Hello, CALS,
A recording of our April 10 Town Hall meeting is available online. It includes my remarks, as well as presentations from Associate Dean for Academic Innovation Carmen Bain and from Senior Development Director Sarah Roelfs.
I am trying something new this week for fun – taking a picture to share with you and then asking multiple people in the college to independently craft a caption. Today’s picture (below) is a field of Kentucky bluegrass and dandelions, taken in Ames this past week. I asked several people to simply look at the picture and write a short caption/comment/observation/thought about it. See those below, including my own. Here’s some background on these two interesting plants:
- Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is not from Kentucky, and the grass itself is obviously not blue. It is a Eurasia/North Africa species, brought here by Europeans. It did very well early on in Kentucky – hence the name. It is called “blue” because when left to grow to maturity, its flower/seed heads can take on a bluish appearance, such as where it is grown for seed production to support the turf/lawn industry. It is an invasive exotic and commercially important in North America.
- Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is from Eurasia and was brought here by Europeans very early, perhaps even on the Mayflower. The entire plant, the root, too, is edible and is reported to have some medicinal properties. It is a major weed species in multiple environments, making it a commercially and ecologically important invasive exotic in North America. The plant produces latex, especially in its roots, and has been bred to be an alternative source of natural rubber for commercial purposes.
This week is the ISU Foundation (Governors) Week, and we will have some great visitors to campus who support or enable our programs in many ways. These include Jeffrey Lansdale, president of the American Farm School in Greece, which is one of our top destinations for study abroad, and Tim Kolschowsky, president of the Kolschowsky Foundation, which has made possible our campus and Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods program in Uganda. Lots of other great college alums and supporters will be here, as well. At the end of the week, there will be the University Distinguished Awards activities, and this year, two will be presented to individuals with strong CALS ties - one to Farm Credit Services of America (Order of the Knoll Corporation and Foundation Award), led by CEO Jim Knuth, and to ag journalism alum Lloyd A. Bettis (Order of the Knoll Cardinal and Gold Award).
The college, each year, has a terrific Faculty Senate Caucus, who I have the pleasure of working with. This year the chair has been Gary Munkvold, and soon it will pass for next year to Steven Lonergan. Congrats and thanks to them both and everyone serving on the CALS Faculty Senate Caucus!
Have a good week as we near graduation time and prep for a busy summer. Best - Dan
Scenes from CALS
A field of dandelion and Kentucky bluegrass in Ames this past week, with captions from several colleagues:
ABE’s Matt Hemers: When I see a lawn of dandelions, I think - “Spring in Iowa is here!”
Horticulture’s Adam Thoms: This looks like a soil high in potassium. Research shows that dandelions are a general indicator of high potassium.
Agronomy's Shelby Gruss: Overgrazing puts stress on desirable forage species, reducing their persistence and opening the door for weed encroachment — like dandelions overtaking a weakened Kentucky bluegrass stand.
EEOB’s Lynn Clark (and Gary Reiners): Who is invading whom? It’s the French invading the English. The name dandelion comes from the French name for the plant, and the whole concept of lawns was heavily influenced by the English.
Dan Robison: Seeing this reminded me of my Dad’s stories of working on a breeding project in 1943 to increase latex production in Russian dandelion as a source of natural rubber, given that many sources of natural tree rubber had been cut off from U.S access given WWII. It also reminds me of summer as a kid!
