Good morning, CALS,
I hope you’ve had a great weekend. Last week we had the annual and fantastic CALS Career Day, attended by more than 1,800 of our students (up 7% from last year!), plus many others from nearby colleges and universities, and more than 250 organizations displaying and recruiting. It’s a huge effort to make this happen, and very many thanks to Career Services Interim Director Christen Burgett, and her entire team, operating as part of our Office of Academic Innovation.
We also had the annual fall version of our college’s Town Hall on Oct. 15, at which I presented on the state of the college (enrollment, budget, directions and happenings) to a full lecture hall in a building most of us do not often (or ever) go into – the National Swine Research and Information Center. Thanks to all of you who attended! The video recording of the presentation will be posted soon.
On Friday last week, I made the trip up and back to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to visit with leadership at Cargill and discuss the many ways we have cooperated with them, received their generous support, and where our relationship with them may go in future years. It was a terrific set of discussions, organized by the ISU Foundation. Among many things we talked about and celebrated:
- the long lasting connection between Iowa State and Cargill;
- the very many Iowa State grads that fill their ranks; and
- the millions of dollars they have supported us with.
Cargill is the nation’s largest privately held company with more than 160,000 employees in 70 countries that touch, in some way, 25% of the world’s food. Amazing.
This week, some of us will be happily consumed by the annual World Food Prize Foundation and Borlaug Dialogue Meetings in Des Moines, as well as associated side events and discussions, including a lecture uniquely delivered to Iowa State by the 2025 World Food Prize Laureate, Brazil’s Mariangela Hungria. Hungria will present "SOILutions for Food and Nutrition Security: A MicroGreen Revolution in Agriculture," on Tuesday, Oct. 21, from 7:30-8:30 p.m. in Dolezal Auditorium, 0127 Curtiss Hall. Prior to her lecture, attend the 22nd Annual Norman Borlaug Lecture Poster Competition for Graduate and Undergraduate Students on the ground floor of Curtiss Hall from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Also this week, we’ll have visitors from the United Kingdom’s University of Cumbria who are working with us to develop a second campus in Uganda. This will be at a place called Masinde, where the iCon (Innovation in Conservation) program will be developed in sync with our Kamuli campus (160 miles apart). The two key colleagues from Cumbria who will be here are Claire Aindow, pro vice chancellor of growth and development, and Robert Montgomery, professor of conservation science, director of the Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas, and director of research and knowledge exchange.
My best for a great week. – Dan
Scenes from CALS
