College News
Lewis to Head Entomology
Entomology alumnus Les Lewis will become interim chair of the department, effective Sept. 22. Lewis will serve a two-year term. He is retiring Sept. 3 from his present position as research leader and supervisory research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service in Ames. Lewis earned a doctorate in entomology in 1970 from Iowa State. He's been a collaborator/professor at Iowa State since 1974.
College Students Blog About Farm Progress Show
Two College students are writing blogs from the Farm Progress Show, which starts tomorrow near Boone. Sarah Rammelsberg, a senior in agricultural education, will blog during the event, providing daily coverage and insights to the show. Rammelsberg is covering the event as part of Monsanto's Future Ag Journalist Fellowship Program, and her blog is available here. Kassie Billerbeck, agricultural studies senior, worked as an agronomy intern for Dow AgroSciences. This summer she blogged as she prepared the Mycogen Seeds and Dow AgroSciences field test plot at the show site.
College Convocation Set for Sept. 15
The fall convocation for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will be Sept. 15 at 4:15 p.m. on the new front steps of Curtiss Hall. The program will include brief comments from Dean Wendy Wintersteen and the introduction of the College's new faculty and staff since last fall. A reception will follow in the Curtiss rotunda. In case of rain it will be in the Curtiss Hall Auditorium.
Willham to Present Animal Science Centennial Video
Richard Willham, emeritus distinguished professor of animal science, will present "Results," a video he produced for the American Society of Animal Science centennial. The showing will begin at 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, in the Ensminger Room, 1204 Kildee. The Brenton Center handled post-production of the video.
Ugandan University Dean Named College World Professor
On a recent trip to Uganda, Dean Wendy Wintersteen named Mateete Bekunda, dean of Makerere University, with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences World Professor. Dean Bekunda hosted Iowa State's first delegation to Uganda in 2003, and was instrumental in formalizing the partnership with Makerere in 2004 for the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods. Bekunda is preparing to step down as dean. Elizabeth Hoffman, executive vice president and provost, joined Wintersteen on the trip to visit center projects.
Senate Ag Committee Staffer Visits Iowa State
Dan Christenson, majority professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry visited the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute and the Horticulture Research Station Aug. 21 to learn about Iowa State's research and extension programs in viticulture and enology. At the research station he was briefed by Nick Howell, station superintendent; Dennis Portz, agricultural specialist; and Lisa Wasko, graduate student. At the institute Christenson talked with Murli Dharmadhikari, institute director; Sebastian Donner, assistant scientist; Ruth MacDonald, chair of the food science and human nutrition department; and Jerry Miller, associate dean, extension and outreach programs.
Starting Salary Survey Finds "Impressive" Pay
Mike Gaul, director of Career Services, coordinated a salary survey of agriculture-related undergraduates who graduated from 12 agricultural universities in December 2007 and May 2008. He said the results indicate some "impressive" starting salaries. He added that the large number of salaries provides a solid overview of starting salaries in many sectors. The report reflects approximately 900 salaries.
Student Poster Contest Deadline Sept. 19
Sept. 19 is the deadline for graduate and undergraduate students to submit posters for the Seventh Annual Norman Borlaug Lectureship Poster Competition. Winners will be named after the Borlaug Lecture, which is set for Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room. Sir Gordon Conway, an agricultural ecologist who was one of the first to define the concept of sustainable agriculture, will be the speaker. The poster topic is World Food Issues. Prizes will be provided by the colleges of Agriculture and Life Science and Human Sciences.
College Profs Say FDA Produce Irradiation Rule is a Good Step
The Food and Drug Administration's new regulation that will allow irradiation pasteurization to be used on fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce to kill illness-causing bacteria is a step that two College professors have long advocated.
Economist Shows Iowa's Population Becoming More Diverse
Analysis of census data by ISU's Regional Capacity Analysis Program (ReCAP) found that Iowa is becoming more diverse -- particularly among young people. Liesl Eathington, an ISU economist and director of ReCAP, is the author of a new report on the 2007 population data.
Deadlines and Reminders
Aug. 26-28: Farm Progress Show, near Boone
Sept. 11: John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture, 7 p.m. in the Great Hall, Memorial Union
Sept. 16: Allee Research and Demonstration Farm 50th anniversary celebration, 9:30 a.m., near Newell
Communications Kiosk
The Student Mindset: What is a Typewriter?
This month, almost two million first-year students will head off to college campuses around the country. Most of them will be about 18 years old, born in 1990. The mindset of this new generation of college students is quite different from that of the faculty about to prepare them to become the leaders of tomorrow. Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are "wired" and equipped with the latest hardware. Here are few items from the list:
- IBM has never made typewriters.
- They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
- GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
- Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
- Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
- Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
- Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
- Personal privacy has always been threatened.
- The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
- Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
- There have always been charter schools.
Infograzing
4-H and 3M Launch Educational Alternative Energy Project
The National 4-H Council and the 3M Foundation have launched The Power of the Wind, an educational resource that teaches youth how to use engineering principles to design and to build alternative energy projects. This new national curriculum, funded by a $500,000 grant from 3M Foundation, adds to 4-H's commitment to provide hands-on science, engineering and technology programs to youth. The project is part of 4-H's "One Million New Scientists. One Million New Ideas," effort that it hopes will help spark youth interest in science and increase the number of young adults pursuing science-related careers.
External Voices
New Freshman Student Makes News
"(Kimberly) Barnes is a 4-H member who's also president of her Tehachapi chapter of the Future Farmers of America. She had loaded her seven goats onto a trailer back home, hitched the trailer to a Dodge Ram pickup with a diesel engine and a stick shift and driven to the fair on her own. I've known teenagers who couldn't get out of bed on their own." --Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times columnist writing about Kimberly Barnes of Tehachapi, Calif., who is set to start today as an animal science freshman at Iowa State ("Teenager loves the farm life -- and her cellphone too," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 3)
Marginalia
Architects Design Farm in New York City
P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens, N.Y. holds a contest each year to select the architectural firm that will design the courtyard used for its Warm Up summer concert series. This summer the winner was WORK Architecture Co. from New York which designed P.F.1 (Public Farm One) an urban farm, growing vegetables and fruits, and including a chicken coop. "One thing we've realized is that farming is not a part-time job," said Dan Wood, one of the architects who worked on the project. (New York Times, Aug. 19)
Ag and Life Sciences Online
Editor
Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616
Website
Subscribe
Ag and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag and Life Sciences Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag and Life Sciences Online unsubscribe."