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
College News
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 or ebecerra@iastate.edu.
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.
Communications Kiosk
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.
Infograzing
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.
External Voices
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.
Marginalia
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