College News
Faculty, Students Recognized by Agronomics Societies
The agronomy department received numerous awards at the 2006 international annual meetings of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). Agronomy faculty honored by the societies included Tom Kaspar and Sally Logsdon, who were named fellows of ASA. Kaspar is a plant physiologist with the USDA-ARS and an agronomy professor/collaborator. Logsdon is a research soil scientist with the USDA-ARS and an associate professor/collaborator in agronomy. Jean-Luc Jannink, agronomy associate professor, was honored by CSSA with the Young Crop Scientist Research Award. Students Raechel Baumgartner, an agronomy senior from Ponce, Puerto Rico; Andrew Miller, an agronomy senior from Silver City; and Addie Hall, a junior in genetics from Hamburg were honored as Golden Opportunity Scholars for their academic achievement and interest in crop science. Lucia Gutierrez, an agronomy graduate student from Uruguay, received the 2006 Gerald O. Mott Scholarship from CSSA.
New Reiman Gardens Display Open to Faculty and Staff
The College is helping sponsor an exhibit at Reiman Gardens about the life of Iowa State botanist Louis Pammel. Stream of Passion: Plant Lovers of ISU is the title of the Conservatory display that will feature a stream of woodland plants suggesting Pammel's presence with landscapes representing Pammel's students George Washington Carver and Ada Hayden. Special tours, discovery stations, Plant Lover's luncheons and interpretive exhibits are part of the display, which begins Sunday, Jan. 7. An opening reception for the conservatory display will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 18. College of Agriculture faculty and staff and their children under age 17 receive free admission to the display, which runs to March 13, by identifying themselves as College employees at the front desk of Reiman Gardens. Spouses and friends are $5 each. Reiman Gardens is open daily 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Alum to Head Iowa's Department of Natural Resources
Alumnus Richard Leopold was appointed to serve in Gov.-elect Chet Culver administration as Iowa's next state Department of Natural Resources director, replacing Jeff Vonk. Leopold is executive director of the Iowa Environmental Council. Leopold has held a variety of biologist, naturalist and administrative positions within the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Minnesota and Iowa Departments of Natural Resources. From 1999-2002, Leopold served as the coordinator for IOWATER, Iowa's statewide volunteer water-quality monitoring program, according to the governor-elect's transition office. He earned a master's degree in animal ecology in 2005 from Iowa State. (Cedar Rapids Gazette, Dec. 29)
Iowa Farmland Value at Record Level for Fourth Year in a Row
The average value of an acre of farmland in Iowa increased $290 to an all-time high of $3,204 in 2006, according to an annual survey conducted by Iowa State University. This is the fourth year in a row with a new record high.
Deadlines & Reminders
Jan. 5: Deadline for proposing a workshop topic for this summer's Iowa 4-H Youth Conference, contact: Brenda Allen, bsallen@iastate.edu or 4-1567
Jan. 24: College convocation, 2:30 p.m., Sun Room, Memorial Union
Communications Kiosk
New Year's Resolutions may Cut Desserts but not Deserts
Deserts means to deserve, as in "your just deserts," while desserts are eaten, as in "there were many desserts on the menu." (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., 2003)
Infograzing
EDUCAUSE Seminars Deals with Net Generation
Diana Oblinger, EDUCAUSE vice president and College alumna, will moderate a Web seminar about students of the Net Generation. Carie Windham, a confessed Net junkie, will help explain what makes these students tick, and what faculty and administrators need to know to bridge the generational divide. She will provide an overview of Net Gen characteristics and how those characteristics translate to the classroom, including the "Ten Commandments of Net Gen Teaching and Engagement." This seminar will begin at noon Jan. 16 in 206 Durham. No registration is required.
Report Documents Organic Farming's Growth
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service has release a report titled Organic Production that documents one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture. The U.S. had less than a million acres of certified organic farmland when Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. By the time the USDA implemented national organic standards in 2002, certified organic farmland had doubled, and doubled again between 2002 and 2005. Organic livestock sectors have grown even faster. More: Institute of Food Technologists newsletter, Dec. 21.
Marginalia
Wolf Moon Set to Arrive
The next full moon will come tomorrow, Jan. 3, at 7:57 a.m. Native Americans referred to it as the Full Wolf Moon because outside their villages wolves howled with hunger amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter. It was also known as the Old Moon or the "Moon After Yule." Tribes of a few hundred years ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. (SPACE.com, Dec. 29) Next issue: Jan. 8
Ag Online
Editor: Ed Adcock, edadcock@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."
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