The Fall 2011 numbers were 3,584, an increase of 237 students from Fall 2008. The college's undergraduate enrollment peaked in 1977 at 3,623. In 1987, it fell to 1,895, due in large part to Iowa's farm crisis.

In Fall 2011, the event hosted more than 160 employers and 1,400 students. In 2008, a spring career fair was added as another opportunity to help College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students find their perfect job match. Within six months of graduation, nearly 98 percent of recent grads from the college are either employed or pursuing advanced degrees. Visit CALS Career Services for more information.

In August 2009, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences launched the interdisciplinary Global Resources Systems major that allows students to pick an international region, language and area of expertise to pursue. Students can choose any region of the world and study issues in both industrialized and developing nations. Visit Global Resource Systems for more information.

The program is one of the largest graduate programs at Iowa State with 110 students enrolled. The program opened to students in 1998 and the first degree was presented in 2001. Classes are delivered online, plus students use online technology to interact with faculty and one another without visiting the Iowa State campus. Visit the program online at: masters.agron.iastate.edu.

The program moved to third place from ninth place in the magazine's previous ranking. Engineering school deans, deans of graduate studies at engineering schools and corporate recruiters were surveyed to help develop the rankings. Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

A November 2009 study by Ohio State University asked professionals in the field to rank agriculture education programs on characteristics that include research, faculty and program features. The Top 10 were labeled "distinguished programs" - Iowa State ranked fifth. Check out the program at: www.ageds.iastate.edu.

These awards are based on teaching quality, philosophy and methodology; service to the profession and students; and professional growth and development. In 2011, agronomy professor Lee Burras was awarded the annual USDA Food and Agricultural Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2009, animal science professor Douglas Kenealy was awarded the award and horticulture professor Gail Nonnecke received the same honor in 2006. Jim Kliebenstein won the regional teaching award in 2006. In 2007, agricultural and biosystems engineering associate professor Amy Kaleita received this award in the new teacher category. In 2008, Richard Schultz, a natural resources ecology and management professor, received one of six regional awards in the same recognition program.

2009: Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering Club - first place in the Association of Equipment Manufacturers' student club competition; ISU Dairy Judging Team - first place in the 79th Hoard's Dairyman Cow Judging contest; Agricultural Business Club - Outstanding Chapter of the Year and Creative Club Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association; and National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Student Chapter - first place in the NAMA marketing competition.

Students work closely with faculty and staff in university research labs, farms, greenhouses and other units. The program began in spring 2005. Since then, over 250 students have participated in this specialized program. Learn more at: www.ageds.iastate.edu/SWP/.

At this unique new facility, ISU faculty and industry partners are studying biomass feedstock production, harvesting, storing and transporting feedstocks, changes in land use from harvesting corn stover and other plants, new ways to process feedstocks into bioproducts, and the socioeconomic impacts on Iowa agriculture. BioCentury Research Farm.

ISU researchers worked as part of a multi-institutional, $29.5 million, National Science Foundation-funded effort. Patrick Schnable, Baker Professor of agronomy and lead author for the maize genome sequence publication, coordinates a team of researchers now using these data to address multiple biological questions. The first discoveries were published along with the sequence itself in a November issue of "Science." So far, the effort has revealed the maize genome is nearly as large as a human's, containing about the same number of genes but substantially more complex.

Rothschild, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Department of Animal Science, has served as the U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 1993. In November 2009, an international team of scientists, including Rothschild, announced the first draft of the genome of a domesticated pig was completed. Rothschild was one of the team's co-directors. Besides improved pork products, the sequence, or DNA structure, of the pig genome may yield new information important to human health.