Ames, Iowa
June 12, 2007
Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture is now Iowa
State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
At its Tuesday meeting in Iowa City, the Board of Regents, State
of Iowa, approved a proposal from Iowa State to change the name
of the college.
“Iowa State University has a 150-year tradition of excellence in
agriculture. The new name for the college is the right direction
to take as we enter a bold new chapter for the many areas
touched by agriculture and the life sciences in Iowa,” said
Wendy Wintersteen, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences.
The new name, Wintersteen said, “more accurately describes both
the long-held and the modern emphasis and breadth of the college
and will help us communicate our contemporary programs and
directions.”
Dan Frieberg of Cumming, chair of the college’s advisory
council, said, “Iowa State University, and the College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences in particular, is in a high stakes
battle for the best and brightest. We can’t afford to lose
students from urban areas or any other background just because
their perception of agriculture is dated or inappropriate. For
many, the addition of life sciences may prove more fitting to
the kind of future they see for themselves.”
Many of the exciting new opportunities emerging in agriculture —
the bioeconomy, plant and animal genomics, environmental
stewardship, food and nutrition — are connected with basic
sciences, Wintersteen said.
“That’s why I believe it is time for us to embrace our role in
the life sciences,” said Wintersteen. “Iowa State is one of the
world’s premier research institutions for agricultural sciences.
The new name will help position the college as we aggressively
seek new opportunities in agriculture and life-science areas and
collaborate with partners across the university, the state and
beyond.”
Perhaps most importantly, the college has high hopes that the
new name will help attract a new generation of students, said
David Acker, associate dean of academic and global programs in
the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
“The new name will help us to better convey the breadth of
programs we offer,” Acker said. “We want to encourage
prospective students to explore the wide variety of majors the
college offers, the life-improving science behind them and the
great career opportunities they represent. Our placement rate of
more than 98 percent is something we’re very proud of.”
Acker said the college is responding to demands for well-trained
graduates to support excellent career opportunities in the
sciences of life — the broad range of agricultural, food,
environmental and biological and life-science areas.
Last fall, Wintersteen announced the college was moving forward
with a proposal to change the name, following several years of
discussions with faculty, staff, students, advisory groups and
alumni. In March, the College of Agriculture faculty voted in
favor of the change and in April, the Iowa State University
Faculty Senate unanimously approved the proposed name change.
Last fall, the College of Agriculture Advisory Council had
unanimously supported changing the name to College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences.
“Agriculture is very technical, very scientific and very much
about biology,” said Frieberg, who earned his bachelor of
science in farm operations from the college. “Plant and animal
genomics, for example, will be just as revolutionary for
agriculture as human genomics will be for human medicine. Life
sciences is very much an appropriate expansion of what modern
and future agriculture is and will be.” |
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