AG ONLINE
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The College of Agriculture Faculty/Staff Newsletter
Iowa State University
September 28, 2001 No. 180
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C O N T E N T S
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COLLEGE NEWS
- Attend family weekend reception Saturday
- Murray and Valerie Wise gift to support ag students
- College fall enrollment increases by 73 from a year ago
- Regents approve minor in emerging global diseases
- Leopold Center looks for proposals for new initiatives
- Attend 4-H breakfast Oct. 5 in the Gallery
- Myths and Realities of U.S. Farm Policy: Oct. 8 forum
- College/university award nominations due Oct. 27
- Oct. 15 deadline for Dean of Ag Global Research Grants
- Director named for bioinformatics center
- Plant Sciences Institute science symposium on Oct. 19
- Iowa ASAE holds steak fry for scholarship funds
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Tips on browsing with Internet Explorer
- Explorer: Change your home page
- Explorer: Open links in new windows
- Explorer: Scroll without the mouse
- Explorer: Widen your window
INFOGRAZING
- Request tickets for World Food Prize celebration
- World Food System: Serving All or Some?
- Celebrating Connections: A natural resource workshop
- National Research Initiative (NRI) deadlines approaching
- Iowa Corn Promotion Board proposals due Nov. 2
INTERNAL VOICES
- Experiencing Africa, beyond the television images
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Fable and knowledge: The wild and the cultivated
MARGINALIA
- Mr. October a familiar face in ag economics
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COLLEGE NEWS
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ATTEND FAMILY WEEKEND RECEPTION SATURDAY
College of Agriculture faculty and staff are invited to the college's reception during Family Weekend on Saturday, Sept. 29. The reception will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in 220-240 Scheman. An informal program with door prizes will begin at 9:45 a.m.
MURRAY AND VALERIE WISE GIFT TO SUPPORT AG STUDENTS
Agriculture alumnus Murray Wise and his wife Valerie have committed $1.2 million to the College of Agriculture for student scholarships and capital improvements. The Wises have given $200,000 to endow two scholarships that will support students who have a strong desire to further their agricultural knowledge and to expand the benefits of agriculture to people throughout the world. The Wises also made a $1 million estate gift to support facilities for students and faculty. Murray Wise, a 1973 plant pathology graduate, founded Westchester Group, Inc., of Champaign, Ill., one of the country's largest agricultural asset management firms.
COLLEGE FALL ENROLLMENT INCREASES BY 73 FROM A YEAR AGO
Fall enrollment in the College of Agriculture is 3,457 students -- 2,807 undergraduates and 650 graduates. Undergraduate numbers are up by 49 students from a year ago, and graduate numbers increased by 24. Here are the college's fall enrollment numbers (undergraduates / graduates) from this fall and the past four years:
2001: 3,457 (2,807 / 650)
2000: 3,384 (2,758 / 626)
1999: 3,519 (2,888 / 631)
1998: 3,538 (2,907 / 631)
1997: 3,454 (2,812 / 642)
REGENTS APPROVE MINOR IN EMERGING GLOBAL DISEASES
At its September meeting, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved a new undergraduate minor in emerging global diseases, to be offered in the departments of entomology and zoology/genetics. The program was approved by College of Agriculture faculty in the spring of 2000. The minor, which will include courses in agriculture, liberal arts and sciences, and veterinary medicine, is designed for students interested in new infectious diseases, the international control of human and animal parasitic disease, and the underlying biology and ecology of disease agents.
LEOPOLD CENTER LOOKS FOR PROPOSALS FOR NEW INITIATIVES
The Leopold Center has issued a call for projects and partners to support three new initiatives in ecology, marketing and policy. Proposals for concepts, projects, partnerships or innovative research are due Oct. 31. The initiatives are part of a new direction for the center. For more information: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/compgrants/2003rfp.html, or e-mail leopold-rfp@iastate.edu.
ATTEND 4-H BREAKFAST OCT. 5 IN THE GALLERY
Agriculture faculty and staff are invited to attend the annual 4-H breakfast on Friday, Oct. 5, to recognize ISU students who are or have been 4-H members. It will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in the Gallery, Memorial Union. on the second floor of Curtiss Hall. At 7:50 a.m., there will be remarks by Vice Provost Stan Johnson, Senior Associate Dean Wendy Wintersteen and Randy Dreher of the Collegiate 4-H Club.
MYTHS AND REALITIES OF U.S. FARM POLICY: OCT. 8 FORUM
Dispelling common misperceptions about U.S. farm programs and agricultural trade policies is the goal of an educational forum at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 8, in the Stage Door area of the Scheman Building. The forum’s target audience is faculty, staff, students and community leaders. It will be hosted by Dean Richard Ross. The program, to be led by CARD Director Bruce Babcock, will include overviews of current farm and trade policies; agricultural trade between the United States and the European Union and Asia; and the economic effects of increased emphases on environmental quality. The forum will conclude with a review of policy directions under discussion for the next farm bill.
COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY AWARD NOMINATIONS DUE OCT. 27
The college has sent 2001-02 award nomination packets to DEOs. (Award information also will be posted soon on the college’s website; check the "Faculty/Staff" link.) The packet includes guidelines and nomination formats for more than 20 awards. Deadline is Oct. 27 for college and university awards. Deadline is Nov. 30 for the Wallace and Andre ag alumni awards. For more information: Maureen Stohlmeyer, 4-6614 or mstohlme@iastate.edu.
OCT. 15 DEADLINE FOR DEAN OF AG GLOBAL RESEARCH GRANTS
The deadline is Oct. 15 for the 2001-02 Dean of Agriculture’s Global Research Grant Program. For more information: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/global/faculty/deans-grant.html.
DIRECTOR NAMED FOR BIOINFORMATICS CENTER
Robert Jernigan has been named director of the Laurence H. Baker Center for Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, effective next March. Jernigan is chief of the Section on Molecular Structure and deputy chief of the Laboratory of Experimental and Computational Biology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. Jernigan will be a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology. Hal Stern, statistics, has served as interim director since August 2000.
PLANT SCIENCES INSTITUTE SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM ON OCT. 19
A Plant Sciences Institute scientific symposium will be held Oct. 19 to commemorate the groundbreaking of the Roy J. Carver Co-laboratory. The event will begin at 4:10 p.m. in 1414 Molecular Biology. Speakers include Roger Beachy, president of the Danforth Science Center, St. Louis, and Pat Schnable, professor of agronomy and director of two of the institute’s centers. A poster session on the institute’s research will be held from 3 to 5:30 p.m. in the Molecular Biology atrium. The Carver Co-lab groundbreaking will be held on Oct. 20.
IOWA ASAE HOLDS STEAK FRY FOR SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
On Sept. 13, about 160 people attended the Iowa Section of American Society of Agricultural Engineers’ (ASAE) 17th annual steak fry. The event raised funds for scholarships and student activities. The dinner speaker was Ellen Huntoon, Congressional aide to Senator Tom Harkin, who spoke about the 2002 farm bill. Attendees also toured the Barilla plant.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Sept. 29: College of Agriculture reception, ISU Family Weekend, 220 Scheman, 9:30 a.m.
Oct. 1: Deadline, Center for Designing Foods to Improve Nutrition pre-proposals, 4-8489.
Oct. 1: Sustainable Agriculture Colloquium, Field-based Course on Agroecosystem Analysis: A Report on the First Class of SusAg 509, Lorna Michael Butler and Ricardo Salvador, 1204 Kildee, 12:10 p.m.
Oct. 8: Myths and Realities of U.S. Farm Policy Forum, Stage Door, Scheman Building, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 18-20: World Food Prize 15th anniversary events, Des Moines, http://www.worldfoodprize.org.
Oct. 15: Deadline, Dean of Agriculture Global Research Grant proposals.
Oct. 16: AgComm Seminar: Assessing Written Documents, 224 Curtiss, noon.
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COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
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TIPS ON BROWSING WITH INTERNET EXPLORER
New York Times columnist David Pogue recently offered the following four productivity tips for using the Internet Explorer web browser. These also can be used with other browsers, although key commands may differ.
EXPLORER: CHANGE YOUR HOME PAGE
The default startup page can be changed to any one you want (perhaps the College of Agriculture home page). For a Mac: From the Edit menu, choose Preferences then click Browser Display. For Windows: From the Tools menu, choose Internet Options, then visit the General tab. Either way, now enter your preferred startup address in the Address box.
EXPLORER: OPEN LINKS IN NEW WINDOWS
Using a new, second browser window for opening links allows you to close it quickly when you're done without having to go back by reloading the previous page. Do this by pressing the Command or Apple key (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift (Windows) as you click any link.
EXPLORER: SCROLL WITHOUT THE MOUSE
If a whole web page doesn't fit in a single window, press the space bar to see the next screenful (when your insertion-point cursor isn't in a text box). Press Shift with the space bar to scroll up again.
EXPLORER: WIDEN YOUR WINDOW
Shrink your main toolbar height by displaying just the text. For Mac: Use the Preferences command, click "Browser Display," choose "Text Only" from the pop-up menu. For Windows: Right-click the toolbar; choose "Customize"; then, from the Text Options pop-up menu, choose "Selected text on right." Either way, after clicking "OK" or "Done," take a moment to choose the commands in your View menu to get rid of any status and button bars you don't use often.
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INFOGRAZING
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REQUEST TICKETS FOR WORLD FOOD PRIZE CELEBRATION
The World Food Prize 15th Anniversary Celebration in honor of Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug will be held at 7 p.m., Oct. 18, in the Des Moines Civic Center. The event will feature the presentation of the $250,000 prize to this year’s winner, Per Pinstrup-Andersen of Denmark. It also will feature the premiere of a symphony movement written for Borlaug and a viewing of a public TV documentary on him. ISU faculty, staff and students can request tickets to the event via e-mail. Send your name, mailing address and number of tickets requested to Judith Pim, jpim@ruan.com. The tickets, which are free, will be mailed to you.
WORLD FOOD SYSTEM: SERVING ALL OR SOME?
The 18th annual World Food Day satellite teleconference, "World Food System: Serving All or Serving Some?," will be downlinked to 1155 Administrative Services Building on Oct. 16 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The program will feature Wenche Barth Eide of the University of Oslo, an international leader in efforts to achieve global food security. To attend, contact Joyce Greving, 4-3079 or jagrevin@iastate.edu.
CELEBRATING CONNECTIONS: A NATURAL RESOURCE WORKSHOP
Early registration deadline is Oct. 8 for the Iowa Conservation Education Council’s "Celebrating Connections," an environmental education workshop Oct. 26-28 at Camp EWALU, Strawberry Point. The workshop is designed for teachers, students, youth leaders, agency staff and other interested people. The council is made up of 900 teachers and agency officials. Cost is $35 for council members, $50 for nonmembers and $15 for students. An exhibit area will be available at no cost for environmental education program displays. For more information: Vicki Boss, (319) 263-4376 or bosspack@muscanet.com.
NATIONAL RESEARCH INITIATIVE (NRI) DEADLINES APPROACHING
Several NRI proposal deadlines are approaching. Proposals are due Nov. 2 for the 2002 Scientific Cooperation Research Program of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. Proposals are due Nov. 15 in the areas of plant responses, managed ecosystems, soil and soil biology, watershed processes and water resources, and improving human nutrition for optimal health. Proposals are due Dec. 15 for the areas of plant genetic mechanisms, plant growth and development, markets and trades, rural development, food characterization/process/product research and non-food characterization/process/product research. For more information: Elena Polouchkina, 4-8493 or elenap@iastate.edu.
IOWA CORN PROMOTION BOARD PROPOSALS DUE NOV. 2
The deadline is Nov. 2 for corn research proposals for the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. For the RFP, go to the Experiment Station website, http://www.ag.iastate.edu/iaexp/rfp/index.html. For a hard copy or an electronic version, contact Elena Polouchkina, 4-8493 or elenap@iastate.edu.
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INTERNAL VOICES
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EXPERIENCING AFRICA, BEYOND THE TELEVISION IMAGES
The following was written by nutritional sciences student Corrie Ladwig, who traveled to Ghana earlier this year on a month-long College of Agriculture service-learning internship. The program is sponsored by Self-Help International. "Before I left for Ghana, when I thought of Africa I thought of the starving and sick children shown on television commercials. As a nutrition student I was very interested in seeing cases of malnutrition, and as a premed student I was very interested in seeing how disease was handled . . . I saw children with tuberculosis, HIV, sepsis, kidney problems, malaria and much more . . . I also got to experience the culture. I learned a little about people, living styles, weddings, funerals, social status, dress, education, jobs, markets, language, tribes, agriculture, handshakes, kings, queen mothers, greetings, politics, religion and nature. I tasted fufu and banku and kenke, I drew water from the town well, I even carried a basket on my head! . . . Now Africa is much more than children on a commercial. It is more than the things I learned in my classes. My own understanding of life and people has been stretched and molded by my time in Ghana. I will try to tell others about my experiences and I will show anyone who is interested my pictures, but there is no substitute for experiencing the real thing."
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EXTERNAL VOICES
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FABLE AND KNOWLEDGE: THE WILD AND THE CULTIVATED
"Verifiable knowledge makes its way slowly and only under cultivation, but fable has burrs and feet and claws and wings . . . and can be carried almost anywhere."
- Wallace Stegner, Iowa-born author, 1909-1993
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MARGINALIA
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MR. OCTOBER A FAMILIAR FACE IN AG ECONOMICS
Those who have a 2001 BNA Tax Management calendar will flip from September to October and see a familiar face. "Mr. October" is Neil Harl, distinguished professor of economics. Each month the calendar features tax practitioners associated with BNA, the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., which publishes news and analysis on legal and regulatory matters. The October page includes a list of Harl’s achievements.
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AG ONLINE
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NEXT ISSUE: Oct. 12 DEADLINE: Oct. 10
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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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