COLLEGE NEWS
- ISU group in China meets with Secretary Glickman
- Botany department joins college
- Regents approve restructuring of microbiology
- Tornado damages Northeast Research Farm
- Free shirt! Act now! Sign up for the State Fair!
- Free gravy! Act now! Sign up for sensory panels!
- Ag education "seminar on wheels" hits the road
- FSHN team places second nationally
- Meeks joins Experiment Station assistant directors
- College coordinates globalization workshops
- Iowa high school students return from Ukraine
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Resisting the computer virus hoax
INFOGRAZING
- New ag research act: Swine center, rural policy at ISU
- New ag research act: $600 million for grants
- New ag research act: Fund for Rural America
EXTERNAL VOICES
- Lifelong learning in and out of classroom
MARGINALIA
- ISU botany: An historical snapshot
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C O L L E G E N E W S
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ISU GROUP IN CHINA MEETS WITH SECRETARY GLICKMAN
A group of ISU students and faculty met today with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. The Iowa Staters are participating in the first-ever ISU study-abroad program in China. Secretary Glickman is a member of President Clinton’s U.S. delegation that is visiting China. Glickman addressed the ISU group and answered questions. On Monday, the Iowa Staters return to the U.S. after seven weeks in China. Twenty-three students (15 from agriculture) and five faculty members (Mike Duffy, economics; Keith Whigham, agronomy; Bernie White, biochemistry & biophysics; David Acker, International Ag Programs; and Connie Post, English) participated.
BOTANY DEPARTMENT JOINS COLLEGE
On July 1, the Department of Botany will be jointly administered by the colleges of agriculture and liberal arts and sciences. The Board of Regents approved the change at its meeting last week. The new arrangement will encourage more interdisciplinary activities and provide a stronger financial base for basic biological sciences. The department has 18 faculty and 22 staff members. For spring 1998, the department had 25 undergraduate students and 46 graduate students. David Oliver is the department chair.
REGENTS APPROVE RESTRUCTURING OF MICROBIOLOGY
The Board of Regents has approved a restructuring of the microbiology, immunology and preventive medicine department. The result is a Department of Microbiology in the College of Agriculture and a Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The new departments will be better positioned to meet the needs of two student populations — primarily undergraduates in agriculture and primarily professional students in vet med.
TORNADO DAMAGES NORTHEAST RESEARCH FARM
The storm that hit Nashua June 18 causing an estimated $70,000 in damage at ISU’s Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm. High winds toppled two 480-foot linear irrigation units. Winds were clocked at up to 77 mph by the farm’s new automated weather station. Many spruce trees in a windbreak were uprooted, but they may have prevented more extensive damage to buildings. There was some damage to the superintendent's home and farm headquarters, but it was less than that sustained by other area farm buildings. After clean-up, a field day was held as scheduled on Wednesday.
FREE SHIRT! ACT NOW! SIGN UP FOR THE STATE FAIR!
Volunteer who sign up to staff the college’s Iowa State Fair (Aug. 13-23) exhibit will receive free admission and parking tickets, and a high-quality ISU College of Agriculture polo shirt (red or navy) to wear during their shift. Shifts are filling fast. Contact: Susan Thompson, 4-0705 or sander@iastate.edu, or Marty Behrens, 4-5616 or behrens@iastate.edu. The display will feature the agricultural legacy of George Washington Carver.
FREE GRAVY! ACT NOW! SIGN UP FOR SENSORY PANELS!
Sensory panelists are needed to evaluate gravy and seasoning mixes produced by an Iowa company. The next panel will meet Monday, June 29, noon to 3 p.m., in the CCUR Sensory Evaluation Labs (2592 and 2594 Food Sciences Building). The panel will sample chili and brown gravy (gravy is served with mashed potatoes). Men, women and children are invited. Panelists are needed periodically to evaluate foods processed commercially or at ISU facilities. Panelists often receive a monetary payment, gift certificate or food product. For more information, or to be contacted for future panels: Gretchen Mosher, 4-4134 or gamosher@iastate.edu.
FSHN TEAM PLACES SECOND NATIONALLY
A team of nine ISU food science and human nutrition students finished second in the national student product development competition at the Institute of Food Technology’s annual meeting in Atlanta on June 22. The team’s product, S'morsels, was bite-size s’more taste-alikes that offered the traditional graham cracker, chocolate and marshmallow in an easy-to-heat-and-eat form. This is the third consecutive year that ISU’s team has been a national finalist, and the second straight year the team has placed second. The team was advised by Mark Love.
MEEKS JOINS EXPERIMENT STATION ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
On July 1, Carol Meeks, dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, joins the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station as an assistant director. She assumes the assignment previously held by Dianne Draper, associate dean of FCS, who served for four years.
COLLEGE COORDINATES GLOBALIZATION WORKSHOPS
The college is coordinating "Globalizing Agricultural Science and Education Programs for America," a North Central Regional workshop July 14-15 in Minneapolis. This is one of five globalization workshops around the country for university faculty and administrators. ISU is organizing the workshops with support from a USDA grant. At the Minneapolis meeting, 65 faculty and administrators from 15 institutions will discuss future programs with farmers, agribusiness representatives and students. Seven from ISU will attend, including Dean Topel and Associate Dean Hoiberg. The other workshops will be held in Georgia, Texas, New York and Utah. For more information: David Acker, 4-8454 or dacker@iastate.edu.
IOWA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS RETURN FROM UKRAINE
Twenty-eight students from three Iowa high schools returned Tuesday from a three-week exchange in Ukraine. The program, coordinated by ISU’s International Agriculture Programs, had an agriculture and the environment theme. Alfred Blackmer, agronomy, and Wade Miller, ag education and studies, were participating faculty. Earlier this year, 30 students from Ukraine stayed in Iowa for two months. The program was supported by the U.S. Information Agency, members of the Ukrainian-American community and Iowa companies.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
July 19-22: Animal Production Systems and the Environment international conference, Des Moines, 4-5961.
Aug. 13-23: Iowa State Fair.
Sept. 4: "Agricultural Contracts: Freedom or Restraint?", Fall Agricultural Policy Conference, Scheman Bldg., 4-6257.
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C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
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RESISTING THE COMPUTER VIRUS HOAX
Computer virus hoaxes sometimes cause more hassles than actual viruses. If you’ve received a message about a virus or have concerns, contact your local computer specialist or the ISU Computation Center. Try to resist the "forward to as many friends as possible" syndrome; check it out first with a campus computer expert. A general guideline about viruses: You can’t get one simply by opening e-mail; you need to open an attachment or execute a file. There's a website online about Internet hoaxes run by the U.S. Department of Energy.
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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NEW AG RESEARCH ACT: SWINE CENTER, RURAL POLICY AT ISU
The Agricultural Research, Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998 was signed into law on Tuesday. It contains language that would allow the USDA-ARS to take ownership of the National Swine Research Center building at ISU, as was originally proposed. The USDA has until Dec. 31 to make a decision on ownership. Another part of the bill includes special authorization for rural research policy centers, such as FAPRI and RUPRI.
NEW AG RESEARCH ACT: $600 MILLION FOR GRANTS
The new ag bill outlines a five-year, $600 million competitive grants program. (However, the House and Senate appropriations committees will need to resolve issues on spending the $120 million for FY99.) The grants program would fund work in agricultural genomes, food safety, food technology and human nutrition, new uses of ag products, ag biotechnology, natural resource management, and farm efficiency and profitability. It encourages multistate, multi-institutional and multidisciplinary efforts. And for the first time, non-land-grant institutions are allowed to compete. ("They've made a 'soft change' in the way the funding is structured, and it could be a statement for much bigger changes to come . . . I'm a little concerned, but we'll just have to watch it as we go." -- Rep. Chris John of Louisiana, a member of the House Ag Committee, regarding the opening of the competitive grant program to more than land-grant institutions.)
NEW AG RESEARCH ACT: FUND FOR RURAL AMERICA
The bill extends for five years the Fund for Rural America (FRA), which provides loans and grants for rural economic and community development and ag research. However, funding is still a question mark. The House and Senate appropriations committees have not included any FRA funds for FY99. Last fall several ISU-led groups received FRA planning grants to develop new research centers. Future funding for those centers is unknown.
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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LIFELONG LEARNING IN AND OUT OF CLASSROOM
Futurist Edith Weiner says learning will become a lifelong project, with more education taking place outside of the classroom. "As education becomes lifelong, much of the job growth of the 21st century will be in training and retraining people . . . Education won't be about schooling alone. By the year 2000, parents will be spending more than $1 billion a year on software for at-home learning . . . The number of American children being home-schooled is increasing by about 15 percent a year. That trend will accelerate through digital technology, such as the Internet." (Bottom Line Personal, June 1)
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M A R G I N A L I A
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ISU BOTANY: AN HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT
Botany is the newest department in the college (see item in "College News"), and one of the oldest on campus. Botany was one of the four initial "professorships" designated in preliminary plans for Iowa State in 1859. Charles Bessey filled the position in 1870. In 1873, he taught the first botany undergraduate lab course in the country. He also provided lab study in plant pathology, seemingly another first. The first M.S. (1878) and Ph.D. (1916) awarded at Iowa State went to botany students. Botanist Ada Hayden was ISU’s first female Ph.D. In 1894 and 1896, George Washington Carver received his B.S. and M.S. in botany. In 1957, the agricultural portions of the department became the Department of Plant Pathology, Weed and Seed Science. In its history, the department has awarded more than 250 master’s degrees and more than 300 doctorates.