From appreciations to awards, the CALS Spring Awards Ceremony Thursday evening awarded the members of CALS faculty and staff for the outstanding work that deserves to be appreciated.

Beginning the forum, Interim Dean Joe Colletti announced some remarks for the audience. Colletti started by explaining the selecting process for the next dean. The upcoming dean will be the 11^th to collaborate with CALS.

The search for the next dean is taken very seriously, Colletti said. There is currently a 20 person committee that will solicit people to be nominated. He stressed that the selection process is reaching out nationally, and the college believes that diversity is important to have in CALS.

Colletti continued to discuss the qualities and characteristics that the college is looking for in the next dean. Two forums are expected to be held in the future to discuss these qualities.

Another topic that Colletti brought up was budget. Since January, the state revenue is up. This could mean that CALS will not face a mid-year budget cut as previously expected.

 “I ask you to buy those twinkies and cars and other things like that to help keep the economy strong,” Colletti joked.

 Following the topic of budget cuts, Colletti talked about tuition. In May, a base-tuition approval is expected to be released as well as if a proposal is accepted by the board for differential tuition. This could potentially expand the number of majors across the university.

 Colletti made a point to explain how crucial diversity is to the college.

 “We have to continue to engage out students, engage all of ourselves, to make sure that we understand what the issues and opportunities are,” Colletti said.

 CALS has an Assistant Dean of Diversity as well as a Multicultural Liaison Officer, and Colletti stated that those positions show the passion for diversity that the college has.

 “It expresses the notion that we know that we need to have the right people and the right resources to make sure that diversity inclusion is really done well, and that we can listen to our students,” Colletti said.

 The topic of where the students go after college was also discussed by Colletti. He revealed that the placement data, describing where CALS students go after college for jobs, was at 99.2 percent. This means that students graduate, and 99.2 percent of the students that did graduate either continued their education or received a job.

 Along with the placement of the students, Colletti said that 67 percent of CALS students stay in Iowa for their first job. He said that this means that Iowa State University is a good investment for the Iowa government, because over half of the students remain in Iowa.

Colletti finished up his remarks by explaining three capital projects that are in the process of formation.

 The first project is a Poultry Research and Teaching Farm. Colletti said that the farm is expected to ‘break ground this year’. The second project, a feed mill, is currently in the planning and developing state, but is expected to be created. The last project is the creation of a Swine Teaching and Research Farm. Currently, the Swine Teaching and Research Farm is in the process of planning and development as well.

 “These are priorities in our campaign because we have the largest undergraduate program with animal science, and we know that it’s at least $30 billion to the state economy through the ag industry, so it’s a big deal,” Colletti said.

 After briefly discussing study abroad and sustainability, Colletti began presenting the awards.

 “It’s because of their efforts that we have outstanding graduate and undergraduate programs, that we do outstanding work with research extension and outreach,” Colletti began.

 Opening the awards, Colletti started with awards representing exceptional teaching. Eight staff members were awarded teaching awards, but not all were for in-class teaching. While some were for teaching in lecture halls, others were for outstanding advisors, or phenomenal Learning Community Coordinators.

 Following the teaching awards, Ruth MacDonald, an Interim Dean, announces awards for diversity and research. Outstanding staff members received awards ranging from extensive research to diversity enhancement.

 Staff and Extension Awards, as well as Team and Special were announced afterwards by Mark Honeyman, professor and director of Iowa State Research Farms.

Ending the awards ceremony, a recently new award was presented. The Dean’s Citation for Extraordinary Contributions to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences was awarded to Dr. Mark Rasmussen. Rasmussen currently serves at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and has been the director for the last six years.

 The following is a full list of the awards and recipients:

Teaching Awards:

Early Achievement in Teaching – $500

Andrew VanLoocke, Assistant Professor

Agronomy

Outstanding Achievement in Teaching – $500

Cynthia Haynes, Associate Professor

Horticulture

Excellence in Teaching by Lecturers & Adjunct Faculty – $500

Sherrlyn Olsen, Lecturer

Animal Science

Distance Education Teaching Award – $500

Kenneth Moore, Distinguished Professor

Agronomy

Early Advisor Award – $500

Tamara Kerns, Academic Advisor

Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering

Outstanding Advisor Award – $500

Amy Brandau, Academic Advisor

Economics

Outstanding Service in Student Recruitment & Retention – $500

Amber Kargol, Academic Advisor

Food Science & Human Nutrition

Learning Community Coordinator Award – $500

Jennifer Bundy, Assistant Professor

Animal Science

Diversity and Research Awards:

Professional and Scientific Research Award – $500

Hui Wang, Pilot Plant Manager

Center for Crop Utilization Research

Early Achievement in Research – $500

Sotirios Archontoulis, Assistant Professor

Agronomy

Mid-Career Achievement in Research – $500

David Grewell, Director

Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites

Outstanding Achievement in Research – $500

John Patience, Professor

Animal Science

Professional and Scientific Excellence Award – $500

Kenneth Pecinovsky, Superintendent Research Station

Iowa State Research Farms

Faculty Award for Diversity Enhancement – $500

Angela Shaw, Associate Professor

Food Science & Human Nutrition

Staff and Extension Awards:

Outstanding Achievement in International Agriculture – $500

Manjit Misra, Director, Seed Science Center

Agronomy and Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering

Outstanding Achievement in Extension & Outreach Award – $500

Matt Helmers, Professor

Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering

Professional and Scientific Outstanding New Professional – $500

Yijing Ding, Program Coordinator

Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering

Merit Award for Achievement and Service – $500

Marcella Bruhn, Clerk IV

Animal Science

Team and Special Awards

CALS Team Award – $500

Rowcrops/STRIPS Team:

Lisa Schulte-Moore, Lead Professor, NREM

J Arbuckle, Sociology/ANR Extension

Rick Cruse, Agronomy

Brian Gelder, ABE

Nancy Grudens-Schuck, AGEDS

Mary Harris, NREM

Matt Helmers, ABE/ANR Extension

Adina Howe, ABE

Matt Liebman, Agronomy

Mark Johnson, ANR Extension

Jarad Niemi, Statistics

Matt O’Neal, Entomology

Michelle Soupir, ABE

John Tyndall, NREM

Chris Witte, ABE

Tim Youngquist, Agronomy

Raymond and Mary Baker Agronomic Excellence Award

Jianming Yu, Professor

Agronomy

Dean’s Citation for Extraordinary Contributions to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Mark Rasmussen, Director as Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture