COLLEGE NEWS
- College welcomes freshmen and transfer students
- Good turnout for Agronomy Day '96
- Mr. Watson, come here, I want you .... to see some bugs
- Ag Travel Course will take students to Amazon
- Spanish for beginners class begins Sept. 17
- Report, video on Rethinking Scholarship available
- Ag alumni to gather at gardens
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Reminder: Campus map available for ag college
INFOGRAZING
- Web site previews ISU exhibit at Farm Progress Show
- Is there a most valuable player in the deck?
EXTERNAL VOICES
- With high-caliber people, anything's possible
- Useful information from the good folks at ISU
MARGINALIA
- Odes to the canned pink
COLLEGE WELCOMES FRESHMEN AND TRANSFER STUDENTS
Freshmen and transfer students were treated to a barbecue organized
by the Student Ag Council on Aug. 26. More than 350 attended the
event. The new students were welcomed to the College of Agriculture
by Ag Council president Dan Belzer and associate dean Eric Hoiberg.
Gifts donated by student groups and agribusinesses were given
away during a raffle. Ag student clubs had displays to introduce
the new students to club activities.
GOOD TURNOUT FOR AGRONOMY DAY '96
About 1,200 visitors, exhibitors and staff attended Agronomy Day
'96 on Thursday at the Agronomy and Agricultural Engineering Research
Farm. The total included more than 200 high school students.
"MR. WATSON, COME HERE, I WANT YOU....TO SEE SOME BUGS"
Extension entomologist Donald Lewis is called upon to identify
insects all the time. Frequently they're sent to him by mail,
resulting in squished or mangled specimens that make ID difficult.
Now Lewis has taken to the Internet to identify insects. In a
special project of the Department of Entomology and Woodbury County
Extension, Lewis is using videoconferencing technology to view
insects in Sioux City on his computer screen. The new technology
allows for nearly immediate response.
AG TRAVEL COURSE WILL TAKE STUDENTS TO AMAZON
Faculty and staff should let students know about upcoming opportunities
in the Ag Travel Course. This winter's destination: Ecuador and
the Amazon, Dec. 27-Jan. 10. Deadline for students to make a first
deposit for the trip is Oct. 1. Future Ag Travel tours include
Costa Rica next spring and eastern Asia next summer. For more
information: Tom Loynachan, 1126 Agronomy, 4-3064 or check the
homepage: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~teloynac/at.html
SPANISH FOR BEGINNERS CLASS BEGINS SEPT. 17
This semester the colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine
and the Institute for International Cooperation on Animal Biologics
are offering a Spanish grammar and conversation course for beginners.
The class also will include information on Latin American culture.
The class will be held every Tuesday and Thursday, Sept. 17-Nov.
7, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., in 208 Curtiss Hall. To register or to get
more information: Eduarda Becerra, 4-3972 or ebecerra@iastate.edu.
REPORT, VIDEO ON RETHINKING SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE
Two summary reports on "Rethinking Scholarship," last
month's College of Agriculture faculty-staff retreat, have been
sent to each department executive officer. If you'd like a copy
of your own, contact Robert Martin, 4-0896 or drmartin@iastate.edu.
Also, a videotape is available of the keynote speech by Oregon
State dean emeritus Conrad Weiser.
AG ALUMNI TO GATHER AT GARDENS
Alumni have been invited to the Reiman Gardens Sept. 21 for the
College of Agriculture Alumni Society's annual gathering. Festivities
begin at 10:30 a.m. with coffee and doughnuts. A pork filet barbecue
dinner is also on tap. The event wraps up about 1 p.m., when the
Cyclone football game with the UNI Panthers begins. Faculty and
administrators are welcome to attend. Advance meal tickets can
be purchased for $10 by calling 4-6614. There's no charge for
those who just wish to stop by and visit with alumni.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Sept. 13: Consulting reports for A,B and P staff due, 122 Curtiss
Sept. 21: Ag Alumni Society Get-Together, Reiman Gardens, 10:30
a.m.
REMINDER: CAMPUS MAP FOR AG COLLEGE AVAILABLE
The campus map developed for the College of Agriculture is available
for helping students who are new to campus. In electronic form
or hard copy, it's a good resource to keep on hand in the event
of a "Where is . . ." question. There are two versions:
main campus, and main and south campus. The electronic map is
a Mac version for Word or PageMaker. Call Ed Adcock, Ag Info,
4-2314, for your copy.
WEB SITE PREVIEWS ISU EXHIBIT AT FARM PROGRESS SHOW
ISU Extension's exhibit area at the 1996 Farm Progress Show will include 21 displays. The show will be held near Amana, Sept. 24-26. Display topics include sun-safe hats to reduce cancer risks; CRP options and issues; and playground safety. For a preview, check out the Web page at: http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/Pages/communications/FPS/
There's also a map of the Amana site for visitors and volunteers
who'll be staffing displays.
IS THERE A MOST VALUABLE PLAYER IN THE DECK?
Washington University in St. Louis tries a different marketing
approach: printing 50,000 mock baseball cards with profiles of
MBA students. The cards were sent to 4,800 corporate recruiters
by the John M. Olin School of Business, urging companies to "draft
an Olin graduate for your team." MBA candidate Jim Pfeiffer
is praised as a "leader" on his card. "Of course,
I believe every word of it," he jokes. (Wall Street Journal,
May 14)
WITH HIGH-CALIBER PEOPLE, ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE
At the university fall convocation last week, President Jischke
quoted from the Pappas Report, which reviewed ISU's progress on
its strategic plan. The report stated: "There is nothing
in the plan, either in aspirations, goals or strategies that appears
to be unachievable given the degree of commitment and caliber
of people we encountered during our review." Jischke said
that statement is "a tremendous credit to all of you -- the
faculty, staff and administration of Iowa State University. You
are the high-caliber people Pappas referred to."
USEFUL INFORMATION FROM THE GOOD FOLKS AT ISU
In the Aug. 8 issue of the University of Wisconsin's Wisconsin
Crop Manager newsletter, Extension weed scientist Jerry Doll writes:
"In some ways I hesitate to tell you about this because you'll
be able to see the premiere agronomic newsletter in the region
and probably the nation, but for that very reason, you need to
know that it is now available on the Web. The folks that produce
(Iowa State Extension's) Integrated Crop Management have taken
the next step in information delivery and jumped into electronic
communications . . . Check it out. We think you will find it another
useful source of information from the good folks at Iowa State
University."
ODES TO THE CANNED PINK
From the July 22 Wall Street Journal: In classic Japanese poetry,
masters of haiku use 17 syllables to condense nature's beauty
into lyric jewels of precision and spareness. In modern international
poetry, masters of the computer are redefining haiku. Haiku by
amateur poets litter the Internet, including thousands dedicated
to Spam. Two entries:
Liquid nitrogen:
Dunk Spam in, hit with hammer.
Pink shards fly about.
Volume of a pig?
Easy to compute with Spam.
Length times height times width.
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. 20. Deadline: Sept. 16.
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