The Student Experience

The Student Experience Issue features one of two special edition covers, each featuring a different CALS student. Both active in college activities and CALS Ambassadors, Adam Bierbaum (‘12 agronomy) and Kayla Reiter, senior in agricultural business, help illustrate the different aspects of today’s student experience.

Much to cheer about!

Fall 2011 enrollment in agriculture and life sciences hit a 30-year high with 3,584. And we have the best college retention rate on campus with 81% of first year students sticking with CALS. 88% of our students return to Iowa State.

Welcome to the club

95% of CALS students gain hands-on experience and develop leadership in departmental clubs and activities including agronomic and livestock judging teams, competitive national contests and service projects.

Science with practice

CALS students get a solid grounding in science from biology to chemistry to advanced agrisciences. Our “Science with Practice” undergrad research program paid students $250,000 since 2005 to learn and earn in research laboratories, farms and greenhouses in nearly every CALS department.

You’re hired!

98% Placement Rate

73% of new grads stay in Iowa

70% of undergrads complete internships before graduation

CHARTING THE COURSE FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS

Assistant professor Mike Retallick and Adair Boysen catch up between classes. Boysen, a graduating senior in agricultural education and animal science, participated in Retallick's study abroad course to Australia and credits Retallick for helping her get the most out of her college experience.

Mike Retallick’s door is always open. The assistant professor of agricultural and life sciences education and studies advises more than 80 students annually, in addition to his research and teaching responsibilities. Any number of his advisees could drop by in a given day. And they do.

Retallick (’05 PhD agriculture and life sciences education) is one of 135 faculty advisers in the college. Together with another 13 full-time staff advisers they help agriculture and life sciences students navigate through their ISU experience.

For each advisee Retallick is the person who reviews their course schedule to be sure they are meeting degree requirements. He helps them identify and prepare for their internship and student teaching experiences. He intervenes when students are headed for academic probation and offers congratulations when they make the dean’s list. He processes course substitutions and makes sure his students meet university and departmental deadlines.

Retallick says that when entering college many students aren’t prepared for balancing their newfound independence with coursework. That’s where he comes in. He helps students learn to study and manage their daily lives, but he also encourages them to take their college experience a step further.

“I challenge them to get the most complete experience while at Iowa State. Our grads are highly sought after, but a degree on a wall should not be their end goal,” Retallick says. “Students should get the most out of each opportunity and differentiate themselves through clubs, leadership roles, internships, study abroad. It is the entire package that sets our students apart.”

Another major role Retallick and other advisers play is helping students handle the challenges life throws at them while they work on their degree. He connects students with campus resources such as student counseling, student health, financial aid and the academic success center.

“It is key as an adviser to be upfront, honest and frank with your advisees,” he says. “It helps them to know what to expect and makes their time on campus less scary.”

According to his advisees Retallick does just that. Transfer student Rachael Emig considers Retallick as the most influential person in her college experience.

“Dr. Retallick is always available to answer any question I have quickly and clearly, and I feel like I could ask him any question,” she says. “He helped me solidify my decision to major in agricultural education and have the smoothest possible transition to Iowa State.”

The toughest part of his job, Retallick says, is there are no easy answers.

“My first answer to many questions is ‘it depends,’” he says. “Every situation and every student is unique and policies and procedures can be interpreted differently.”

He admits it can also be difficult to balance his research and teaching load with the number of advisees he currently carries. But, that challenge is also what drives him.

“These students are what recharge my batteries. I enjoy the one-on-one teachable moments that come with advising,” he says. “You just don’t find that in the classroom.”

Advising the Advisers

The college launched the Louis Thompson Advising Academy in 2011. The academy, named in honor of the late agronomy professor and associate dean known for advising excellence, promotes the professional, individual and academic development of students through a mentoring relationship with an academic adviser.

Retallick is among the 25 faculty members of the academy who earned acceptance by receiving at least one college or university advising award.

David Acker, associate dean for academic and global programs, says the academy will help the college make further strides in becoming the best student advising program on campus.

“At its core the academy is about helping students reach their potential and maximize success inside and outside the classroom,” Acker says.

The academy was created based on recommendations from the college’s Future of Academic Programs Task Force and Academic Affairs Committee with support from the Iowa State University Agricultural Endowment Board.

“It takes time, it takes patience and it takes a caring attitude to serve students in this capacity,” Acker says. “This highly experienced group will provide excellent guidance and counsel on how to maintain and improve our tradition of excellence in advising.”

PREPARING FUTURE SCIENTISTS

Alum Lucas Carlstrom, right, stopped by Matthew Ellinwood's lab to catch up and share how he is doing in med school at Mayo Clinic. Carlstrom credits his work in Ellinwood's lab for helping him develop problem solving and critical thinking skills.

The management and care of research animals is a necessary, behind-thescenes aspect of scientific study that animal scientist Matthew Ellinwood has made a learning experience for undergraduates.

“We take seriously the role these dogs and cats play in addressing new treatments or possibly cures for conditions that have a big, negative impact on people, especially children,” he says.

After earning his doctoral and veterinary degrees, Ellinwood became a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Part of his duties was the management of dogs and cats used to research human genetic diseases—most of them fatal pediatric diseases. Graduate students did a lot of the work, offering valuable hands-on experience. Ellinwood brought this model of students caring for animals to Iowa when he started at ISU about seven years ago.

About 18 undergraduates per semester provide animal care and management and two or three conduct lab work, such as molecular diagnostics, routine biochemistry and inventory management. Led by Ellinwood, the team looks for answers behind what causes human diseases like glaucoma, the leading cause of blindness world wide.

Nearly all the students have a pre-vet or pre-med focus. Most are animal science students, but there are also those majoring in animal ecology and biology. The work offers an especially good experience for pre-vet students who plan to concentrate on small animals.

Some students get involved for research experience, others because they enjoy animal care and management. Whatever the goal, they find a unique environment for learning.

“Dr. Ellinwood not only created an opportunity for students to learn basic medical care of companion animals, he’s given us the opportunity to think on our feet, be attentive to detail and apply what we’ve learned in other classes to what we’re studying in the research colony,” says Allie Ludwig, a sophomore in preveterinary animal science.

Lucas Carlstrom (’08 animal science) was another of Ellinwood’s students. While working in Ellinwood’s lab he was first author on one research manuscript and co-author on another—quite an accomplishment for a student, let alone an undergraduate.

He credits that experience for being accepted into the highly competitive combined medical doctor and doctoral Medical Scientist Training Program at the Mayo Clinic: College of Medicine, where he is engaged in molecular neuroscience and spinal cord regeneration research.

Spending time in a research setting allowed Carlstrom to develop self-guided problem analysis and advanced critical thinking skills. “These valuable training experiences enhanced my intellectual curiosity and afforded me the opportunity to solve relevant biomedical research questions that will hopefully improve human health and alleviate disease,” he says.

“The undergraduates we get are top-tier who I would put up against students at any other institution,” Ellinwood says. “They are certainly as skilled and bright, but they also have the traditional values of Midwest farm kids, that you may not see as often at other schools.”

Ellinwood says it’s important to challenge these talented students with real-world problems and to show them they can make a difference.

“Regardless of where they go, I hope they come out of my program with a heightened sense of achievement and accomplishment.”

MEAT SCIENCE LEADS GRAD FROM ROOKIE TO THE BIG LEAGUES

Alum Craig Morris, deputy administrator of the USDA's Livestock and Seed Program, credits F.C. Parrish for helping him land his dream job-facilitating the domestic and international marketing of the nation's meat supply.

Craig Morris always wore his St. Louis Cardinals hat. As a freshman animal science student at Iowa State in 1988, that hat made him feel at home. It also caught the eye of his meat science professor, F.C. Parrish, who would come to do the same.

Morris (’92 meat science), now the deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Livestock and Seed Program, credits Parrish’s influence for leading him to his dream job—facilitating the domestic and international marketing of the nation’s meat supply.

Like Morris, Parrish was a native of the St. Louis area, and felt an instant kinship. “He was an excellent scientist as a young guy. You don’t find them that work any harder than Craig did. He wanted to succeed,” Parrish says.

Morris worked with a butcher in high school and was working for Carriage House Meats in Ames at the time. “I loved everything about the meat business,” Morris says, “and F.C. loved teaching people about the business. We gravitated toward each other.

Parrish hired Morris as an undergrad research assistant. “After I was exposed to research, I never really left,” he says. Once he arrived at Iowa State, Morris spent every weekend and every semester break either working in the ISU Meat Lab or on an internship that Parrish helped him land. He was a member of the meats judging team, and Parrish introduced him to the American Meat Science Association.

“I didn’t have a friend in college that I spent more time with than F.C. It was seamless between work and fun,” Morris says.

Well known in the meat science industry, Parrish was on faculty in animal science for more than 35 years teaching introductory and advanced meat science classes. He taught more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students during his tenure and was major professor to more than 30 graduate students before retiring as a University Professor in 2001.

He and his wife Fern provided Morris with home-cooked meals and moral support. In return, Morris mowed their lawn when Parrish was recovering from minor surgery. For him the couple became “like second parents.”

After graduation in 1992 Morris continued to work at the Meat Lab. Parrish recommended graduate schools and helped him find the best fit at Texas A&M.

“F.C. wanted me to go out and experience the world. If he would have just once asked me, I would have stayed, but he was kicking me out of the nest. It’s the best thing that could have happened,” Morris says.

At the USDA Morris oversees marketing activities for livestock, meat, fish, grain and seed. It’s a big job. He manages budgets and human resources for nearly 500 fulltime employees.

He oversees USDA grading and verification programs ranging from Prime Beef on restaurant menus to export verification programs allowing U.S. meats to enter countries all over the world. He handles purchasing specifications for commodities that go into the nation’s school lunch program and food banks. He also oversees country of origin labeling; market news reporting for livestock and grain; check-off programs for beef, pork, lamb, soybean and sorghum; accreditation of organic certification bodies; and the Federal Seed Act ensuring agricultural seeds are accurately labeled for interstate and international commerce.

Morris learned to manage employees from Parrish’s example. “I used to put a lot on my plate and needed help to prioritize. F.C. would put a ‘one’ next to everything on my list and let me work through it,” Morris quips. “I’ve tried to emulate him as I’ve gotten more responsibility in my career. He surrounded himself with self-starters, independent thinkers and creativity. He trusted his employees. He would impart ownership and push you into the limelight.”

Morris can’t help but wonder what his life might have been like if not for Parrish.

“Just think,” he says, “if I’d have been a Cubs fan, that might have been the end of it.”