Hello, CALS,
One week to go until the start of the fall semester – and the energy level and buzz around campus and in town has risen a good deal in anticipation. Enjoy the feeling as our students come back to us refreshed by summer and ready to start a new year of learning and doing. Some will be first-timers as freshmen, transfer or graduate students, and others more experienced. All have come for our attention and capacity to teach and inspire.
If you need one more breather of summer before the semester begins, you can always check out the great Iowa State Fair! Even though a day at the fair inevitability leads to exhaustion, it’s the kind of exhaustion that’s earned and somehow refreshing just the same. This past weekend our very own John Lawrence went to the fair and won the Governor’s Charity Steer Show! See details and a great picture below.
After his great win at the state fair, it also time to thank John for his extraordinary work as interim chair of the Department of Animal Science, which he completes, as planned, today. He has done terrific work for the department and college in this role, as well as in his continuing role as vice president for extension and outreach. John’s work enables this college every day. Tomorrow we welcome Jason Ross as the new chair for the Department of Animal Science! Jason is well-known to us and brings outstanding capacity to the role. Please help me thank John, and welcome Jason!
This time of year is always a good time to comment on the crops in Iowa. This season, there have been challenges like every year, but the dry conditions we’ve been suffering with seem to be abating, and that’s good for all kinds of reasons, although some impact will no doubt persist. I heard just yesterday from a farmer pleased to lock in fertilizer prices for next year that were “only” two-fold of what they had been, not the three-fold they were recently!
The new university-wide online learning center as part of CELT will be launched soon and give us a terrific new institutional capacity to work in this realm. The new capacity will be built upon the skill and expertise of those already here who have been doing this work, such as the exceptional people in the Brenton Center in the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies, and with our agronomy and seed science programs. Watch for these changes and be ready to reach out for their help with technology and student support.
And in CALS we have been moving forward with our new approach to strategic planning, as described in this Monday message some weeks ago. This Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the east patio of Curtiss Hall (or inside Harl Commons if the weather is bad), we’ll have a welcome back ice cream social for all CALS faculty and staff. At that event there will be a few comments about the strategic planning process – how we’re crafting our updated statement of Strategic Purposes and Priorities, which, when coupled with Strategic Initiatives, will be our adaptable and actionable plan!
Have a great week. - Dan
Scenes from CALS
Congratulations and well done to Vice President of Extension and Outreach John Lawrence, who showed the grand champion steer in the 2022 Iowa Governor's Charity Steer Show this past Saturday at the Iowa State Fair! Blue, the steer, was raised and is owned by exhibitor Brady Werner of Williamsburg, and sponsored by Iowa County Beef Supporters. Brady will be a freshman in agricultural studies at Iowa State this fall.
Tammy Porter, natural resource ecology and management, shared this photo of a cicada killer on a purple flower. She said these insects have been out the past couple of weeks and are enjoying her garden of flowers as much as she is.
