The College of Agriculture Newsletter
Iowa State University
September 20, 1994 No. 2

C O N T E N T S

COLLEGE NEWS
- New administrative structure
- Nominations for college positions
- Updated organizational chart
- First weeks crucial for new students

COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK

- New communications lab
- The right kind of team conflict

INFOGRAZING

- Selected college stats on Iowa, Midwest

EXTERNAL VOICES

- Are computers harmful to education?

MARGINALIA

- Info superhighway roadkill

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO AG ONLINE
C O L L E G E N E W S

NEW ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE
At the college's fall convocation, Dean David Topel presented a new
administrative structure, as proposed by the college's strategic planning
committee. The new structure will be in place on July 1, 1995.
The structure has been approved by university administration, except
for a proposal making the dean the director of cooperative extension to
agriculture. That proposal is still under discussion. To review the
proposed organizational chart and a report about it, contact Kim
Gaul in horticulture, 294-3718 or the Ag Information office, 294-5616.
Comments may be directed to Mike Chaplin, College Planning
Advisory Committee chairman, or other CPAC members.

NOMINATIONS FOR COLLEGE POSITIONS
The college is advertising for two positions in the new administrative
structure--executive associate dean and director for international
programs. Nominations for executive associate dean may be sent to
Dennis Marple, head, animal science, and those for director of
international programs to Wayne Bidlack, chair, food science and
human nutrition.

UPDATED ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
A College of Agriculture organizational chart updated for 1994-95 is
available. The chart reflects the current structure of the college, not the
one that will be in place July 1995. For a copy: Ed Adcock, Ag
Information, 294-2314.

FIRST WEEKS CRUCIAL FOR NEW STUDENTS
National retention research indicates that new undergraduate students
decide within the first six weeks whether they will leave an institution.
Data for the College of Agriculture indicate that 27 percent of the
freshmen entering in 1985 left ISU without completing their degrees.
Of that percentage, 12 percent left during the first year. Each department
has a retention plan that includes activities to help new students
adjust to ISU. However, all faculty and staff can help by providing
students with friendly, helpful offices and classrooms.

C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K

NEW COMMUNICATIONS LAB
The Communications Laboratory, 213A Curtiss Hall, is a new service
for ag students and faculty in need of free advice about written, oral
and visual communication. It offers individual tutoring for
undergrads; short lessons for undergrad classes; and training for TAs in
developing, presenting and evaluating communication activities. The
lab is part of AgComm, a program sponsored by the college and
Department of English to incorporate communication-intensive
activities into the ag undergrad curriculum. Contact: Lee-Ann
Kastman, lab director, 294-7550 or lkastman@iastate.edu. Lab hours: 8
a.m.-noon, M-W-F and 2-5 p.m. T-Th.

THE RIGHT KIND OF TEAM CONFLICT
Rebecca Burnett, ISU associate professor in English and
communications consultant for the College of Agriculture, recently
spoke to campus information specialists on strategies to get better
quality from team projects. A key point: Eliminate interpersonal
conflict, but provoke substantive conflict. In other words, don't let
things get personal; do let the debate be lively over content and critical
factors such as purpose, audience, organization and design. The result
should be higher quality collaborations.

I N F O G R A Z I N G

SELECTED COLLEGE STATS ON IOWA, MIDWEST
A few statistics culled from the Sept. 1 issue of The Chronicle of Higher
Education Almanac:
- Percentage change, 1982-92, in Iowa college enrollment: 20
- Percentage change in neighboring states: MN, 27; WI, 11; IL, 9;
MO, 21; NE, 30; SD, 7
- Projected percentage change, 1994-2004, in number of Iowa high
school graduates: -3
- Projected change in neighboring states: MN, 20; WI, 13; IL, 12;
MO, 8; NE, 6; SD, 7
- Percentage change, 1991-92 to 1993-94, in Iowa state
appropriations for higher education: 11
- Percentage changes in neighboring states: MN, 1; WI, 8; IL, 6;
MO, 6; NE, 5; SD, 13
- Percentage of Iowa college students who are minority-group
members: 7
- Percentage in neighboring states: MN, 7; WI, 9; IL, 26; MO, 13;
NE, 7; SD, 8

E X T E R N A L V O I C E S

ARE COMPUTERS HARMFUL TO EDUCATION?
From the Sept. 16 & 26 New Republic: Yale computer scientist David
Gelerntner says the computer's potential to do good is modestly greater
than a book's in some areas, but that its potential to do harm is vastly
greater, across the board. "While we bemoan the decline of literacy,
computers discount words in favor of pictures and pictures in favor of
video. While we fret about the decreasing cogency of public debate,
computers dismiss linear argument and promote fast, shallow romps
across the information landscape. While we worry about basic skills,
we allow into the classroom software that will do a student's
arithmetic or correct his spelling."

M A R G I N A L I A

INFO SUPERHIGHWAY ROADKILL
Do you sometimes glare menacingly at your computer? Here's this
year's winning entry in the Bulwer-Lytton contest for unliterary
fiction: "As the fading light of a dying day filtered through the window
blinds, Roger stood over his victim with a smoking .45, surprised at the
serenity that filled him after pumping six slugs into the bloodless
tyrant that had mocked him day after day, and then he shuffled out of
the office with one last look back at the shattered computer terminal
lying there like a silicon armadillo left to rot on the information
superhighway."

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO AG ONLINE

To subscribe: Send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag
Online subscribe" to bmeyer@iastate.edu (if you're on the college
server, just AGCOLLEGE/BMEYER).

To unsubscribe: Same thing, with "Ag Online unsubscribe."

Current subscribers and DEOs: Please inform other college faculty and
staff about the newsletter. The editors will work on getting the word
out in other ways, too. For now, Ag Online will continue to be sent
automatically to department executive officers and center directors,
plus subscribers.

Besides subscriptions, people will have other choices to see Ag Online.
The newsletter will be on the college's home page in the World Wide
Web (by the way, the URL address has changed: it's now located at:
http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/aghome.html). We're also looking into
spots on other servers or electronic information systems on campus.
More on that later.

Comments? Write, call, e-mail or fax to the addresses below.


AG ONLINE
Ag Online is a bimonthly electronic newsletter for faculty and staff in
the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University. Editors: Brian
Meyer (bmeyer@iastate.edu) and Ed Adcock (eadcock@iastate.edu),
Agriculture Information Services, 304 Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA 50011;
515-294-5616; fax: 515-294-8662.

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