College of Agriculture Accreditation Information

College of Agriculture

Points of Pride

Teaching

  • The college has a placement rate of more than 98 percent. Six months after graduation, nearly all graduates find employment or are working on advanced degrees.
  • Nearly 70 percent of the college's recent graduates begin their careers in Iowa.
  • The college has the highest student retention rate on campus, more than 88 percent.
  • The college has the highest graduation rate on campus (measured over six years), with more than 70 percent earning their diplomas.
  • The college ranks second in the nation in agricultural students' participation in study-abroad programs. Last year, nearly 250 gained international experience on all seven continents -- including Antarctica.
  • Last year the college and its departments awarded more than $1 million in scholarships.
  • Twice in the past six years, the college has hosted the national conference of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, which brings together students of many cultures with strong interests in agricultural and life sciences.
  • The college's Agriculture Career Day is the largest student job fair of its kind in the country.
  • The Ag450 Farm was the first student-managed farm and and course that gave students an actual farming operation to supervise.

Research

  • ISU agricultural research is among the world's most cited. From 1994 to 2004, ISU 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.
  • Daniel Voytas, professor of genetics, development and cell biology, discovered new technologies to better target the introduction of genes into plants, leading to the establishment of a start-up company at the ISU Research Park.
  • Steve Nissen, professor of animal science, founded a company to market nutritional compounds based on his discovery of a natural substance that counteracts the "wasting away" of muscle common in the elderly, cancer and AIDS patients. It also helps prevent muscle breakdown in athletes.
  • One of ISU's most actively licensed patents is a natural weed-control product made from corn gluten meal, developed by Nick Christians, University Professor of horticulture.
  • An estimated 45 percent of today's high-yielding, high-performing corn hybrids can trace their lineage to the results of collaborative work conducted at ISU by College and federal plant breeders.
  • Over its long history, the Experiment Station has supported the research of hundreds of ISU scientists, including George Washington Carver, the great innovator of agricultural and horticultural crops; Elizabeth Hoyt, the creator of the Consumer Price Index; Jay Lush, the father of modern genetics for animal breeding; Earl Heady, the internationally renowned agricultural policy researcher; Paul Errington, a pioneering naturalist and animal ecologist; Griffith Buck, who developed more than 85 rose cultivars; James Olson, a world leader in vitamin A research and its applications for world nutrition; and John V. Atanasoff, who designed and built the first electronic digital computer.
  • Max Rothschild, distinguished professor of animal science, is the national coordinator for a project to map the pig genome.

Outreach

  • In 2004, the College's 14 research farms welcomed 13,533 visitors, including hundreds of grade-school kids, to learn about the latest science in crops, livestock, fruits and vegetables, water quality, weather and other topics.
  • Last year more than 106,000 people participated in extension education programs in agricultural and natural resources areas.
  • Last year, participants in the Master Gardener program provided 80,000 hours of volunteer service to Iowa communities.
  • The College's meat science programs -- and their commitment to food safety and new processing technologies -- are the best in the country, according to the 2004 Meat & Poultry Magazine.
  • Twice in the past six years, the College has hosted the national conference of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, which brings together students of many cultures with strong interests in agricultural and life sciences.
  • Economists retooled risk-management insurance products that have been put to use by insurers to provide $14.8 billion in U.S. crop protection, $3.5 billion in Iowa crop protection and $38 million of coverage for Iowa livestock.