Message from the Dean - May 12, 2025

May 12, 2025

Hello, CALS, and happy Monday,

Last week and this week are full of end-of-semester activities, and always lots of smiles. Graduation exercises are just a week away, and there is both a sense of urgency on campus as people run toward graduation events and summer, and an emerging sense of calm as students begin to head out and activities of the semester start to come to a conclusion. It's all part of the special cadence that makes up our enterprise called higher education at Iowa State!

I had the pleasure last week of visiting the CALS IGNITE event at the Student Innovation Center, the CALS Science With Practice poster session, the Start Something Awards night, and a reception for newly promoted and tenured faculty. This week will be filled with some of the same kinds of things:

  • a reception for newly promoted term faculty
  • our spring CALS picnic on Tuesday, May 13, at 4:30 p.m. on the east patio of Curtiss Hall (please come out for that!)
  • CALS Convocation on Friday, May 16, at 9 a.m. in Hilton Coliseum
  • Graduate Commencement on Thursday, May 15, at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum
  • a dinner to honor alum and CALS friend Roger Underwood on Friday in recognition of his Undergraduate Commencement remarks on Saturday, May 17, at 9 a.m., and more!

I hope you had a great weekend, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and maybe while driving or back home, watched the near final crops get planted this season! The Iowa landscape is about to suddenly turn a thousand shades of wonderful green. Have a good week, and let me know what you’re thinking.  Best - Dan

Scenes from CALS

Five people standing on either side of a CALS Pathways to Innovation and Leadership banner.
Several CALS programs were represented at the CALS IGNITE event on the fourth floor of the Student Innovation Center on May 7, including the Pathways to Innovation and Leadership Program, led by Carmen Bain and Amy Mendee, far left.
Four people standing around a table inside a classroom.
Robert Brown, left, and the team from the ISU Brew Lab were handing out samples of non-alcoholic beer at the CALS IGNITE event on May 7. The beer was brewed by the Iowa State University Brewing Science Program inside the Food Sciences Building on campus.
Overhead view of people inside an atrium of a building.
The Science With Practice poster session took place May 7 in the Kildee Hall atrium, during which students shared about the projects they've taken part in this semester.
Five people holding a sheet cake.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Science With Practice program, which called for a cake to celebrate the milestone.
Overhead view of a river valley lined with trees.
Looking downstream from the High Trestle Trail Bridge over the Des Moines River.