COLLEGE NEWS
- Sixth research grant-writing workshop to begin
- Good track record for graduates of grant workshops
- Speaking of grant workshops: Teaching/extension this fall
- Ag administrative offices now on summer hours
- Still time to sign up for advanced LEA/RN workshop
- College hosts events during ISU Alumni Days
- Launch into orbit: Volunteer for the Iowa State Fair
- Seven meetings set for comments on proposed EPA rules
- Borlaug to help mark research farm’s 25th anniversary
- College will help pay for Spanish language classes
- IFAFS grant proposals now under review
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Help for accessing PDF files
INFOGRAZING
- NASULGC begins campaign to double ag funding
- In the beginning: The Northeast Research Farm
- Ten career days held at ISU last year
INTERNAL VOICES
- Learning to speak like a food science professional
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Creative people owe it to clients to push the envelope
MARGINALIA
- June is Dairy Month: A cow, a bug, a joke
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C O L L E G E N E W S
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SIXTH RESEARCH GRANT-WRITING WORKSHOP TO BEGIN
Orientation will be held June 13 for the 23 participants in the Research-Oriented Grant Writers Workshop. The session will be held 9 to 11 a.m. in 142 Curtiss. This is the sixth year of the program, which is an intensive six months of training on writing federal grant proposals. The participants include 16 ISU faculty (in horticulture, sociology, forestry, economics, food science and human nutrition, agronomy, ag and biosystems engineering and plant pathology) and five faculty members from the University of Northern Iowa and one from Purdue University. For ISU faculty, half the cost of the workshop is covered by the Experiment Station and the other half by their departments. The other institutions pay the full cost.
GOOD TRACK RECORD FOR GRADUATES OF GRANT WORKSHOPS
Past participants in the research grant writers workshops have done well on grants. Based on information from faculty in the first four workshops, 20 percent of the proposals they submitted were successful on the first try, resulting in grants totaling more than $1.6 million. Others who resubmitted or reworked their proposals had received $4.7 million in grants as of last August.
SPEAKING OF GRANT WORKSHOPS: TEACHING/EXTENSION THIS FALL
The Experiment Station will offer a teaching/extension-oriented grant writers workshop this fall, beginning in September. If you’re interested, contact Laurie Vold, 4-2517 or lvold@iastate.edu.
AG ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES NOW ON SUMMER HOURS
Like many offices on campus, the College of Agriculture’s administrative offices have gone to summer hours, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., effective through Aug. 17. These offices include those of the Dean, Associate Deans, International Agriculture Programs, Budget & Finance, Communication Services, Student Services, Career Services, Research Farms and Computer Support.
STILL TIME TO SIGN UP FOR ADVANCED LEA/RN WORKSHOP
It's not too late to sign up for an advanced workshop on Learning-Centered College Classrooms offered by Project LEA/RN June 18-21. The workshop will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on each of the four days in 225 Bessey. Faculty or graduate students who previously have been involved in an introductory workshop are qualified for the advanced workshop. All costs are covered by a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant. Persons wishing to enroll should contact Justin Benna, jvb@iastate.edu, as soon as possible.
COLLEGE HOSTS EVENTS DURING ISU ALUMNI DAYS
ISU is honoring the Class of 1951 during Alumni Days, which started Thursday and will end Saturday, June 9. About 130 alumni -- including 45 ag alumni -- from 1951 returned to campus. For its alumni, the College of Agriculture hosted a social gathering and dinner with Dean Richard Ross on Thursday evening and a reception at Reiman Gardens today (Friday).
LAUNCH INTO ORBIT: VOLUNTEER FOR THE IOWA STATE FAIR
3, 2, 1, liftoff! It’s time to volunteer to help staff the College of Agriculture exhibit at the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 9-19. This year’s theme is "2001: A Space Food Odyssey," with the focus on the work of the NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center. The display will include a spacesuit from NASA. The center is developing improved food and food-processing technologies for space missions and commercial products. Volunteers have a choice of three shifts: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. They receive free admission and parking passes. To sign up: Marty Behrens, 4-5616 or behrens@iastate.edu.
SEVEN MEETINGS SET FOR COMMENTS ON PROPOSED EPA RULES
During the week of June 18, seven informational meetings will be held around the state on proposed EPA regulations that would affect livestock producers. The meetings are organized by ISU Extension, Iowa commodity groups and the Iowa Farm Bureau. Presenters will include Jeff Lorimor, agricultural and biosystems engineering; John Lawrence, Iowa Beef Center; and Wendy Powers, animal science. The deadline is July 30 for comments on the proposed rules. The meetings are free and preregistration isn’t required. For more information: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/newsrel/2001/may01/may0111.html.
BORLAUG TO HELP MARK RESEARCH FARM’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY
A quarter century of research at ISU’s research farm near Nashua will be marked June 26 at an anniversary celebration that will include a speech by Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug. The Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm's 25th anniversary event will begin at 10 a.m. with displays of the farm’s history. Borlaug, a native of northeast Iowa, is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. Other speakers include Gregory Geoffroy, the new president of Iowa State; Dean Richard Ross; Mark Honeyman, director of the ISU Research and Demonstration Farms; and Bill Palmersheim, president of the local association that owns the farm. Tours will run several times during the day. A Dutch-treat lunch will be served at noon. (See item in "Infograzing.")
COLLEGE WILL HELP PAY FOR SPANISH LANGUAGE CLASSES
International Agriculture Programs will reimburse College of Agriculture faculty and staff $100 toward the cost of taking Spanish language classes this fall. The Department of Foreign Languages will offer beginning and intermediate classes, which will be held twice a week for eight weeks starting in September. For more information: Eduarda Becerra, 4-3972 or ebecerra@iastate.edu.
IFAFS GRANT PROPOSALS NOW UNDER REVIEW
Proposals will be reviewed this month and in July for the USDA’s Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) grants program. The USDA received almost 800 proposals requesting $1.32 billion. The program will fund $119 million in projects. ISU researchers submitted 56 proposals. In 23 of the proposals, ISU is the lead institution. The total amount requested was more than $58 million. Last year six of ISU’s 59 proposals were funded, totaling nearly $10 million.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
June 11-16: Teacher’s Academy on Agricultural Awareness.
June 12: McNay Research and Demonstration Farm Field Day, Chariton.
June 18-21: Project LEA/RN advanced workshop, 225 Bessey 8:30-4:30, 4-1587.
June 19: Proposal deadline, USDA Fund for Rural America, http://www.reeusda.gov/fra/.
June 20: Northern Research and Demonstration Farm Field Day, Kanawha.
June 21: Western Research and Demonstration Farm Field Day, Castana.
June 21-24: "Functions and Actions of Retinoids and Carotenoids: Building on the Vision of James A. Olson," symposium, Scheman Building.
June 26: Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm’s 25th Anniversary Celebration, Nashua, 10 a.m.
June 27: Farms, Food and the Future Conference, Polk County Convention Center, Des Moines.
July 12-14: Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research in Agriculture 2001 Conference, San Francisco.
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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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HELP FOR ACCESSING PDF FILES
PDF files are common on the web, but some browsers have trouble accessing them. There a couple options for viewing PDFs: either opening them within the Web browser or through a helper application. Adobe, creator of the format and the Acrobat Reader software used to view them, has a website that explains the options and how to configure them for Netscape and Internet Explorer applications for Windows and Macs. The site, which includes tips on printing and downloading problems, is: http://www.adobe.com/support/techguides/acrobat/main.html.
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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NASULGC BEGINS CAMPAIGN TO DOUBLE AG FUNDING
The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) has begun a campaign to double federal funding for agricultural research, extension and education to $2 billion in five years. To kick off the effort, the association has proposed $200 million in additional spending for USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension for fiscal year 2002. NASULGC recommends increasing spending for educated workforce, dependable food supply, community revitalization, environmental balance and capacity building. Among the proposed increases is $24 million for the National Research Initiative, $23.1 million for Smith-Lever Formula funds for extension and $15 million for a new waste-management program.
IN THE BEGINNING: THE NORTHEAST RESEARCH FARM
Twenty-five years ago, the Northeast Iowa Agricultural Experimental Association, owner of the Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm, teamed up with the Experiment Station to begin conducting research on the site. The association had purchased the 260-acre farm in 1975. More than 2,100 people and businesses from 20 counties have become members of the association. As many as 50 studies are conducted annually -- 18 of which are long-term studies. About 7,500 plots are planted each year. The farm also uses neighboring land for additional research space.
TEN CAREER DAYS HELD AT ISU LAST YEAR
During the 2000-2001 academic year, ISU colleges and programs held 10 career days or job fairs for students. A total of 19,525 participants and 1,347 employers attended the career days. Last fall’s Agriculture Career Day attracted 1,300 people and 148 organizations. (ISU Office of Institutional Research, May 2001)
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I N T E R N A L V O I C E S
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LEARNING TO SPEAK LIKE A FOOD SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL
From an article in last December’s AgComm Newsletter in a section on communications activities in ISU classrooms, written by Cheryll Reitmeier and Linda Svendsen, food science and human nutrition: "’Yuck, I don’t like broccoli’ is not the type of comment we like to hear in a food preparation laboratory. Students may not like every food, but they should be able to objectively describe the characteristics of scalloped broccoli, for example … To help students learn to ‘sound like professionals,’ we incorporate an oral report into the laboratory experience of FSHN 214 and FSHN 211. Each student selects the food he or she would prepare and evaluate. We discuss food evaluation at the beginning of the semester and develop a rubric to help students know what and how to evaluate foods … Are students learning to speak as professionals? Last May we took FSHN students on a field trip to food companies in Chicago. While at dinner in a Chinese restaurant, we heard ‘a savory sauce,’ ‘rubbery texture,’ ‘a citrus sauce’ and ‘a crispy exterior.’ No yucks."
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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CREATIVE PEOPLE OWE IT TO CLIENTS TO PUSH THE ENVELOPE
"Really original work is unsettling and nervy and often looks very strange. The physicist Max Planck is alleged to have said that people don’t accept new scientific ideas because they’re reasonable, but because they’ve grown used to them … Creative people owe it to their audiences, their clients, not to give them what they’re looking for, but to take them somewhere new and better. The artist is a social revolutionary, the eternal malcontent; if we were happy with what-there-is, why would we suffer so much in the service of what-could-be? And what-could-be doesn’t appear first in the Outside of art, the carnival midway of the marketplace, but in the Inside, the workshops of the mind and heart." D.K. Holland, Communications Arts Magazine, May-June.
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M A R G I N A L I A
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JUNE IS DAIRY MONTH: A COW, A BUG, A JOKE
One morning a farmer was milking his cow. He was just starting to get a good rhythm going when a bug flew into the barn and started circling his head. Suddenly, the bug flew into the cow's ear. The farmer didn't think much about it until the bug wound up in his bucket. It had gone in one ear and out the udder.
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AG ONLINE
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NEXT ISSUE: June 22 DEADLINE: June 20
EDITORS
Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu, and Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every other Friday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to bmeyer@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe."
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