember what they've read. "You can't escape metaphor. Our language is full of it," McClanahan says. Too often, however, writers borrow others' metaphors (e.g., "surfing the Net") that have become cliches. Examine your metaphors after you've completed your draft, McClanahan advises. Delete cliches and check for accuracy. For example, "Her tears gushed like a geyser" is a ridiculous image because it's inaccurate. While metaphors stray from the literal truth, they must make sense. If they're far-fetched or strange, the reader won't accept them and the whole piece becomes endangered. (Writing That Works)
Infograzing
Federal Updates on ISU Government Relations Website
Iowa State's Office of Government Relations keeps a website updated with information on federal government relations' activities, including information on Iowa's Congressional delegation, appropriations' progress, links to federal agencies, research organizations and higher education organizations, and more.
World Food Prize Rate Reduced for ISU Faculty and Staff
A special reduced rate of $100 is available to Iowa State faculty and staff to attend the World Food Prize International Symposium Oct. 13 and 14 at the Des Moines Marriott Hotel. "The Dual Global Challenges of Malnutrition and Obesity" will be the topic of this year's symposium. It also will feature an open forum by the Board of International Food and Agricultural Development from 1 to 4 p.m., Oct. 12. The session is open to the public at no charge and will focus on "Agriculture and Nutrition: Roles and Links to Countering HIV/AIDS." Registration and further information is available online: http://www.worldfoodprize.org/. Contacts: Keegan Kautzky, kkautzky@worldfoodprize.org, or Katie Petersen, kpeterse@worldfoodprize.org.
Women's Enrichment Fund Mini-Grants Seek Applications
For the 2005-06 fiscal year, $25,000 is available to be funded in "mini-grants" to support initiatives affecting women on the ISU campus through the Women's Enrichment Fund. Funds also may be requested for seed money to stimulate additional donations from other sources in support of women. Mini-grant proposals may be requested by faculty, staff or student organizations. The maximum amount that may be requested this year is $5,000.
External Voices
Ethanol, Made in the Midwest
A Sept. 10 New York Times story on alternative fuels focused primarily on the use of ethanol fuel. In the story, Adrian Moses, a 55-year-old computer consultant in a suburb of St. Paul, said he had for several years used E85 (the gas made primarily of corn-based ethanol) to fuel his Ford Ranger pickup. "I do it because it's the right thing, not because of economics," Moses said, adding that it was "cleaner for the environment" and "made here in the Midwest, not in the Middle East." (New York Times, Sept. 10)
Marginalia
LA Art Project Uses Corn as Symbol
"Not a Cornfield" is the title of a 32-acre, $3 million art installation growing at Los Angeles State Historic Park. The project has turned an abandoned rail yard in the industrial flatlands near Chinatown into a sea of cornstalks, according to the Los Angeles Times. "The vast conceptual art piece is meant to serve both as a point of celebration for the multi-ethnic history of Los Angeles' old core and a beacon for downtown's gradual revitalization," the story said. Corn, a longtime staple grown since the pueblo days in the neighborhoods surrounding the new park, feels inconspicuous here. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, freight lines hauling corn oil reached their terminus here. Historians are not quite sure how the area got its nickname, the Cornfields. But a long local struggle in the late 1990s to preserve the site as open space dredged up a sense that the Cornfields deserved to be preserved as places where the often overlooked early chapters of the city's history were written in the dirt. (Los Angeles Times, Sept. 12) Next issue: Sept. 19
Ag Online
Editor: 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 Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe."
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3680 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.