Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

COLLEGE NEWS



- Governor's proposal includes ag-related items



- Ag Council officers named for '96



- New location and hours for CommLab



- College applications, admissions up slightly



- Convocation will be rescheduled



- Upcoming successful grantsmanship workshops



- Symposium on improving students' communication



- Deadlines & Reminders



COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK



- Content is king on great Web sites



- Check out the college Web site



INFOGRAZING



- Universities providing ready-made expertise



EXTERNAL VOICES



- "Bridges between disciplines must be built"



MARGINALIA



- A market that may give paws







C O L L E G E N E W S







GOVERNOR'S PROPOSAL INCLUDES AG-RELATED ITEMS



In his proposed state budget for FY97, Governor Branstad recommended

new funds for livestock research facilities and rural development

initiatives at ISU. See this week's Inside Iowa State for a story

on the proposed budget.



AG COUNCIL OFFICERS NAMED FOR '96



The College of Agriculture Student Council has new officers. They

are: Dan Belzer, ag education, president; Andrea Steffens, dairy

science, vice president; Lori Grovert, ag education, secretary;

and Tracy Pladna, agronomy, treasurer. They serve this semester

and the next.



NEW LOCATION AND HOURS FOR COMMLAB



The Communications Laboratory has a new location, phone and hours.

Contact Lee-Ann Kastman and Susan Booker, 424 Ross Hall, phone:

4-0908, e-mail: lkastman@iastate.edu and sbooker@iastate.edu.

CommLab hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to noon,

and Thursday, 3:30-5 p.m. CommLab offers individual assistance

to undergrads taking communications-intensive courses in the college.





COLLEGE APPLICATIONS, ADMISSIONS UP SLIGHTLY



As of Jan. 1, applications and admissions to the College of Agriculture

for fall semester 1996 are up slightly compared with a year ago.

Applications total 855, compared with 833 in 1995. Admissions

are at 699, compared with 688 in '95. An important reminder: Applications

and admissions do not automatically translate into new students.

Last year, for example, ISU had its highest ever applications

and admissions totals and ended up with fewer students than the

year before.



CONVOCATION WILL BE RESCHEDULED



The College of Agriculture spring convocation, which was canceled

Jan. 18 due to the snowstorm, will be rescheduled. Watch Ag Online

for more details.



UPCOMING SUCCESSFUL GRANTSMANSHIP WORKSHOPS



Two more workshops in the Successful Grantsmanship Series have

been set. "From Theory to Measurement: Hypothesis Development

and Experimental Design" will be held Feb. 26 and "Faculty-Industry

Research Relations" will be March 25. Both run 7-9 p.m. in

the Memorial Union, with a dessert buffet break. The series is

sponsored by the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment

Station and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Coordinators are

Sue Lamont, sjlamont@iastate.edu, and Prem Paul, pspaul@iastate.edu.





SYMPOSIUM ON IMPROVING STUDENTS' COMMUNICATION



Reminder: College of Agriculture faculty are encouraged to attend

"Students as Future Professionals: Posters and Production

Plans," a symposium to learn about and share ideas on improving

students' communication. It'll be held noon-1 p.m., Feb. 7, and

repeated 3:30-4:30 p.m., Feb. 8, both in 3140 Agronomy. The symposium

is the second in a series sponsored by the curriculum subcommittee

on communications. The third and last one, "Students Collaborating:

Group Work and Peer Review," will be held April 3 and 4.

For more information: David Russell, 4-4724 or drrussel@iastate.edu.





DEADLINES & REMINDERS



Jan. 31: Applications due, Dean of Agriculture's International

Agricultural Competitiveness and Sustainability Grants, 104 Curtiss



Jan. 31: Nominations due, Ag Student of the Year, Iowa Agriculturist,

16H Hamilton



Feb. 1: Nominations due, Excellence in International Agriculture

Award, 122 Curtiss



Feb. 7: Symposium on Improving Students' Communications Skills,

noon-1 p.m., 3140 Agronomy



Feb. 8: Symposium on Improving Students' Communications Skills,

3:30-4:30, 3140 Agronomy







C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K









CONTENT IS KING ON GREAT WEB SITES



What makes a great World Wide Web site? According to Internet

Connect, Inc., the most important trait is not flashy design,

it's original content. Sites with useful information stand out

and will be revisited. For more advice and information on WWW

sites, visit: http://www.webreference.com/greatsite.html.



CHECK OUT THE COLLEGE WEB SITE



A committee of faculty, staff and student members has been working

on expanding and improving the College of Agriculture's Web site.

Check it out at: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/. Comments? Contact

Ed Adcock, Ag Information, edadcock@iastate.edu.







I N F O G R A Z I N G







UNIVERSITIES PROVIDING READY-MADE EXPERTISE



Skills learned in engineering school are opening career doors

on Wall Street. A former managing director at J.P. Morgan says,

"We look for the ability to work with computers and analytical

and mathematical grounding. In the old days, we hired many more

generalists and taught them about banking. Today the markets have

become much more technical and analytical. It would be a waste

of resources to teach somebody all that when we can buy that expertise

at universities." MIT's dean of engineering says, "Engineering

is becoming a twenty-first century liberal arts degree."

(Technology Review, January)







E X T E R N A L V O I C E S







"BRIDGES BETWEEN DISCIPLINES MUST BE BUILT"



"General education is not complete until the subject matter

of one discipline is made to touch another. Bridges between disciplines

must be built, and the core program must be seen ultimately as

relating the curriculum consequentially to life. In a complex,

interdependent world we simply cannot afford to graduate students

who fail to place their knowledge and lives in perspective."

Ernest L. Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the

Advancement of Teaching for the past 16 years. Boyer died in December.

(Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 5)







M A R G I N A L I A







A MARKET THAT MAY GIVE PAWS



Asians consider chicken feet a delicacy, and the U.S. now sells

them about $130 million worth annually. Georgia ships more than

10 million chicken feet to China each week. Prior to the newly

discovered market, most chicken feet were cooked down for animal

feed and sold for 1 to 3 cents per pound. The Chinese pay more

than 25 cents per pound for Grade A "paws." About 8

"paws" make a pound. (Top Producer, December)