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AG ONLINE
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The College of Agriculture Faculty/Staff Newsletter
Iowa State University
January 5, 2001 No. 161
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C O N T E N T S
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COLLEGE NEWS
- Attend the college convocation on Jan. 18
- Sign up for teaching/extension grant-writing program
- Remind students to interview early
- College officials included in annual Arizona alumni event
- Openings for students on China study program
- Second Global Consortium conference set for July
- From Hungary: Distance education lives up to its name
- A glance at December graduates’ career plans
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Communicating with Congress: Send your examples of impact
INFOGRAZING
- Grant opportunities: Future Ag and Food Systems (IFAFS)
- Grant opportunities: Higher Education Challenge
- Grant opportunities: Iowa Energy Center
- Grant opportunities: Support for instrumentation
INTERNAL VOICES
- Phosphorus index an example of consensus building
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Outer space and inner space: How weird?
MARGINALIA
- Addressing debutantes? Just ask Susan
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C O L L E G E N E W S
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ATTEND THE COLLEGE CONVOCATION ON JAN. 18
The College of Agriculture’s spring-semester convocation will be held on Thursday, Jan. 18, in the Sun Room, Memorial Union. Refreshments will be available at 3:30 p.m. A program begins at 4 p.m. College awards will be presented and other faculty and staff members who received honors during the past year will be recognized. The college also will recognize faculty and staff who retired last year.
SIGN UP FOR TEACHING/EXTENSION GRANT-WRITING PROGRAM
The deadline is Jan. 12 to sign up for a one-day workshop on writing grants for teaching and extension programs. The Jan. 26 workshop, sponsored by the colleges of agriculture and education, will be held in the Scheman Building. The presenter is David Morrison of Grant Writers’ Seminars and Workshops. There is no charge for agriculture and education faculty. To register: Laurie Vold, 4-2517 or lvold@iastate.edu.
REMIND STUDENTS TO INTERVIEW EARLY
Mike Gaul, Career Services, says he expects a heavy schedule of job interviews during January and February. Students should sign up to talk about internships and full-time positions. During fall semester, Ag Career Services provided coordination for approximately 1,000 interviews.
COLLEGE OFFICIALS INCLUDED IN ANNUAL ARIZONA ALUMNI EVENT
Dean Ross, associate dean Eric Hoiberg, development director Richard Bundy and alumni relations director Mike Telford are planning to participate in the second annual "ISU Week in Arizona," Feb. 5-9. The event, which includes ISU basketball game-watching parties, receptions, golf outings and other activities, is sponsored by the Alumni Association and ISU colleges. More than 3,000 ISU alumni live in Arizona. Alumni can register for the event by calling the alumni association, 8ALUM (toll-free), e-mailing alumni@iastate.edu or downloading a PDF file.
OPENINGS FOR STUDENTS ON CHINA STUDY PROGRAM
Faculty and staff are encouraged to remind students that openings remain on a six-week study program in China, May 10 to June 21. The program involves college campuses at Hangshou and Beijing. Al Hasselman, agronomy, is the group leader. For more information: Hasselman, 4-3287, or Shelley Taylor, 4-5393.
SECOND GLOBAL CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE SET FOR JULY
The second international conference of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture will be held July 12-14 in San Francisco. Iowa State and Purdue are organizing the meeting. Information and registration can be found online.
FROM HUNGARY: DISTANCE EDUCATION LIVES UP TO ITS NAME
Rick Cruse, agronomy, taught two courses in Hungary last fall. One was a soil and water management class for Hungarian undergraduates. The other was soil science for students enrolled in the master of science in agronomy program, which is delivered primarily via the Internet. For more details, see Susan Thompson's column.
A GLANCE AT DECEMBER GRADUATES’ CAREER PLANS
Here are some career (and other) plans reported by College of Agriculture graduating seniors. They were read during the Dec. 16 college convocation:
- agronomist, Sully Co-op
- seed quality manager, Monsanto Seed Group
- job with Integrated DNA Technologies
- job with Seneca Food Corporation
- work for Newkirk Electric and pursue journeyman’s electrical license
- job in tillage product support, John Deere Co.
- job with Fisher Controls
- go to Ecuador with Peace Corps
- join assisted reproduction team at McFarland Clinic, Ames
- enroll in ISU graduate school for plant breeding
- herdsman, Horizon Organic Dairy, Maryland
- veterinary technician, Pet Medical Center, Ames
- return home to farm with father and brother
- breeding and barn manager for Arabian horse facility, Texas
- director, Iowa Agriculture Awareness Coalition
- job in research and development, West Liberty Foods
- will become fifth generation to work in Iowa family farm
- soil scientist, USDA-NRCS
- meat sales person, IBP
- underwriter, Allied Insurance
- public education and promotion position, Iowa Arboretum
- head horticulturist, Gaston Country Club, Charlotte, NC
- golf course superintendent, The Harvester Golf Club, Rhodes
- production manager, Jeld-Wen, Denver
- management position, Doorcraft of Iowa, Grinnell
- "pay Uncle Sam back" and enter full-time ministry
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Jan. 12: Deadline, scheduling off-campus distance education courses, fall semester, 4-6950.
Jan. 12: Summit on Future of Agricultural Education in Iowa, Scheman Building, 4-5872.
Jan. 16: Deadline, Leopold Center-supported conference/workshop proposals, 4-3711.
Jan. 18: College of Agriculture convocation, Sun Room, 4 p.m.
Feb. 28: Deadline, World Food Prize nominations, http://www.worldfoodprize.org.
March 26: Deadline, Leopold Center-supported conference/workshop proposals, 4-3711.
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C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
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COMMUNICATING WITH CONGRESS: SEND YOUR EXAMPLES OF IMPACT
The USDA is looking for examples of how land-grant programs make a difference in people's lives. Each year the USDA uses these impact statements from Iowa State and other land-grant universities when it seeks support from Congress. The College of Agriculture and ISU Extension submit ideas to the USDA. If you have an idea, contact Ed Adcock, Ag Communications, 4-2314 or edadcock@iastate.edu, by Feb. 12. Ideas should demonstrate a reportable, verifiable difference in people’s lives. The impact can be economic, environmental or social. A Web site, "Impacts for Iowans," includes some of last year's ISU impact statements.
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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GRANT OPPORTUNITIES: FUTURE AG AND FOOD SYSTEMS (IFAFS)
About $113 million is available in this year’s USDA Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS). The RFP is expected to be published today (Jan. 5). Proposal deadline is March 16.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES: HIGHER EDUCATION CHALLENGE
The RFP for this year's USDA Higher Education Challenge Grants Program is expected soon. The program will award $4.35 million. Anticipated proposal deadline is Feb. 5. Last year's RFP may be found online. Once the RFP is published, the Web site will include forms and other information.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES: IOWA ENERGY CENTER
The Iowa Energy Center seeks conference and small demonstration projects on energy efficiency and renewable energy. Proposals will be accepted all year through Dec. 31.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES: SUPPORT FOR INSTRUMENTATION
The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) has a competitive shared instrumentation grant program. The program is sponsored by NCRR, NIH and DHHS. Application deadline is March 31. For more information: Prem Paul, 4-6344, or check online.
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I N T E R N A L V O I C E S
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PHOSPHORUS INDEX AN EXAMPLE OF CONSENSUS BUILDING
The following excerpt is from a Nov. 21 e-mail message sent by Antonio Mallarino, agronomy, to associate dean Gerald Miller and Leroy Brown, state conservationist with the Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service. Mallarino recently had spoken about the Iowa Phosphorus Index at a Minnesota extension conference. The index was developed by ISU and the USDA-NRCS to help farmers better manage phosphorus. "The invited talk about the Iowa P index I gave went very, very well . . . I got back many excellent comments . . . The main thing this talk demonstrated was how well we are working in Iowa about these issues -- how well state agencies, commodity groups, etc., worked (and are still working) together to do the best we can within a cooperative environment . . . There were times I felt uncomfortable when people started asking point-blank questions, such us ‘Why aren't we doing what Iowa did?’ I will tell you what I told them: We did it that thanks to the leadership we have in Iowa. You took the responsibility to get all the parties together and arrive at a consensus. Thank you for your leadership."
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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OUTER SPACE AND INNER SPACE: HOW WEIRD?
From a Dec. 29 New York Times essay written by Dennis Overbye, the newspaper’s deputy science editor, reflecting on the 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey": "Great art, like great science, is marked not by the questions it answers but the questions it asks. And ‘2001’ leaves us with a lot of terrific questions . . . The makers of ‘2001’ knew that we do not know where we came from. They knew that we do not know what we will find out in outer space, only that, to paraphrase J.B.S. Haldane, it might be weirder than we can suppose. There is a whole universe out there, but there is also a mysterious one inside. We ourselves might be weirder than we can suppose. The question, as always, is whether we know what is in our hearts. No matter where we go in outer space, inner space will follow."
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M A R G I N A L I A
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ADDRESSING DEBUTANTES? JUST ASK SUSAN
Susan Thompson, Agriculture Communications Service, fields e-mail sent by visitors to the college's "Communication Skills" website. Here are a few questions she received last year:
- "Hallo buddy, I work in a radio station in Kenya and communication is so crucial. Could you share some tips."
- "I am a student [in New York] majoring in business administration and my professor requires us to make a five-minute presentation persuading a loan committee to lend my company $5 million. I would appreciate your help in preparing this report."
- "How can a person avoid being afraid of his own voice (which leads to very quiet speaking and people always say they can’t hear you) while speaking among many people (for example, meetings, conferences)?"
- "I was requested (and obliged to accept) to be master of ceremonies for a debutante’s 18th birthday party. It will be held in an upscale hotel and the attire is formal. Can you give me pointers on how to effectively/successfully handle the job? It will be my first time in this type of setting. Thank you!"
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AG ONLINE
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