Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

COLLEGE NEWS



- Welcome: New faces in the college recognized



- 1996-97 a record year for giving to the college



- Distance education retreat draws 100



- Upcoming fall field days at ISU research farms



- Sept. 4 deadline for Leopold preproposals



- Successful Grantsmanship: Global Environment Facility



- Grant writers' workshop offered this semester



- Vision 2020 trip to community colleges Sept. 9-10



- Spanish/Latin American Culture classes begin soon



- Help is available for those with

study abroad plans



- A toast (of water) to our state fair volunteers



- Deadlines & Reminders



COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK



- Checklist for proper e-mail addressing



INFOGRAZING



- A few more schools make ACT and SAT optional



EXTERNAL VOICES



- Modern make-over for colleges of agriculture



MARGINALIA



- Let's make zucchini a renewable resource







C O L L E G E N E W S







WELCOME: NEW FACES IN THE COLLEGE RECOGNIZED



At Tuesday's college convocation, department

leaders introduced faculty and staff members who have joined the

college since last fall. A list of the college's new faculty,

P&S and merit employees is available. Call Ag Information:

4-5616.





1996-97 A RECORD YEAR FOR GIVING TO THE COLLEGE



The College of Agriculture has completed a

record year for gifts --a fact that was celebrated at Tuesday's

convocation. During 1996-97, $44 million was given or pledged.

The total includes last fall's $34 million anonymous gift, one

of the largest ever made to public education in the country.





DISTANCE EDUCATION RETREAT DRAWS 100



About 100 college faculty and staff attended

last week's professional development retreat on distance education.

A packet of materials from the retreat will be sent to all faculty

and staff. For more information: Lester Wilson, 4-3889.





UPCOMING FALL FIELD DAYS AT ISU RESEARCH FARMS



Fall field days at ISU Research & Demonstration

Farms will be held on the following dates: Sept. 3, Northeast;

Sept. 4, Northern; Sept. 11, Agronomy Farm (Agronomy Day); Sept.

13, McNay (sheep); Sept. 16, Southeast; Sept. 17, Western (livestock);

Nov. 18, McNay (feedlot management). For more information: 4-4620

or check the news release at: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/news/falldays.html







SEPT. 4 DEADLINE FOR LEOPOLD PREPROPOSALS



The preproposal deadline is Sept. 4 for the Leopold Center's competitive

grants program. For more information: 4-3711, or check the Web:

http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/leopold/Leopold.html



SUCCESSFUL GRANTSMANSHIP: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

FACILITY



Grant opportunities with the Global Environment

Facility, an international program that funds projects addressing

critical environmental problems, will be the focus of a Sept.

22 grantsmanship seminar at the Gateway Holiday Inn, 6:30-9 p.m.

For more information and to register: Carla Persaud, 4-9376 or

cpersaud@iastate.edu. The grantsmanship seminars are sponsored

by the Experiment Station and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Two more are planned in October and November.





GRANT WRITERS' WORKSHOP OFFERED THIS SEMESTER



This semester, the college is sponsoring a

grant writers' workshop for 15 faculty members. At the end of

the workshop, each participant will have written a proposal for

the USDA National Research Initiative's competitive grants program.

By Sept. 12, each department will nominate faculty members for

the workshop. For more information: Shirley Riney, 4-4544 or sriney@iastate.edu.







VISION 2020 TRIP TO COMMUNITY COLLEGES SEPT.

9-10



The deadline is Sept. 5 to sign up for the

Vision 2020's Sept. 9-10 bus trip to visit Iowa Lakes Community

College, Northwest Iowa Community College and Western Iowa Tech

Community College. The trips, begun last spring, allow ISU faculty

and administrators to meet their counterparts at community colleges.

To register or for more information: 4-2092.





SPANISH/LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE CLASSES BEGIN

SOON



The colleges of agriculture and veterinary

medicine and the Institute for International Cooperation on Animal

Biologics are offering two Spanish Language and Latin American

Culture classes for their faculty and staff. A beginning-level

class will be held every Tuesday and Thursday, Sept. 23 to Nov.

13, 4:30-6 p.m. in Curtiss Hall. An intermediate-level class will

be held every Monday and Wednesday, Sept. 22 to Nov. 12, 4:30-6

p.m., at the College of Veterinary Medicine. To apply: Eduarda

Becerra, International Agriculture Programs, 4-3972 or ebecerra@iastate.edu.

Applications are due Sept. 15.





HELP IS AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WITH STUDY ABROAD

PLANS



The Study Abroad Office in International Agriculture

Programs provides support services to help agriculture faculty

organize study abroad programs, and to encourage student participation

to "jump-start their careers." The office offers advising,

advertising and recruitment assistance, predeparture orientation,

travel information and logistical help. For more information:

Eduarda Becerra, 4-3972 or ebecerra@iastate.edu.





A TOAST (OF WATER) TO OUR STATE FAIR VOLUNTEERS



Thanks to the almost 70 volunteers who staffed

the college's water quality exhibit during the Iowa State Fair.

The display, co-sponsored by the Leopold Center in recognition

of the Year of Water, attracted thousands who stopped to learn

more about ISU's water quality efforts. More than 1,200 signed

up for drawings of rain gauges -- 200 of them asked for more information

about the college.





DEADLINES & REMINDERS



Sept. 3: Foreign travel grant applications due, 138 Curtiss



Sept. 4: Leopold Center preproposals due, 209 Curtiss



Sept. 9-10: Vision 2020 bus trip to 3 community colleges; register

by Sept. 5, 4-2092.



Sept. 12: Deadline, nominations for Grant Writers' Workshop, 4-4544.



Sept. 15: Deadline, register for Spanish Language/Latin American

Culture classes, 4-3972.







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









CHECKLIST FOR PROPER E-MAIL ADDRESSING



Do you have e-mail messages that keep bouncing back? Can't figure

out why? Here are several items to check to ensure proper e-mail

addressing, from the "Copy Editor" newsletter: An "at"

sign (@) is required; an internal space dooms a message, it may

need an underscore (underline character) instead; check the dots,

which may be missing or in the wrong place; commas aren't recognized,

so substitute dots; check for non-English characters or accent

marks, both of which aren't recognized; country codes are needed

for international e-mail -- you can check http://www.isoc.org/adopsec/domains.html

to verify the code; make sure the domain code ("edu,"

"gov," "com," etc.) is there; and if you typed

in an address from a publication, a unnecessary punctuation mark

may have been inserted at the end of a line.







I N F O G R A Z I N G







A FEW MORE COLLEGES MAKE ACT AND SAT OPTIONAL



The number of four-year colleges that don't use ACT or SAT test

scores in undergraduate admission decisions is still small but

creeping upward, according to FairTest, a nonprofit group that

opposes such tests. At least 280 of about 1,600 colleges and universities

surveyed no longer require standardized test scores of applicants,

an increase of more than 50 schools since 1995. More schools are

making the tests optional, which FairTest says reflects increasing

concerns that reliance on the test results limits diversity of

applicant pools, excludes young people whose talents aren't reflected

by multiple-choice tests and favors students who can afford coaching

courses. (USA Today, Aug. 6)







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







MODERN MAKE-OVER FOR COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE



Historically more sloth-like than their

parent universities, (colleges of agriculture) have given themselves

a modern make-over in little more than a decade. At the nation's

most prestigious agricultural schools (the land grants), enrollment

hit 98,000 in 1977, then began to fall . . . until a decade later,

when 64,000 students were enrolled. Today, that figure has climbed

to an all-time high of nearly 118,000 . . . Ag students are more

than 50 percent urbanite today. Forty percent are women (and)

one in 10 is a minority. "The No. 1 reason agriculture enrollments

are turning around is that we probably have two or three jobs

for every graduate," said Joseph Jen, dean, Cal Poly San

Louis Obispo's College of Agriculture. (Los Angeles Times, July

4)









M A R G I N A L I A







LET'S MAKE ZUCCHINI A RENEWABLE RESOURCE



Food for Thought: If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we

figure out a way to make gasoline out of zucchini? (From the Aug.

22 issue of the Department of Horticulture's newsletter.)