Inside Iowa State for faculty and staff
April 29, 2021
Inside news
Winners will be recognized this fall for the university's annual awards in 29 categories, including a new honor for excellence in interdisciplinary team research.

Training for all faculty will begin this fall with the goal of concluding by the end of the semester. Departments will be contacted in the next week or two to schedule a session, and choose from five scenarios to best fit their faculty. 

Emergency managers envisioned a mass vaccination plan that could work in that facility, and recreation services relocated some rec programming to help make it happen. And then lots of people got to work.

Inside asked a handful of volunteers at the mass vaccination clinic to reflect on their experience -- and what they'd say to someone who hasn't signed up yet for a vaccine.

About a dozen leaders will attend to field participants' questions about COVID-19, vaccinations and moving toward normal campus operations.

Despite opening during the pandemic, there's a lot of activity already in the 140,000-square-foot, five-level hub for experimentation, creation and collaboration. One of the sessions in the Ignite Innovation Showcase earlier this month provided a peek at the Student Innovation Center's possibilities.
Announcements
The following announcements were added this week:
  • New FAQ supplements return to campus announcement
  • Tickets on sale April 30 for Alton Brown at Stephens
  • Grad assistants: Apply by May 14 to join summer peer review group
  • Food pantry announces summer hours, seeks volunteers
  • Countywide moment of silence requested on May 4
  • Plant sale at Reiman Gardens is May 8-9
  • Term faculty invited to apply for professional development funds
  • Pop-up art mart is May 5-7 in the Memorial Union
  • Campus clinic offers one- and two-dose vaccinations
Around campus
In an essay for The Conversation, assistant professor of religious studies Sarah Dees explains how Ames' decision to rename a creek with an offensive reference to Native Americans is part of a larger movement in the Midwest. Native-inspired place names are changing from slurs to names that reflect Indigenous languages, histories and mapmaking.
 
Students selected for prestigious awards
One pair of ISU students received 2021-22 Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards, and another pair won 2021-22 Boren Fellowships.

Associate professor of chemical and biological engineering Nigel Reuel and his student team developed technology that helps laboratories use cell factories to produce cell- and protein-based therapies, industrial enzymes and small molecules. A startup -- Skroot Laboratory -- is selling the technology from its incubator space in the Roy J. Carver Co-Lab.

A partnership with the city of Ames is giving College of Design students an opportunity to propose uses for a 70-acre parcel along Ioway Creek west of Moore Memorial Park and Veenker Golf Course. The goals are to reduce nutrient runoff and improve recreation.
Appointments
Retirements and farewells
This week
  • Retirement, Cate Clark, study abroad center, April 29 (3:30-5 p.m., central campus lawn tent)
  • Retirement, Ron Leibold, kinesiology, April 30, send congratulations to his Kudoboard
  • Retirement, Donald Simonson, music and theatre, April 30 (4-6 p.m., program at 4:30 p.m., Simon Estes Music Hall courtyard)

Next week
  • Retirement, Sandy Peterson, administration services, university library, May 3
  • Retirement, Martha Royer, conference services, residence department, May 3
  • Retirement, Julie Wilson, scholarship office, student financial aid, May 3
  • Retirement, Phil Caffrey, operations and policy, admissions, May 5, send congratulations to his Kudoboard
  • Retirement, Debbie Johnson, graduate programs, Ivy College of Business, May 5 (1-2:30 p.m., Kingland event space, 1450 Gerdin), send congratulations to her Kudoboard
  • Retirement, Max Morris and Steve Vardeman, statistics and industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, May 6 (3-5:30 p.m., Hunziker House, Reiman Gardens)

Upcoming
  • Retirement, Lisa Larson, psychology, May 10 (4-6 p.m., program at 4:30 p.m., Garden Room, Reiman Gardens), contact hmerfeld@iastate.edu for the optional Zoom link
  • Farewell, Amanda Quinn, apparel, merchandising and design program, May 14
  • Retirement, Ann Thye, apparel, merchandising and design program, May 14
  • Retirement, Lisa Enloe, human development and family studies, May 15, send congratulations to her Kudoboard
  • Retirement, Gayle Luze, human development and family studies, May 15, send congratulations to her Kudoboard
  • Retirement, Al Murdoch, kinesiology, May 15
  • Retirement, William Simpkins, geological and atmospheric sciences, May 15, gathering: Aug. 27 (2-4 p.m., program at 3 p.m., Hach Hall atrium)

Employees, their colleagues or supervisors are invited to submit retirements to inside@iastate.edu. University human resources doesn't provide them for publication.
Seminars and conferences
  • Conversations about Carbon series, Soil Carbon Management: Solutions and Opportunities, with Mahdi Al-Kaisi, agronomy, May 5 (noon-12:45 p.m.)
Open forum
Arts and events
A special weekend cosponsored by ISU Extension and Outreach to assist small communities, 42 Fun Things to Do on the Great Iowa Road Trip, takes place April 30-May 1 in Marion and Mahaska counties. A mapped route features a self-guided tour of 42 cool places and special activities in towns such as New Sharon, Knoxville, Oskaloosa and Pella.

Director of jazz studies Mike Giles invites the ISU community to enjoy performances by three student jazz ensembles Wednesday, May 5 (6:30 p.m. via the Tye Hall webcast site).
Learning opportunities
Provost office programming
ISU has an institutional membership with the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. To register, sign in if you already are a member or click "Become a Member," select "Iowa State University" and create your profile.
  • Webinar, Every Summer Needs a Plan, with Angelique Davis, Seattle University, May 13 (1-2 p.m.)
  • Webinar, Strategies for Academics Managing Careers and Caretaking During the Pandemic (and Beyond), with Lisa Wolf-Wendel, University of Kansas, May 25 (1-2 p.m.)

Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) programming
  • Summer Course Design Institute, build skills and have time to design courses for an online or hybrid format, May 17, 19, 24 and 26 (9-10:30 a.m. daily, followed by optional 30 minutes of discussion), register by May 7
Previous Inside coverage
About us
Inside Update is published Thursday mornings by Strategic Relations and Communications. Questions may be directed to 515-294-7065.