Message from the Dean - April 20, 2026

April 20, 2026

Hello, CALS,

It was a beautiful April weekend, with exactly the ups and downs that April is famous for, and captured so well, I think, in the third stanza from "Two Tramps in Mud Time" by Robert Frost (1934):

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March.

April is National Poetry Month, and why not enjoy some of that! A series of the pictures below also capture some of the visuals that happen in April as spring arrives!

Last week, I presented the annual spring CALS Town Hall. A video of that will be posted soon. I celebrated a number of things in the college, but mostly spent time reviewing the budget, the challenges we have with that, and the need for sustained optimism and a growth mindset moving forward to thrive and accomplish our missions.

We also had the annual Hertz Lecture (see picture below), and I spent a couple of days in Minneapolis to attend the annual Egg Industry Issues Forum put on by the national/international Egg Industry Center, which is based here in CALS. At that meeting, with your colleagues, Jason Ross, Brett Ramirez, Lesa Vold and Maro Ibarburu-Blanc, a service award was presented to Iowa State alum and great friend of the college, Jeff Henning, who chairs the EIC Board, and has contributed greatly to the college.  

This week, we’ll have on campus the annual Iowa FFA Leadership Conference and Monday evening BBQ at the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. Then later in the week, Jim Knuth of Farm Credit Services of America will host the annual Ag Business Club’s Jim Knuth Lectures in Leadership and Life.

Enjoy the spring and the energy on campus, be careful out there in the field, and let me know what you’re thinking. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for our annual CALS spring picnic (May 5, 4-6 p.m., Harl Commons patio), and to be part of the handshake and high-five line at CALS Convocation on May 15 (9 a.m., Hilton Coliseum)!

My best - Dan

Scenes from CALS

Small blue flowers growing among woodchips.
A sure sign of spring in Iowa, the beautiful, delicate ephemeral native Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginia)!
Goose standing by the edge of a pond.
Another sure sign of spring - a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) and goslings. This family was on the shore of Lake LaVerne last week.
Small group of students standing among trees.
And another sign of spring - students learning outside! This group was on the slope behind The Knoll, with NREM's Jen Merryman, who was teaching the students about trees.
Three people standing in front of a prairie being burned.
And, yet another sign of spring – spring prescribed prairie burns. This one took place last week behind Science II, where NREM’s Adam Janke led students to renew the vegetation this way (and across the street where the Genetics Building once stood).
Three people sitting and standing on the stage of an auditorium.
The annual Hertz Lecture last week with presenters (left to right) Mark Deterding, vice president of integrated seed operations, Geoff Graham, vice president of seed product development, and Jeremy Dirks, president of North America business from Corteva. They discussed the 100th anniversary of Pioneer Seed, and its continuing work today.