Marshalltown Times Republican, IA
07-08-06
GrimesFarm to host AGEP get-together
By GREG PIERQUET
The Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate will hold a consortium
at GrimesFarm on July 9 at 3 p.m.. The first annual consortium marks the halfway point of the AGEP’s annual summer program and will serve as a weekend
getaway for the student-researchers.
The AGEP works to assist outstanding undergraduate students from
underrepresented U.S. minority groups going into the scientific and technological
fields. Their goal is to increase the number of college and university professors
from these underrepresented groups.
The roughly 60 undergraduate students from the University of Iowa, Iowa State
University, and Northern Iowa University will tour the GrimesFarm Conservation
Center, as well as learn about local conservation efforts from Mike Stegmann,
director of the Marshall County Conservation Board.
Philip Kutzko, U. of Iowa mathematics professor and founder of Iowa’s three
AGEP chapters, hopes that in the future Iowan “students and faculty reflect the
ethnic and social diversity which makes our country great and which will produce
a generation of 21st century researchers who will make our state and nation
proud.”
Kutzko admits the AGEP’s “biggest challenge is changing the culture at our
universities to make them more welcoming and accessible, not only for minority
students but also for majority students.”
The Isaacsons, who operate GrimesFarm, are excited about the event’s
possibilities. Martha Isaacson, whose parents Leonard and Mildred donated the
land for GrimesFarm, says “it’s a great opportunity for students who haven’t
traveled much to see the Midwest.” She says her family’s dream has always
been to share Iowa’s natural beauty with others, and this is a good opportunity to
do so.
Isaacson’s husband, Dean, is hopeful that this event will become an annual one,
noting that Marshalltown is the perfect place to hold an event involving all three
universities.
The AGEP’s summer program will wrap up with a Summer Symposium, two days
of the students’ research presentations on July 25 and 26 at Iowa State
University.