................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... MEDALLION CEREMONY AT COLLEGE CONVOCATION SEPT. 12 The College fall semester convocation on Wednesday, Sept. 12, will include a medallion ceremony for newly endowed chairs and professors, presented by President Geoffroy and Dean Wintersteen. Four faculty holding endowed positions will be honored: William Beavis, George F. Sprague Endowed Chair in Agronomy; Matt Liebman, Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture; Thomas Lubberstedt, Kenneth J. Frey Endowed Chair in Agronomy; and Max Rothschild, Marion Eugene and Audrey H. Ensminger Chair in Animal Science. At the convocation, Dean Wintersteen also will make remarks and departments will introduce new faculty and staff members. The convocation begins at 4:15 p.m. in 127 Curtiss Hall. PRESIDENT AND PROVOST VISIT COLLEGE SEPT. 14 President Geoffroy and Vice President/Provost Hoffman will visit the College on Sept. 14. A public forum for faculty and staff is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. in the Curtiss Hall Auditorium (127 Curtiss). Earlier in the afternoon, they will meet with the dean and with department chairs. A tour of the Center for Crops Utilization Reseach and presentations on bioeconomy also will be provided. SEMINAR SEPT. 11 ON READING STUDENTS' SIGNALS A seminar to help instructors and advisers read their students' verbal and non-verbal signals will be held Sept. 11. Marty Martinez, Student Counseling Service psychologist and liaison to the College, also will discuss how to assess when to tap into other resources on campus. The College-sponsored session will be from 4 to 5 p.m. in 142 Curtiss. MOVIE FEATURING WENDEL'S WORK TO BE SHOWN TUESDAY The plant genomics movie for high school and grade school students that features the work of Jonathan Wendel, chair of the ecology, evolution and organismal biology department, will be shown Tuesday, Aug. 28. The 23-minute, MTV-style movie is titled "Secrets of Plant Genomes - Revealed," and will be shown at 4 p.m. in 1414 Molecular Biology Building. Three officers from the National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Program, which funded the movie, will be on hand for the showing. The National Science Foundation commissioned Minnesota Public Television to produce the video, which will soon be available on the web to schools and teachers nationwide. POLISH JOURNALIST INTERVIEWS RESEARCHERS FOR GMO REPORT Polish television journalist Barbara Czarnecka visited campus last week to work on a report about genetically modified crops. She interviewed Rick Helmich, USDA collaborator, entomology; Jon Tollefson, entomology; Jeff Wolt, Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agrciultural Products; and Gary Munkvold, plant pathology/Seed Science Center. Global Agriculture Programs arranged the tour for the USDA, which sponsored the trip. Other stops included area farms, West Central Cooperative and an organic seed producer. The report will be broadcast on Polish national television. FLORA TO SPEAK AT ENTREPRENEURSHIP WORKSHOP Cornelia Flora, sociology, and director, North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, will be a keynote speaker at a two-day workshop on research frameworks for studying entrepreneurship in food, agriculture, natural resources and rural development. The McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the University of Missouri's Division of Applied Social Sciences are hosting the workshop Oct. 18-19 in Kansas City. STUDENTS EXTEND LEARNING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM Last month three students from the College experienced learning beyond the classroom through the Agricultural Weekend Experience (AWE) program. Students learned to drive a tractor, toured various agricultural businesses and gained hand-on experience on northern Iowa farms. AWE is co-sponsored by the College and the ISU Agricultural Endowment. More: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/agendowment/awe07.php COLLEGE'S 150 POINTS OF PRIDE POSTINGS As part of Iowa State's sesquicentennial celebration, 150 points of pride related to the College are being posted online to coincide with 150 days of the 2007-2008 academic year. Five new items are posted each Monday. This week learn about three generations of Wallaces, Charles F. Curtiss and James “Tama Jim” Wilson. More: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/coa150/points_of_pride.php COLLEGE RECORDS SECOND BEST FUNDRAISING YEAR (ONCE AGAIN) Last Friday, the ISU Foundation announced its FY07 fundraising accomplishments, http://www.foundation.iastate.edu/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6041. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences recorded its second best fundraising year ever -- for the third year in a row. (It's hard to beat 1999, when the $80 million gift was announced.) Fundraising for the College in FY07 totaled $22,772,662, an increase of nearly 17 percent over the previous year. FY07 fundraising highlights for the College include: - $16.9 million in program support. - $1.9 million in student support, including the creation of 19 new scholarships, 13 of which are endowed. (The College now has 367 separate scholarships.) - $3.2 million to support facilities. - $0.5 million for faculty support. - 3,854 donors gave to the College. - $458,490 received from phone, direct mail and e-philanthropy solicitations, an increase of 32 percent over last year and 123 percent since FY03. ALL-TIME HIGH DISTANCE EDUCATION ENROLLMENT LAST YEAR During 2006-2007, 93 distance education course offerings were available to College students, according to the Brenton Center. Fiscal Year 2007 set an all-time high enrollment for the College with 947 students, which accounted for 1,135 total course registrations. Undergraduate student credit hours increased to 1,601 from 892 in 2005-2006. More: http://www.brenton.iastate.edu/newsletter/Brenton_Center_Newsletter_F07-... BORLAUG LEARNING CENTER GROUNDBREAKING SEPT. 6 The Northeast Iowa Experimental Association will break ground for its new Borlaug Learning Center at 1 p.m. on Sept. 6 at ISU's Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm near Nashua. The public is invited to bring shovels and participate. Learn more: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/news_detail.php?var1=353 USDA GRANT TO DEVELOP PROGRAM IN BIOBASED PRODUCTS Bob Jolly, economics, was lead author of the proposal recently funded with a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant to create an interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate program in biobased products combining technology and entrepreneurship education. Details: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/news_detail.php?var1=354 EXTENSION OFFERS INFORMATION ON HANDLING FLOODED CROPS Several ISU Extension crop production specialists are making recommendations to producers for dealing with the heavy rainfall, hail and flooding that has hit several parts of the state recently. Short online presentations are available as part of the “Iowa Late Summer: Wet Field Conditions” page: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ag/hottopics.html SWINE TEACHING FARM HOGS WIN STATE FAIR CONTESTS The Swine Teaching Farm and its coordinator, Al Christian, gathered several awards in hog judging competitions at the Iowa State Fair. The farm's entries won champion boar in the Berkshire show and grand champion truckload of six pigs and first-place barrow in the Hawkeye Market Swine Show. ITALIAN MEAT SCIENTIST VISITS ISU Benedicte Renaville, a meat scientist from the University of Udine in Italy, is visiting animal scientist next month as part of the Ensminger International Program in the Department of Animal Science. She will be working in Max Rothschild's lab on genetic markers associated with dry ham production from Sept. 1 to 17. Faculty, staff or students who wish to meet with her are asked to contact Rothschild. More: http://www.ans.iastate.edu/section/Ensminger/?pg=scientists DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Aug. 30: Uganda - ISU Student Service Learning, 1 p.m., 1204 Kildee Hall, more: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/global/Fall2007Seminars.htm Sept. 17-18: Agricultural Entrepreneurship Institute, Gateway Hotel & Convention Center, more: http://www.entrepreneurship.ag.iastate.edu/2007_Institute/index.html ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... THE LATEST ON LAST Avoid the use of “last” as a synonym for “latest” if it might imply finality. "The last time it rained, I forgot my umbrella" is acceptable. But: "The last announcement was made at noon" may leave the reader wondering whether the announcement was the final announcement or whether others are to follow. The word “last” is not necessary to convey the notion of most recent when the name of a month or day is used. Preferred: It happened Wednesday. Redundant: It happened last Wednesday. (The Associated Press Stylebook, 42nd edition, 2007) ................................................... INFOGRAZING ................................................... SEARCH ON FOR GRIFFITH BUCK ROSE VARIETIES The search is on for several Griffith Buck-developed roses. Meg Speer, master gardener CoHort at Reiman Gardens, wrote in the Aug. 15 Ames Tribune that Buck shared many of his roses with friends who have returned cuttings as his family tries to recreate his breeding stock. She reports there are still eight unaccounted for: Red Sparker, Andante, Cantabile, Pizzicato, Prairie Heritage, Polka Time, Kissin' Cousin and Paraglider. STUDY EXAMINES REFINED, WHOLE-WHEAT BREAD PREFERENCES Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that people preferred refined bread to whole-wheat bread when both were made using equivalent ingredients and procedures. The researchers conducted a taste test with 89 people. Tasters liked the commercial samples of refined and whole-wheat breads equally well. When people were classified by their bread preference, those who preferred refined bread liked the refined bread better in all comparisons. The researchers concluded that sensory preferences are a barrier to whole-wheat bread consumption, but ingredient or processing modifications can improve liking of whole-wheat bread to the level of refined bread. (Institute of Food Technologists newsletter, Aug. 23) ................................................... EXTERNAL VOICES ................................................... DEMAND UP FOR ORGANIC FEED GRAINS "We desperately need more production of (organic) feed grains. The organic livestock industry is exploding. … The guys who are successful say their yields are similar to conventional yields. You're getting twice the price for the product and not spending as much on inputs." --Roger Lansink, Odebolt organic producer who serves on the Iowa Organic Advisory Council (Des Moines Register, August 12, in a story that mentions a study on the economics of transitioning to organic production conducted by Kathleen Delate, agronomy and horticulture; Craig Chase, ISU Extension field specialist; and Mike Duffy, economics) ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... HORSE BARN RENOVATIONS COMPLETED Six refurbished ventilators are in place in the ISU Horse Barn at Pammel Drive and Stange Road, completing a renovation project that included new shingles, new windows, refurbished soffits, doors and window sills, and new gutters and downspouts. The clay tile barn with gambrel style roof and upturned eaves was built from 1923 to 1926 and originally housed draft horses. The barn is used to house riding horses used in animal science classes. ........................................................ AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE ........................................................ EDITOR Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/ SUBSCRIBE Ag and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag and Life Sciences Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag and Life Sciences Online unsubscribe." Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3210 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.