Issue: 268

................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... OPEN FORUM SET FOR PRESIDENT'S OCT. 7 VISIT President Gregory Geoffroy and Provost Benjamin Allen will visit the College of Agriculture on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Faculty and staff are invited to an open forum at 3 p.m. in the CCUR Theater, 1951 Food Sciences Building. STUDENTS BEHIND CORN MAZE College of Agriculture students Joe and Debra Kearney are the husband-wife team behind the corn maze between Ames and Nevada on Highway 30. The mazes design is the Iowa State Cyclone and the University of Iowa Hawkeye facing off and covers 17 acres in the corn field. Debras family has run a maze near Knoxville for four years and the couple decided to expand the operation to Ames. Joe is a senior in ag studies and Debra is a senior in ag education, and they are expecting their first child any day. The corn maze will be open through Nov. 1 from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The maze also will be haunted for Halloween visitors on Oct. 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31, and Nov. 1. More at: http://www.dandfarms.com. COLLEGE FACULTY PART OF IOWA WATER SUMMIT PREPARATIONS Three College of Agriculture faculty members are on work groups set up to make water quality recommendations for the Governors Iowa Water Summit. The summit will be held Nov. 24 at the Scheman Center to establish a roadmap that can eliminate impaired waters in Iowa. Fred Kirschenman, Leopold Center, is a member of the Nutrients work group; Bill Crumpton, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, is on the Non-point Source Reduction work group; and John Downing, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, is on the Impaired Waters Restoration work group. Eight regional water quality meetings begin Tuesday, Oct. 7, to seek local comment on water quality issues in preparation for the summit. AG ENGINEER GETS NEWCOMER AWARD Brian Steward, assistant professor in agricultural & biosystems engineering, was recognized as the 2003 Newcomer Engineer of the Year by the Iowa Section of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. Steward teaches fluid power engineering and technology and dynamic systems modeling and controls. He is developing the ISU Fluid Power Laboratory that will provide more hands-on, learner-centered fluid power education. ISU OFFERS TRAINING FOR NEW SWINE WELFARE PROGRAM A new program is offering America's pork producers a way to assess, document and evaluate the care and welfare of their animals, and to address any concerns in a timely and scientifically sound manner. In August, Iowa State offered the first-ever training and certification program for individuals who want to assist producers with these on-farm assessments. Learn more in "Agriculture in Action." SEARCH BEGINS FOR NEW ISU VETERINARY MEDICINE DEAN A 21-member committee is beginning the search for the new dean of Iowa State's College of Veterinary Medicine. The search committee is headed by College of Agriculture Dean Catherine Woteki. The successful candidate will succeed Norman Cheville, who recently announced that he would retire at the end of the current academic year. NEW BOOK ABOUT RURAL IOWA TO BE UNVEILED OCT. 11 A new book, Renewing the CountrysideIowa, is a collection of 38 stories and eight essays highlighting those who have found a way to make a living in the countryside while supporting their communities and protecting the environment. The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State is one of the key sponsors of the book. The book will be introduced to the public Saturday, Oct. 11 at Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Oct. 6-10: Ag Week at Iowa State Oct. 7: President Gregory Geoffroy and Provost Benjamin Allen open forum, 3 p.m., CCUR Theater, 1951 Food Sciences Building Oct. 8: Graduate and Professional School Days, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Great Hall, Memorial Union October 11: 26th Annual ISU Meat Judging competition Oct. 15: Second Norman Borlaug Lecture, M.S. Swaminathan to speak, 8 p.m., Great Hall, Memorial Union Oct. 16: World Food Day satellite teleconference, "Collaboration or Calamity: Africa in Peril," 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Room 1155 Administrative Services Building, contact: Joyce Greving, 4-3079 or jagrevin@iastate.edu Oct. 16-17: World Food Prize International Symposium, Des Moines, more at: http://www.worldfoodprize.com Nov. 17: Iowa Organic Conference, Scheman Building, more: http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/1103/organic.htm Oct. 21: Ag Career Day, Memorial Union, https://www.career.cals.iastate.edu/cals-career-day Oct. 25-26: Horticulture Club apple sales, Reiman Gardens Nov. 19: How to Work with the Leopold Center and its New Initiatives, 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., 2050 Agronomy Nov. 21: Deadline for nominating faculty and staff for College and ISU Foundation awards ................................................... COMMUNICATION KIOSK ................................................... ARE YOU AVERSE TO USING ADVERSE? Adverse means unfavorable: He predicted adverse weather. Averse means reluctant, opposed: She is averse to change. --The Associated Press Stylebook, 2002. ................................................... INFOGRAZING ................................................... IOWA ENERGY CENTER SEEKS PREPROPOSALS The Iowa Energy Center requests preproposals for research and demonstration projects to begin July 1, 2004. The preproposal deadline is Nov. 3. Preproposals are sought for projects in several areas including biomass, industry, transportation, buildings and education. WATER SUSTAINABILITY THEME OF NATIONAL CONFERENCE The National Council for Science and the Environment's fourth National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Water for a Sustainable and Secure Future will be held Jan. 29-30 in Washington, D.C. The conference will seek to develop science-based strategies for achieving water sustainability. More at: http://www.NCSEonline.org. ................................................... EXTERNAL VOICES ................................................... THE GREATEST HUMAN CREATION IS THE WORD "True, a chimpanzee could not begin to design a car. But, come to think of it, neither could I. Nor could you or any other person working in intellectual isolation -- without the help of books, conversations, directions, documents, explanations, and traditions -- design a car. Or even a bicycle. Or a pair of shoes. Or a mousetrap. Apes work in intellectual isolation because they lack language. We have language, and therefore our creations and inventions and technologies become collective efforts and cultural products. With your brain alone, with my brain alone (minus language and a language-based tradition), we would consider ourselves very lucky indeed to think of cracking nuts between a stone hammer and a stone anvil. Our greatest human creation is not the tool but the word, not the technology that we so treasure and depend on but the language that has allowed us to talk about it. Language, not technology, is the most compelling artifact of the human intellect." -- Dale Peterson, "Eating Apes" (University of California Press, May 2003) ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... AG GRADUATE PURSUES PASSION FOR MUSIC Tony Bohnenkamp graduated with a turf management degree in 1996. He worked one year in the field and then began pursuing his passion for music. Bohnenkamp started working as a drummer for the rock group called The Nadas. The group celebrated its 10th anniversary last month by recording a DVD in Ames. Bohnenkamp said he is enjoying his musical career but is thankful for his degree in horticulture. "I've always wanted to be a professional musician. I joined the group in 1996 because I liked the music, they were nice guys and it was the perfect opportunity, plus, I have a great degree to fall back on." The Nadas started a nationwide tour last month in St. Louis. Next issue: Oct. 13 ........................................................ AG ONLINE ........................................................ EDITORS Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu, and Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/ SUBSCRIBE Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe." Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 1031 Wallace Road Office Building, Room 101, (515) 294-7612.