The College of Agriculture Newsletter
Iowa State University
September 1, 1995 No. 26
C O N T E N T S

COLLEGE NEWS
- The governor visits
- Funding for college programs
- Research Exchange Visits program
- Genetics training grant
- New CommLab location
- Parents and Family Weekend
- Promotion & tenure nominees
- Deadlines & Reminders

COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK

- Retreat refresher
- The media: A business relationship

INFOGRAZING

- Labor Day:
- Labor Day: Those spring grads
- Labor Day: Late-summer blip

EXTERNAL VOICES

- Farm families
- Writers on family farms

MARGINALIA

- What died in my keyboard?


C O L L E G E N E W S

THE GOVERNOR VISITS
Governor Terry Branstad visited campus today for an overview of selected topics in the College of Agriculture. In the Center for Crops Utilization Research Theater, college faculty briefed the governor on research and extension/outreach activities concerning the Farm Bill and agricultural trade opportunities; swine odor, manure management and soil studies; and swine breeding and genetics.

FUNDING FOR COLLEGE PROGRAMS
At last week's College of Agriculture convocation, Dean Topel mentioned some programs for which ISU will seek increased funding in the next state legislative session: a Kildee Hall addition for improved livestock facilities; expanded efforts to address economic, social and environmental needs of rural Iowa; and the Agricultural Chemical Products Laboratory.

RESEARCH EXCHANGE VISITS PROGRAM
An Experiment Station competitive grants program aims to strengthen research collaborations with historically black land-grant institutions and tribal colleges. Up to $1,200 per grant is available to support expenses of College of Agriculture or Experiment Station-funded faculty in traveling to, or hosting a faculty member from, those institutions. Application forms are available in department and center offices. Deadline is Sept. 28. Awards will be announced Oct. 3. For more information: Susan Lamont, 294-3629 or sjlamont@iastate.edu.

GENETICS TRAINING GRANT
Two pre-doctoral students will study at ISU for three years under a $108,000 training grant from the USDA National Needs Graduate Fellowship Program. The grant was awarded to the Plant Genome Studies and Biotechnology Group (PGSB) in the Interdepartmental Genetics Graduate Program. PGSB comprises 16 faculty in agronomy, biochemistry & biophysics, botany, forestry, plant pathology and zoology & genetics. As part of their training, the students will collaborate with private-sector researchers in the seed industry.

NEW COMMLAB LOCATION
The Communications Laboratory, now in its second year of operation, has a new location -- 421 Ross Hall. The CommLab offers individual assistance to undergraduates taking communication-intensive courses in the College of Agriculture. Instructors are invited to refer students to the CommLab for tutoring with communication assignments. Lee-Ann Kastman, CommLab director, also is available to present short lessons on communication topics. For more information on CommLab's services, call Kastman, 294-3053.

PARENT AND FAMILY WEEKEND
Two events during Parent and Family Weekend, Oct. 6-8: The College of Agriculture reception will be held 10-11:30 a.m., Oct. 7, in Rooms 220-240, Scheman Building. Also on Oct. 7, faculty and staff are encouraged to visit alumni at the College of Agriculture Alumni Society's annual Tent-A-Gate, beginning at 10:30 a.m. in two tents east of the Olsen Building. The Iowa Pork Producers will serve a barbecue meal. For $5 advance meal tickets, call 294-4725. A limited number of tickets will be available the day of the event.

PROMOTION & TENURE NOMINEES
Nominations for three 3-year terms on the college's Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee are due Oct. 12 to Marvin Hayenga, 479 Heady. Nominees should have a 50 percent or more college appointment and should not have any conflict of interest regarding likely candidates for promotion and tenure in the next year or two. Nominations should include academic vita and a half-page letter describing the nominee's qualifications. The departments of sociology, horticulture, forestry, ag education and studies, entomology and animal ecology currently have members on the committee and should refrain from any nominations this year.

DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Sept. 5 -- Foreign travel grant applications due, 122 Curtiss
Sept. 6 -- Leopold Center preproposals due, 126 Soil Tilth
Sept. 8 -- Faculty improvement leave applications due, 122 Curtiss
Sept. 12 -- Consulting reports for A, B and P staff due, 122 Curtiss
Sept. 28 -- Research Exchange Visits grant applications due, 126 Curtiss
Oct. 6-8 -- Parent and Family Weekend
Oct. 12 -- Promotion & tenure committee nominations due, 479 Heady

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

RETREAT REFRESHER
Couldn't make it to the college's recent retreat on improving communications? Videotapes of the main presentations are now available. The three-tape sets include a presentation on working with media, a panel discussion with central Iowa news reporters and a panel discussion with college stakeholders. Four sets are available for checkout from Ag Information, 304 Curtiss, 294-5616.

I N F O G R A Z I N G

LABOR DAY: COLLEGE EMPLOYEES
According to ISU's Institutional Research Office, there were 778 College of Agriculture employees in October 1994 (the most current data available). Faculty, including non-tenure track, numbered 313; professional and scientific staff, 220; and merit staff, 245.

LABOR DAY: THOSE SPRING GRADS
By the time they picked up their diplomas, about 80 percent of spring college graduates had already accepted employment or decided to continue their education. Today, it's 90 to 95 percent, says Roger Bruene, placement director. In general, half of recent grads have taken jobs in agribusiness. The other half have been equally divided among three areas: government jobs, farming and going for another degree.

LABOR DAY: LATE-SUMMER BLIP
Right now the job opportunities are rich for spring grads who spent the summer traveling or working on the farm or in temporary jobs, says placement director Roger Bruene. From mid-August to Oct. 1, an employment "blip" occurs because workers resign to continue their education; others plan career changes before their kids return to school; and employers who see their summer-hire college students leave are looking for new workers.

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

FARM FAMILIES
"Farm families know what life is. They see it born, they see it growing in the fields. Things die in the fall and you have a dormant time, a rest period, time for the family together." Denise O'Brien of Atlantic, Iowa, whose family recently quit farming for economic reasons. From an article on family farms in the July 2 Chicago Tribune.

WRITERS ON FAMILY FARMS
From Maxine Kumin's review of four new books about the family farm in a recent New York Times Book Review: "Those who get no closer to the furrow than their weekly sojourn at the roadside farm stand are susceptible to romantic notions about the purity of the work ethic, the spiritual rewards of tilling the soil . . . and being at one with nature. Of course, there ARE ample rewards to be gained from a life on the land, but they are often realized in complicated ways . . . Perhaps it is the function of the genre of writing practiced by these four authors to provide urban dwellers, hungry for their lost roots in the hayfields and cow barns of their great-grandparents, with at least a tenuous connection to the earth and living creatures (and to) alert readers to the stewardship required if our land and our water are to be rescued . . ."

M A R G I N A L I A

WHAT DIED IN MY KEYBOARD?
Idaho Computing has developed a PC add-in board that uses chemicals to generate scents on your computer. The ScentMaster mixes three chemicals to produce the various aromas which are wafted into the atmosphere via a small spray-emitter module. ScentMaster can produce 36 distinctive smells, such as "roses," "new car," "roasted coffee" and "dead animal in wall." (Internet World, April)

AG ONLINE

Ag Online is a biweekly newsletter for ISU College of Agriculture faculty and staff. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to bmeyer@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe: Send "Ag Online unsubscribe" to same address. Comments? Contact editors Brian Meyer (bmeyer@iastate.edu) and Ed Adcock (edadcock@iastate.edu), Agriculture Information Services, 304 Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA 50011. Phone: 515-294-5616. Fax: 515-294-8662.

Next issue: Sept. 15. Deadline: Sept. 11.
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