In 20 two-day sessions, an estimated 5,600 would-be fall freshmen will launch their college experience. For some, orientation is about selecting a college.

 

Facilities planning and management staff put their heads together and found a way to fix soil erosion and sidewalk conditions caused by water runoff.

 

Paul Fuligni has been named an associate vice president in university services, overseeing facilities planning and management operations. He assumes his duties on July 10.

 

Professor of animal science Jim Reecy will become an associate vice president for research on June 1.

 

Design sessions with campus leaders and first-hand users of the financial and human capital management business processes will be held through August. It is the next phase for implementation of the Workday enterprise platform.

 

A national search is underway for the final administrative position created in a new leadership structure announced last summer for the division of student affairs.

Bird's-eye view

Several technical changes -- plus nearly a month of running their test robot -- had team members of Cyclone Space Mining feeling confident heading into the NASA Robotic Mining Competition May 22-26 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 

The student Cyclone Power Pullers hope to squeeze every last bit of efficiency out of the tractor they built from scratch this year. A competition organized by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers starts June 1 in Peoria, Illinois.

 

The interim vice president for extension and outreach talks about the impact of the organization and the professionals who serve it, his interim leadership plans and even a successful three-year quest to visit all 100 county offices ... on his motorcycle.

 

• Farewell: Patrick Gunn, animal science, May 25 (3-4 p.m., Kildee Hall atrium)

• Retirement: Becky Jordan, special collections and university archives (Parks Library), May 31 (no public event)
• Retirement: Steve Mahoney, ecology, evolution and organismal biology, June 1 (2-4 p.m., program at 2:30 p.m., MU Gallery)
• Retirement: Kathy Birdsall, IT services, June 2 (no public event)
• Retirement: Julie Carroll, IT services, June 2 (no public event)
• Retirement: Sue Spencer, IT services, June 2 (no public event)

• Retirement: Lynn Henn, Committee for Agricultural Development, June 14 (1:30-3 p.m., program at 1:45 p.m., 0142 Curtiss)

Iowa State employees, retirees and spouses who died during the past year will be remembered at the university's annual Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 29 (9 a.m, Reiman Ballroom, ISU Alumni Center).