CALS Online and Dean’s Message
July 1, 2024
Dean’s Message
Hello CALS – I hope you had a great weekend as we slide toward July 4 and what always feels like the heart of summer! Many of us are not only working through the summer, but also taking this week to enjoy family and friends and some well-earned vacation! Enjoy. Even though the flooding in northwest and western Iowa has left the news as an urgent story, the recovery is long and difficult. Let’s please keep those families and communities in mind. Another big, ongoing story and challenge with a northwest Iowa footprint is highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry and turkey flocks and dairy herds. The Avian Influenza webpage on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship's website provides an efficient way to stay updated… More
Top Stories
Prairie Field Day to be Hosted by Horticulture Research Station
The Horticulture Research Station is hosting Prairie Field Day 2024 on July 16. The inaugural event will feature several guest speakers and onsite tours of three prairie projects currently at the station - the remnant prairie, the reconstructed prairie and the Department of Natural Resources prairie seed production project. Attendees will see a piece of newly discovered remnant prairie that thrives near the 15-acre lake that spans the middle of the Horticulture Research Station. Remnant prairie refers to an area of original prairie that has remained relatively undisturbed, rather than a reconstructed prairie created to emulate an original prairie. Rachel Sents (’24 horticulture) is a dual intern with the Iowa DNR and the Horticulture Research Station. She organized the field day as a result of grants she secured and is excited to be planning an event to showcase the prairies. Registration for the field day closes July 9. Attendees should expect to walk through tall grass and uneven terrain, so long pants and boots are recommended. More
Extension and Outreach
Resources for Flood Recovery Available from ISU Extension and Outreach
Floods are a common and costly natural disaster. ISU Extension and Outreach provides access to information and educational resources to help Iowans recover from current floods, as well as prepare for potential flooding elsewhere in the state. More
Video Series Provides Educational Lessons for Woodland Owners
Forest management includes everything from timber to wildlife, vine and weed management, conservation and more. To help landowners better understand what’s involved, ISU Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has produced a series of 31 educational YouTube videos known as the Iowa Woodland Steward Toolkit. More
ANR Extension Spotlight: Kathleen Delate
Kathleen Delate is a professor in the agronomy and horticulture departments and an extension organic specialist. For the last 25 years, she has helped interested farmers transition into organic agriculture. Delate also instituted the university’s Organic Ag Program, meant to inform both the public and Iowa State students about the most recent research and practices in organic agriculture. More
Around the College
Iowa Egg Council Issues Challenge to Increase EIC’s Research Grant Program
The Iowa Egg Council has issued a dollar-for-dollar match of funds donated to the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State, up to $100,000, through the end of 2024. Part of the motivation for the challenge was the increasing requests received annually by the Egg Industry Center’s Egg Research Grant Program. “Egg farmers have supported EIC’s research for years, and so the Iowa Egg Council is issuing a challenge to the greater network of state, regional and national associations; allied industry and egg buyers…to help the egg farmers fund the research they need,” said Kevin Stiles, executive director of the Iowa Egg Council. More
In Memoriam: Don Dillman, Rural Sociology
Don Dillman, a Washington State University Regents Professor Emeritus, passed away June 14. He was 82. An Iowa State alumnus (’64 agronomy, ’66 MS rural sociology, ’69 PhD sociology), one of Dillman’s final projects before graduation was the design of his first telephone survey. He went on to become internationally recognized as a leading expert in survey methodology. In 2014, a gift from Dillman and his wife, Joye, created the George M. Beal Distinguished Lectureship series at Iowa State to bring visibility to the important work of rural sociologists. A celebration of life will be held on Aug. 23 in Pullman, Washington. The event will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. More
Calendar
July 1: ISRC 10th Anniversary Celebration
The Iowa Soybean Research Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary today, July 1, at 2 p.m. in the second floor commons, Agronomy Hall. More
Communications Kiosk
Associated Press: Style Changes on Prefixes
The Associated Press Stylebook’s preferences on whether to use a hyphen following a prefix are based largely on Merriam-Webster. Generally they do not hyphenate, but there are exceptions. A change announced in June 2024 is they no longer generally use a hyphen with these prefixes: out-, post-, pre- and re-. Previous guidance was to use a hyphen with those unless listed separately in the dictionary. This change aligns style on those prefixes within AP guidance and with Merriam-Webster.
Infograzing
Registration Open for 2024 Norman Borlaug International Dialogue
Registration is open for the 2024 Norman Borlaug International Dialogue, scheduled for Oct. 29-31 in Des Moines. The theme for this year’s World Food Prize Foundation event is “Seeds of Opportunity: Bridging Generations and Cultivating Diplomacy.” More
Marginalia
A Lesser Known Fourth of July Tradition
The Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777, stated that the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes, alternating red and white, and 13 stars, white in a blue field. The design of the United States flag has been officially modified 26 times since then. The final design is 13 stripes with one star for each state. The Act of April 4, 1818, communicates that stars be added to the flag on the Fourth of July following the admission of each new state. More
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
Julie Stewart, Editor
jstewart@iastate.edu, (515) 294-5616
https://www.cals.iastate.edu/cals-online
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is published by email every Monday. The deadline for submitting content is 12 p.m. on Thursday.