The College of Agriculture Newsletter
Iowa State University
Oct. 5, 1994 No. 3

C O N T E N T S

COLLEGE NEWS
- Enrollment up 4.3 percent
- Annual 4-H breakfast Oct. 7
- World Food Prize Youth Institute

COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK

- Campus map for college available
- AgComm studies in '94-'95

INFOGRAZING

- More facts on higher ed in Iowa, elsewhere

EXTERNAL VOICES

- Higher ed and minority student recruitment

MARGINALIA

- The future of books: Two views

C O L L E G E N E W S

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT UP 4.3 PERCENT
Fall undergraduate enrollment increased about 4.3 percent from a year ago. Enrollment is 2,594 students, 107 more than last fall. This fall's enrollment is more than a 30 percent increase from five years ago, when the college's planned recruitment program began. Fall enrollment for 1989 was 1,986 -- 608 fewer than this fall. The college's highest undergrad enrollment was 3,237 in 1979. The lowest was 1,895 in 1987.

ANNUAL 4-H BREAKFAST OCT. 7
College faculty and staff are invited to attend the annual 4-H breakfast to help recognize ISU students who are state 4-H council members or state 4-H award winners. The breakfast begins at 7:15 a.m., Friday, Oct. 7, on the second floor of Curtiss Hall, with a brief program at 7:30. For more information: Gaylan Scofield, Agricultural Education and Studies, 294-0045.

WORLD FOOD PRIZE YOUTH INSTITUTE
The recipient of the 1994 World Food Prize will be announced Oct. 12. The award ceremony will be held Oct. 13 in Des Moines. On Friday, Oct. 14, the laureate will take part in a World Food Prize Youth Institute at the Scheman Building at ISU. Fifteen Iowa high schools will participate, with discussion papers presented by students in a forum that will include the laureate, Norman Borlaug and other members of the World Food Prize Council of Advisors. The College of Agriculture is secretariat for the World Food Prize. For more information: Brian Meyer, 294-0706, or Nancy Beltramo, 515-245-3783.

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

CAMPUS MAP FOR COLLEGE AVAILABLE
An updated campus map for the College of Agriculture is available. The map emphasizes college-related facilities. Another version of the map includes the south campus area. The map fits on letter-sized paper and can be run through laser printers or photocopied. College information is supplied for the reverse side, or the back can be customized for various uses -- to guide visitors (parking lots identified), for new students, etc. The map is available in hard copy or as a Pagemaker file, which requires Pagemaker 4.2 or 5.0 for the Mac or Pagemaker 5.0 for Windows. Contact Ed Adcock, Ag Information, 294-2314, AGCOLLEGE/EADCOCK or eadcock@agcollege.exnet.iastate.edu.

THREE AGCOMM STUDIES IN '94-'95
During the next year, three studies will evaluate ways in which communication-intensive elements are being incorporated into ag undergraduate courses. One will provide details of communication activities in 200, 300 and 400 level courses and include student case studies. Another will examine whether writing about technical subjects strengthens students' comprehension and retention of technical content. The third will monitor the redesign, development and implementation of senior-level courses to enhance communication skills. The studies are part of AgComm, a College of Agriculture and Department of English collaboration working to strengthen undergrad communication skills. Rebecca Burnett, associate professor of English and AgComm consultant, heads the studies.

I N F O G R A Z I N G

MORE FACTS ON HIGHER ED IN IOWA, ELSEWHERE
Selected data from Sept. 1 Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac:
- Number of colleges and universities in Iowa: 61
- Number in neighboring states: MN, 99; WI, 64; IL, 169; MO, 96; NE, 37; SD, 19
- Percentage of Iowa college students enrolled at public institutions: 72
- Percentage of Iowa college students enrolled full-time: 70
- Iowa high school dropout rate (1990): 6.6%
- Percentage of Iowa adults with a bachelor's or higher degree: 17
- Percentage of Iowa adults with some college but no degree: 17
- ISU's rank in U.S. institutions enrolling the most foreign students (1992-93): 18
- Number of states (includes Iowa) where vandalizing animal-research facilities is a specific crime: 21

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

HIGHER ED AND MINORITY STUDENT RECRUITMENT
In a 1993 column distributed by Tribune Media Services on university recruitment of minority students, Clarence Page wrote: "Within the black community, I find little passion for programs that help us simply because we are black, without taking individual need into account . . . Scholarships that are not related to academic or sports excellence should be awarded based on need, not race. As a people, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by that shift . . . It's more challenging and perhaps more expensive for colleges to determine genuine need than to award simply on skin tone or ancestry, but it's far more rewarding, too."

M A R G I N A L I A

THE FUTURE OF BOOKS: TWO VIEWS
In the October issue of Details, author Robert Coover says he believes that a majority of college courses will someday be taught using electronic text and that "if the main way we access information in the future is electronic, this means that book publishing becomes more about boutique objects." In September's Atlantic Monthly, author John Updike says: "It seems to me the book has not just aesthetic values -- the charming little clothy box of the thing, the smell of the glue, even the print, which has its own beauty. But there's something about the sensation of ink on paper that is in some sense a thing, a phenomenon rather than an epiphenomenon. I can't break the association of electric trash with the computer screen. Words on the screen give the sense of being just another passing electronic wriggle."

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

AG ONLINE
Ag Online is a bimonthly electronic newsletter for ISU College of Agriculture faculty and staff. Editors: Brian Meyer (bmeyer@iastate.edu) and Ed Adcock (eadcock@agcollege.exnet.iastate.edu), Agriculture Information Services, 304 Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA 50011. Phone: 515-294-5616. Fax: 515-294-8662.

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