News Archive
Friday, June 18 2004
News
Two Iowa State departments to merge July 1
Two academic departments at Iowa State University will merge July 1 following approval by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, this week. The department of industrial education and technology in the College of Education will combine with the department of agricultural and biosystems engineering, jointly administered by the colleges of Agriculture of Engineering.
Regents approve FY05 budgets
Iowa State will start the new fiscal year on July 1 with a general operating budget of $422,510,553; about $3.8 million leaner than it was on July 1, 2003. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved FY05 budgets for the regents schools June 16.
Additions to the revenue side of Iowa State's budget include $1.9 million in additional tuition revenue, an anticipated $2.25 million increase in indirect cost recovery revenue, and $8.5 million reallocated from existing budgets.
Additions to the cost side of the budget include $9.5 million in compensation increases and $3.9 million in planned cost increases.
The regents also reviewed athletic department budgets. The Cyclone FY05 athletics budget of $27.0 million is $1 million smaller than the current year's budget.
Davis named CIO at Iowa State University
James Davis, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and interim director of Iowa State's Office
of Academic Information Technologies (AIT), will become the university's chief information officer and director of
AIT
July 1.
Provost Ben Allen announced Davis' appointment to a three-year, renewable term. His charge will be to oversee information technology services, special projects and new initiatives for the university. The leadership position is expected to result in greater coordination among the university's technology units, some long-term cost savings and increased IT alignment with Iowa State's strategic goals.
Ricardo Salvador will lead ISU Honors program
Ricardo Salvador, associate professor of agronomy at Iowa State University, has been named interim faculty director of the ISU Honors Program, effective July 1.
Schwennsen voted AIA president-elect
Kate Schwennsen has been elected first vice president/president-elect of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). She will be AIA president in 2006. Schwennsen is associate dean of the College of Design at Iowa State and an associate professor of architecture. She has held several leadership positions in AIA and is a former president of AIA Iowa. Schwennsen earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Iowa State.
Engineering students place in national bridge-building competition
A team of 25 Iowa State University engineering students recently placed eighth overall at the annual National Student Steel Bridge Competition, sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers. It was Iowa State's highest overall placing ever at the national competition.
Iowa State students are helping in an archeological dig in Nebraska where university anthropoligist Matt Hill speculates Paleoindian hunter gatherers set up a processing site to butcher game killed in another location.
ISU in the news
BBQ boosts sales
Washington Post
The state of Virginia has fired up a barbecue competition -- the Virginia Barbecue Fest -- to boost its pork industry, The Washington Post reported in its Sunday, June 13 edition. The Post sought comment from John Mabry, director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center at Iowa State University, regarding the state of the industry. Mabry said that while consumption of beef and pork has remained steady, chicken consumption has gone up, partially because of a perception that it is healthier.
Barbecue is one way to stretch the profits of processors and retailers. A producer who sells a pork shoulder to a retailer gets 79 cents a pound on average, Mabry said. But, "Put it into a good barbecue sauce and you can get $4 a pound," he said.
Stress affects memory
NewScientist
People are woefully bad at recalling details of their own traumatic experiences.
"People come away from these experiences feeling they will never forget what happened, but they confuse that with thinking they remember the details."
-- Gary Wells, distinguished professor of psychology.