Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

COLLEGE NEWS



- ISU to host 1998 MANNRS conference in Des Moines



- FY 97 gifts to college total more than $38 million



- Non-traditional undergrads, by the numbers



- Forestry student teams tackle real-life problems



COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK



- Be aware of attracting unsolicited e-mail



INFOGRAZING



- New-student survey: Show me the financial aid



- Web portfolio a new requirement for graduation



EXTERNAL VOICES



- Publicly funded research vital to industry



- Publicly funded research vital to nation



MARGINALIA



- Technologies we love to hate







C O L L E G E N E W S







ISU TO HOST 1998 MANNRS CONFERENCE IN DES MOINES



Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences

(MANNRS) will hold its 1998 national conference in Des Moines.

The event, hosted by ISU, will be held April 2-4, and is expected

to draw 400-500 high school and college students, faculty, staff

and agribusiness representatives. Plans include campus visits

and a reception with ISU faculty and staff. For more information:

Charanne Parks, 4-1701 or cparks@iastate.edu.



FY 97 GIFTS TO COLLEGE TOTAL MORE THAN $38 MILLION



Gift activity in the College of Agriculture from July 1996 through

April 1997 totaled $38,729,700, according to the ISU Foundation.

This includes the anonymous $34 million gift announced at the

kickoff of ISU's capital campaign last fall. In the same time

period a year earlier, gifts to agriculture totaled $5,048,266.

Gift activity for the entire university for the July-April period

was $83,389,159. A year earlier it was $55,365,177.



NON-TRADITIONAL UNDERGRADS, BY THE NUMBERS



A few statistics about ISU's non-traditional undergraduate students

(from the Office of Institutional Research):



Number enrolled in the College of Agriculture last fall: 243



Number enrolled in ISU: 2,721



Percentage of the college's fall enrollment: 8.9



Percentage of ISU's fall enrollment: 13.3



Percentage of 16 peer universities' fall enrollments: 11.8



Percentage increase at ISU since 1987: 16



Percentage increase since 1977: 85



FORESTRY STUDENT TEAMS TACKLE REAL-LIFE PROBLEMS



This spring, six ISU forestry student teams addressed real-life

problems as part of their work in Forestry 454, the capstone forestry

course that puts four years of studies to the test. The teams,

working on practical problems submitted by Iowa clients, developed

management plans for Indian Creek Nature Center, Red Rock Lake,

Camp Dodge, Wentland Woods and the Four Corners Recreation Area,

and a business plan for Iowa Woodworks. Offered since 1975, the

course gives students experience to help prepare them for careers.

For more information: David Countryman, 4-1166.











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









BE AWARE OF ATTRACTING UNSOLICITED E-MAIL



Mass unsolicited e-mail, or "spam," is the electronic

equivalent of junk mail. Tom Hillson, the College of Agriculture's

computer services manager, says posting questions in Usenet news

groups or e-mail discussion groups monitored by "spammers"

can result in your address being added to their lists. Another

way of getting on their lists is requesting information from Web

sites, but failing to check the option asking that your address

not be sold to others. Hillson says this shouldn't discourage

you from using the Internet, but you should be aware of potential

spam problems. For those with Eudora e-mail, there are a number

of e-mail filters available online that may help. They can be

downloaded from: http://www.mmgco.com/nospam/



For more information and tips on how to deal with unsolicited

e-mail, Hillson suggested two Web sites: http://www.macintouch.com/spam.shtml

and http://www.coyotecom.com/stopjunk.html







I N F O G R A Z I N G







NEW-STUDENT SURVEY: SHOW ME THE FINANCIAL AID



(More from last fall's survey of 540 new students in the College

of Agriculture.)



Percentage who received financial aid (scholarships, loans, work

study, etc.): 73



Percentage who said aid covered more than 50 percent of their

costs: 33



In 1985, percentage who said aid covered more than 50 percent

of costs: 52



Percentage whose source of aid was work-study: 20



In 1985, percentage whose source of aid was work-study: 10



(According to ISU's financial aid office, 60 percent of ag students

qualified for aid based on need this year.)



WEB PORTFOLIO A NEW REQUIREMENT FOR GRADUATION



Starting in the year 2000, Kalamazoo College students will be

required to create a portfolio of Web pages documenting their

academic and extracurricular activities. The exercise is meant

to improve the academic advising process by dividing activities

into five categories: lifelong learning, career readiness, social

responsibility, intercultural understanding and leadership. (Chronicle

of Higher Education, May 23)







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







PUBLICLY FUNDED RESEARCH VITAL TO INDUSTRY



A study prepared for the National Science Foundation by a private

research group found that 73 percent of the main science papers

cited by American industrial patents in two recent years were

based on research financed by government or nonprofit agencies.

This finding constitutes "strong evidence that publicly financed

scientific research plays a surprisingly important role in the

breakthroughs of industrial innovation in the United States, suggesting

that impending cuts in the federal science budget might eventually

hurt the economy." (New York Times, May 13)



PUBLICLY FUNDED RESEARCH VITAL TO NATION



"At a time of scarce resources in Washington, it is tempting

to see the scientific community as just one more hungry claimant.

That's shortsighted. Like public education, serious funding for

science is a vital national investment." David Gergen, in

a May 19 U.S. News & World Report editorial detailing efforts

of the scientific community and some members of Congress to increase

federal funding for science.







M A R G I N A L I A







TECHNOLOGIES WE LOVE TO HATE



What are the technologies that Americans wish had never been invented?

According to a consumer survey, the top three are voice mail,

Internet shopping and car cell phones. "(Voice mail) is not

only far and away the thing (the top choice), but it's probably

the biggest negative to customer service today," said C.

Britt Beemer of the survey firm. Internet shopping customers said

it was more difficult than they thought it would be, took too

much time and they worried about customer service. Married women

with children viewed car cell phones as a road hazard that jeopardizes

their families, Beemer said. (Investor's Business Daily, May 22)