Inside Iowa State for faculty and staff
March 7, 2024
Inside news
The college-by-college competition continues to grow, with 132 students taking part this spring. Younger students are getting involved as instructors incorporate the pitch competition into their courses.

The student financial aid team hopes to receive student data from the U.S. Department of Education in mid-March so it can get financial aid offers to first-year students by mid- to late April.

CELT staff collaborated with directors from student health and wellness to focus the annual faculty workshop on strategies for learning environments that promote student well-being. The partnership brought different perspectives to a faculty role in student well-being.

The awards, presented at the Health and Wellbeing Symposium Feb. 2, recognize a unit and an individual who embed well-being into their daily work.

A spring hiatus
Inside won't publish next Thursday, March 14, during spring break week. Our publication schedule resumes Thursday, March 21.
Announcements
The following announcements were added this week:
  • Open houses scheduled for new recording, livestream studio in Parks Library
  • P&S councilor nomination window extended through March 15
  • Work resumes March 11 on CYTown lots
  • Daylight saving time returns Sunday morning
  • Alert eligible fall juniors to Carver scholarship
  • John Kasich will present Manatt-Phelps lecture March 27
  • Organic farming pioneer to present Shivvers Lecture on March 18
  • Registration is open for campus digital scholarship symposium
  • Staff, faculty volunteers sought at food pantry during spring break
  • YWCA honors Women of Achievement awardees on March 28
  • Apply for 2024-25 undergrad research assistant funds by March 29
Around campus
In a four-minute video, President Wendy Wintersteen walks us through front-page headlines on recent Iowa State achievements in innovation.

Elizabeth Macias can help faculty and staff researchers across campus collect, organize, analyze and share their data in standardized formats so it is easy to understand, replicate and reuse in future studies. Her position is a collaborative effort between the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and University Library. Researchers are encouraged to include data analysis services in their grant proposals.

Snowplow driver input has strengthened a research project that uses GPS to help drivers maintain their position in a highway lane when visibility is poor.

World languages and cultures professor Michael Bailey discusses the origin of the idea of witches flying on a broomstick and the skepticism that followed it throughout the centuries in an essay for The Conversation.
Retirements and open houses
This week
  • Retirement, Jeff Thorson, Ruminant Nutrition Farm, animal science, March 8 (3-5 p.m., atrium, Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center)

Next week
  • Retirement, Bruce Bonestroo, design services, facilities planning and management, March 15 (no public event), email best wishes
  • Open house, Studio 2B, March 15 (11 a.m.-2 p.m., lower level, Parks Library)

Upcoming
  • Open house, Studio 2B, March 22 and 29 (11 a.m.-2 p.m., lower level, Parks Library) 
  • Retirement, Al Miller, network infrastructure, IT Services, March 29 (11 a.m.-2 p.m., 1310 Communications)
  • Retirement, Sharon Rink, Reiman Gardens, March 31 (no public event)
  • Retirement, Ellen Reints, academic affairs business unit, provost's office, April 1 (no public event) 
  • Retirement, Ross Vanmarel, facilities, Ames National Laboratory, April 2 (no public event)
Arts and events
The Cyclone gymnastics squad hosts Iowa in the final Cy-Hawk matchup of the winter season Friday, March 8 (6:30 p.m., Hilton Coliseum). It's also Senior Night for the team on its last home appearance of the season. Tickets are $5 (or a Senior Night offer of six for $6). Leave the gold shirts at home; color it cardinal for this one.

Dr. Paul Plummer, who leads the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria, will give a public lecture Tuesday, March 19 (6 p.m., 2630 Memorial Union) on antibiotics' increasing inability to keep humans, animals and plants healthy. Plummer is a professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine and associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Tickets ($45-$75) still are available for the World Ballet Series' production of Swan Lake on Thursday, March 21 (7 p.m., Stephens Auditorium).
Learning opportunities
Provost office programming
  • Faculty development workshop, Preparing for a Successful Promotion and Tenure, for tenure-eligible faculty, faculty mentors and college and department leaders, with associate provosts Dawn Bratsch-Prince and Ann Marie VanDerZanden, assistant provost Tera Jordan, and associate vice president for research Surya Mallapragada, March 28 (9:30-11 a.m., MU Campanile Room), register

University human resources programming 
Leadership skills certificate series for supervisors, register in Workday Learning (topics: university human resources, managers at ISU)
  • Workshop, Managing Conflict, March 28 or April 18 (10 a.m.-noon, MU Oak Room)
  • Workshop, Building an Effective Team, April 9 (1-3 p.m., MU Oak Room)

P&S Council programming
  • Seminar (professional development series), Exploring Applications and Ethics of Generative AI in Educational and Professional Settings, with Abram Anders, English, March 19 (2-3 p.m., virtual), register in Workday Learning
Previous Inside coverage
About us
Inside Update is published Thursday mornings by Strategic Relations and Communications. Questions may be directed to 515-294-7065.