Hello CALS,
This is always a very busy time of year as we rush toward the end of the semester and graduation exercises, and all the excellent activities in the run-up to those happy events.
Last week, the Board of Regents was on campus, and that included an awards luncheon where the Regents Faculty and Staff awards were presented. CALS was well represented in this, with Scott Nelson (BBMB) receiving a Faculty Excellence Award, and Lee Bendickson (BBMB) and Cory Walker (AnSci) receiving Staff Excellence Awards! Please help me congratulate them on these outstanding recognitions!
Also last week, I had my regular roundtable meeting with the college’s Morrill, University and Distinguished professors, and attended the monthly meeting of the CALS Faculty Senate Caucus. I also meet throughout the semester with the Dean’s Office student (undergraduate and graduate) advisory group, and occasionally with the CALS Staff Council. These are all excellent groups of people devoted to the college and always leaning in to make us better. Often, a number of associate deans and dean’s office unit directors join, as well.
Iowa State hosted the annual Iowa FFA Leadership Conference, including a CALS-hosted BBQ for attendees at the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. Surely you saw the thousands (literally – more than 6,000) of blue corduroy jackets all over campus. Andy Zehr and his team – too many to mention all of them – pull this off each year, and it's no small feat!
We also had the annual Jim Knuth Lessons in Leadership and Life lecture hosted by the Ag Business Club, a bunch of CALS people went down to Johnston to help Corteva celebrate the 100th anniversary of Pioneer Seed, and I convened the spring meeting of the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, led expertly by NREM’s Katherine Kral-O’Brien and Mykayla Hagaman.
Today (April 27), we held the annual Rossmann-Manatt Lecture with agronomy’s Arti Singh, who spoke about her project, supported by a Rossmann-Manatt grant, on Workforce in Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence – encouraging student involvement in AI and agriculture.
Later today, we will have a combined medallion ceremony in animal science for Elisabeth Huff Lonergan to become the Morrison Chair in Meat Science, and for Stephanie Hansen and Aileen Keating to become Artz Chairs for Excellence in Animal Science.
Then Tuesday through Friday, we will be deep into the spring ISU Foundation week of activities, including meetings with many CALS donors, and culminating in the ISU Distinguished Awards celebration. Aligned with our college, the Order of the Knoll True and Valiant Award will be presented to Gerald and Karen Kolschowsky for their incredible service to Iowa State and support of CALS programming – most notably our Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods-Uganda Program. The Honorary Alumni Award will be presented to Gretta Irwin, executive director of the Iowa Turkey Federation and a steadfast supporter and enabler of our programs.
If you missed the April 14 CALS Town Hall, the presentation featured a discussion about our budget, the need to continue to work on our income, expenditures and efficiencies, and the need to find solutions through sustained and intense optimism that keeps true to our missions. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas.
Many thanks and best for a great week. - Dan
Scenes from CALS
