COLLEGE NEWS
- Attend open forum Sept. 18 with President Geoffroy
- Tonight the Memorial Union’s abuzz with bugs
- Learn more about video conferencing on Monday
- Comment by Sept. 21 on restructuring guidelines
- Sept. 24 meeting to discuss biological sciences idea
- Search committee named for plant pathology
- United Way incentives given out; get those envelopes in
- Dickson named president of international food group
- Sorority to host farm safety day camp Sept. 22
- Third annual Heartland Economics Workshop Sept. 23-24
- Ag economists to debate ag structure on Sept. 24
- Antimicrobial resistance the topic of Sept. 24 Think Tank
- Beginning Spanish class still has spaces
- Study-abroad opportunity: Panama over winter break
- Study-abroad opportunity: East africa next spring
- Twelve participating in teaching-extension grants workshop
- Retirement reception for Bolluyt on Sept. 27
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Copies of college annual report - free!
- Themes of past college annual reports
INFOGRAZING
- ISU’s success in USDA competitive grants continues
- CARET reports ISU research benefits to Congress
EXTERNAL VOICES
- To reclaim our freedom, we must reclaim hope
- Remember we are part of a great whole
MARGINALIA
- Who do you call to croak a locust plague?
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COLLEGE NEWS
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ATTEND OPEN FORUM SEPT. 18 WITH PRESIDENT GEOFFROY
College of Agriculture faculty and staff are encouraged to take part in an open forum with President Gregory Geoffroy on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 4 p.m. in the Ensminger Conference Room, 1204 Kildee. The president will spend the afternoon in the college, visiting with administrators, department leaders and students, and touring the Brenton Center, Center for Crops Utilization Research, Plant Transformation Center and Meat Lab.
TONIGHT THE MEMORIAL UNION’S ABUZZ WITH BUGS
The Insect Horror Film Festival will be held this evening (Friday) at the Memorial Union. The annual event will include hissing cockroaches, giant millipedes, a butterfly tent, a honey bee display, insect displays, cricket brownies and maggot crispy treats and a screening of the movie "James and the Giant Peach." Doors open at 6 p.m. and the film starts at 7:30 p.m. The film, rated PG, is the story of a spider, ladybug and centipede that join a boy for an adventure in a giant peach. The Entomology Club, Student Union Board and Committee on Lectures sponsor the festival.
LEARN MORE ABOUT VIDEO CONFERENCING ON MONDAY
Learn more about video conferencing using Internet protocol (IP) at a seminar on Monday, Sept. 17, from 12:10 to 1 p.m. IP’s capabilities, uses and costs will be reviewed, and a live demonstration of the technology will be held. The seminar will be held in 8 Curtiss. For more information: Rod Fischer, videoguy@iastate.edu. The seminar is part of the Brenton Center’s Professional Development Series.
COMMENT BY SEPT. 21 ON RESTRUCTURING GUIDELINES
The deadline is Sept. 21 for comments on a draft of guidelines for restructuring departments in the College of Agriculture. The draft was written by the Committee on Structures, chaired by Duane Enger, zoology and genetics. Comments should be sent to the dean's office. A link to the report is: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/resrep.html.
>SEPT. 24 MEETING TO DISCUSS BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES IDEA
A faculty and staff meeting will be held at 3 p.m., Sept. 24, in the Cardinal Room, Memorial Union, to discuss a proposal to restructure biological science departments. The proposal would involve four departments (biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, botany, microbiology, and zoology and genetics) in the creation of two, the Department of Molecular Biosciences and the Department of Biology. A link to the reorganization plan is: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/biology.html.
SEARCH COMMITTEE NAMED FOR PLANT PATHOLOGY
A search committee has been named for the chair of the Department of Plant Pathology. Joel Coats, chair of entomology, will lead the group, which will conduct an internal search with a goal of having a new DEO by Jan. 1. The committee includes faculty, staff, students and stakeholders from the agricultural and horticultural industries. Ed Braun has been chair of the department since 1996.
UNITED WAY INCENTIVES GIVEN OUT; GET THOSE ENVELOPES IN
The Department of Agricultural Education and Studies will receive $300 for its scholarship fund for being the first college department to return all of its faculty and staff United Way envelopes. The Department of Animal Ecology was the second department to fulfill that goal, and will receive $150. The college offered the two incentives as a way to boost pledges to the campaign. The college’s United Way goal is $36,200. Last year college faculty and staff contributed $35,310. The ISU goal is $223,000. Return your envelopes as soon as possible to Wendy Wintersteen or Carla Persaud, 138 Curtiss. For more information: http://www.iastate.edu/uw/.
DICKSON NAMED PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL FOOD GROUP
Jim Dickson, chair of the microbiology department, has been named president of the International Association for Food Protection. The nonprofit educational association of food safety professionals has more than 3,000 members in 50 nations. Dickson also directs ISU’s efforts in the Food Safety Consortium, a three-state research program to improve meat safety.
AG SORORITY TO HOST FARM SAFETY DAY CAMP SEPT. 22
Sigma Alpha, an agricultural sorority, will help teach elementary-school children the importance of farm safety at a Sept. 22 day camp on campus. The camp will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Kildee Hall. ISU students will help teach children first aid; emergency response; and safety rules about animals, grain and machinery. For more information: Stephanie Vinton, 817-0271.
THIRD ANNUAL HEARTLAND ECONOMICS WORKSHOP SEPT. 23-24
The third annual Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop will be held Sept. 23-24 in the Scheman Building. The EPA-funded workshop is a chance for Midwestern researchers, students and other professional environmental economists to exchange research ideas and assess each other’s work. Another goal is to encourage collaborative efforts. The workshop is coordinated by Cathy Kling, head of CARD’s Resource and Environmental Policy Division.
AG ECONOMISTS TO DEBATE AG STRUCTURE ON SEPT. 24
On Sept. 24, ISU’s Neil Harl and Ohio State University’s Luther Tweeten will debate the changing structure of agriculture. The two agricultural economists are the featured speakers at the event sponsored by Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society for agriculture, and the Leopold Center. The program will be held at 4 p.m. in the Pioneer Room, Memorial Union. Harl is a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and director of the Center for International Agricultural Finance. Tweeten, who earned his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. at ISU, is the Anderson Professor of Agricultural Marketing, Policy and Trade at Ohio State.
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE THE TOPIC OF SEPT. 24 THINK TANK
Michael Apley, veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, will speak on antimicrobial resistance issues for food animals at the first fall meeting of the next Think Tank on Animal Agriculture. It will be held Sept. 24 in the Gold Room, Memorial Union. Social time begins at 6 p.m., with dinner at 6:30 p.m. and discussion from 7 to 8 p.m. If you plan to attend, RSVP by Sept. 21 to Don Beitz, 4-5626 or dcbeitz@iastate.edu, or Gene Freeman, 4-3352 or genef@iastate.edu. Cost for the dinner is $12, payable at the door. The Think Tank is a forum of faculty and staff who are working to identify areas in animal agriculture that may lead to problems in the future and to seek solutions before problems arise.
BEGINNING SPANISH CLASS STILL HAS SPACES
There are still spaces available in the conversational beginning Spanish short course sponsored by the College of Agriculture. The course will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in 19 Curtiss. The class will start on Wednesday, Sept. 19, and will run for eight weeks. Participants will need to register by sending a check or intramural for $50 to Global Agriculture Programs, 104 Curtiss, or fax 4-9477. For more information: Eduarda Becerra 4-3972 or ebecerra@iastate.edu.
STUDY-ABROAD OPPORTUNITY: PANAMA OVER WINTER BREAK
The departments of agronomy and economics are organizing a study-travel tour to Panama during winter break. Participants will be introduced to tropical agriculture and rural life in Panama. They also will participate in a service-learning project in a farming community. Encourage your students to learn more about this opportunity. For more information: Russ Mullen, 4-3272 or remullen@iastate.edu; Ebby Luvaga, 4-5765 or luvaga@iastate.edu; or stop by the Agriculture Study Abroad Office, 111 Curtiss, or call 4-8447.
STUDY-ABROAD OPPORTUNITY: EAST AFRICA NEXT SPRING
The fourth annual International Field Trip in Biology to Kenya and Tanzania will take place May 11-June 1, 2002. The trip, an educational camping safari, is led by Wayne Rowley and Marlin Rice, entomology. The program is open to any interested College of Agriculture student. An informational meeting will be held in October. For more information: Rowley, 4-1573 or rowley@iastate.edu.
TWELVE PARTICIPATING IN TEACHING-EXTENSION GRANTS WORKSHOP
Twelve faculty and staff are participating in the college’s first Teaching-Extension Grant Writers Program. The six-month program will help them write grant proposals to be submitted to federal agencies. The participants come from the departments of agricultural education and studies, agronomy, microbiology, food science and human nutrition, and human development and family studies, and from ISU Extension.
RETIREMENT RECEPTION FOR BOLLUYT ON SEPT. 27
A retirement reception for Karen Bolluyt, the director of college relations for the College of Agriculture, will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27, in the Kildee Hall atrium. A brief program will begin at 4 p.m. Bolluyt came to Iowa State as an extension writer in 1978 and joined the college in 1979 as an Experiment Station communications specialist.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Sept. 16-18: Food Safety Consortium annual meeting, The Hotel at Gateway Center.
Sept. 17: Sustainable Agriculture Colloquium, Starlink: Developing a New Policy on Biotechnology, Charles Hurburgh, Tech Transfer Theatre, Food Sciences Building, 12:10 p.m.
Sept. 17: Fourth annual Minisymposium on Conjugated Linoleic Acid, 1204 Kildee, 8 a.m.
Sept. 18: Open forum with President Geoffroy, 1204 Kildee, 4 p.m.
Sept. 18: "Niche and Value-added Marketing Conference," Iowa Pork Industry Center/Leopold Center, Scheman.
Sept. 19-20: Central Iowa Field Days, Uthe Research Farm.
Sept. 23-24: Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop, Scheman Building.
Sept. 24: Deadline, faculty professional development assignment applications, 138 Curtiss.
Sept. 24: Sustainable Agriculture Colloquium, Coexistence of Biotechnology and sustainable Agriculture, Walt Fehr, 1204 Kildee, 12:10 p.m.
Sept. 24: Gamma Sigma Delta debate on structure of agriculture, with Neil Harl and Luther Tweeten, Pioneer Room, Memorial Union, 4 p.m.
Sept. 24: Think Tank on Animal Agriculture: Antimicrobial resistance issues for food animals, Michael Apley, Gold Room, Memorial Union, 6 p.m.
Sept. 27: Retirement reception for Karen Bolluyt, Kildee Hall atrium, 3:30 p.m.
Sept. 28-30: ISU Family Weekend.
Oct. 1: Deadline, Center for Designing Foods to Improve Nutrition pre-proposals, 4-8489.
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COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
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COPIES OF COLLEGE ANNUAL REPORT - FREE!
Past copies of the College of Agriculture’s annual report are available from the Agriculture Communications Service. A few copies are available from the years 1990 to 1998, and larger supply is available for the years 1999 and 2000. If you’re interested, contact Marty Behrens, 4-5616 or behrens@iastate.edu.
THEMES OF PAST COLLEGE ANNUAL REPORTS
Here are the themes (with graphics themes in parentheses) of the college’s annual reports for the past 11 years: 1990, Words on Work (quotations); 1991, Agricultural Research: Green Light to Progress (traffic); 1992, Clearing the View to the Future (vision); 1993, Paths to Progress (maps); 1994, Where Ideas Grow (corn, seedling to harvest); 1995, Food for Thought (home-cooked meals); 1996, Teams and Teamwork (barn raising); 1997, Patterns (patterns found in nature, agriculture); 1998, Art in Agriculture (ISU public art); 1999, Annual & Perennial Report (horticultural plants and historical items); 2000, Strengthening Families (home and family).
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INFOGRAZING
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ISU’S SUCCESS IN USDA COMPETITIVE GRANTS CONTINUES
In the last complete round of the USDA’s National Research Initiative (NRI), Iowa State won more grants (31) and more funding ($5 million) than any other institution. So far in the most recent round of NRI funding, 25 grants and $4 million have been awarded to ISU scientists. The NRI is only one of several competitive grants programs sponsored by the USDA. In the last 14 months, ISU has won more than $25 million in USDA grants.
CARET REPORTS ISU RESEARCH BENEFITS TO CONGRESS
Iowa’s CARET representatives recently sent a message to Iowa’s Congressional delegation, thanking them for their support in strengthening ISU agricultural programs and urging them to continue their support. (CARET, the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching, is a national group of private citizens who work to encourage Congressional support of land-grant programs. Iowa’s representatives are Donald Latham and Joyce Neill.) The message also listed the following items as benefits resulting from current Iowa State research:
- A better understanding of the role of soy foods in health, including a national isoflavone database
- Safer, higher quality plant and meat products
- Proven new methods for protecting water quality in rivers and lakes
- New industrial products using commodity crops in place of petrochemicals
- Policy analyses for Congress and other decision-makers
- New basic knowledge of plant and animal genetics
- Better educational opportunities for disadvantaged people
- Successful community development models
- New grain segregation and distribution systems
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EXTERNAL VOICES
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TO RECLAIM OUR FREEDOM, WE MUST RECLAIM HOPE
"Find ways to experience joy and hope each day. Immerse yourself in nature and music. Do things that are fun and embrace laughter as a healing resource. If you are spiritually inclined, seek out spiritual community and inspiration. If you are inclined for political and social action, get involved. To reclaim our freedom, we must reclaim hope. Oscar Arias, a Latin American writer states, ‘Hope is the strongest driving force for a people. Hope which brings about change, which provides new realities, is what opens our road to freedom.’"
- Suzanne Zilber, staff psychologist at ISU’s Student Counseling Service, speaking today (Friday) on central campus for the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.
REMEMBER WE ARE PART OF A GREAT WHOLE
"I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and in consequence we must still try to learn from history . . . And I think we should remember that we are part of a great whole, which for convenience we call nature. All living things are our brothers and sisters."
- Kenneth Clark, 1903-1983, British art historian and critic
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MARGINALIA
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WHO DO YOU CALL TO CROAK A LOCUST PLAGUE?
According to the Reuters news service, farmers in western China have appealed for 5,000 snakes, 20,000 sparrows and 200,000 frogs to fight a swarm of locusts. On Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Bi Fubin, who was seeking the locust eaters for local farmers, as saying the numbers were calculated carefully to solve the problem without resorting to environmentally unfriendly pesticides. It might sound like a lot of frogs, but they could easily be supplied "if each restaurant in China kills one less frog every day," Bi was quoted as saying. Locusts frequently hit water-short China, especially during droughts. Farmers in other areas have used ducks and chickens to attack locusts chewing through their crops.
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AG ONLINE
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NEXT ISSUE: Sept. 28 DEADLINE: Sept. 26
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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