COLLEGE NEWS
- Open forum with President Jischke Sept. 25
- Fall enrollment up for ninth straight year
- Linkage project boosts ag education in Ukraine
- Nine patents to ag inventors in FY96
- World Food Prize to mark 10th anniversary
- Visit with ag alumni at the Gardens on Saturday
- With students back, Web page traffic increases
- Consider nominations for college, ISU awards
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Must . . . reach . . . delete . . . key . . . Must . . . do
. . . it
INFOGRAZING
- Miller estate sold; farm tenants arrange deals
- About a third of ISU inventions get patents
EXTERNAL VOICES
- What's lost when a species becomes extinct
MARGINALIA
- New season, new beginnings . . . and a glance back
OPEN FORUM WITH PRESIDENT JISCHKE ON SEPT. 25
College of Agriculture faculty and staff will be able to meet
with President Martin Jischke at an open forum on Wednesday, Sept.
25, in 171 Durham, beginning at 4:15 p.m. President Jischke will
make a few remarks and then take questions. The forum is part
of the president's annual visit with agriculture faculty, staff,
students and administrators.
FALL ENROLLMENT UP FOR NINTH STRAIGHT YEAR
Fall enrollment in the College of Agriculture is up for the ninth straight year. There are 2,722 undergraduates and 649 graduate students enrolled. Fall numbers for the past nine years:
1995: 2,654 undergrads; 591 graduates
1994: 2,594 undergrads; 627 graduates
1993: 2,487 undergrads; 642 graduates
1992: 2,282 undergrads; 642 graduates
1991: 2,170 undergrads; 649 graduates
1990: 2,065 undergrads; 643 graduates
1989: 1,986 undergrads: 649 graduates
1988: 1,959 undergrads; 716 graduates
LINKAGE PROJECT BOOSTS AG EDUCATION IN UKRAINE
During a recent trip to Kiev, representatives of the college and
ISU evaluated the progress of a linkage project with the National
Agricultural University of Ukraine. Funded by the U.S. Information
Agency, the project has completely revised the Ukrainian university's
curriculum, bringing it in line with ISU's curriculum and adding
new majors, including agricultural business. The new curriculum
will be adopted by 21 agricultural colleges in the country. Another
outcome: a new Institute of Agribusiness, which will help prepare
future agribusiness leaders in Ukraine.
NINE PATENTS TO AG INVENTORS IN FY96
Nine patents were awarded to College of Agriculture inventors
during fiscal year 1996, according to the ISU Research Foundation
(ISURF). The inventions were: a method for reducing contamination
of animal carcasses during slaughter; a wet-grain unloading system;
two soybean varieties; a post-slaughter process to improve pork
quality; a method for using soybean oil to produce fuel blends
that better withstand cold temperatures; preparing molded articles
with materials containing soy protein; a descriptive record system
for livestock; and administration of an enzyme that lowers human
cholesterol. (See "Infograzing" for more on ISU patents.)
WORLD FOOD PRIZE TO MARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY
Ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the World Food Prize
will be held 4 to 5:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 18, at the Des Moines
Civic Center. The College of Agriculture serves as secretariat
for the prize. The event is open to the public and will honor
the 1996 winners. It also will include appearances by singer-songwriter
John Denver and previous winners of the prize. The $200,000 World
Food Prize recognizes people who have improved the quality, quantity
or availability of food in the world.
VISIT WITH AG ALUMNI AT THE GARDENS ON SATURDAY
Faculty and staff are encouraged to stop by the Reiman Gardens
tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 21) and visit with ag alumni at the
College of Agriculture Alumni Society's annual gathering. It starts
at 10:30 a.m. If you'd like to eat the barbecue prepared by the
Iowa Pork Producers, call 4-6614 to reserve a $10 meal ticket
or show up tomorrow and buy a ticket.
WITH STUDENTS BACK, WEB PAGE TRAFFIC INCREASES
Students returning to campus in the past month helped boost "hits"
on the college's Web server. (The college's Web server maintains
about half the links you can get to from the college home page;
the rest are maintained in departments, centers and elsewhere.)
The average number of hits, or requests for information, increased
to 4,940 per day during the first half of September, up from 4,054
per day in August. July's daily average was 3,884. About 23 percent
of total hits come from ISU computer users.
CONSIDER NOMINATIONS FOR COLLEGE, ISU AWARDS
Nomination forms for 1996-97 College of Agriculture and university
awards are now available in departmental and area extension offices.
Many of the award nominations have a Nov. 1 deadline. For more
information, see the packet in your departmental office or call
4-6614.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Sept. 21: Ag Alumni Society Get-Together, Reiman Gardens, 10:30
a.m.
Sept. 24-26: Farm Progress Show, Amana
Oct. 1: Faculty improvement leave applications due, 122 Curtiss
MUST . . . REACH . . . DELETE . . . KEY . . . MUST . . . DO . . . IT
More information has been produced over the last 30 years than
in the previous 5,000. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, experts
recommend these strategies: 1) Prioritize your information --
know what to remember and what to forget. One simple rule: Remember
only what interests you; forget the rest. If you're interested,
chances are greater you'll actually put the information to use.
2) Don't over-analyze. Analysis can lead to paralysis. Pick your
best data and go with it. 3) Delete. Don't be afraid to click
on the delete box -- both on-screen and in your mind. Futurists
predict the information explosion will only continue to mushroom
-- so relax, prioritize, go with what you've got and hit that
delete key. (Investor's Business Daily, May 21)
MILLER ESTATE SOLD; FARM TENANTS ARRANGE DEALS
Until today's announcement of an anonymous $34 million gift to
the College of Agriculture, the largest gift to ISU had been half
of the $27 million F.W. Miller estate, which was left to ISU and
the University of Iowa. ISU and the University of Iowa have now
sold the 31 farms in the Miller estate. About half the sales are
finished, and closings on the remaining farms will be completed
next spring. All the farms have been sold through the tenants.
Some have purchased the farms themselves; others have lined up
third-party buyers and made arrangements to continue farming the
land. Miller, a Rockwell City lawyer and farm manager, died in
1995. The estate's 31 farms comprised 7,200 acres in north-central
Iowa.
ABOUT A THIRD OF ISU INVENTIONS GET PATENTS
In FY96, ISU inventors received 46 patents. According to ISURF,
on average, for every 100 ISU inventions considered for commercialization,
about 30 to 35 are patented, 20 are licensed to companies and
perhaps five are commercially successful. In the latest list of
royalties received from licensed patents, ISU ranked sixth among
U.S. universities, with 45 licenses generating $9.6 million in
1994. First was the University of California, with more than 450
licenses generating $50 million. In the business world, IBM topped
the list of U.S. patent winners for 1995, with 1,383 patents awarded.
WHAT'S LOST WHEN A SPECIES BECOMES EXTINCT
At the 33rd Paul Errington Memorial Lecture last week, Pulitzer
Prize-winning scientist E.O. Wilson spoke on the value of biodiversity.
To illustrate the threat to endangered plants and animals, he
gave this example: If you uncoiled a strand of DNA from a plant
or animal and magnified it so it was one-tenth of an inch wide,
you'd get a length of genetics that stretched from New York to
Dallas. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we lose
when we lose a species," said Wilson. (Several departments,
programs and student clubs in the College of Agriculture were
among the sponsors of the lecture.)
NEW SEASON, NEW BEGINNINGS . . . AND A GLANCE BACK
"The end of summer is a thief . . . To be sure, summer's
end is also the return to school. We surround the start of the
academic year with images of new beginnings. New clothes, new
books; we encourage returning students to think in terms of new
opportunities and new friends. And yet, even as we wave the eager
and anxious youngsters on, we cannot help but think the wistful
thought, 'Those heedless days, for me, are done.' It is the memory
of loss that summer's end provokes in us, even as we go about
renewing." From an opinion piece written by Carlo Busby in
the Sept. 3 Wall Street Journal.
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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