CALS Online and Dean’s Message
May 12, 2025
Dean’s Message
Hello CALS and Happy Monday – Last week and this week are full of end-of-semester activities, and always lots of smiles. Graduation exercises are just a week away, and there is both a sense of urgency on campus as people run toward graduation events and summer, and an emerging sense of calm as students begin to head out and activities of the semester start to come to a conclusion. It's all part of the special cadence that makes up our enterprise called higher education at Iowa State…
Top Stories
CALS Convocation to Honor Graduating Seniors, May 16
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will hold its spring convocation Friday, May 16, at 9 a.m. in Hilton Coliseum. Doors open at 8 a.m. The event will also be livestreamed. The CALS Student Council will present its senior awards (see award recipients below). Harshita Sharma, microbiology, is the convocation speaker and Jeff Iles, professor of horticulture, also will speak. Jennifer Holliday, agricultural studies, journalism and mass communication and international agriculture, will serve as the CALS student marshal at the university undergraduate commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17, at 9 a.m. in Hilton Coliseum. The graduate commencement ceremony will take place Thursday, May 15, at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.
CALS Student Council Honors Senior Award Recipients
Each semester, the CALS Student Council recognizes graduating seniors who have gone above and beyond while attending Iowa State. This semester, the following five seniors will be honored at the May 16 CALS Convocation:
- Tyler Atkinson, agronomy and genetics – Outstanding Ambassador of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Alex Bray, microbiology – Leadership and Innovation
- Adele Hogan, food science – Distinguished Service
- Maddi Klemme, agricultural communication and international agriculture – Outstanding Senior
- Sophia Parker, global resource systems and environmental studies – Academic Achievement
CALS Student Speaker: Harshita Sharma
Harshita Sharma, a graduating senior in microbiology, will serve as the CALS Convocation speaker for the spring 2025 semester. After graduation, she will work as a research associate in the Bracewell lab at Indiana University. After a gap year, she plans to apply to medical school and become a physician.
CALS Student Marshal: Jennifer Holliday
Jennifer Holliday, a graduating senior in agricultural studies, journalism and mass communication and international agriculture, will represent CALS as the student marshal at the university's spring 2025 commencement ceremony. Following graduation, she will attend the Sustainable Food Systems Double Degree Program through the ISARA Lyon Agro School for Life & Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, located in France and Italy, respectively.
Posthumous Degree to be Awarded at CALS Convocation
Seventy-three years after he completed his last class at Iowa State University, Raymond “Ray” Peter Carroll will posthumously be awarded his bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and rural administration during the CALS Convocation May 16 in Hilton Coliseum. Carroll’s son Chris, who was 5 years old when Ray died, has been on a mission since 1989 to determine why his father was never awarded a degree. After running into several dead ends, a chance encounter one day in Curtiss Hall with Daniel Robison, CALS dean, and Alison Parker, executive assistant in the dean’s office, led to the information Chris needed.
NOTE: Clear Bag Policy to be Enforced at Convocation
To ensure the safety of all guests, graduates, faculty and staff in attendance at the spring convocation, a Clear Bag Policy will be enforced. The following bag types are allowed:
- Plastic, vinyl or PVC clear totes that do not exceed 12x6x12 inches and do not have a logo larger than 4.5x3.5 inches.
- One-gallon clear plastic freezer bags (i.e. Ziploc or similar).
- Small clutch bags no larger than 6x9 inches.
- Exceptions will be made for bags containing items required for medical, family or child care.
Teaching and Students
Student Club Spotlight: Horticulture Cub
The Horticulture Club’s main mission is to create a fun environment for Iowa State students interested in plants. Any student, no matter their major, can join the Horticulture Club and take part in a variety of plant-related activities throughout the year.
Extension and Outreach
Use Tarps for Weed Management in Vegetable Growing
A new resource from ISU Extension and Outreach outlines how to use tarps for weed management in vegetable growing. “Tarping to Improve Weed Management and Reduce Tillage in Vegetable Systems” outlines methods of tarping use and provides information on tarp implementation and installation.
Nominations Open for Women Impacting Agriculture Recognition
ISU Extension and Outreach’s Women in Ag Program has opened nominations for the annual Women Impacting Agriculture recognition. This honor celebrates women across Iowa who have made significant contributions to the agricultural industry and their communities. Nominations are due May 31.
Around the College
CALS Faculty, Staff to Receive Top University Awards
Several CALS faculty and staff are among the recipients of the university’s most distinguished awards, to be given this fall at the ISU Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony. The following individuals from CALS departments and centers are recognized:
- Julia Baker, agriculture and natural resources extension and outreach – Award for Early Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice
- Lee Bendickson, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology – Regents Award for Staff Excellence
- David Bruene, animal science – Professional and Scientific Excellence Award
- Lynn Clark, ecology, evolution and organismal biology – Distinguished Professor
- Garland Dahlke, agriculture and natural resources extension and outreach – Professional and Scientific Excellence Award
- Russ Euken, agriculture and natural resources extension and outreach – Award for Outstanding Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice
- Sarah Francis, food science and human nutrition – Award for Outstanding Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice
- Stephanie Hanson, animal science – Margaret Ellen White Graduate Faculty Award
- Anna Johnson, animal science – Morrill Professor
- Karl Kerns, animal science – Award for Early Achievement in Teaching
- Thomas Lübberstedt, agronomy – International Service Award
- Gustavo Macintosh, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology – University Professor
- Scott Nelson, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology – Regents Award for Faculty Excellence
- Lisa Schulte Moore, natural resource ecology and management – Distinguished Professor
- Asheesh “Danny” Singh, agronomy, CALS associate dean – Margaret Ellen White Graduate Faculty Award
- Cory Walker, animal science – Regents Award for Staff Excellence
Nominations Due May 16 for 2025 Cohort of CALS Staff Champions
Applications are due Friday, May 16, for the 2025 cohort of CALS Staff Champions program. Staff (P&S or merit) will be selected to participate in a professional development program focusing on the college’s operations. Sessions will take place the second Friday of each month from June to December from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with lunch provided.
In Memoriam: Cornelia Flora
Cornelia Flora, professor emerita in sociology and criminal justice, passed away April 30. She was 81. Flora joined Iowa State in 1994 as director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development and faculty member in the sociology department. She was best known professionally for her elaboration and dissemination of the Community Capitals Framework, an approach that was adopted by people working in many fields to understand the interacting components of how social change takes place. She retired from Iowa State in 2013. A celebration of life is scheduled for Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m. at the Ames United Church of Christ.
Calendar
May 16: Yeon-Kyun Shin Retirement
Yeon-Kyun Shin, professor in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, is retiring Friday, May 16. There is no public event.
More Events Listed on CALS Website
Find more events on the CALS Events webpage. Submit events for inclusion on this list to madelyno@iastate.edu or jstewart@iastate.edu.
Communications Kiosk
Graduation vs. Convocation vs. Commencement
Technically, graduation happens when a student completes their degree requirements. Iowa State requires students to complete a graduation application showing that all academic requirements have been completed. By definition, convocation is an assembly of persons called together to a meeting and can include a ceremonial assembly of members of a college or university. At Iowa State, colleges hold convocations to recognize students graduating from the college. The gathering is smaller, and the achievements of each individual student are recognized. Commencement is a ceremony connected with graduating from an academic institution. Degrees and diplomas are conferred at a commencement ceremony.
Infograzing
SHOP Looking for Volunteers for Finals Week, Summer Break
Faculty and staff volunteers are needed to help keep the SHOP food pantry open during finals week and summer break. SHOP, which serves the student community out of 1306 Beyer, would like to maintain its service hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. A new volunteer sign-up schedule has been created for May-August.
Tour Grant Wood’s Murals at Parks Library
As part of the 50th anniversary, University Museums is highlighting some of the earliest works in the Art on Campus Collection with a tour of Grant Wood’s 1930s murals at the Parks Library on Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m.
P&S Council to Hold Ice Cream Social
The Professional and Scientific Council is holding an ice cream social on May 20 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Marston Hall west lawn. P&S employees are invited to celebrate a successful 2024-25 year and visit with Council members.
Marginalia
Campus Collaboration Builds Handcrafted Tables
Staff from facilities planning and management and the Student Innovation Center assisted a team of employees at the Digital Agriculture Innovation Lab that designed, built and assembled an executive conference room table and counter height "collaboration" table from fallen trees on campus.
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.