ANIMAL SCIENCE JUDGING ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN REACHES $825,000

AMES, Iowa - The judging team endowment campaign brought in more than $825,000 during the past year. Maynard Hogberg, head of the animal science department, said the endowment funds would be used to fund coaching positions and support judging teams.

"I believe participation on the judging teams helps students develop leadership skills, character, confidence and a better understanding of the animal sciences," Hogberg said.

The endowments will support coaching positions in the dairy, livestock and meats programs. The funds also will support team travel, financial aid and the purchase of equipment.

The animal science department recognized several contributors to the endowment at a dinner held in October. Fern and F.C. Parrish contributed $250,000 to the endowment to fund a coaching position for the meats judging team. F.C. Parrish said the endowment contributes to an activity that enriches each student's experience.

"Judging team competition helps students develop communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and leadership skills. It is an experience that prepares students for the future," Parrish said.

Jeff Hansen with Iowa Select Farms contributed $175,000 to endow the livestock judging coach position.

Hogberg said the success of the campaign is due to the passion of former judging team members. The endowment has made it possible to hire a livestock judging team coach and Hogberg hopes to hire a meats judging coach after July 1.

"We're continually making changes to make the judging team experience relevant to industry needs," Hogberg said.

The judging teams have been a tradition within the animal science department for more than 100 years. The five judging teams in the department compete nationwide.

2004/2005 Fiscal Year

College of Agriculture to Benefit from $1.5 Million Gift for Student Entrepreneur Programs

Ames, Iowa - A $1.5 million gift from Roger and Connie Underwood, Ames, will establish an entrepreneurship program for students in the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University.

Roger Underwood, CEO of Becker-Underwood in Ames, said the College of Agriculture's focus on entrepreneurship is one he and his wife, Connie, support. Both are Iowa State graduates. They were inspired to donate the gift after the entrepreneurship idea was proposed by Catherine Woteki, agriculture dean, at a meeting of the College of Agriculture Advisory Council.

The program will encourage visiting entrepreneurs to share their expertise, provide internships and fellowships, and emphasize the entrepreneurial message in undergraduate courses. The gift will be used to create an environment that encourages innovative and entrepreneurial thinking. Iowans will benefit as graduates pursue business opportunities that diversify and strengthen the business and agricultural communities.

Underwood, a 1980 Iowa State agricultural business graduate, chairs the advisory council and said he appreciates Woteki's vision and the council's focus on entrepreneurship. The council consists of 33 people from across the nation who are representative of the college's curricula, fields in which graduates work and sectors served by the college's research and extension programs.

"Incorporating more entrepreneurship learning into the college's overall curriculum will have a positive impact on Iowa's economy because it will produce graduates who are ready to pursue entrepreneurial activities," Underwood said.

Woteki said the gift is an investment in the future because it enhances opportunities for students and promotes entrepreneurship.

"We are very thankful for Connie and Roger's generous gift because it will provide our students with extraordinary opportunities," Woteki said. "This donation fits the college's vision as a vital force for opportunity and change. It also helps ensure that Iowa State is where students go to pursue their dreams."

Underwood is CEO and chairman of Becker-Underwood, an international specialty chemical company that provides a wide range of products to the agricultural, seed treatment, golf, horticulture, forestry and aquatic markets. Becker-Underwood currently has 261 employees and sells products in 54 countries and has nine offices or plants in seven countries on four continents.

Underwood also is a member of the ISU Foundation board of directors and chair of the development committee. Connie is a 1984 Iowa State graduate with a political science degree.

This gift was made through the ISU Foundation -- a private, non-profit corporation dedicated to securing and managing gifts and grants that benefit Iowa State University.

GIFTS TO COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE RESULT IN $1 MILLION IN SCHOLARSHIPS

AMES, Iowa - The College of Agriculture and its departments awarded more than $1 million in scholarships for the 2004-2005 academic year.

"Support for students allows our academic departments to recruit and retain the best and the brightest students," said Catherine Woteki, Iowa State dean of agriculture. "Helping these young men and women is an investment in our future."

More than 750 students received scholarships through the college and its 15 departments. In November donors were recognized for their support at a donor recognition event. Grant Thompson, a junior in horticulture from Des Moines; Katie Petersen, a senior in plant health and protection from Muscatine; and Lorilee Schultz, a sophomore in agricultural business from Boone spoke about how the funds have helped them.

"Our students described how the scholarships helped alleviate their financial burdens and helped them pursue opportunities in research, travel and leadership activities," Woteki said.

The scholarship funds are supported entirely with donor's gifts and awarded yearly based on endowment earnings for scholarships and annual contributions specifically for scholarships. The combined gifts of donors during the past several decades have provided support for the awards.

Scholarships are available for students at all educational levels. For more information about scholarships go to http://www.ag.iastate.edu/scholarships/ or call (515) 294-6614.

Gifts of $10 million will endow ISU program that helps developing nations

AMES, Iowa — Gifts totaling $10 million will benefit Iowa State University by supporting a College of Agriculture program that helps developing nations address rural hunger and poverty.

The gifts are from Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky, Oak Brook, Ill., and the Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky Foundation, Inc., Aurora, Ill. The gifts were announced Friday at the ISU Foundation Governors luncheon.

The gifts will support the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (SRL) program. The program fosters collaborations with partners in developing nations to find sustainable solutions that improve the agriculture, nutrition, health and economic opportunities of rural communities.

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Lorna Michael Butler, Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU; Dorothy Masinde, SRL program coordinator; and Rukia Khamis, Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns, a non-governmental organization in Uganda.	Robert Mazur, program director, and Dorothy Masinde, program coordinator, visited Uganda earlier this year to meet with local partner organizations.

"The Sustainable Rural Livelihoods program brings together the diverse strengths of our faculty and students. It's a wonderful and effective way to enhance Iowa State's impact on global citizenship. Supporting sustainable livelihoods fulfills a profound need and positively impacts the lives of many people," said Iowa State President Gregory Geoffroy.

Of the $10 million, $2 million is a gift from the Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky Foundation, Inc. for SRL program operating funds, and $8 million is a gift from Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky to create the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods endowment.

Jerry Kolschowsky graduated from Iowa State in agribusiness in 1962, and is the retired chairman and co-chief executive officer of OSI Group, LLC, Aurora, Ill. OSI is one of the world's largest providers of processed meat, poultry and related products. Karen is a 1963 graduate of the College of Education at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

"In our travels throughout the world, we have been deeply affected by the poverty we have seen in the developing world. We want to help people help themselves by using a sustainable approach to food production, community development, health and income generation. We believe that under Iowa State's guidance, the vision of sustainable rural livelihoods can become a reality," said the Kolschowskys.

"This remarkable gift will work to bring truly profound changes to people facing difficult futures," said Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture. "The Sustainable Rural Livelihoods program will extend Iowa State's land-grant ideal of education and service to a global scale. One of our greatest alumni, George Washington Carver, said that it's simply service that measures success. Through this program, our expertise in collaboration with international partners will be key to success.

"The program also will help us progress toward one of our college's strategic goals, which involves strengthening global partnerships and better preparing our students for working and living in a globally interdependent world," she said.

Established in 2003, the SRL program involves faculty and students from the colleges of agriculture, business, liberal arts and sciences, and family and consumer sciences. They work with partner organizations in developing nations to stimulate and support activities to counter problems that underlie local food shortages, disease and inadequate income. The program also enables student exchanges between Iowa State and universities in developing nations.

"Hunger and poverty are the result of several factors that limit people's ability to meet their most basic needs," said Robert Mazur, associate professor of sociology and director of the SRL program.

"A central element in our approach is working with local people to help carry out their ideas. By listening to them, we learn about successful activities, local resources and innovative ideas-- as well as the challenges they face. We combine community knowledge with faculty and student knowledge to determine where to begin and how to proceed," Mazur said.

At the core of the program is commitment to local sustainability and to avoid creating relationships of dependence, he said.

Uganda is the SRL program's first partner country. The east African nation experiences significant problems of poverty, hunger and malnutrition. According to a 2003 report from the United Nations Development Program, 96 percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day, infant mortality is high (80 per 1,000 births) and 8 percent of adults are infected with HIV/AIDS.

"Uganda is a good partner country. It has committed leaders in various institutions and the economic and political stability needed to help ensure the activities of SRL and its partners will be effective and achieve long-term sustainability," Mazur said.

In January, members of the SRL team participated in an informal planning meeting in the capitol city, Kampala. Plans were made in August to establish partnerships with Makerere University and with Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns (VEDCO), a national non-governmental organization. VEDCO will be the lead partner in the rural Ugandan communities in which the SRL program works.

The SRL program and its partner organizations are developing the following projects in Uganda:

Training rural development extensionists (RDEs) in agricultural production, food processing, storage, marketing and entrepreneurship

Integrating nutrition, health and HIV/AIDS into RDEs' training

Establishing crop demonstration and experimentation gardens, including innovative structures for livestock rearing

Providing tool kits, quality seedlings and livestock (goats, pigs and layer hens) to RDEs for distribution to local communities

Conducting customized workshops for disadvantaged groups (e.g., disabled, HIV/AIDS infected persons) on topics ranging from food utilization, nutrition and sanitation to enterprise development (beekeeping, food processing and marketing)

"Our long range goal is to strengthen capabilities of individuals, households and rural communities to achieve sustainable development," Mazur said. "This will enable Iowa State's support for specific projects to decrease over time without adversely impacting the community. We could then support innovative activities in new communities and scale up efforts on a regional basis."

10/29/04

MONSANTO GIFT ESTABLISHES GRADUATE STUDENT FELLOWSHIP AT ISU

AMES, Iowa - A $150,000 gift from Monsanto Company will establish a fellowship to train graduate students studying seed science at Iowa State University.

The Monsanto Graduate Fellowship in Global Seed Policy and Regulations will benefit graduate students in the College of Agriculture who are conducting research on issues related to global or domestic seed policies, including protection of intellectual property rights.

"Monsanto's commitment to graduate education at Iowa State is an investment in the future of the seed industry," said Manjit Misra, director of the Seed Science Center, which will administer the fellowship. "The new fellowship will help us prepare our students to address important policy issues affecting the most critical part of our agriculture and food supply - the seed."

"We're committed to helping students of diverse backgrounds pursue advanced education in seed science and seed-related science policy," said Ted Crosbie, Vice President of Global Plant Breeding at Monsanto. "We are hopeful the fellowship will play a positive role in preparing Iowa State graduates for careers as leaders and professionals in the seed industry."

"We're grateful for Monsanto's support of education of our students in agricultural sciences," said Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture. "The Seed Science Center is uniquely qualified to train graduate students in these issues. For many years, the center has diligently pursued introducing science into policy to the benefit of international trade."

The Monsanto gift is part of a fundraising initiative led by the Iowa Seed Association to raise $1 million to support Iowa State graduate students. The Monsanto gift brings the total amount raised to $780,000.

The Seed Science Center is home to the world's largest public seed testing laboratory, conducting tests on more than 300 species. The lab's seed health testing is key to the annual export of millions of dollars of American seed. As the administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Seed Health System, the center works to standardize tests for seed diseases.

The Seed Science Center in the College of Agriculture is part of the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State University. More than 200 faculty from the Colleges of Agriculture, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Family and Consumer Sciences and Engineering conduct research in nine centers of the institute.

Monsanto's gift was made through the ISU Foundation, a private, nonprofit corporation dedicated to securing and stewarding gifts and grants that benefit Iowa State University. The gift comes from Monsanto funds earmarked for educational purposes and received through pre-litigation settlements of seed patent infringement matters.

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.

NEW ISU SCHOLARSHIP HONORS AGRICREDIT OFFICIAL

AMES, Iowa - A new scholarship in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture will honor a long-time company executive at Agricredit Acceptance, LCC, of Johnston.

The Dennis Fedosa/Agricredit Scholarship for Excellence in Agricultural Business will be awarded each year to an undergraduate student majoring in agricultural business in the Department of Economics. De Lage Landen, the parent company of Agricredit, provided $50,000 to establish the scholarship in the name of Dennis Fedosa, Agricredit's chief executive officer who has worked for the firm for 40 years. The company announced the scholarship as a surprise for Fedosa at a July 27 celebration held in his honor in Johnston.

For more than 45 years, Agricredit has provided agricultural suppliers, manufacturers and distributors with financial services to enhance customer relationships. Agricredit is a subsidiary of De Lage Landen Financial Services of Wayne, Penn., a global provider of high-quality asset financing products. De Lage Landen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dutch Rabobank Group of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

The College of Agriculture at Iowa State awarded more than 750 scholarships totaling nearly $950,000 in 2003-2004. For more information on the College and financial aid available, go online at http://www.ag.iastate.edu/student.html or call (515) 294-6614.

TWO ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS NAMED AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
AMES, Iowa — Two endowed professorships have been established in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University.

Steven Jungst will fill the Harmon Family Professorship in Forestry. The endowed professorship was a gift from Eleanor Harmon Cowen. Her brother, Wendell Harmon, graduated from Iowa State in 1932 with a degree in forestry. Cowen, who died in 2000, asked that the professorship be occupied by an instructional innovator who is capable of developing and demonstrating innovative techniques.

Jungst, who has been a member of the forestry faculty since 1974, received his bachelor's degree in forestry from Iowa State University in 1969. He also earned master’s and doctorate degrees in forestry at Iowa State. Jungst’s appointment is 100 percent teaching. He serves as chair of the department’s student learning outcomes committee and teaches seven courses.

 

 

Richard Hall will fill the Arthur L. and Frances S. Wallace Endowed Professorship. Arthur Wallace was a 1941 forestry graduate from Iowa State. In 1961, he graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in dentistry and established a private practice in South Dakota. He now is retired. Frances Wallace, who died in 1996, also was a graduate of Iowa State with a degree in textiles and clothing. Their gift left the criteria for the endowed professorship to be determined by the department chair, on how to benefit the department in ways other than scholarships.

Hall has been a member of the ISU faculty for 30 years, following the completion of his doctorate degree at the University of Wisconsin in plant breeding and genetics. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State in forest management science. Hall currently teaches four courses. In addition, his research focuses on genetic improvement of poplars and alders and the production of woody biomass.

J. Michael Kelly, chair of the natural resources ecology and management department, said both Jungst and Hall are excellent choices for these endowed professorships. “Both have been on the Iowa State forestry faculty for 30 years and have proven themselves to be excellent representatives of our department, the ISU College of Agriculture and the entire university,” Kelly said. Both professorships are for three years, renewable for an additional three years.

The Wallace gift was established in 1992 and the Harmon gift in 1996. Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture, said watching such gifts grow into the establishment of an endowed professorship is exciting. “Gifts such as these are a tremendous way for our alumni and friends to contribute to the continued excellence of our teaching and research programs,” Woteki said.

The forestry program in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

2003/2004 Fiscal Year