Ag and Life Sciences ONLINE

COLLEGE NEWS



- Miller named associate dean for extension



- MANRRS conference to honor Carver



- College committee working on diversity



- Learning center to be dedicated at research farm



- Ag faculty/staff teaching workshop March 13



- Student presentation skills the next AgComm topic



- Faculty receive seed money for research abroad



- Strategic plan on global programs completed



- Bioethics topic in April: World food production



- Deadlines & Reminders



COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK



- Use underlining sparingly



INFOGRAZING



- How to submit NSF proposals electronically



- Where the outdoor labs are



- National bioethics institute planned in May



EXTERNAL VOICES



- Not everyone suited for online teaching



MARGINALIA



- Sign of spring: Plan for a Buck rose







C O L L E G E N E W S







MILLER NAMED ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR EXTENSION



Gerald Miller has been named the associate dean for extension

and industry programs in the College of Agriculture. He will coordinate

the college's extension programs and work with agricultural businesses

and commodity organizations in the state. He will work closely

with Wendy Wintersteen, who directs agricultural extension activities

at the county level. Miller has been an ISU extension agronomist

for 24 years. He was responsible for soil survey and land use

programs and has directed on-farm environmental education and

demonstration projects for more than a decade.



MANRRS CONFERENCE TO HONOR CARVER



A visit to the ISU campus April 2 will be "George Washington

Carver Day" for attendees of the Minorities in Agriculture,

Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) national conference.

ISU's MANRRS chapter is hosting the conference April 1-4 in Des

Moines. The life and work of Carver, ISU's first African American

student and faculty member, will be spotlighted. The keynote speaker

for the conference will be Miley Gonzalez, USDA undersecretary

for research, education and economics. For

more information: Mary de Baca, 4-8574 or check the website: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/manrrs/







COLLEGE COMMITTEE WORKING ON DIVERSITY



The College of Agriculture Diversity Committee (formerly the Minority

Programs Committee) works to promote diversity activities in and

among departments, and enhance faculty involvement in diversity

programs. The committee, which includes representatives from each

department, has been planning departmental tours during the upcoming

MANRRS national conference. For more information: Bruce Menzel,

chair, 4-7419 or bmenzel@iastate.edu.



LEARNING CENTER TO BE DEDICATED AT RESEARCH FARM



On March 16, the Wallace Foundation Learning and Outreach Center

will be dedicated at ISU's Armstrong Research Farm near Lewis.

Gov. Terry Branstad, Congressman Leonard Boswell, former Congressman

Jim Ross Lightfoot and ISU President Martin Jischke will be among

the speakers. The center will house area extension specialists

and research farm staff. It will have classrooms and "incubator"

space for fledgling agricultural businesses. Funds for the building

were raised by the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development,

a private, nonprofit corporation supporting education and rural

development opportunities in southwest Iowa. The foundation was

the driving force behind acquiring the three locations that now

make up ISU's Southwest Research and Demonstration Farms. The

foundation leases the farms to ISU.



AG FACULTY/STAFF TEACHING WORKSHOP MARCH 13



The Project LEA/RN workshop for agriculture

faculty and staff will be held 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Friday, March

13, at the Scheman Building. The workshop will explain student-centered

learning techniques that can be used to help improve student understanding

and retention. Barb Licklider of the College of Education will

facilitate. Lunch is provided. Preregister by contacting Ann Holtz,

4-1167, or caholtz@iastate.edu.





STUDENT PRESENTATION SKILLS THE NEXT AGCOMM TOPIC



All faculty and teaching assistants are invited the second AgComm

workshop of the semester on Tuesday, March 24, noon - 1:30 p.m.,

8 Curtiss Hall (Brenton Center). The topic will be "Presentation

Skills: Preparing Students to Be Effective Presenters." A

light lunch will be available. If you plan to attend, contact

Norma Hensley, nhensley@iastate.edu. For more information: Robert

Martin, 4-0896 or drmartin@istate.edu.



FACULTY RECEIVE SEED MONEY FOR RESEARCH ABROAD



Sixteen researchers in nine departments have

received $33,585 from the Dean of Agriculture's International

Research Grants. The grants provide seed money to develop projects

abroad. Targeted countries or regions for the proposals include

Israel, Ukraine, China, Russia, Mexico, Australia, Asia, New Zealand

and Costa Rica. The projects would involve research in areas such

as corn storage, potato diseases, nitrogen-fixing trees, oats,

soybean-based adhesives, distance education technologies, tropical

forest preservation, soybean germplasm, livestock genetics, disease-causing

mosquitoes, rural women leaders and global climate change. For

more information: David Acker, dacker@iastate.edu.





STRATEGIC PLAN ON GLOBAL PROGRAMS COMPLETED



The college recently completed a strategic

plan for international programs. Key elements include establishing

Asia and the Pacific Rim as a regional priority, and expanding

study/work abroad opportunities and research projects. The plan

can be viewed at this website: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/international/strategicplan.html.







BIOETHICS TOPIC IN APRIL: WORLD FOOD PRODUCTION



"Is it Ethical to Increase World Food Production?" will

be debated at an ISU Bioethics Symposium on April 25 in the Curtiss

Hall Auditorium. Presenters include Ricardo Salvador, agronomy;

Luther Tweeten, Ohio State University; and Mathis Wackernagel,

Universidad de Xalapa, Mexico. Lunch will be a "hunger banquet,"

in which participants will eat the way the world eats: 15 percent

will have a first-class meal, 25 percent will have a basic meal

and 60 percent will have a bowl of rice. Registration is $5. Preregister

by April 17. Symposium sponsors include several departments, centers

and programs in the college. For more information: Clark Ford,

4-0343 or cfford@iastate.edu.



DEADLINES & REMINDERS



March 13: Foreign travel grant applications due, 138 Curtiss



March 13: Deadline, Brenton Center classroom scheduling, 4-6950



March 13: LEA/RN Workshop, Scheman Building, 4-1167.



March 24: Presentation Skills: Preparing Students to Be Effective

Presenters, AgComm workshop, 8 Curtiss, 4-0896.



March 30: Animal Agriculture Career Day at ISU, 4-7235.



April 1-4: MANRRS National Conference, Des Moines and Ames, 4-8574









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









USE UNDERLINING SPARINGLY



Underlining words to emphasize them should be done with discretion,

says Roger Parker, author of "Looking Good in Print."

Underlining more than a few words is hard to read. Readers' eyes

have trouble separating the words in passages because of the connecting

lines, plus the letters' descenders are obscured, making them

harder to identify. A better option for emphasizing words is either

bold-face or italics.







I N F O G R A Z I N G







HOW TO SUBMIT NSF PROPOSALS ELECTRONICALLY



A workshop on how to electronically submit

proposals to the National Science Foundation is set for Wednesday,

March 11. For more information: Jeff Inman 4-4567 or jinman@iastate.edu.







WHERE THE OUTDOOR LABS ARE



A manual, "Outdoor Teaching Laboratories," describes

areas near campus that may be used for outdoor labs. If you'd

like a copy, e-mail the Extension Distribution Center, pubdist@exnet.iastate.edu,

and ask for it by number -- EDC 117. Be sure to give them your

name and campus address.



NATIONAL BIOETHICS INSTITUTE PLANNED IN MAY



The first National Agricultural Biotechnology

Council Bioethics Institute will be held in Raleigh, NC, May 23-28.

Modeled on ISU's Bioethics Institute, the workshop will help science

faculty integrate discussions of ethical issues into their courses.

Application deadline is April 1. For more information: Gary Comstock,

4-0054 or comstock@iastate.edu.









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







NOT EVERYONE SUITED TO ONLINE TEACHING



"Online teaching is not for everyone.

A major hazard for us is that we come to think everyone must be

as temperamentally suited to these machines as we are. But the

computer-literate are a tiny fraction of the student population,

and the teacher population isn't much better. Even among those

who do know how to use computers, the proportion who enjoy them

is pretty small. This means we may often assume, mistakenly, that

our colleagues' slowness to get online is due to innate ineptitude;

and that students, especially the younger ones, are innately apt

at using computers." From a keynote address given by Crawford

Kilian of Capilano College, North Vancouver, at last year's Teaching

in the Community Colleges Online Conference. (For a copy of the

address, entitled "Why Teach Online," send a note to

bmeyer@iastate.edu.)









M A R G I N A L I A







SIGN OF SPRING: PLAN FOR A BUCK ROSE



Better Homes and Gardens recently picked Carefree Beauty, one

of the "Buck roses" developed by the late Griffith Buck

of ISU, as one of the favorites it recommended to its readers

for 1998. Carefree Beauty was chosen for its ability to withstand

nasty winters, disease resistance, repeat flowering and attractive

form.