Greetings CALS,
I hope you had a chance to enjoy this spectacular weekend, from the fall foliage to the great Cyclone football win!
Last week I had a great virtual visit to our McNay Memorial Research and Demonstration Farm in southern Iowa; attended parts of the “Star Gazing into the Galaxy of Animal Genetics and Genomics” (Visions) conference led by Max Rothschild and Sue Lamont; unfortunately missed the 2021 ISU James D. McKean Swine Disease Conference; and enjoyed the ISU Distinguished Awards Celebration. At the latter, several people important to our college were honored. The Honorary Alumni Award was presented to Blair Van Zetten (awarded posthumously), who was instrumental in the development of the college’s work with the egg industry, and Mary Jo Mente, who, with her husband, Glen, has supported the college in many ways. The Order of the Knoll Campanile Award was presented to Virgil Elings, who made the effort to construct Elings Hall and the Biorenewables Research Laboratory complex possible.
It was also a truly great pleasure at the Visions Conference to announce that an effort is well underway to establish the Rothschild Professorship in Global Animal Agriculture! What a great way to recognize and honor the accomplishments of our recently retired colleague in the Department of Animal Science, Max Rothschild. His contributions have been truly extraordinary, and he continues to work on a variety of projects with us. At the Visions Conference he was celebrated by President Wendy Wintersteen, Dr. Dan Thomson, Sue Lamont, and a host of his scientific colleagues from near and far, and from those inside and outside of his lab.
Today (Nov. 8) at 3:15 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall, the Gold Star Hall ceremony will take place in association this week with Veterans Day on Nov. 11. This year's ceremony will honor two former CALS students, Donald T. Griswold Jr. and William Conrad Ostlund. We all regularly walk through the north entrance to the Memorial Union, and the next time you do, please take a moment to stop and contemplate the names on those walls. These are our fellow Cyclones who gave all they had. There are a host of those names with a CALS association. One I think about each time I pass, because one of his college buddies once wrote to me to ask that I take a picture of his engraving, is Donald Lee Sparks. You can see his name on the right side panel next to the door as you leave the Memorial Union's north entryway.
We are aware there is a good deal of stress and mental health challenges in our campus community, and we have had recent sessions to help us learn ways to engage and assist our students when they have challenges. It is also true that as faculty and staff, we, too, have stresses and challenges that sometimes need extra help. Soon we’ll have some scheduled Mental Health Break/Mindfulness Sessions for faculty and staff. The ISU Wellbeing website has a list of mental health resources available for ISU employees.
Finally, this week is Learning Community Coordinator Recognition Week. Dr. Carmen Bain and I would like to extend our great appreciation for all the learning community coordinators within CALS (listed below). The work you do to support and guide our students is incredible. So thank you!
- Heidi Ackerman, agronomy
- Amy Brandau, economics
- Thomas Brumm, agricultural and biosystems engineering
- Jennifer Bundy, animal science
- John Burnett, natural resource ecology and management
- Ben Chamberlain, agricultural education and studies
- Clark Coffman, genetics, development and cell biology
- Susan Cramer, animal science
- Nate Dobbels, agricultural education and studies
- Alison Esser, genetics, development and cell biology
- Cynthia Haynes, horticulture
- Amber Kargol, food science and human nutrition
- Tamara Kerns, agricultural and biosystems engineering
- Ebby Luvaga, economics
- Esperanza Moothart, agriculture and life sciences administration
- Corinna Most, ecology, evolution and organismal biology
- Gail Nonnecke, horticulture
- Anne Oldham, food science and human nutrition
- Elaine Phompheng, agricultural and biosystems engineering
- Maggie Sprecher, horticulture
- Eric Underbakke, biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology
- Sarah Wehner, ecology, evolution and organismal biology
- Richard Williams, ecology, evolution and organismal biology
- Emily Zimmerman, natural resource ecology and management
- Stephanie Zumbach, agronomy
Wishing you the best for this new busy week. - Dan
Nature in Focus
I took advantage of the beautiful fall weather this past weekend to explore the High Trestle Trail. Along the trail, I witnessed how our forest ecosystems are alive with the changes brought by the August 2020 derecho.
Please keep sharing your photos with me via email!
