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College News
LEGISLATURE VOTES TO ELIMINATE LEOPOLD CENTER
Legislation recently passed by the Iowa Legislature, Senate File 510, would eliminate the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The legislation removed all the center's state funding and shifted most of the funds to Iowa State University’s Iowa Nutrient Research Center. (That shift replaces Nutrient Research Center funds that were eliminated in the same legislation.) An April 25 Alliance for Iowa State message provides more details and encourages supporters to contact the Governor’s office to veto the specific language that would discontinue the center. This action would allow the center to continue operating with non-state funds. An earlier Alliance for Iowa State message describes the situation and urges readers to contact their legislators.
XIN NAMED ASSISTANT DEAN FOR RESEARCH
 An acclaimed researcher in animal environment engineering at Iowa State University has been named the new assistant dean for research in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Hongwei Xin, a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor who holds the Iowa Egg Council Endowed Professorship in the agricultural and biosystems engineering and animal science departments, was named to the newly created position effective April 1. Xin also serves as the director of the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State. More
NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL TAX EXPERT JOINS CALT
Phil Harris (’73 economics), emeritus professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has joined Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation in a part-time role as a visiting professor. Harris will assist with analysis, write and instruct on tax issues important to Iowa and agriculture. More
ADVANCING STUDENT LEADERSHIP IN DIVERSITY, INCLUSION
The CALS Leaders Enhancing Agriculture, Diversity, Inclusion and Trust (LEAD-IT) Collective is a new student leadership initiative from the CALS Deans’ office, the office of the assistant dean for diversity and the college multicultural liaison officer. Students involved in the CALS LEAD IT Collective attended a retreat on March 24-26 at Honeycreek Resort in Moravia. They received training by National Social Justice Chinese American filmmaker, author, poet and educator Lee Mun Wah. Student leaders participated in activities with speakers from the CALS Dean’s office, Raj Raman, agricultural and biosystems engineering, and Monsanto. More
CALS EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING, RESEARCH, EXTENSION
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences honored more than 25 faculty and staff – including several CALS alumni – at the college’s annual awards for excellence in teaching, research and extension on March 10. More
CUTTING EDGE COMPETITION
The Iowa State University Forestry Club hosted the 65th Midwestern Foresters’ Conclave and Stihl Timbersports Competition earlier this month at Saylorville Lake, Prairie Flower Recreation Area. The Forestry Club placed third out of 13 teams participating and several Iowa Staters placed first in individual competitions. More
FOOD CHAIN LINKS FROM GATE TO PLATE
The college and Iowa State Univeristy Extension and Outreach's annual snapshot (PDF) of statistics and accomplishments for the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) offers a concise summary of the impact of food chain-related employment in Iowa, the state’s total GDP related to agricultural industries and college and extension accomplishments. More
MORE COLLEGE NEWS
NEWLIN HONORED FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
 The Seed Science Center at Iowa State University honored Owen J. Newlin (’51 agronomy, ’53 MS crop production), with a Distinguished Lifetime Achievement and Service Award for Seed Science, Technology and Systems on April 12 during the center’s annual Leroy and Barbara Everson Seed and Biosafety Symposium in Ames. Newlin is a retired senior vice president and director of Pioneer Hi-Bred International. The award recognizes his exemplary leadership and commitment to excellence as an advocate for Iowa State University and the global seed industry.
HOLZ-CLAUSE NAMED CHANCELLOR
 Mary Holz-Clause (’76 ag business, ’09 PhD ag and life sciences education) has been named chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Crookston. She will begin her role on June 30. Holz-Clause, who spent many years working for Iowa State Extension and Outreach most recently served as dean of the Huntly College of Agriculture at California State Polytechnic University.
NEWTONS HONORED FOR LAND STEWARDSHIP
Seth Newton (’11 ag studies) a farmer near Luzerne, was awarded the Gary Wegin Good Farm Neighbor Award by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Seth farms in partnership with his father, Don, in Benton County raising grain, finishing cattle and running a cow/calf operation. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey (’81 ag business) presented the award to the family on April 14.
AMERICAN SWINE VET ASSOCIATION HONORS ALUMNI
The American Association of Swine Veterinarians honored several college alumni at their annual meeting in February in Denver, Colorado. Joshua Ellingson (’07 animal science, ’11 DVM, ’13 vet microbiology), with AMVC Management Services in Audubon, Iowa, received the Young Swine Veterinarian of the Year Award. Rodger Main (’91 ag studies, ’96 DVM), director of the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, received the 2017 Howard Dunne Memorial Award. C. Scanlon Daniels (’97 animal science,’ 98 DVM), veterinarian at Circle H Headquarters, LLC in Dalhart, Texas, was elected as president-elect and Alex Ramirez (’89 animal science, ’93 DVM, ’10 PhD vet microbiology), associate professor in vet diagnostic and production animal medicine at Iowa State, was installed as the president.
CALS YOUNG ALUMNI NAMED STATEMENT MAKERS
Four college alumni were recently named Iowa State Alumni Association STATEment Makers. The honor recognizes personal and professional accomplishments and contributions to society of graduates 32 years of age and under. More
- Cameron Creighton (’06 industrial technology), product manager, Toyota North America, Torrance, California
- Jenny Lichty (’09 ag and life sciences education, ’14 MS), ag educator, Ballad Community Schools, Huxley, Iowa
- Deepak Premkumar (’14 global resource systems, economics, mathematics), graduate student, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California
- Joe Sweeney (’13 ag business), CEO, Eagles Catch, LLC, Radcliffe, Iowa
BARKEMA PRESENTS HERTZ LECTURE ON ECONOMY AND AG
Alan Barkema (’73 farm operations, ’85 MS economics, ’86 PhD), retired senior vice president for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, presented the 2017 Carl and Marjory Hertz Lecture on Emerging Issues in Agriculture April 11 at Iowa State University. A video of Barkema’s presentation, “Pursuing Questions: Prospects for the Economy and Agriculture” is available online.
CALS GRADS RECEIVE HONORARY IOWA FFA DEGREE
Three College of Agriculture and Life Sciences graduates were awarded Honorary Iowa FFA Degrees for providing Iowa State University leadership for high school soil judging and the Iowa FFA State Soil judging contest. Gerald Miller (’71 MS agronomy, ’74 PhD), professor of agronomy and associate dean emeritus; Angie Rieck-Hinz (’92 MS agronomy), extension field agronomist; and Virgil Schmitt (’72 ag and life sciences education, ’77 MS), extension field agronomist, were presented with the degrees at the 89th Iowa FFA Leadership Conference held in Ames on April 10.
CALS YOUNG ALUMNI INITIATIVE WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS
Members of the college’s young alumni initiative, the Curtiss League, were on campus Friday, March 31, for their annual kick-off event. More than 50 members of the program spent their afternoon learning about efforts to advocate, raise awareness and recruit on behalf of the college. The Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition hosted the league offering hands-on learning sessions on dairy evaluation, enology, food packaging and nutrition for healthy pregnancies. The Curtiss League includes 210 alumni from across the U.S. More
MARCHING FOR SCIENCE
Kaitlin Higgins (’15 agronomy), a senior in genetics, helped organize the Iowa March for Science to draw attention to the importance of, and accessibility to, science. The state version of the national event took place April 22 (Earth Day 2017) at the State of Iowa Capitol complex. An estimated 3,000 people participated in a rally and educational exhibits. Several Iowa State faculty, students and alumni participated including Pat Boddy (’80 MS agricultural engineering), who served as master of ceremonies and Jamie Benning (’01 agronomy, ’03 MS soil science), program manager for Extension to Agriculture, who hosted a water quality teach-in. More
GAMMA SIGMA DELTA HONORS CALS GRADS
The Iowa Chapter of the Honor Society of Agriculture, known as Gamma Sigma Delta, hosted an Initiation and Awards Ceremony on April 20. Sixty-six undergraduates, 56 graduate students and two faculty were initiated into the society. John Hallberg (’76 animal science, ’78 MS, ’82 DVM, ’84 PhD), director of regulatory affairs for Zoetis animal health, received the organization’s Alumni Award of Merit and animal science professor Tom Baas (’72 animal science, ’89 MS, ’90 PhD), received the International Mission Award. More
ALPHA GAMMA RHO BREAKS GROUND ON EXPANSION
The Iowa State University Alpha Gamma Rho (AGR) chapter is embarking on its largest house expansion project since 1960. The new addition, which broke ground on March 31, will include expanded living room, dining room and outdoor patio space. Iowa State University President Steven Leath and CALS Dean Wendy Wintersteen ('88 Phd entomology) were among the honored guests participating in the groundbreaking. More
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