College News
Ag Week Activities go Through Saturday
Ag Week began today with a Faculty Breakfast and noon-time barbecue. Ag Career Day will be Tuesday, Oct. 25, in the Great Hall, Memorial Union. The week's main event will be on Thursday, Oct. 27, and includes a barbecue, Ag Olympics, mechanical bull rides, chili cook-off and hayrack rides around central campus.
Ag Industry & Business Panel Discussion Tonight
The Ag Business Club and Alpha Zeta are hosting an industry panel discussion at 8 p.m. tonight, Oct. 24, in Lush Auditorium, Kildee Hall. Professionals from ConAgra Foods, Cargill Meat Solutions, Bunge, Monsanto and Successful Farming will be on hand to answer students' questions about potential careers, internships, interviewing tips, current industry trends and more. Two $25 door prizes will be awarded and the club with the most members present will get $100.
Iowa State Faculty Update Animal Science Books
The legacy of a California man who authored 22 books is being carried on by faculty at Iowa State. Marion Eugene Ensminger had a lifelong dedication to animal agriculture education. A bond between Ensminger and Iowa State began in 1990.
ISU College of Agriculture Awards Presented Oct. 21
Two men who have made important contributions to the agriculture industry were honored Oct. 21 by the College of Agriculture. The recipient of the 2005 Floyd Andre Award was Lee Kline. The 2005 Henry A. Wallace Award was presented to Ray Townsend.
Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture to ISU Professor
Jerry DeWitt will receive the Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture Nov. 14 during the 2005 Iowa Organic conference in Ames. DeWitt is the fourth recipient of the annual award and the first non-farmer to be honored. Learn more: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2005/spencer_101905.htm
Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is National 'Friend of Extension'
The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation has been named the 2005 National Epsilon Sigma Phi "Friend of Extension." The award will be presented at the national Epsilon Sigma Phi conference Nov. 12 in Colorado Springs.
Jane Honored for her Work on Starch
Jay-lin Jane, food science and human nutrition, has been honored with the Alsburg-French-Schoch Award from the American Association of Cereal Chemists. It is the organization's highest award given to recognize scientists who have made significant contributions to the fundamental understanding of starch structures and properties. It was presented at the association's annual meeting Sept. 12.
Students Share Borlaug Poster Awards
The College of Agriculture and the College of Human Sciences provided prizes awarded to undergraduates and graduates Oct. 17 in Fourth Borlaug Poster Competition. Winners in the graduate division were: first, Mary Nyasimi, anthropology and sustainable ag, for Friendship and Power: How food can define our place in the society; second, Amy Proulx, nutrition, for Fermentation and Lactic Acid Addition Enhance Iron Bioavailability of Maize; and third, Adolphina Addo, nutrition, for Influence of nutrition education on the diets of HIV infected and uninfected pregnant and lactating women in Manya Krobo, Ghana. Undergraduate winners were: first, Rachael Cox, agronomy, for Egg Mortality Factors of Plutella xylostella in Cultivated Cruciferae; second, Laura M. Ritland, dietetics, for Anthropometric Measures Compare Well with DXA Measures of Abdominal Fat in Postmenopausal Women; and third, Beth Danowsky, dietetics, for Predictors of responsiveness to a theory-based nutrition education intervention to increase Iowa WIC preschoolers' vegetable consumption.
Deadlines and Reminders
Oct. 25: Ag Career Day, Great Hall and Campanile Room, Memorial Union, more: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/careerservices/ag%20career%20day.html
Oct. 26: Ag Week Halloween dance, Zone
Oct. 27: Ag Week barbecue with Ag Olympics, mechanical bull rides, a chili cook-off and hayrack rides, 11 a.m., central campus
Oct. 29: Block and Bridle Club's Little North American showmanship contest, 9 a.m., Farm Bureau Pavilion, Kildee Hall
Nov. 4: Insuring Iowa's Agriculture: Managing Risks and Improving Profits, Scheman Building, more: http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/online.htm
Nov. 4: College of Agriculture Development Office brown bag, following Ag Cabinet meeting, Room 141 Curtiss Hall
Nov. 14: Fifth Annual Iowa Organic Conference, Scheman Building
Communications Kiosk
Incredible and Incredulous: Two Different Views
"Incredible" properly means "unbelievable." Informally, it is used to mean "astonishing, in a good way," as in, It was an incredible trip. "Incredulous" means "disbelieving, skeptical," as in, People are incredulous about the rising gas costs. (The Chicago Manual of Style, 2003, 15th edition)
Infograzing
National Research Initiative Seeks Applications
The Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service has released the FY 2006 National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program Request for Applications. Applications must be received by the due date appropriate to each program area listed in the FY 2006 Request for Applications. In fiscal year 2006 the NRI will accept applications for fundamental research, mission-linked research and integrated research, extension and education projects.
Forum to Feature Energy-Efficient Agriculture
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy holds its first Forum on Energy Efficiency in Agriculture Nov. 14 to 16 at the Embassy Suite Hotel in Des Moines. The Iowa Energy Center is host sponsor of the event that will highlight energy efficiency technologies, policies and actions in rural America.
External Voices
The Privatization of Public Colleges
The share of public universities' revenues coming from state and local taxes declined to 64 percent in 2004 from 74 percent in 1991, according to an article in the Oct. 16 New York Times. Katharine Lyall, economist and president emeritus of the University of Wisconsin, said, "At those levels, we have to ask what it means to be a public institution. America is rapidly privatizing its public colleges and universities, whose mission used to be to serve the public good. But if private donors and corporations are providing much of a university's budget, then they will set the agenda, perhaps in ways the public likes and perhaps not. Public control is slipping away."
Marginalia
Calendar to Feature Big Brains on Campus
The brains of 12 University of Illinois men and women will fill a new calendar set to hit campus bookstore shelves. The 2006 calendar, called "Big Brains," will feature artistically enhanced brain scans of campus administrators, faculty, staff and students. The calendar models are having their brains scanned by magnetic resonance imaging. The images will highlight a particular brain region or function that each person uses in his or her job. (Associated Press, Oct. 24)
Next issue: Oct. 31
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."
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