Wallace's Farmer, IA
04-25-07
ISU College of Ag Celebrates 150 Years
Compiled By Staff
The College of Agriculture at Iowa State University will commemorate 150
years of excellence during the coming 12 months. ISU began its
sesquicentennial at the annual Veishea celebration on April 21 and the "birthday
party" will last one year. "We have a rich heritage and an exciting future," says
Wendy Wintersteen, dean of the College of Agriculture at ISU.
In 1858 the seed that grew into today's Iowa State University was planted. That
year, the Iowa Legislature chartered the Iowa Agricultural College and Model
Farm. As a land-grant institution, Iowa State was founded primarily to provide
practical education in agriculture and mechanic arts.
You can keep up with events all year
"Today, the College of Ag is one of the world's leading institutions of agriculture,
providing leadership in science, education and Extension," she says. "Our nearly
34,000 living alumni are making a difference for Iowa, the nation and the world."
Iowa State's 150th birthday bash will span an entire year, starting with the
Veishea event April 21, 2007 and will run through spring 2008. You can keep up
with the university's 150th anniversary events all year by visiting the
sesquicentennial Web site, www.iastate.edu/~isu150/. College of Agriculture
150th activities will be posed on the college's homepage at www.ag.iastate.edu.
Other sesquicentennial activities and projects planned for the College of
Agriculture during 2007-2008 will include a lecture series, many honoring
distinguished faculty of the past. There will be a collection of alumni memories to
be posted on the college Web site. An agriculture alumni gathering will be held.
Ag alumni gathering one of many events
Beginning with the start of fall semester, a "point of pride" will be posted each
day on the college Web site for 150 days. There will also be a series of "scientific
legacy" stories on current research that has links back to historical or groundbreaking work in the college.
Monthly postings on the Web will highlight articles from "Iowa Farm Science," a
popular Experiment Station and Extension magazine that was published for
about three decades beginning in the mid-1930s. Also to be posted on the Web
are first-person essays from retired or long-time College of Ag faculty and staff
on their remembrances. A video project highlighting students following in the
footsteps of "giants" in the college history, will be used for recruitment purposes
and other uses.
A legacy of WOW!
A lot has been accomplished in the 150 years of excellence in agriculture at Iowa
State. At the kick-off of Iowa State University's sesquicentennial on Saturday,
April 21, during the Veishea celebration, ISU's College of Ag and many of its
departments and centers will feature historical displays and activities in tents on
central campus. Here are a few historical factoids on agriculture at Iowa State
that drew exclamations from visitors.
YUM! Popular Chieftain apple developed here.
REALLY? Only college in nation where undergraduates can study seed science.
WOW! Horticulturist Griffith Buck created Blue Skies, praised as "bluest rose in
world."
WOW! Home of nation's top-ranked meat and poultry programs.
YUM! Innovative blue cheese process opened door for American-made product,
1941.
WOW! Trace many of the nation's long-term improvements in beef, dairy and
swine to ISU scientists in animal breeding and genetics.
WOW! Find the world leaders in mapping and understanding the genomes of
pigs, corn, beef cattle and soybeans here.
COOL! John V. Atanasoff built first electronic digital computer while on
Experiment Station research appointment.
NEAT! Most popular insect Web site, with 14 million monthly hits
(www.ent.iastate.edu).
WOW! Iowa's only teacher education certification program in agriculture.
REALLY? 87% of Iowa's high school agriculture teachers are graduates of the
Department of Agricultural Education and Studies.
COOL! One of nation's oldest continuously accredited forestry programs, since
1904 .
WOW! The lineage of most of the world's valuable, high-performing corn varieties
can be traced to B73, a corn line developed on campus.
GEE! Annual Iowa Farm & Rural Life Poll is one of longest running surveys of its
kind, since 1982.
WOW! An ISU water-quality project is a national model for establishing buffer
strips to protect streams.
WOW! Conservation tillage research provided technology that reduced annual
cost of crop production on millions of acres by $10 per acre.
NEAT! One of ISU's most actively licensed patents is a natural weed-control lawn
and garden product developed by a horticulture professor.
GEE! Social scientists' expertise with population data has been put to use by
hundreds of communities, agencies and businesses for planning and economic
development.
YUM! Enjoy leaner pork, thanks to genetics research to identify pigs that satisfy
consumer preferences.