College of Agriculture Accreditation Information

College of Agriculture

Knowledge

Distinctiveness

Iowa State was chartered in 1858 as an agricultural college. "Agriculture" was part of Iowa State's official name until 1959 when it became a university.

The College of Agriculture is the administrative home of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, a multidisciplinary research program addressing Iowans' needs for 117 years. The Experiment Station is responsible for more than $78 million in annual research expenditures.

One indication of the success of Experiment Station research efforts is the number of competitive grant applications funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Research Initiative. College researchers in 2004 tied for the fourth most grants funded in the nation and ranked fifth in the dollar amount awarded.

ISU agricultural research is among the world’s most cited. From 1994 to 2004, Iowa State was the 10th most-cited institution in the world for research papers in agricultural sciences, according to Thomson ISI. ISU was the fourth most cited American university and the fifth most cited university in the world.

Scholarship Highlights

To ensure that research priorities are relevant to state needs, a comprehensive review was conducted in fall 2003 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, that conducts research primarily in agriculture but also in family and consumer sciences, veterinary medicine and engineering.

The College used the review to seek Iowans' input to ensure that resources in the Experiment Station were aligned to meet the present and future needs of the state, as well as to adequately address current realities in state funding for research, extension and education. The review report: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/agcoll/icn03/. Nearly 600 responses and comments were received from November 2003 through February 2004. The input is being used in planning the budget for future programs.

Former Dean of Agriculture Catherine Woteki outlined her thoughts on mission-oriented research in the College of Agriculture and the Experiment Station, and the roles and expectations of faculty. Her paper articulates the elements needed for research success: a quest to understand natural phenomena and provide benefits from the research; administrative and institutional support; and adequate funding. The paper is available at: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/coamor.pdf

The College and the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station administers, in some cases jointly with other university entities, 26 centers, institutes and programs that serve producers, agribusinesses, rural communities, policymakers and educators and scientists across the nation and around the world.

The Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) is a national grassroots organization created in 1982. CARET's mission is to enhance national support and understanding of the land-grant university system's food and agricultural research, extension and teaching programs to achieve a better standard of living for all people. CARET delegates are chosen by land-grant universities to be representatives of their states’ land-grant programs. An annual report (675kb PDF) details Iowa State's CARET commitment.