Fall 2007 Message from the Dean
September 17, 2007
To Faculty and Staff in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences:
Last week, at our College Convocation, I had a chance to welcome you to the 2007-2008 academic year and to welcome you to the first semester of our newly named College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I'm so proud to be the tenth dean of agriculture in our 150-year history and I'm just as proud to be the first dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
We're off to a great start this fall semester. A week ago, at the University Convocation, eleven of our faculty and staff were recognized and honored for outstanding accomplishments. Also recognized were our faculty members named to endowed positions last year. At our College Convocation< last Wednesday, we held a special event with President Geoffroy to present Endowed Chair Medallions to four of our newest endowed faculty members: M.E. Ensminger International Chair Max Rothschild, Henry A. Wallace Chair in Sustainable Agriculture Matt Liebman, Kenneth J. Frey Endowed Chair in Agronomy Thomas Lubberstedt and George F. Sprague Endowed Chair in Agronomy William Beavis.
Max Rothschild, Thomas Lubberstedt, Matt Liebman, William Beavis Enrollment is up in the College, which is great news. We have nearly 2,700 undergraduates (2,697) and 700 graduate students (677). That's an increase of 158 undergrads and 31 grads from a year ago. Thank you! These great numbers are due to your hard work and attention in welcoming prospective students and showing them that their adventure really does start here. Let's continue to keep growing our student community!
Two Saturdays ago, we had a great alumni tailgate before the ISU-UNI football game. More than 300 alumni attended, including Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. This year we're establishing a new alumni publication, which will be a great addition to tell our stories to our alums.
We continue to celebrate our College's 150 years of excellence along with the university's sesquicentennial. It's an incredible legacy we continue to build on. Some departments and centers will host sesquicentennial seminars and lectures throughout this academic year. For example, this week, on Wednesday, September 19, the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition is hosting Thomas Binder, president of Archer Daniels Midlands' Research Division. On October 22, the Leopold Center's Dennis Keeney Distinguished Lecture will be presented by Robert Lawrence of Johns Hopkins.
This fall we've put out a request to our faculty to develop and submit new ideas to enhance and reinvigorate our curricula. The deadline is October 1. We'll provide grants to help you develop the best ideas into the next generation of courses for College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students.
We remain one of the nation's leaders in study-abroad programs. Last May, we reached a milestone: 25 percent of our spring graduating seniors studied abroad. They traveled to 28 countries and all 7 continents. We're committed to graduating even more of our students with international experience. It's critical for their careers and our society.
We have two new facilities making progress. One that's nearing completion is our new Iowa State University Dairy Farm, which will be dedicated October 20. The other facility just underway is an expansion of the Seed Science Center. We are moving forward with fundraising and planning for a new Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering building, a renovation of Curtiss Hall, replacement of the Horticulture Greenhouses and establishment of an Animal Science Corridor anchored by the new Dairy Farm at one end and a new livestock pavilion at the other.
Making progress on diversity continues to be a priority. One key effort is the ISU Advance Program, funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal is to transform the culture of the university to provide advancement for more women in science, technology, engineering and math. We have several faculty leaders in ADVANCE. Jan Thompson in Natural Resource Ecology and Management is our Equity Advisor for the College. Jo Anne Powell-Coffman is our Advance Professor in Genetics, Development and Cell Biology. Another of our faculty, Fred Janzen, is providing leadership as Advance Professor in EEOB on the Liberal Arts and Sciences side. The initial ADVANCE focus in our College is in the Department of GDCB. Down the line, the departments of Animal Science and Plant Pathology also will become focal areas.
This past year we celebrated yet another fantastic year in fundraising. In 2006-2007, we had our second best fundraising year ever -- for the third year in a row. It's hard to beat 1999, when an $80 million gift was announced -- but we¹ll keep trying! With your help and our outstanding development team, we raised nearly $23 million, an increase of 17 percent over a year ago. Nearly 4,000 donors expressed their generosity to the College. We're blessed with a hard-working team with the Iowa State University Foundation. We have a wonderful partnership with the Foundation.. Philanthropy continues to be more and more important for our College. It's why we're able to award more than $1 million in scholarships every year -- more than any other college on campus. And it's the reason why we have been celebrating the recently endowed positions for our excellent faculty. Currently our College has 19 endowed chairs and professorships -- a real point of pride for us.
I want to mention a few words about the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences. We went through a long process to carefully consider changing the
name of the College. We listened to many people, on and off campus. Now
that our name is established, I'll continue to emphasize that Agriculture
and Life Sciences is who we are -- and it's all we've been about for nearly 150 years. It's an accurate reflection of the science, technology
and education at the heart of our College.
It's all about life. It's life, it's science and education, and it's putting science to work for the good of Iowans and the nation. Above all, it's about the future of our remarkable students.
Finally, please consider your support of United Way of Story County this fall. Your support can help meet the very real needs of our friends, neighbors and community. Here is information on Frequently Asked Questions about United Way of Story County, http://www.uwstory.org/faq.php.
Have a great semester! Let me know your successes and your ideas for the future.
Wendy Wintersteen
Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
