................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... COME TO OPEN FORUM WITH PRESIDENT, PROVOST ON DEC. 15 President Gregory Geoffrey and Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Hoffman are scheduled to make their annual visit to the College, Dec. 15. An open forum for all faculty and staff, with an opportunity to ask questions, will be held at 4 p.m. in the CCUR Theatre (Room 1951 Food Sciences Building). COLLEGE'S FALL 2008 STORIES HIGHLIGHTS HUMAN HEALTH Look for the fall issue of the College's alumni magazine, STORIES in Agriculture and Life Sciences, in your campus mailbox. The publication features some of the college's research affecting human health, as well as student, faculty and alumni profiles. The online edition includes Web extras, selected content from the magazine and a complete PDF of the publication: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/stories. Send feedback to: stories@iastate.edu. CRAWFORD HONORED WITH LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Harold Crawford, agricultural education and studies emeritus professor, last week was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Agricultural Educators. The regional award was presented at the group's annual convention. It honored Crawford's career as a secondary agriculture instructor, college professor, department head, associate dean for the College and his work in retirement. ESTERS NAMED OUTSTANDING BEGINNING SCHOLAR Levon Esters, agricultural education and studies, was named the Outstanding Beginning Scholar by the Association for Career and Technical Education Research at its national research conference on Dec. 3. The award was presented for outstanding scholarship in teaching, research and service in career and technical education. AHN PART OF KOREAN PROJECT TEAM Dong Ahn, animal science, has been selected to be part of a research team in Korea as part of its national initiative called “World Class University.” The initiative seeks to improve the country's international competitiveness through the improvement of its education and research programs. Ahn was invited as a member of an international team composed of 13 scientists for an agricultural research and teaching program at Seoul National University. MEMORIAL SERVICE SET FOR CALS GRADUATE STUDENT A memorial service for Candace Michelle Batts, who died in an automobile accident Nov. 26, will be held 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11, at Calvary United Methodist Church in Ames. She was working on a doctorate in environmental science. Her major professor was Amy Kaleita-Forbes, agricultural and biosystems engineering. Batts had earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from Brown University and a master's degree in hydrology at the University of Nevada, Reno. She was active in several campus organizations including Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS). JUDGING TEAMS HOLD ALUMNI REUNION About 75 alumni and past members of the livestock and meats judging teams attended a reunion Saturday. All past members of the teams were invited and teams from 1968, 1978 and 1988 were recognized at a program that included dinner. Animal science graduate students Jeff Thayne and Sherry Olsen, who advise the livestock and meats judging teams, respectively, organized the event, which might become an annual affair. SCIENCE WITH PRACTICE POSTER SESSION WEDNESDAY Fall semester participants in the Science With Practice experiential learning program will talk about their individual projects at a poster presentation Wednesday, Dec. 10. Anyone is welcome to attend from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Kildee Hall atrium. CALS HONORS STUDENTS PRESENT THEIR PROJECTS Several College students were among the 32 Iowa State honors students who showcased their academic talents during the fall 2008 Honors Poster Presentation Dec. 4, in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. More: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2008/dec/honors.shtml TWO MINUTES WITH . . . RICK CRUSE Richard Cruse, agronomy, believes we need to extract ethanol from corn where it makes sense -- and from other types of biomass where corn doesn't make sense. His thoughts on the topic are found in Iowa State's Web feature “Two minutes with….” here: http://www.iastate.edu/news/twomin/2008/cruse.shtml QUALITY OF LIFE IS HIGH FOR IOWA FARM FAMILIES, SURVEY SHOWS Quality of life is an elusive concept, but ISU Extension researchers are capturing what it means to Iowa farm families. The results of the 2008 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll show the largest increase in assessments of quality of life in a decade, at both the family and community levels. More: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2008/dec/120501.htm DO YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING ONLINE WITH ISU EXTENSION Extension has holiday gifts that are educational, and also fun. Items include calendars, CDs, paperbacks, magnets, stuffed animals. More: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2008/dec/120201.htm DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Dec. 8: Learning from the Floods of 2008: Practical Strategies for Resilience workshop, Gateway Hotel and Conference Center, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2008/112008_flood.html Dec. 9: Wind energy symposium, 8 a.m., Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall, http://www.windenergy.iastate.edu/index.asp Dec. 10-11: Iowa State Integrated Crop Management Conference and the Agribusiness Association of Iowa Agribusiness Expo, http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2008/oct/061501.htm Dec. 12: Block and Bridle Club sausage and cheese sale order deadline, http://www.ans.iastate.edu/clubs/bbclub/?pg=15 Dec. 12: Forestry Club Christmas tree and wreath sale, 3 to 6 p.m., Reiman Gardens parking area Dec. 12: Borlaug Scholar Award and Internship application deadline, contacts: Mark Honeyman, 4-4621 or honeyman@iastate.edu, or David Acker, 4-6614 or dacker@iastate.edu Dec. 13: Forestry Club Christmas tree and wreath sale, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Reiman Gardens parking area Dec. 14: Forestry Club Christmas tree and wreath sale, noon to 6 p.m., Reiman Gardens parking area ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... CHECK INTERFAITH CALENDAR WHEN PLANNING 2009 EVENTS The Iowa State events calendar includes a menu item that allows you to avoid scheduling events on holy days for several religions. To find the interfaith calendar go to: http://event.iastate.edu/ and look under the more calendars menu. The global service calendar provides information and defines religious holidays up to 2018. ................................................... INFOGRAZING ................................................... HATFIELD HEADS TEAM FOR NEW USDA-ARS WATERSHED WEB SITE Information collected on large watersheds across the country over the past 40 years is available online for the first time. An Agricultural Research Service web site, called STEWARDS (Sustaining the Earth's Watersheds, Agricultural Research Data System), has interactive maps of watersheds. The site allows users to see the topography of the watersheds and the instrument locations, as well as download data. Jerry Hatfield, Soil Tilth Laboratory director, led the team that created the web site. The team included David James and Kevin Cole at the Soil Tilth Lab. ................................................... EXTERNAL VOICES ................................................... NASULGC REPORTS ON COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY “We think public higher education is affordable right now, but we're concerned that it won't be, if the changes we're seeing continue and family income doesn't go up. The public conversation is very often in terms of a $35,000 price tag, but what you get at major public research university is, for the most part, still affordable at 6,000 bucks a year. … Projecting out to 2036, tuition would go from 11 percent of the family budget to 24 percent of the family budget, and that's pretty huge. We only looked at tuition and fees because those are the only things we can control.” -- David Shulenburger, vice president for academic affairs at the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and co-author of its report on affordability (http://www.nasulgc.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1107&srcid=183), (New York Times, Dec. 3, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/education/03college.html?em) ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... CHARITY TO COLLECT USED TEXTBOOKS ON CAMPUS Pages of Promise, which collects used textbooks and ships them to universities in over half the countries on the African continent, will be taking donations at Iowa State during finals week. Donations can be made in the large blue boxes on campus or by an arranged pick-up coordinated by email. Campus locations include: the Memorial Union, UDCC, Gerdin, Howe, MWL Commons, Oak Elm, Ross, Kildee, Frederiksen Court, Carver, Gilman and Jischke. Contact: Jonathan Vaage, (712) 330-7219 or jonvaage@gmail.com. ........................................................ 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.