Happy Monday, CALS,
It was a beautiful spring weekend, even with maybe too much wind and cold – but plenty of sunshine. I hope you had a chance to get out and soak up some sun and make some vitamin D!
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and another one coming, as we look ahead to the end of the semester and summer work. Same for sure for our students. The world continues to churn from Ukraine to HPAI in Iowa, and we continue to solve problems and inspire the next generation of thinkers and doers. This is our purpose here. Please remind your students of this – that the assignments and things they learn are about enabling them to make a positive difference in the world, from local to global.
Last week I was out and about visiting with:
- Iowa Pork Producers Association (with Jason Ross)
- Iowa Corn Growers Association and Iowa Corm Promotion Board (with Dan Anderson)
- Mason City Ag Breakfast (with Angie Rieck-Hinz, Kelvin Leibold and Russell Euken)
- Celebration of Ag in Cedar Rapids (with John Lawrence, Jay Harmon, Zhiyou Wen, Jeff Iles, Cynthia Haynes and Bobbi Smith)
- Latham Hi-Tech Seeds in Alexander (with Brandon Mumm)
I also attended the terrific lecture on Thursday evening by Hale Tufan from Cornell University on changing gender imperatives in agriculture, organized by Carmen Bain. And I had a number of key meetings on our Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (CSRL) program in Uganda (with David Acker, Josie Six, Sarah Roelfs and others from the ISU Foundation).
Also last week, some of our outstanding staff members were presented awards from the Professional & Scientific Council - congratulations! See their photos below.
This week will be busy, too, with key meetings about the Global Resource Systems program, ISU innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives, and more.
I am certain you, too, are busy, as each of us only have the same number of hours in the day to put to use, to attend to our work and to our families and ourselves. Please take good care of yourself, and as always, watch out for each other and our students.
Very best - Dan
Scenes from CALS
Our associate dean for global engagement, David Acker, is in Uganda this week for a visit to our Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods. He woke up this morning and saw this 5-feet tall Marabou Stork grazing/hunting happily about 6 feet from his window at the training center.
Last week, the CALS Office of Research and Discovery CARES PreAward Team won the Professional & Scientific Council CYtation Team Award.
Danise Jones, GDCB graduate student services specialist, received a CYtation Award from the Professional & Scientific Council. She is pictured with Yanhai Yin, GDCB professor and chair.
Zoe Kiefer of the Iowa Pork Industry Center was recognized with a CYtation Award at the Professional & Scientific Council awards ceremony. She is pictured with Jason Ross, director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center.
