Message from the Dean - April 7, 2025

April 7, 2025

Hello, CALS,

This week, on Thursday, April 10, at 1:30 p.m. in 1414 Molecular Biology Building, we will have our spring 2025 CALS Town Hall. I hope you can attend. I’ll give college updates on a number of topics, and short presentations will be given by Carmen Bain on the happenings in our Office of Academic Innovation and by Sarah Roelfs on happenings in our ISU Foundation CALS Development Office. I’ll provide some information on our enrollment and budget, on new initiatives, on leadership changes and more, and be open to questions on any topic.

On Wednesday, April 9, at noon in 3105 Snedecor Hall, we’ll have one of our informal CALS Chats, and this time we’ll also welcome LAS Dean Ben Withers to chat with us, too. Just a reminder - there is no program for these CALS chats, just snacks and conversation with your colleagues (bring more along with you - colleagues, not snacks!), and just a moment when I call the group to order to say hello and, this time, to introduce Dean Withers.

Last week, our Department of Animal Science Block and Bridle Club (advisors Jodi Sterle, Matt Wegner and Laura Greiner) hosted the 104th annual National Block & Bridle Convention. It’s a huge undertaking with lectures, field tours, entertainment and more with a budget of over $100,000. They had clubs from 23 other universities from all over the country in attendance. I had the pleasure of helping to welcome the group on Friday evening, along with Jason Ross, and then enjoyed a fascinating lecture by a former CIA agent about the world of espionage – true-life stuff! This coming Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Block & Bridle Club will host Animal Learning Day at the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. Always a great event – come on out for it!

Finally, this week, on Wednesday, April 9, at 4 p.m. if the weather cooperates, there will be a prescribed burn of the prairie behind Science II by our colleagues in NREM. It’s a cool, hot thing to see.

If you’re watching the news and wondering about, for example, commodity grain prices, here’s a way to track and contemplate them: Corn Prices - 59 Year Historical Chart and Soybean Prices - 45 Year Historical Chart.

Have a great week. - Dan

Scenes from CALS

Poster session going on in a large atrium of a building.
The 19th annual Stupka Symposium took place April 3 in the Molecular Biology Building. The day-long event included talks from keynote speakers, students and an alum, as well as two research poster sessions. Photo by Katrina Hageman
Student telling a small group of people about his research poster.
Austin Petfalski, senior in biochemistry, tells a small group of Stupka Symposium attendees about his research project. Photo by Katrina Hageman
Person standing and speaking behind a podium on a stage.
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Secretary Mike Naig presiding at the Ag Leaders dinner last week, which featured remarks by Governor Reynolds and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. Leadership awards were presented, as well, to four terrific organizations during the dinner.