Hello, CALS,
I hope you enjoyed this beautiful weekend, and maybe some of you took in the final days of the great Iowa State Fair! I was there last Thursday for my annual rounds, visiting with organizations, friends, partners and alums of the college that all gather each year for this terrific tradition. We made it to the following, and at each stop had great conversations:
- Century and Heritage Farm event (see picture below)
- Dairy Science Club display
- Iowa Cattleman’s Association
- Iowa Egg Industry Council
- Iowa Farm Bureau
- State FFA
- State 4-H
- Iowa Turkey Federation
- Iowa Department of Natural Resources
- Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
- Iowa Pork Tent
- Cattlemen’s Beef Quarters, and of course
- the Iowa State booth in the Varied Industries Building!
The agricultural heart of the fair is so evident, and the many links to our college are everywhere.
Last week, I held a planning and thinking retreat with the college administration team, and this week will do the same with the CALS department chairs. I know many of you are in “retreat” season, too, at the department, center and unit levels. These activities are called retreats because the idea is you move away from the frontlines of your everyday work and take a breather to imagine what’s next – but I always think they should be called “advances” because the goal is to imagine new ways to advance toward the future.
Move-in for new-to-Iowa State students begins tomorrow (Aug. 20), so be careful as you're driving around campus, especially near the residence halls.
One week until classes! My best - Dan
Scenes from CALS
