COLLEGE NEWS
- Fall semester graduates honored Saturday
- Ag Council officers chosen for 1998
- New offerings: Study abroad program in China . . .
- . . . and faculty development opportunity in China
- Six faculty make research exchange visits
- Many rivers run through it: A Year of Water poster
- Spanish courses for ag, vet med faculty and staff
- 1998 submission deadlines for Leopold support
- Sixty high school students get microbiology experience
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- A light touch can make presentations memorable
INFOGRAZING
- Federal R&D spending to increase in 1998
- Some projects in federal ag budget vetoed
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Higher education now a mature industry
MARGINALIA
- Ecstatic Yuletide to the planetary constituency
C O L L E G E N E W S
FALL SEMESTER GRADUATES HONORED SATURDAY
About 200 graduates will be recognized Saturday at the college
convocation, which begins at 9:30 a.m. in C.Y. Stephens Auditorium.
Dan Belzer, ag education, will speak and receive the Ag Council's
Outstanding Senior Award. Christopher Janda, forestry, will receive
the Academic Achievement Award; James Romer, horticulture and
ag education, the Distinguished Service Award; and Carissa Cunningham,
agronomy, the Leadership Excellence Award. Doors open at 8:30
a.m. and refreshments precede the convocation.
AG COUNCIL OFFICERS CHOSEN FOR 1998
New Student Ag Council officers have been elected for the new
year. They are: Tonia Hesse, dairy science, president; Shannon
Brinning, animal science, vice president; Patrick Kuehn, ag education,
secretary; and Chris Bowman, agronomy, treasurer. The council
is made up of 46 students from 29 clubs. Faculty advisers are
Jim Kliebenstein, economics, and Joe Burris, agronomy.
NEW OFFERINGS: STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM IN CHINA . . .
The College of Agriculture is sponsoring a
study abroad program to the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
in Beijing next summer. The six-week program is supported by Cargill,
Inc. Students will take courses in Chinese history, culture, language,
economic reform, agriculture and tai chi. They will visit farms,
agribusinesses and historical and cultural sites. Application
deadline: Jan. 30. For more information: Eduarda Becerra, 4-3972
. . . AND FACULTY DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA
In conjunction with the Chinese study abroad program, the college
is offering a faculty development opportunity in China next June.
Cargill, Inc., is providing support for two ISU faculty members
to spend two and a half weeks at the Chinese Academy for Agricultural
Sciences. Faculty members would develop cooperative projects with
Chinese scientists and serve as advisers to the ISU students.
Interested faculty should submit a letter co-signed by their DEO
to Eric Hoiberg by Jan. 31. Preference will be given to applicants
with at least one previous international experience in a developing
country. For more information: Hoiberg, 4-6614 or hoiberg@iastate.edu
or David Acker, 4-8454 or dacker@iastate.edu.
SIX FACULTY MAKE RESEARCH EXCHANGE VISITS
Six ISU faculty members participated this fall in an Experiment
Station exchange program aimed at strengthening ties with faculty
at historically black land-grant institutions and tribal colleges.
Lloyd Anderson, animal science, visited Fort Valley State. Mike
Kelly, forestry, and John Schafer, agronomy, visited Alabama A&M.
Harold Crawford, agricultural education & studies, visited
North Carolina A&T. Parag Chitnis, biochemistry & biophysics,
and Vinay Dayal, aerospace engineering/engineering mechanics,
visited Tuskegee. For more information: Ramesh Kanwar, 4-4913.
MANY RIVERS RUN THROUGH IT: A YEAR OF WATER POSTER
For that last-minute holiday gift, how about a colorful map of
Iowa's rivers? Last summer at the Iowa State Fair, the College
of Agriculture's "Year of Water" exhibit featured a
large map of Iowa's major rivers titled "Iowa…Many Rivers
Run Through It." The college, Leopold Center and ISU Extension
have produced a poster version of the map, which is available
for $4 from Publications Distribution, 4-5247, and at county extension
offices. Ask for publication Pm-1740.
SPANISH COURSES FOR AG, VET MED FACULTY AND
STAFF
Two Spanish grammar and conversation courses
complemented with Latin American culture will be offered for eight
weeks during spring semester. A beginning level class will be
held every Tuesday and Thursday, 4:30-6 p.m., Jan. 20-March 12.
An intermediate level class will be held every Monday and Wednesday,
4:30-6 p.m., Jan. 21-March 11. The courses are supported by the
colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine and the Institute
for International Cooperation on Animal Biologics. Participants
will pay the cost of their course materials and a $10 application
fee. Registration deadline: Jan. 15. For more information: Eduarda
Becerra, 4-3972 or ebecerra@iastate.edu.
1998 SUBMISSION DEADLINES FOR LEOPOLD SUPPORT
1998 deadlines for submitting proposals to the Leopold Center's
conference and workshop support program are: Jan. 8, March 27,
July 13 and Oct. 7. For more information: Rich Pirog, 4-3711 or
visit the website.
SIXTY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GET MICROBIOLOGY EXPERIENCE
Sixty students from eight high schools attended the Microbiology
Club's annual microbiology workshop on Dec. 5. The
students were introduced to basic microbiology techniques in a
bacterial identification lab, a murder mystery scenario involving
DNA fingerprinting and a virology lab. Four faculty members spoke
on applications of microbiology.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Dec. 20: Graduation. College convocation, 9:30 a.m., C.Y. Stephens.
Dec. 20: Deadline, presentation proposals, 1998 international
conference on animal production systems and the environment, 4-4202.
Jan. 2: Foreign travel grant applications due, 138 Curtiss.
Jan. 15: Deadline, registration for Spanish courses, 4-3972.
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
A LIGHT TOUCH CAN MAKE PRESENTATIONS MEMORABLE
Levity isn't appropriate in all circumstances, but presentations
that use a light touch effectively tend to be memorable. Incorporating
unpredictable elements into presentations may be another approach,
writes business communications consultant Jim Endicott in the
December "Presentations" magazine. He tries to incorporate
"pleasant surprises" into his presentations. For some
examples he has used, the article is on the magazine's website.
I N F O G R A Z I N G
FEDERAL R&D SPENDING TO INCREASE BY 4 PERCENT
Before adjourning in November, Congress increased research and
development spending by 4 percent for 1998. That included a 0.6
percent increase in agriculture R & D, to $1.55 billion. R&D
funds for the EPA will increase 14.2 percent; DOE, 3.1 percent;
NSF research, 4.7 percent; NSF education, 2.2 percent; and NIH,
7.1 percent. (Science, Nov. 21)
SOME PROJECTS IN FEDERAL AG BUDGET VETOED
Last month President Clinton used his line-item veto to cancel
seven agriculture and natural resources projects from a $28 billion
budget bill for the Agriculture and Interior departments. Duplication
of effort and high expense were two of the reasons the White House
gave for nixing the projects. The projects, which were worth were
worth $8.1 million, included research on dairy cattle nutrition
in Alaska, pesticide-free tomatoes in Ohio, poisonous plants in
Utah and insect-rearing in Mississippi.
E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
HIGHER EDUCATION NOW A MATURE INDUSTRY
Arthur Levine writes in the fall issue of "Daedalus"
that the decline of government support for higher education is
partly because American higher education is now a mature industry
(with more than 60 percent of all high-school graduates going
on to some form of post-secondary education). Government treats
mature industries very differently than it treats growth industries.
In the case of growth industries, government usually seeks to
help them expand. In the case of mature industries, the government
usually seeks to regulate or control them. With education now
a mature industry, government agencies are pressing institutions
of higher education with hard questions about cost, efficiency,
productivity and effectiveness.
M A R G I N A L I A
ECSTATIC YULETIDE TO THE PLANETARY CONSTITUENCY
The following are the first and last lines from "Christmas
in Academe," a takeoff on "The Night Before Christmas"
that has been making the rounds on the Internet (for the complete
piece, send a note to bmeyer@iastate.edu): 'Twas the nocturnal
segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual Yuletide celebration,
and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not
in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including
that species of domestic rodent known as "Mus musculus"
. . . . But I overheard his parting exclamation, audible immediately
prior to his vehiculation beyond the limits of visibility: "Ecstatic
Yuletide to the planetary constituency, and to the selfsame assemblage,
my sincerest wishes for a salubriously beneficial and gratifying
pleasurable period between sunset and dawn."
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
AG ONLINE