College News
Distance Education Open Forum Tuesday
Leon Higley, entomology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will be speaking at a public forum on "When Opportunity Knocks, Don't Peak Through the Blinds: Opening the Door to Distance Education." The forum will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, in 1951 Food Science. Refreshments will be provided. College of Agriculture faculty and staff are welcome to attend; no RSVPs are needed.
Trans Fats Subject of Think Tank Meeting
The Think Tank on Animal Agriculture will meet Sept. 25 to discuss trans fats with Pamela White, University Professor in food science and human nutrition department. The meeting will begin with social time at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the program at 7 p.m. in the Campanile Room, Memorial Union. The buffet dinner costs $18, which is payable to Don Beitz at the door. Register by e-mailing Julie Roberts at jrober@iastate.edu before noon on Sept. 22.
Research Farms' Celebrations Draw Crowds
About 275 people helped celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Northern Research Farm at Kanawha on Sept. 8 and approximately 350 attended the 50th anniversary of the McNay Memorial Research Farm near Chariton on Sept. 14. Both events featured clear skies, educational field stops and displays, comments by Dean Wendy Wintersteen, live radio broadcasts over the noon hour, local antique tractors, great food and teamwork by College of Agriculture campus-based faculty and staff, farm staff, and county, area and state extension staff.
Faculty, Staff Invited to Ag Entrepreneurship Institute
An Agricultural Entrepreneurship Institute will be held Oct. 19-20 to help Iowa State faculty and staff enhance student skills needed to start a business. The institute will focus on incorporating concepts and skills from entrepreneurship into existing courses and activities. It will explore ways to encourage entrepreneurship, but also examine how activities and ideas can enhance student creativity, innovation, persistence and communication skills. The Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative will sponsor the institute and cover costs for Iowa State faculty and staff. It will be held at Reiman Gardens. Kathy Allen, director of the University of Southern California's Marshall Center for Technology Commercialization, will lead the afternoon session on, "Teaching Entrepreneurship to Technology Students." It will focus on understanding the basic concepts of entrepreneurship and how to teach, foster and encourage these concepts. To register: http://www.entrepreneurship.ag.iastate.edu/Institute.html. Contact: Stacey Noe, 4-4945.
Animal Science Senior Crowned Miss Rodeo Iowa
Amanda Eason, animal science senior, was named Miss Rodeo Iowa 2007 at the Tri-State PRCA Rodeo, Sept. 6-9. Contestants were judged on a rodeo performance, horsemanship, speeches and a written test. Eason received a $1,200 scholarship and will represent Iowa in the Miss Rodeo America Pageant.
Christian Takes Home National and State Honors
Al Christian, superintendent at the ISU Swine Teaching Farm, received the Hall of Fame Award at the National Barrow Show held in Austin, Minn., last week. Also, during the Iowa State Fair in August, Christian received the Iowa Berkshire Lifetime Achievement, which is given to those who have made lifetime contributions to the improvement of Berkshire hogs.
Sebranek Honored with Meat Science Association Award
Joseph Sebranek, University Professor in animal science, has been awarded the 2006 American Meat Science Association Signal Service Award. This honor is given to association members in recognition of devoted service and lasting contributions to the meat industry and to the association. Sebranek also is a regular columnist for Meat Processing magazine.
College Units Presented NAADA Communication Awards
The National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association presented publications and projects awards to several College units at its annual conference. The College of Agriculture Communications Service won first place for a recruitment DVD for multimedia student programs.. The agricultural and biosystems engineering department won first for its alumni newsletter. The agronomy department won first place for its Following the Path to the Future stewardship materials. The Development Office won first for its College of Agriculture Legacy of Mentors multimedia development materials. Second place awards went to the agronomy department alumni newsletter and the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods annual report. Third place awards were presented to the food science and human nutrition department's alumni newsletter, the Legacy of Mentors event and promotional materials and the College of Agriculture Road to Success recruitment banner.
Horticulture Sophomore Turns Passion into Profession
Kelly Norris is a sophomore in horticulture working with herbaceous ornamental plants. And at home he operates a seven-acre flower business that boasts an inventory of more than 250,000 plants with more than 550 different cultivars for sale.
Swine Scanners Put in the Miles Last Summer
Over the summer, the Iowa Pork Industry Center provided an ultrasound scanning program as a service to Iowa county fairs. Colin Johnson, extension program specialist, organized the program with help from Jeremy Burkett, Rob Fitzgerald and Matt Wolfe. Collectively, they traveled 7,714 miles to 28 counties to scan 2,057 animals. With the help of many undergraduate and graduate students and other volunteers, they also scanned 345 head of derby pigs at the Iowa State Fair. The scanning measurements (typically loin eye area and back fat depth) can be used by producers to aid in genetics decisions for their operations, and by extension staff members who might hold post fair result/evaluation programs for hog show youth entrants. The results also are used to help determine carcass placings in fair contests.
Deadlines & Reminders
Sept. 20: AgComm workshop, Student Self-assessment and Reflection, RSVP Cheryl Abrams, 4-5872 or cabrams@iastate.edu
Sept. 23: "Hoofin' it for Alison" 5K race/walk, 9 a.m., ISU Cross Country Course
Sept. 25: Deadline for entries, Fifth Annual Norman Borlaug Lectureship Poster Competition, contact: Patricia Murphy, pmurphy@iastate.edu
Oct. 1: Deadline for entries from students in the Agriculture Study Abroad experience competition, Contact: Difei Shen, dfshen@iastate.edu or 111 Curtiss Hall
Oct. 16: 2006 Norman Borlaug Lecture, Margaret Catley-Carlson, chair of the Global Water Partnership, 8 p.m., Sun Room
Oct. 19-20: World Food Prize Symposium
Communications Kiosk
Choose Carefully When Using Allude, Elude and Illude
To allude is to refer to something indirectly, as in "allude to a problem." It is often loosely used where refer or quote would be better -- that is, where there is a direct mention or quotation. To elude is to avoid capture, as in "elude the hunters." Illude is rarely used; it means to deceive, as in "your imagination might illude you." (The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., 2003)
Infograzing
Input Sought on Proposed ISU Principles of Community
President Geoffroy invites campus groups and individuals to send input on the current draft of the proposed Principles of Community. The document sets forth ideals and expectations for Iowa State and is available online. Send your comments by Oct. 1 to: principles@iastate.edu. Comments will be posted anonymously online.
Several CELT Educational Sessions This Week
The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) has scheduled these upcoming sessions:
- Three WebCT GOLD sessions, all in 1230 Communications: WebCT GOLD 101, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 3-4:30 p.m.; Communicating with Students in WebCT GOLD, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 1:10-3 p.m.; WebCT GOLD Fundamentals, Thursday, Sept. 21, 9-10:30 a.m.
- Faculty Forum: Teaching Tips will be Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 12-1:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Campanile Room. Bring your lunch; beverages and desserts (including healthy ones) provided.
- A four-week Teaching and Learning Circle: Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach begins Wednesday, Sept. 20, 12-1:30 p.m. Register for readings and location.
- Graduate students are invited to a session on Going on the Academic Job Market, Thursday, Sept. 21, 5-6:30 p.m., 1115 Pearson. A light dinner is provided.
To register, contact celt@iastate.edu or 4-5357. CELT programming is online. You can see all of its fall 2006 programming online.
HorseQuest Extension Site Online
HorseQuest is the first eXtension "Community of Practice" to come online. It was developed through eXtension's collaborative tools including a "wiki" environment where community of practice members create, enhance, edit and publish the various components featured on the public web site. Eight more communities with topics ranging from financial security, fire ants, disaster response, parenting, rural entrepreneurship, horticulture and wildlife damage management are set to come online in the next several months. All will feature similar attributes of Frequently Asked Questions, Ask the Experts, news, events and learning modules.
External Voices
A Reflection on the Death of a Farmer
Verlyn Klinkenborg wrote about the death of his cousin, a farmer in northwest Iowa, in the Sept. 14 New York Times: "I seem, to my own surprise now this late in life, to have grown up in a world full of men I admired without quite knowing how to admire them. They lived near the home farm in northwest Iowa, and we lived in a small town a hundred miles away. What we had in common was that home farm, where I spent parts of several summers, and the Sunday and holiday dinners that my grandparents hosted, where the common language was pinochle. I thought at the time that Myron was shy and untalkative - a tall young man with a big smile and a red face, clearly a part of the grown-up world. He ran the corn-sheller, after all, the most dangerous piece of machinery I had ever seen. But what does any 18-year-old have to say to an 11-year-old, especially when one has grown up farming and the other has grown up reading books? I thought of this when I stood at the edge of a bean-field talking to Myron and his younger brothers a couple of years ago . . . As the conversation came to an end, Myron invited me to come out for bean-picking one autumn and run the combine. He guessed how that would impress someone who is still, essentially, a town kid. And of course I wish I had taken him up on it."
Marginalia
Osborn Family Extends Thanks
The horticulture department hosted a potluck lunch Sept. 8 to assist Barb Osborn, program coordinator and lecturer, and her family with expenses related to the health of their newborn son, Tyler. Barb, Chris and Tyler Osborn addressed this message to the College of Agriculture: "The family of Tyler Osborn would like to especially thank the Department of Horticulture for hosting a potluck/benefit in honor of Tyler. He was exhausted at the end of the day, meeting all of you who came over. It is with heartfelt thanks that I write this to all of you in the College of Agriculture. It was a rather emotional day for me. We have had so much support mentally, spiritually and monetarily from the College of Agriculture since Tyler was born. You are all Tyler's little angels! He has many surgeries ahead of him, but with the support of all of you, he will do just fine. When I came to Iowa State University as a student in 1980, I thought of the College of Agriculture as one big happy family. The support you showed our family on Friday confirmed it. Thanks again to all of you! God bless you all!"
Next issue: Sept. 25
Ag Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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