Former Chinese Minister of Agriculture visits College, Attends World Food Prize

Former Chinese Minister of Agriculture He Kang visited the College of Agriculture on October 13 along with Mrs. Yu Juan Min. Minister He first visited Iowa State University in 1978 and returned recently to view progress at ISU. Minister He, a World Food Prize Laureate, was in Iowa to participate in the WFP ceremony and symposium.
		David Acker, Mrs. Yu Juan Min, Catherine Woteki, Minister He Kang

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Visits ISU
Dr. Normal Borlaug visited ISU to participate in the 2nd annual Norman Borlaug lecture series presented by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. Dr. Borlaug took time to visit with students and faculty during his visit.

Norman Borlaug, David Acker and College of Ag student
Katie Petersen at ISU

Funding Opportunities
2003-04 International Funding for Graduate Students and Postdocs. The guidelines and criteria for proposals can be found at: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/global/isu_funding_03.htm Deadline: November 14, 2003
For information, contact David Acker, 4-8454, dacker@iastate.edu.

Due to budget cuts, the amount of funding available for awards will be restricted this year.

International Volunteer Assignments with CNFA
Since 1993, The Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA) administers the Farmer-to-Farmer (FTF) program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This program shares the expertise of experienced U.S. farmers and agribusiness professionals with their colleagues in Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa. CNFA volunteers have aided the creation of regional farmer associations, farmer cooperatives, agribusinesses, and assisted groups of farmers with improved crop and livestock production practices. Costs associated with the 3-5 week volunteer assignments such as airfare, food, lodging and translation services are provided. For more information and to submit a resume, please contact Don Phillips at dphillips@cnfa.org, 1-888-872-2632 or apply online at www.cnfa.org. Candidates can also mail their resume to CNFA, ATTN: AVP at 1111 19th Street NW, Suite 900. Washington, DC 20036.

This program is only open to US citizen volunteers.

ISU Participates in North Central National Extension Leadership Development Program
Iowa State University Extension, under the leadership of Sherry Glenn, Area Extension Director, is collaborating with the University of Wisconsin, the North Central National Extension Leadership Development Program (NC-NELD), and Purdue University on two partnership initiatives to strengthen the international dimension of state extension programs. Funding for these initiatives is provided through Michigan State University from USDA CSREES.

The University of Wisconsin, NC-NELD, and Iowa State University are working together to develop a program to provide intensive international training for selected NELD alumni. An international travel experience is bracketed by pre-departure workshops covering cross-cultural/socio-economic issues and follow-up evaluations. The first year will focus on rural community development as it affects families and youth. Glenn Easter, Clarke County Extension Education Director, is the key ISU collaborator in the program development.

Iowa State University is also partnering with Purdue University, Ohio State University, and Florida A&M University to develop and pilot eight international/multicultural training modules targeting extension educators. Iowa State University is the lead developer of two modules: Family Life Issues and Global Trade Issues. A number of ISU Extension staff members are making major contributions to the two training modules, including FCS faculty, Kim Greder, and Extension field specialists, Beth Fleming, Tom Quinn , Don Hofstrand, and Kelvin Leibold, along with an advisory group of professors from the ISU Department of Economics.

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures Short Courses
The ISU Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures will offer short courses in Arabic, Spanish, German and Ukrainian in Spring, 2004. The short courses entail 24 hours of classroom instruction in either a 6-week or 8-week format. Courses are offered to ISU faculty, staff and members of the Ames community. Class size is limited to 20 students. For more information, please contact the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, 300 Pearson Hall, 4-4046.

Ensminger School
Several ISU faculty organized and presented papers at the Ensminger International Ag-Tech School, October 15-17, at Saint Stephen University, Karoly Robert College, Gyongyos, Hungary. ISU participants were Max Rothschild, Colin Scanes, A. E. (Gene) Freeman, Dennis Marple, and David Topel.

Recent Agreements
The ISU College of Agriculture has recently signed agreements with the following institutions:

	Khon Kaen University, Thailand
	Lviv State Agrarian University, Ukraine
	Colegio de Postgraduados en Ciencias Agricoles, Mexico
	Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil