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COLLEGE NEWS
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COLLETTI NAMED INTERIM CHAIR FOR NREM DEPARTMENT
Joe Colletti has been named interim chair of the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management. On Sept. 1, Colletti will replace Mike Kelly, who has served as NREM department chair since 1995. Kelly has accepted the position of dean of the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Colletti is an associate professor and has been a member of the faculty since 1978. A national search for a new department chair has begun and Robert Martin, chair of the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies, will chair the search committee.
LASLEY REAPPOINTED AS SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT CHAIR
Paul Lasley, chair of the Department of Sociology, has been reappointed to a second term. Lasley has served as chair since 2002 when he was appointed to a three-year term. He has a year left on his original appointment, and will serve to 2010. Lasley joined the faculty at Iowa State in 1982.
KANWAR EARNS RECOGNITION, DONATES MONEY
Ramesh Kanwar, chair of the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, recently earned the ISU International Service Award, which will be presented at this fall’s university convocation. The award is the highest award given by Iowa State to a faculty member for service in international activities. The honor came with $2,500, which Kanwar has donated to the ABE Study-Abroad Program. The money will provide 10 scholarships for undergraduate students to travel to Germany, where they will take a three-credit course, travel the country and visit companies, research stations, farms and historic sites.
HOWELL, EMERITUS ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, DIES JULY 24
Herb Howell, emeritus professor of economics, died July 24 in Ames. The South Dakota native earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Iowa State in 1934. He served as district extension economist in Davenport from 1935 to 1945. He earned his master's degree in agricultural economics from ISU in 1945. His master's thesis, “Better Farm Accounting,” was used by many Iowa farmers and was an ISU Press bestseller, selling more than a million copies. He became an assistant professor in 1945 and rose to full professor before retiring in 1973. A memorial service was held July 27 at the Collegiate Presbyterian Church. Memorial gifts may be made to Youth and Shelter Services in Ames or to the Morrill Hall Renovation Project through the ISU Foundation.
UKRAINIANS LEARN GRAIN MARKETING AS ISU INTERNS
Six Ukrainian professionals involved in grain trading recently completed a three-month internship at Iowa State, in a program sponsored by the College of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Special American Business Internship Training program. Learn more in "Agriculture in Action."
MIDWEST PLAN SERVICE HOLDS SUMMER PUBLICATION SALE
MidWest Plan Service is holding a summer sale of its publications. The unit, an educational publishing consortium of 12 universities and the USDA and housed in Davidson Hall, publishes informational books covering many topics, including farm and home maintenance, crop cultivation techniques and improving farm businesses or livestock production. More information: http://www.mwpshq.org.
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
Aug. 4: Demonstration Home Garden Field Day, Allee Research and Demonstration Farm, 6:30 p.m., near Newell
Aug. 5: Neely-Kinyon Research and Demonstration field day, 4 p.m., Greenfield
Aug. 6: Abstracts due for an international scientific symposium Sept. 15 on alternative swine housing systems , contact: Tom Richard, 4-0465 or tlr@iastate.edu
Aug. 6: Demonstration Home Garden Field Day, Northern Research and Demonstration Farm, 6:30 p.m., Kanawha
Aug. 7: Demonstration Home Garden Field Day, Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm, 4 p.m., near Nashua
Aug. 10: Demonstration Home Garden Field Day, Northwest Research and Demonstration Farm, 6:30 p.m., near Doon
Aug. 14: Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture presentation, 4 p.m., Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines
Aug. 23: Registration deadline for the 13th annual Growth Factor and Signal Transduction Conference Sept. 16-19, Scheman Building
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COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
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FORMER AND LATTER: THINK TWO
In the best usage, these words apply only to pairs. “Former” is the first of two, “latter” the second of two. (The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, 2003)
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INFOGRAZING
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NEW REPORT ON RISKS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS
Genetically engineered crops pose no more health risks than crops created by other techniques, including conventional breeding, according to a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. The July 27 report said the scope of each safety evaluation should not be based solely on the technique used to alter the food, and greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them.
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EXTERNAL VOICES
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ADAMS ON STUDIES THAT LIBERATE THE NEXT GENERATION
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
- John Adams, second president of the United States
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MARGINALIA
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EMISSIONS FROM CALIFORNIA COWS PUT TO THE TEST
Researchers at the University of California-Davis are trying to determine how much air pollution cows actually generate. The cows live in airtight pens called "bovine bubbles" while researchers are measuring their emissions. California regulations are cracking down on air pollution caused by livestock, but the data on how much pollution a cow produces dates back to a study done in 1938. In each of the pens are 10 Holstein cows. One pen is set up like a dairy operation, with nothing to control dust on the ground. The other three pens have different treatments on each floor to handle waste products. The experiment will last eight months. Researchers will then study how a cow's feed affects emissions. More at: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/kcci/20040722/lo_kcra/2298323
Next issue: Aug. 9
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AG ONLINE
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EDITORS
Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu, and Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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