STORIES in Agriculture and Life Sciences

Spring 2009

STORIES

Worldy Professor Gives Students Solid Foundation in Soils

By Ed Adcock

Andrew Manu (right) teaches more than 400 students annually in the college’s core Introduction to Soil Science course. Here he talks with teaching assistant Nathan Anderson about the hands-on activities available to students in the soils teaching lab.

It’s hard to imagine a better place to learn about soils than amidst some of the most productive soils on earth. And agronomy associate professor Andrew Manu can’t think of a better place to teach an introductory soils course than at Iowa State.

“I don’t feel as comfortable anywhere as I do in Iowa. Students here are very motivated. They want to do something. And they don’t take their studies lightly at all. And that’s what gets me going,” he says.

Manu (’79 MS agronomy, ’84 PhD) brings a wealth of global experience to his teaching and research. He grew up in Ghana, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, and worked for Texas A&M University, Alabama A&M University and the U.S. Agency for International Development in Niger.

Manu has been coordinating Introduction to Soil Science, one of the core courses for the college, for the past eight years. There are three versions of the course based on majors. Most students take Agron 154 which is meant for agronomy students, but also serves to fill a general agriculture requirement for several other majors within the college. Agronomy 155 is for horticulture majors and Agronomy 156 is tailored to landscape architecture students.

Manu gets a thrill at the moment when students grasp a concept they have been struggling with. “I love it. It’s the best thing I have done in my life,” he says.

Each year approximately 420 students register for the courses. He says all the students study the same principles, but the applications are different. Projects differ for each class:

154 students are given an imaginary section of land by a landowner who is not familiar with agriculture. They are asked to identify areas for growing corn and soybeans under reduced tillage with part for rotations, part for terraces and an area for a home site. The assignment is to identify the soils and what they are suited for.
155 students get a parcel of land and are asked to identify areas for planting vegetables and flowers, nut and fruit trees, nursery stock, as well as for a housing development, a golf course and sod development.
156 students look at urban development, developing a shopping mall or apartment complexes, along with single family dwellings and recreation space. They identify the best areas for these activities based on the soils at the site.

The course is Web-based and students can view the course material online or download the scripts. In addition, Manu gives non-mandatory lectures to an average of 100 students per week who prefer face-to-face interaction.

Weekly quizzes for all courses are held in the soils learning center rather than on-line, because Manu wants to see the students. Manu also gets to know students one-on-one when groups meet in discussion sections to work on their soil management projects.

George Washington Carver Chair

Manu was appointed as Iowa State University’s first George Washington Carver Chair in April. This is in recognition of his dedication to student instruction and leadership in the development and promotion of a friendly environment for students from underrepresented ethnic groups to succeed at Iowa State University, especially in the field of agriculture. He plans to use the position to continue his desire for excellence in teaching and to engage in research to assess the impact of urbanization on soils. He says, “Most importantly, I will use the position to attract, train and nurture brilliant students of all social status, class, position or race at Iowa State University.”