Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

COLLEGE NEWS



- College convocation set for Aug. 26



- New interim co-chairs for MI&PM



- Form for requesting journal paper number on the Web



- Meat short courses attract participants from 19 countries



- School brings cider processors to campus



- Deadlines & Reminders



COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK



- Tips on fitting in overseas



INFOGRAZING



- Statistics on international students in college



- Virginia Tech puts grad papers on Web



EXTERNAL VOICES



- Training scientists in more than science



MARGINALIA



- Reading the manual must not have helped







C O L L E G E N E W S







COLLEGE CONVOCATION SET FOR

AUG. 26



The College of Agriculture Convocation will

begin at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union's Sun Room. A social time

including refreshments will precede the convocation. Remarks by

Dean Topel and the associate deans and the introduction of new

faculty will make up the convocation program. A Capital Campaign

Celebration at 5 p.m. will recognize the best year in the College's

history for fundraising. There will be refreshments at the celebration

which ends at 5:30 p.m.





NEW INTERIM CO-CHAIRS FOR MI&PM



James Dickson has been named interim chair

for the College of Agriculture side of Microbiology, Immunology

and Preventive Medicine. He will be co-chair with Charles Thoen,

who is representing the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dickson

is an associate professor who has been at ISU since January 1993.

D.L. "Hank" Harris stepped down as chair after completing

his five-year term. He will return to the faculty, dividing his

time equally between College of Agriculture and College of Veterinary

Medicine duties.





FORM FOR REQUESTING JOURNAL PAPER NUMBER ON THE WEB



The form used for requesting a journal paper

number is on the College Web page along with instructions on submitting

a manuscript. It is located on the Research page off the College

home page or use the URL: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/forminstruct.html

to get to the instructions and click the link for the form.





MEAT SHORT COURSES ATTRACT PARTICIPANTS FROM 19 COUNTRIES



Two processed meat short courses last month

brought 160 participants from 21 states and 19 countries to ISU's

Meat Lab. About 80 South American meat industry personnel met

last week for the seventh Sausage and Processed Meat Short Course

taught in Spanish at ISU. Activities included presentations on

meat science and processing, tours of meat processing and retail

facilities and sessions in which groups made processed meat products.

The week before English speakers attended the 19th annual Sausage

and Processed Meat Short Course.





SCHOOL BRINGS CIDER PROCESSORS TO CAMPUS



An Apple Cider School Monday drew 60 participants interested in

the beverage's quality and safety. Food science & human nutrition,

horticulture, CCUR and the Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers

Association conducted the one-day school. A significant portion

of the school was devoted to good manufacturing practices because

there have been outbreaks of foodborne illness from apple cider

and apple juice manufactured in other states.



DEADLINES & REMINDERS



Aug. 7-17: Iowa State Fair



Aug. 21: College of Agriculture faculty-staff retreat on distance

learning



Aug. 26: College of Agriculture Convocation, 4 p.m., Sun Room









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









TIPS ON FITTING IN OVERSEAS



Gestures and actions can say a lot and in

some cultures they communicate much different messages than they

do in the United States. There is a Web site devoted to helping

travelers avoid creating an international incident with any unacceptable

behavior at their destination. For example, diners in Austria

should keep their hands on the table because putting them in their

laps is considered rude. In France, light and brief handshakes

are the custom and hearty, pumping ones are considered "uncultured."

The Web page is located at: http://www.worldculture.com/gestures.htm











I N F O G R A Z I N G







STATISTICS ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN COLLEGE



ISU ranked 23rd among U.S. colleges and universities in foreign-student

enrollment for 1995-96 with 2,413 students, according to the Institute

of International Education. A few statistics from 1996-97 about

international students and scholars in the College of Agriculture:



Total number of undergraduates, graduates and scholars: 384



Number of undergraduate students: 37



Number of graduate students: 253



Number of scholars: 94



Number of countries represented: 78



Country with most students and scholars (109) in college: China



Countries with most undergraduates (11): Indonesia and Israel





VIRGINIA TECH PUTS GRAD PAPERS ON WEB



Virginia Tech is requiring that all graduate theses and dissertations

be posted on the Web, the first American university to do so.

More timely and accessible graduate research is the goal of the

requirement, but university officials also have objected to the

steadily increasing subscription prices of scholarly journals.

"What we've seen is cartel-like behavior. Essentially, what's

happening is the research and scholarly work is produced on campus;

they want it published so they give it to publishers, who sell

it at exorbitant prices," said Virginia Tech vice president

Earving L. Blythes. Journal publishers and other critics maintain

that posting of documents on the Internet diminishes the effectiveness

of the "peer review process" for reviewing original

research. New York Times, July 28, 1997







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







TRAINING SCIENTISTS IN MORE THAN SCIENCE



"Why are we not training scientists

for the leadership positions that so profoundly affect our futures?

Courses for nonmajors are frequently viewed as distractions, and

students who depart the so-called nerd herd to pursue careers

in business or policy-making are frowned upon. Thus begins the

vicious cycle: Bright students do not see science as a way to

reach positions of leadership, and science suffers because those

in leadership positions have little experience with science. Our

long-term future depends on citizens understanding and appreciating

the role of science in our society. ... In the next generation,

we will need not only scientists who are experts in subspecialties,

but also those with a broad understanding of science and a basic

literacy in economics, international affairs, and policy-making.

In the end, our greatest threat may not be the scientific illiteracy

of the public, but the political illiteracy of scientists."

Gregory E. van der Vink, director of planning at the Incorporated

Research Institutions for Seismology, from an editorial in the

May 23 issue of Science.









M A R G I N A L I A







READING THE MANUAL MUST NOT HAVE HELPED



An Issaquah, Wash., man who apparently became frustrated with

his personal computer, pulled out a gun and shot it. The computer,

located in the man's home office, had four bullet holes in its

hard drive and one in the monitor. Police evacuated the man's

townhouse complex, contacted the irate PC owner by phone, and

persuaded him to come out. "We don't know if it wouldn't

boot up or what," said one of the police officers at the

scene. St. Petersburg Times, July 20, 1997