Senate Designates 2006 as the Year of Study Abroad!
On November 14, 2005, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution, introduced the same day, to designate 2006 as the Year of Study Abroad. It encourages secondary schools, institutions of higher learning, businesses, and government programs to promote and expand study abroad opportunities. It also encourages the people of the United States to support initiatives to promote and expand study abroad opportunities, and observe the `Year of Study Abroad' with appropriate ceremonies, programs, and other activities. The full text of the resolution can be found at:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.RES.308:

Global Development Alliance Grant
The Global Development Alliance Secretariat of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invites interest from prospective partner organizations to form public-private alliances to carry out activities in support of USAID’s international development objectives. Alliance partners are expected to bring significant new resources, ideas, technologies, and/or partners to address development problems in countries where USAID is currently working. Partners could include a wide range of organizations such as: foundations, U.S. and non-U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGOs), U.S. and non-U.S. private businesses, business and trade associations, international organizations, U.S. and non-U.S. colleges and universities, U.S. cities and states, other U.S. Government agencies, civic groups, other donor governments, host country governments, regional organizations, host country parastatals, philanthropic leaders including venture capitalists, public figures, advocacy groups, pension funds and employee-welfare plans, etc. Successful proposals will bring at least a 1:1 resource leveraging to focus on priority development activities within USAID’s manageable interest. However, proposals with greater resource leverage ratios (generally 2:1 or more) are more competitive. For more information:

www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/AID/OP/WAS/M-OAA-GRO-EGAS-06-07/listing.html

ALO Name Change
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the nation’s six higher education presidential associations signed a new five-year Leader-with-Associates Agreement to support a worldwide program in higher education for global development. The Higher Education for Development (HED) Program is sponsored by USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, Office of Education. The HED program succeeds the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO), which awarded funding to more than 250 institutional partnerships in more than 60 countries and sponsored significant policy roundtables between 1998 and 2005. The HED program engages the resources of higher education institutions in the United States and abroad for global social and economic development through human and institutional capacity building. HED assists the nation’s six major higher education associations and their members in partnering with USAID, as well as other development agencies and donor organizations

For more information about HED, please visit www.HEDprogram.org

Faculty and Staff Complete Spanish Short Course
Fifteen College of Ag faculty and staff from NREM, ABE, Economics, Food Science, Horticulture, and Entomology completed a beginning Spanish short course this semester. Please contact Eduarda Becerra, ebecerra@iastate.edu for information on upcoming Spanish instruction short courses.