COLLEGE NEWS
- ISU receives USDA funds to plan new research centers
- Departmental computer plans approved
- Successful teaching grants workshop on Dec. 8
- Call for papers: Int'l livestock/environment conference
- ISU shows off research at national trade show
- Assistantships available for minority grad students
- Comments sought on water-quality action plan
- Dean's International Research Grants to 16 faculty
- Ag Council Senior Awards applications due Dec. 5
- A summer in Greece: One student's story
- Student's sculpture honoring soil to be displayed
- Ag engineers help prepare Iowa FFA ag mechanics team
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Advice from top Cargill reps: Practice communicating
INFOGRAZING
- Seven percent of tenure-track ag faculty are minorities
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Understanding what it feels like not to understand
MARGINALIA
- Does and bucks and smashed up trucks
- A miracle drug to fawn over
C O L L E G E N E W S
ISU RECEIVES USDA FUNDS TO PLAN NEW RESEARCH CENTERS
ISU is the lead institution for three center-planning grants awarded
by the USDA's Fund for Rural America. ISU and Cornell University
were the universities receiving the most planning grants. Plans
resulting from the grants will be evaluated for further funding
as new centers. The ISU awards will help develop plans for centers
on sanitary barriers to meat exports; pork information and technology;
and agro-oceanic nutrient flux. ISU agriculture faculty also are
co-principal investigators for other planning grants on centers
for rural community development, conservation buffers, international
studies, and manure and waste management.
DEPARTMENTAL COMPUTER PLANS APPROVED
The college's Technology Advancement Committee has reviewed and
approved departmental three-year plans. Each year, departments
update their plans (produced with input from faculty and students)
on how they will use funds from student computer fees. The university
allocates these funds to the colleges. This fall, the college
is expected to receive $82,000. The Technology Advancement Committee
distributes funds to departments based on enrollment. It also
awards grants each spring for departmental computer projects.
Last year, $25,000 in grants were awarded. For more information:
Gaylan Scofield, 4-0045 or ggs@iastate.edu.
SUCCESSFUL TEACHING GRANTS WORKSHOP ON DEC. 8
"Hints for Writing a Successful Teaching Grant" is the
title of the next Successful Grantsmanship Workshop, 6:30-9 p.m.,
Dec. 8, Holiday Inn/Gateway Center. The USDA Challenge Grant Program
will be discussed, and a conference link will enable participants
to pose questions to program director Howard Sandberg. An ISU
faculty panel will discuss other teaching grants. RSVP by Dec.
4 to Carla Persaud, 4-9376 or cpersaud@iastate.edu.
CALL FOR PAPERS: INT'L LIVESTOCK/ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE
Dec. 20 is the deadline for submitting abstracts for oral or poster
presentations to be delivered next summer at "Animal Production
Systems and the Environment: An International Conference on Odor,
Water Quality, Nutrient Management and Socioeconomic Issues."
The July 19-22 conference will be hosted by the college and ISU
Extension. For more information: Kay Snyder, 4-4202 or kjsnyder@iastate.edu.
A call for papers form also is online.
ISU SHOWS OFF RESEARCH AT NATIONAL TRADE SHOW
ISU's research on degradable plastics, fermentation technology,
ag-based wood products and biodiesel fuel was on display at the
National Marketplace for the Environment Conference and Trade
Show in Washington, DC, Nov. 18-20. Larry Johnson, Deland Myers
and Mon-lin Kuo represented the college and the Center for Crops
Utilization Research at the meeting, which introduces policy-makers,
procuring agencies and industry to new environmentally friendly
products and technologies. The trade show attracted an estimated
4,000 exhibitors and 300,000 visitors.
ASSISTANTSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR MINORITY GRAD STUDENTS
The Experiment Station provides graduate research assistantships
for newly recruited minority students. This quarter-time support
is matched by departmental or investigator funds. For more information:
4-4913 or 4-9376.
COMMENTS SOUGHT ON WATER-QUALITY ACTION PLAN
Through Dec. 5, the Iowa Environmental Council is accepting comments
on its water-quality action plan. Copies of the plan, which covers
monitoring, education and research, are available from Wendy Wintersteen,
132 Curtiss.
DEAN'S INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH GRANTS TO 16 FACULTY
Sixteen faculty members in 10 departments have received Dean of
Agriculture International Research Grants. Total funding this
year: $40,000.
AG COUNCIL SENIOR AWARD APPLICATIONS DUE DEC. 5
Applications for Senior Awards, awarded by the Ag Student Council
and presented at the college's convocation, are due on Dec. 5.
Application forms are available from Student Services, 23 Curtiss.
A SUMMER IN GREECE: ONE STUDENT'S STORY
At noon on Dec. 2, Karna Burzlaff, sophomore in ag education and
studies, will speak about her internship last summer at the American
Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece. The presentation will be
held in 8 Curtiss.
STUDENT'S SCULPTURE HONORING SOIL TO BE DISPLAYED
A clay sculpture entitled "Soil Wealth" will be displayed
in the rotunda on the ground floor of Curtiss Hall, Dec. 1-5.
Nicole Lehnertz-Schwake, senior in agricultural studies, created
the sculpture as an appreciation of soil for a ceramics class.
AG ENGINEERS HELP PREPARE IOWA FFA AG MECHANICS TEAM
The Riceville FFA's ag mechanics team placed fifth out of 44 teams
at the National FFA Ag Mechanics Career Development Event, Nov.
12-13 in Kansas City. Ag and biosystems engineering professors
Mort Boyd and Steve Mickelson helped prepare the team for the
contest. The annual state contest is held in Davidson Hall.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Nov. 21: Deadline, Ag Foundation study-abroad scholarships, 4-3972.
Dec. 2: International agriculture seminar on Greece, 8 Curtiss.
Dec. 5: Deadline, applications for Ag Council Senior Awards, 23
Curtiss.
Dec. 8: Writing Successful Teaching Grants, Gateway Center, 6:30
p.m. (RSVP by Dec. 4)
Dec. 20: College convocation, 9:30 a.m., C.Y. Stephens Auditorium.
Dec. 20: Deadline, oral and poster presentation proposals, 1998
international conference on animal production systems and the
environment, 4-4202.
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
ADVICE FROM TOP CARGILL REPS: PRACTICE COMMUNICATING
At a recent Cargill informational meeting, ISU students asked
some of the company's vice presidents for advice about entering
the workplace. The officials emphasized the importance of practicing
and using writing and presentation skills. They said oral, visual
and written communication skills are crucial to the future of
agriculture. (AgComm newsletter, October)
I N F O G R A Z I N G
SEVEN PERCENT OF TENURE-TRACK AG FACULTY ARE MINORITIES
There are 21 minority faculty members in the College of Agriculture,
which is 7 percent of the college's tenure-track faculty. Thirteen
are Asian/Pacific Islanders, five are Hispanic, two are African
American and one is Native American. This fall, 3 percent of the
college's undergraduate and graduate enrollment are minorities.
E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
UNDERSTANDING WHAT IT FEELS LIKE NOT TO UNDERSTAND
" . . . An acre is slightly smaller than a football field
without the end zone. Now that's something you can't forget. And
when you learn something you can't forget, when you learn it in
such a way that it touches something you really understand, that's
a terrific moment -- as is the terror of realizing that you don't
understand things. I describe the ability to communicate as being
able to understand what it is like not to understand. And in order
to pass a piece of information to somebody else I have to understand
what it is like not to understand that piece of information."
Richard Saul Wurman, author of "Information Anxiety."
(Educom Review, November/December)
M A R G I N A L I A
DOES AND BUCKS AND SMASHED-UP TRUCKS
The number of traffic accidents caused by
deer has gone up each year since 1978, and is expected to go up
again this year. The Iowa DNR reported 12,276 deer-car accidents
in 1996, a third more than in 1992. Drivers are particularly at
risk in November and December -- mating season and hunting season.
(Associated Press)
A MIRACLE DRUG TO FAWN OVER
When Humboldt State University chemist William
Wood studied the glands between the hooves of black-tailed deer,
he found E-3-tridecen-2-one (rhymes with easy-try-to-rent-to-own)
-- a compound that fights microbes responsible for acne, dandruff
and athlete's foot. That it fights athlete's-foot fungus -- and
the fact that it doesn't wash off -- may be its greatest value
to deer. Wood has synthesized the compound and has applied for
a patent for potential pharmaceutical products.