Huddled against the snow
Tulips in the bed northeast of Agronomy Hall were dissuaded from opening last week when Ames received more than 5 inches of snow May 2-3. Just in time for graduation celebrations, the blooms are looking their cardinal and gold loveliest this week. Photo by Bob Elbert.
David Spalding named next Business dean
David Spalding, senior vice president and senior adviser to Dartmouth College's interim president Carol Folt, has been appointed the next Raisbeck Endowed Dean of the College of Business. He will begin on Aug. 1.
David Spalding
"David has an outstanding record, both in the business world and in higher education administration," said president Steven Leath. "I am confident he will take Iowa State's business programs to the next level, broaden the range of experiences available to our students and faculty, and expand the college's impact in every corner of the state and beyond."
During his eight years at Dartmouth, Spalding has held many leadership roles, including his current position in which he helps implement strategy, vision and direction for the institution. As Dartmouth's vice president for alumni relations, Spalding led the school's efforts to increase engagement with its nearly 70,000 alumni. Before his Dartmouth career, he held positions with Chase Manhattan, First National Bank of Chicago, GE Capital Corporate Finance Group, Lehman Brothers and the Cypress Group, a private equity firm he co-founded and co-managed.
"I am honored to serve as Iowa State's next business dean," Spalding said. "It's a great college with an exceptional history and a bright future. I look forward to working with faculty and staff to help the program reach new heights, and working with my colleagues across the campus to provide students an education that links Iowa's strengths to global economies and cultures."
Spalding earned a bachelor's degree in history from Dartmouth and an MBA in finance from New York University. He currently serves on the board of AMTROL; previous board affiliations include Lear Corp., Williams-Scotsman, and Parisian Inc.
In making the announcement, senior vice president and provost Jonathan Wickert praised interim dean Mike Crum for his leadership of the college since last July. Wickert also commended members of the search committee for their thoughtful consideration of candidates.
More reaction to Spalding's appointment
"David's wise counsel and valued judgment made him one of the most effective and trusted administrators I worked with during my tenure as Dartmouth's president. His impressive career in business and finance followed by his success in multiple key leadership roles at Dartmouth provide a unique perspective that make David the ideal person to take on the challenges facing a Business school dean. Iowa State is fortunate to have him."
-- Jim Yong Kim, president, World Bank
Former president, Dartmouth College
"David comes with a rare blend of impressive leadership achievements in both business and academia. He is a great listener who understands the need to invest in our programs and people."
-- Arnie Cowan, Wells Fargo Professor in Finance
Search committee member
"David's hiring brings new ideas and a commitment to relationships that will help the college expand its reputation, both throughout the state and across the nation. I am truly excited for the future of the Business college at Iowa State."
-- Suku Radia, CEO and president, Bankers Trust, Des Moines
Alumnus
Harmon named associate vice president for student affairs
Martino Harmon, executive director of student success and retention at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Ohio, will become the next associate vice president for student affairs at Iowa State.
Martino Harmon
Harmon will begin his new position later this summer. He succeeds Kathleen Jones, who retired as registrar in 2012, but continues as associate VP for student affairs until July 5.
"Martino has extensive experience in admissions and enrollment management, student development, student activities and diversity programming," said senior vice president for student affairs Tom Hill. "He is following the legendary Kathy Jones, who has invested 41 years paving the way for Iowa State students to succeed, and whose wealth of institutional knowledge amazes and inspires us all. But Martino is up to the challenge. He's incredibly capable, with the background and leadership skills we need to accomplish the Division of Student Affairs' goals. We're excited to have him here."
At Iowa State, Harmon will oversee enrollment services, admissions, student financial aid and learning communities, as well as Student Affairs' budget and human resources and the Educational Talent Search and Upward Bound programs.
Previously, Harmon was dean of student development at Rhodes State College, Lima, Ohio; and dean of admission, retention and student life at Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Mich. From 1996 to 2007, he served in various leadership positions at the University of Toledo, Ohio. He was director of the University of Toledo's African American Student Enrichment Office, director of freshman admission, associate director of admission and multicultural recruitment, and an admissions counselor, among other roles.
Harmon is a member of NASPA, the national association for student affairs administrators in higher education, and has held offices with the College Board, the Ohio Board of Regents' Committee on College Access, and the University of Toledo Board of Trustees Student Life Committee.
Harmon earned a bachelor of business administration degree (1987) and a master's in education (1998) from the University of Toledo. He will complete a Ph.D. in higher education there this summer.
Class credit for campus improvement
Associate professor Mimi Wagner (standing left) and her landscape architecture (LA 282) students put the final touches on a "ecotechnological" service learning project Wednesday. The class partnered with facilities planning and management to reconstruct a storm drain outfall and install native plants adjacent to College Creek (near the east parking deck). The project provides erosion protection and an easier access to the creek. Photo by Bob Elbert.
Provost's office selects faculty fellows
Cinzia Cervato
Cinzia Cervato, professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, and Mack Shelley, University Professor of political science and of statistics, have been named faculty fellows in the office of the senior vice president and provost. Each will serve a two-year, part-time term, beginning in August.
Faculty fellowships are designed to provide leadership and project management experience to faculty who are interested in, or aspire to leadership positions at Iowa State. The program was announced in February as part of a broader realignment plan and to increase faculty participation in the provost's office.
"Cinzia and Mack will work with peers and institutional leaders to enhance faculty success and retention at Iowa State," said Dawn Bratsch-Prince, associate provost for faculty. "Their efforts will have a significant impact across the university."
Mack Shelley
Cervato will lead faculty 'onboarding' and development efforts. She has extensive international academic and industry experience. She served as a teaching partner for junior faculty, and chaired the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) advisory board.
Shelley will lead development efforts for department chairs. He serves as president of Iowa State's American Association of University Professors chapter, and previously held an appointment in the educational leadership and policy studies department.
Eduroam: Wireless access feels like home
Those who spend much time at other universities are used to dealing with red tape to gain wireless access to their networks. Often, they must visit local IT offices to get online.
Fortunately, thousands of universities throughout the world are peeling back the red tape, allowing visiting faculty, staff and students fast, painless access to Wi-Fi. Iowa State is a partner in the Eduroam initiative, a world-wide roaming access service that started among European universities in 2003 and has since expanded to 60 countries and territories.
Iowa State's partnership allows ISU faculty, staff and students to access Wi-Fi networks at participating Eduroam campuses (there are 100 American participants and thousands internationally) simply by using their Iowa State Net-IDs and passwords.
Setting up
Before you use Eduroam on another campus, you'll need to use it at least once here at Iowa State. There are detailed instructions for your device on information technology service's "Connect to Eduroam" page, but it's pretty easy. Basically, you'll view available wireless networks, select "eduroam," and, depending on your device, tweak some settings.
How it works
Once you've successfully signed on at Iowa State, you can use Eduroam anywhere it's available, said Jennifer Lohrbach, ITS senior systems analyst. It works something like this:
- You're at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (an Eduroam participant)
- You view available wireless networks on your device and select "eduroam."
- You log in, using your ISU Net-ID, for example, janedoe@iastate.edu. (Behind the scenes, and in a split second, your credentials whip through an Eduroam server and then on to an Iowa State server, which verifies your login and password.)
- You're online.
Lohrbach added that Eduroam will not negate the need to use Iowa State's virtual private network (VPN) to access some ISU services that require restricted access. If you currently need VPN for off-campus access to certain services, you'll still need it when connecting from an Eduroam campus.
Lohrbach said Iowa State's Eduroam service, which launched at the beginning of spring semester, uses the existing Wi-Fi network. When you connect to Wi-Fi at Iowa State, you can select either the "IASTATE" or "eduroam" network. The key difference between the two is the IASTATE connection is unsecured and thus, more susceptible to security risks than the encrypted Eduroam connection.
On another campus, you'll be selecting the Eduroam network.
Senate business concludes with policy changes, P&T report
The Faculty Senate closed out the 2012-13 academic year May 7 with dead week and excusable absence policy changes. Senators also got a look at this year's promotion and tenure results.
Senators approved a dead week policy for undergraduates. The previous language presented the information as a set of recommendations, rather than a formal policy. The approved dead week restrictions include:
- due dates for mandatory graded submissions must be listed on the syllabus
- final exams are not allowed, except for labs or weekly courses that do not meet during finals
- student organizations may not hold meetings, functions or sponsored events without approval by the dean of students office
Changes to the Faculty Handbook policy (section 10.4.3) that outlines excused absences for extracurricular activities also were approved. The changes help accommodate students with military service obligations and mandated court appearances.
Concerns were raised in the discussion, including a failed motion to send the document back to the academic affairs council for additional work. Concerns ranged from the broadness of the language to the policy's impact on instructors teaching large class sections, but supporters pointed to the ability of instructors to make reasonable decisions.
"Instructor discretion is in the overall preamble," said Veronica Dark. "If you think the student is not being exposed to, or isn't able to master the material that you need them to master, then we need to counsel the student."
Promotion and tenure report
Senior vice president and provost Jonathan Wickert shared this year's promotion and tenure results, reporting that 56 of 63 cases were approved. Twenty of 25 tenured faculty were promoted to professor, 32 of 34 tenured faculty were promoted to associate professor, three earned tenure and one was promoted to professor (a non-tenured collaborator appointment).
P&T recommendations (and requests) by gender and ethnicity:
| Ethnic Group | Male | Female |
| White | 24 (28) | 13 (15) |
| Asian | 10 (11) | 7 (7) |
| Latino, Hispanic | 0 (0) | 2 (2) |
| Total | 34 (39) | 22 (24) |
Wickert also shared statistics on:
- resignations prior to tenure: 37.7 percent (2005), 33.8 percent (2006), 42.2 percent (2007)
- retention in the partner accommodation program: $6.5 million since 2001, about 90 percent still here
- tenure clock extensions: 139 (76 women, 63 men) have used an extension since 2003; 39 percent granted, 35 percent pending, 21 percent resigned
He also provided a snapshot of the 2007 class of tenure-eligible faculty. Of the 45 faculty hired, 20 earned tenure, four are working toward tenure with an extension and two changed to P base (professional and scientific) positions. Wickert said it was the number of faculty who left ISU without earning tenure -- 19 (13 men and six women) -- that caught his attention.
"That number kind of jumped out at me," Wickert said. "We know there are a lot of reasons why people may leave the institution. We want to take a look at the data and do some analytics on it. We want to understand why this change is happening."
Other business
- A name change for the family finance housing and policy program (to financial counseling and planning) was approved unanimously.
- A name change for the agricultural engineering graduate program (to agricultural and biosystems engineering) was approved unanimously.
The art (and science) of sandbags
About 50 Iowa State employees, representing primarily the facilities, planning and management; recreation services; and environmental health and safety units, received training in filling and stacking sandbags during a first-of-its-kind event on April 30. The intent is to have knowledgeable employees who could lead volunteers if another flood were to hit campus.
The training was organized by FPM's facilities services division, with instruction provided by the pros: Keith Morgan, coordinator of Story County's Emergency Management Agency; and Ron Matthews from Central Iowa RSVP's Volunteer Management for Disasters Program.
Did you know a "full" sandbag actually should be one-third to one-half full? That a sandbag wall should be constructed 6-8 feet from the building it's protecting? Learn more in this News Service video. Photo by Bob Elbert.
Council approves salary statement
A salary statement was introduced and overwhelmingly approved at the Professional and Scientific Council's May 2 meeting. Council members hope to distribute the document to university administrators as salary budget decisions are being considered.
"It's kind of late in the process to have any kind of specific recommendation for salaries, in terms of the way the budgets are put together," said Dan Rice, chair of the compensation and benefits committee. "We decided to have a salary statement, rather than a salary recommendation, in resolution form."
The salary statement's (PDF) list of priorities includes recommendations to:
- adjust the P&S salary matrix and move the range by the same minimum percentage increase selected for satisfactory performance reviews
- use the salary pool only for performance- and merit-based increases
- stop using salary pool dollars for salary corrections (such as retention, equity and reclassification)
- consider equity among employee groups when making salary adjustments
- maintain retirement, health and other benefits at current levels
Search for HRS VP
Warren Madden, senior vice president for business and finance, told council members that no interim appointment is planned for the associate vice president for human resource services position. In April, David Trainor announced his resignation from the post, effective this summer.
Madden said he intends to put together a search committee "fairly quickly," and likely will use a search firm to help identify the best pool of candidates for the position.
"Programs and budgeting decisions will move forward," he said. "I'm open to input and suggestions. There will be a lot of activity going on over the summer."
Other business
- Three council officer posts were filled, each with a one-year term: Dick Pfarrer (residence hall coordinator, residence department) as secretary; Stacy Renfro (program assistant, Center for Biorenewable Chemicals) as vice president for university and community relations; and Lisa Rodgers (purchasing agent, U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory) as vice president for university planning and budget.
- Council president David Orman reported on upcoming proposals that would realign the work of some council committees. As proposed, he said the peer advisory group would become a full standing committee, and meet monthly. The committee also would assume the council's peer mentoring initiative for new council members, and oversee the P&S affinity groups (currently, about 27 are active) that started up at this year's professional development conference. In addition, he recommended that two committees -- policies and procedures, and compensation and benefits -- meet jointly since they address many of the same issues.
ISU Dining announces summer schedule
You may want to consult the lists below before venturing out for lunch on campus this summer. ISU Dining is closing several locations and reducing hours for others over the summer months.
Locations closed for summer
The following dining locations will be closed from May 11 to Aug. 26.
- Business Café, Gerdin Business Building
- Clyde's Sports Club, Union Drive Community Center
- Conversations Dining, Oak-Elm Residence Hall
- Design Café, College of Design
- Froots, State Gym
- South Side Market, Wallace-Wilson commons (open May 11, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.)
Special hours, limited venues May 11-19
May 11
- Memorial Union Food Court (11 a.m.-2 p.m.)
- Memorial Union Market & Café (8 a.m.-4 p.m.)
- Hawthorn Market & Café, Frederiksen Court Community Center (9 a.m.-5 p.m.)
- South Side Market (9 a.m.-1 p.m.)
- West Side Market, Union Drive Community Center (9 a.m.-1 p.m.)
- East Side Market, Maple-Willow-Larch commons (9 a.m.-1 p.m.)
May 12
- All venues closed
May 13-17
- Memorial Union Food Court (7 a.m.-2 p.m.)
- Hawthorn Market & Café (7 a.m.-1:30 p.m.)
- Hub Grill & Café (10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.)
- Caribou Coffee, Hub (7 a.m.-4 p.m.)
- Memorial Union Market & Café (7 a.m.-5 p.m.)
- West Side Market (7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.)
May 18
- Memorial Union Market & Café (8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.)
May 19
- All venues closed
Reduced summer hours
Hours at the following dining venues will be reduced May 20 through Aug. 2. These locations also are closed on Saturdays and Sundays, unless indicated.
- Bookends Café, Parks Library (7:30 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday)
- Caribou Coffee (7 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday)
- Courtyard Café, Lagomarcino Hall (7:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday)
- East Side Market (hours vary; check dining services website for updates)
- Gentle Doctor Café, College of Veterinary Medicine (7:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday)
- Hawthorn Market & Café (7 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Monday-Friday)
- Hub Grill & Café (10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Monday-Friday)
- Memorial Union Food Court (7 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday)
- Memorial Union Market & Café (7 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday; 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday)
- West Side Market (7:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday)
More than 3,700 will graduate this weekend
An estimated 3,766 students completed degree programs at Iowa State this semester and many of them will participate in commencement events this weekend.
The first of three commencement exercises begins at 8 p.m. Friday, May 10, in Hilton Coliseum. An estimated 357 master's and 128 doctoral degree recipients will be honored. The ceremony will be streamed live on the ISU registrar's website.
Carol Chapelle, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Teaching English as a Second Language/applied linguistics), will address the graduates. She leads the English department's doctoral and master's programs in these areas, and is especially known for her research on the use of technology in second language learning. Chapelle received her education at Michigan State University, East Lansing (bachelor's degree in linguistics), and the University of Illinois, Urbana (master's degree in TESL, doctorate in applied linguistics).
At noon Saturday in Stephens Auditorium, an anticipated 141 new doctors will receive the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree. The class includes 23 students from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, who transferred to Iowa State for their final two years of veterinary training under a partnership between the two universities.
Dr. Tammy Beckham, who directs the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense, College Station, Texas, and also leads Texas A&M's Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, will give the address. Beckham received her DVM from Auburn University, Alabama, where she also earned a doctorate in biomedical science.
Finally, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Hilton, many of the anticipated 3,140 students completing bachelor's degrees this spring will be honored. This ceremony also will be streamed live online.
CNN business anchor Christine Romans, a 1993 Iowa State journalism graduate, is the commencement speaker. Romans is the host of Your Money, CNN's Saturday and Sunday business program. She also reports on the economy, politics and international business for CNN's morning shows.
Tickets are not required for any of the university commencement events. Students who will complete a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree this summer have the option of participating in the May or December ceremonies.
Special events
Iowa State colleges will hold separate events May 10-11 to honor their own graduating students. A full schedule of these college events is online.
Additionally, Iowa State's 16th annual Lavender Graduation will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. An estimated 20 graduating members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and ally communities will be honored. Special guest Rev. Jamie Washington of Baltimore, a consultant and educator in multicultural affairs and proponent of LGBT rights and leadership, will present the Legacy of Leadership Award to two retiring faculty members. All are welcome to attend.
The ISU Alumni Association will host a reception for all graduates and their families at the alumni center on Saturday afternoon immediately following the undergraduate ceremony. It's free for all 2013 graduates, whether they're ISUAA members or not.
Spring fling weekend in the gardens
Reiman Gardens will kick off a three-day "Spring Fling" weekend by participating in National Public Gardens Day on Friday, May 10. Guests receive free admission to the gardens with a coupon from Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Saturday events include a plant sale hosted by Story County Master Gardeners (8 a.m.-3 p.m.) and activity stations for children (11 a.m.-3 p.m.). Moms receive free admission to the gardens on Mother's Day, May 12. Photo by Bob Elbert.
Arts and events
Three university commencement ceremonies are planned; colleges also will honor their graduating students during convocations and receptions.
Reiman Gardens welcomes spring with three days of special activities May 10-12.
