Colorful fall harvest at the hort farm

September 22

Iowa State senior in global resource systems and horticulture research station employee Jaden Ahlrichs (right) tosses a bell pepper to work colleague and horticulture graduate student Jerimiah Johnson during their harvest Tuesday morning north of Ames. Peppers, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and kale all were picked this week to share at Wednesday's Local Food Festival on central campus. Produce also is sold through the farm's community produce sale, in which online shoppers (with Net IDs) may order fruits and vegetables grown at the farm. They pick up their orders on campus during the Friday lunch hour.

Process opens to review U.S. diversity courses

By Jeff Budlong
September 22

The Faculty Senate created a U.S. Diversity Course Requirement Committee during the 2021-22 academic year to ensure diversity courses meet new learning outcomes. The committee is ready to review all courses -- new, modified and unchanged -- to ensure they meet three of the four learning outcomes and can be included in the 2023-24 course catalog.

One hundred thirty-four courses fulfill the current diversity course requirement -- which every student must complete -- and the committee has a streamlined review process.

"I really want to emphasize to the faculty to submit their courses as early as they can, especially if they feel like they don't have to change much," said U.S. diversity committee chair Kelly Reddy-Best. "It will give us time to review all of the courses."

Students enrolled on the 2022-23 course catalog or earlier can fulfill the commitment through U.S. diversity courses in their current format, but there was a need to update the process because the courses were approved by college curriculum committees.

"Not all committees had the expertise to analyze whether or not the course met the learning outcomes at that time," Reddy-Best said. "Now it is centralized at the university level, and the people on the committee have been identified as having expertise in this area. Courses are being looked at with an informed and critical eye."

The committee held its first meeting on March 25 and will meet 15 times between September and May. The 11-person committee has representatives from the colleges, student body and other groups.

It developed a rubric – a scoring guide – to review courses and determine if at least 70% of course content meets the learning outcomes. That includes course learning outcomes and objectives, course materials, learning activities, assessments, course framework and pedagogical approaches.

"We decided since this could be a student's only experience with the requirement, we wanted to make sure the course had a significant portion of content that met at least three of the four learning outcomes," Reddy-Best said. "It is a high threshold, but these are the values we think are important."

A survey sent to 137 instructors who taught a diversity course during spring 2020 or fall 2021 semesters found that if 50% of the content in a course needed to meet three of the four learning outcomes, the faculty of 65 courses perceived their course would qualify. Faculty perceived 28 courses would qualify if 100% was the threshold.

 How to submit courses for review

Instructors submit course proposals for committee review online through a public Canvas page. The first step is to email Reddy-Best to be enrolled in the submission portal before downloading the form. Once complete, each instructor submits three pieces of information:

• A proposal form
• The most recent course syllabus
• A quiz, chapter, assignment, or other item from the course

Instructors will receive confirmation their submission was received.

"We are not reviewing every piece of the course because we are putting our trust in the faculty," Reddy-Best said.

Review process

Each course goes through a multistep review that begins with two committee members examining the proposal and determining one of three outcomes:

• Meets three of the four learning outcomes in at least 70% of the course
• Committee needs more information to determine if it meets the standards
• Does not meet three of the four learning outcomes

The reviewers use the same standards on each proposal, and the committee chair reviews their recommendation. Next, the full committee discusses the recommendation and votes to accept or reject the proposal. The instructor is informed of the decision or may be asked to submit more information.

As Election Day nears, a review of political expression guidelines

By Dave Roepke
September 22

With congressional, state and county offices on the ballot in the Nov. 8 election, faculty and staff may find it helpful to review how constitutional protections, state law and university policies apply to political activity and expression on campus -- whether in their office or in a classroom.

Here are some tips, based on guidance from the office of general counsel and the senior vice president and provost's office:

Your personal rights

University employees, as private citizens, may participate fully in politics, which includes publicly expressing political opinions. They can support or oppose candidates and legislation, write letters to the editor or even run for office. 

However, faculty and staff should avoid creating the impression they are acting or speaking on behalf of the university. Unless explicitly authorized, ISU employees do not speak for Iowa State and should not imply their opinions represent those of the university.

Also, faculty and staff must use their own time and resources when engaging in political activity. Employees should not use a university computer, email account or letterhead for political communication, for instance. State law prohibits public entities and their employees from using government resources for political purposes, and Iowa State policy generally prohibits employees from using university property for a private purpose, such as supporting their personal political views.

Campaign signs and stickers

State law generally prohibits displaying campaign signs on or within university buildings, other than student residence halls. Displaying political messages in employee workspaces may be permitted if they're not conspicuously visible to the public or affixed to equipment owned by the university. The key idea is whether someone might reasonably interpret that the message is representing the institution.

For example, a political sign posted on an outward-facing window or door would be problematic, as would posting a political sticker on a university-owned laptop. Faculty and staff also should consider how displaying political messages may affect expression of diverse or contrary opinions in their offices or classrooms.

Classroom expression

As a public university, the First Amendment applies to Iowa State and generally limits the university's ability to restrict political expression beyond reasonable time, place and manner regulations. For instance, the university prohibits chalking messages in specific areas of campus. This prohibition in specific areas applies to all chalking regardless of the content or viewpoint expressed. These restrictions must be consistent and imposed regardless of the view expressed.

In classrooms, instructors can require that students act in a way that maintains an environment effective for learning. Policies and procedures and training resources can help faculty manage disruptive students. But in the same way that chalking rules can't consider what's written on the sidewalk, classroom expectations for students must be reasonable, content- and viewpoint-neutral, and applied consistently. Instructors can't bar students from expressing opinions on topics discussed in class, even if those opinions are offensive to others in the classroom. Fact-based teaching and conversation are a good strategy for countering objectionable views, and it's appropriate to prohibit discussions on matters unrelated to the course.

Providing balance

Considering whether to have a political advocate or politician speak to a class? Discussions of political topics need to be germane to the course, so candidate visits must have an educational purpose related to the class. Also, federal law requires equal access to the university for candidates or their surrogates. Therefore, instructors who allow one candidate to visit a classroom must allow them all. The same principle applies to advocates and opponents of ballot measures.

The university's lectures program has already extended invitations to candidates running for many state and federal offices, including the U.S. House and Senate, and the Iowa gubernatorial election. Visit their schedule for details.

Registering students

A voter registration drive may not seem partisan, but it depends on the sponsor. Some may look to maximize registrations from those who appear to be supportive of their cause, while avoiding others who may not feel the same way. For that reason, faculty are discouraged from using class time for voter registration drives. The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women in politics offers a module in Canvas for encouraging students to register and vote. The Catt Center also has an FAQ on student voting.

Questions?

Employees with specific questions regarding political activities on campus -- including what is permissible and prohibited -- may contact Iowa State general counsel Michael Norton at 294-5352 or mnorton@iastate.edu.

How can faculty encourage students to vote?

By Karen Kedrowski, Catt Center for Women and Politics
September 22

The 2022 midterm elections will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8. Iowans will elect a governor and other statewide officials, a U.S. senator, four members of the U.S. House of Representatives and all members of the Iowa General Assembly.

In 2018, 43.4% of Iowa State students voted, an increase of 19% over 2014. However, voter turnout was not evenly distributed across campus. STEM students had lower voter turnout rates than average, while students in humanities and social sciences were well above average.

What can faculty do to encourage eligible students to vote while adhering to university rules and state law and remaining nonpartisan? A lot. Here are some suggestions.
 

Download the Canvas module. The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics has updated the module, "Ask Every Iowa State Student to Vote," found in the Canvas Commons and free. It's current and politically neutral. It provides information for students who wish to vote in Ames, Story County or elsewhere. It also links to nonpartisan resources about candidates and ballot questions. A couple of notes:

• Faculty should not offer extra credit for registering to vote or casting a vote. This may be considered "vote buying" and legally is problematic.
• Making the voting module an optional resource in Canvas does not violate the germaneness rule since the material is not integrated into course instruction. Nor does (not) completing it have any impact on students' grades.

Post voting messages on Canvas. If you don't want to use time before class, post an announcement on Canvas encouraging all eligible students to vote. You can do this without endorsing any party, candidate or ideology. The social media messages mentioned below can be adapted to this purpose.

Link to the Catt Center's Voting FAQs page on Canvas, your syllabus or web page. The Catt Center maintains a web page with current voting information for Iowa and links to resources for all other states, territories and the District of Columbia.

Add the #CyclonesVote badge to your email signature block. Link it directly to the Catt Center's FAQs page.

Use social media to send out voting information. Students working with the Catt Center have developed nonpartisan, nonideological social media messages that will be sent out periodically to all communications professionals on campus. Forward and share on your program and personal social media sites. Remember, anytime you reasonably appear to be speaking within your official faculty role, you should remain non-partisan.

Refrain from scheduling exams or major assignments on Election Day, Nov. 8. Last spring, the Faculty Senate, Student Government and Graduate and Professional School Student Senate each passed a resolution encouraging faculty to refrain from scheduling exams or major projects on Election Day and to be flexible with attendance policies to enable students to vote.

With the exception of 2020 (the pandemic election), most Iowa State students cast their votes in person on Election Day. This doesn't necessarily mean they're voting in Ames; they may drive to nearby cities and counties to cast their votes. We should be mindful of inadvertently putting up barriers to student voting, and scheduling exams or major assignments on Election Day is a possible barrier.

Make voting relevant to your discipline. One of the most important ways to encourage students to vote is to make voting relevant to their lives. As an instructor, you are a trusted and knowledgeable person who can help students see the relevance of their major -- and their passion -- and relevant government policy in several ways:

• Talk with students before class about why you vote. Without sharing your vote choice, ideology or partisan affiliation, talk informally with students about why you, as a professor of "X," vote. Be sure to do so because of your interest in a relevant topic, without talking about your specific position or expressing preference for a party or candidate. Take this example and adapt to your situation: "I'm a business professor, which means I'm very interested in corporate tax policy. I always look up candidates' positions on this issue and take it into account when I vote."
• Develop a germane class assignment or extra credit opportunity. Ask students to research candidates' or political parties' positions on the issue(s). The students will learn how to conduct such research by searching campaign web sites, news sources, professional association statements or interest group endorsements, and use this information to inform their votes. However, be sure to communicate to students that they should draw their own conclusions based upon the research they do and that they are not evaluated on their opinions or choice of candidate or party to support.
• Work with your disciplinary student organizations. Work with the leadership of your departments' student clubs to devote time to talking about the election and its relevance to your field. Student organizations can invite student voting advocates to discuss absentee voting and voter registration. Students in #CyclonesVote, who are working with the Catt Center, can present nonpartisan, nonideological voting information.

Submit nominations for operations and finance leadership post

September 22

The campus committee tasked with finding Iowa State's next senior vice president for operations and finance is actively recruiting qualified candidates and invites the campus community to take part. David Spalding, Raisbeck Endowed Dean of the Ivy College of Business and interim vice president for economic development and industry relations who is chairing the committee, said faculty and staff are invited to submit nominations for the post.

The committee's intent is to conduct finalist interviews in November.

Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search is assisting the committee. Spalding said information about nominees may be shared with Parker representatives via mail, phone or email: Parker Executive Search, Five Concourse Parkway, Suite 2875, Atlanta, GA 30328. Phone: 770-804-1996, ext. 117. The Parker executives involved in this search are:

• Laurie Wilder, president
• Porsha Williams, vice president, pwilliams@parkersearch.com
• Erin Raines, senior principal, eraines@parkersearch.com

Former senior VP Pam Cain retired earlier this month after 15 years of service to the university. Associate vice president for finance services Heather Paris began serving as interim senior vice president for operations and finance on Sept. 7.

 

Related stories:

Heather Paris named to operations and finance interim post, July 21, 2022
Senior VP Cain will retire this fall, May 26, 2022

Leaders share priorities for additional state support next year

By Anne Krapfl
September 22

The state Board of Regents will ask for an additional $12 million in general operating support for Iowa State for the budget year that starts next July. That would be a 6.9% increase over this year's $174.1 million general university appropriation.

Regents approved university requests for fiscal year 2024 appropriation increases at their Sept. 15 meeting. The universities of Iowa and Northern Iowa seek $12 million and $8 million funding increases, respectively. The governor and members of the 2023 Iowa Legislature review those requests as they build the FY24 state budget.

The board unanimously approved a budget amendment from the lone student regent, Abby Crow, to request an additional $1 million from the state next year to address mental health struggles among the state's public university students. As proposed, the money would go to the board office for disbursement among the three universities. Crow said the board needed to act on comments from students (during breakfast earlier that day), confirmed repeatedly by the university presidents in their recent monthly reports to the board.

President Wendy Wintersteen told the regents Iowa State's request for $12 million was "a critical investment that's needed for the state, not just for Iowa State University.

"It will ensure that we can continue to do the work across our three missions in how we support Iowa as a whole," she said.

Wintersteen noted that over the last decade, Iowa State's general university appropriation has experienced moderate increases and declines for a "net increase of $0 since 2014." Factoring in inflation, that's "like a 25% decrease in funding because the purchasing power of a dollar has declined 25% over the past decade," she added.

Iowa State also will ask again for $376,519 in additional biosciences innovation support to fully fund, at $1 million each, the three state economic development platforms under ISU management: biobased chemicals, precision and digital agriculture, and vaccines and immunotherapies. University of Iowa oversees the fourth, medical devices.

Wintersteen said Iowa State would invest the additional operating revenue in five areas:

• Financial aid and additional support services for first-generation, resident undergraduates, $2 million
• Additional degree and certificate programs in STEM and other high-demand fields (for example, computer engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software engineering, data science) to prepare Iowa's workforce, $4 million
• Expanded mental health programming on campus (including returning the student counseling internship program) and around the state, $1 million
• Additional research in rare earth materials development and recycling to decrease U.S. reliance on other countries for these materials, $3 million
• Retaining high-performing faculty and staff to keep ISU's competitive position in bioscience areas such as digital agriculture, water quality and vaccine delivery technologies, $2 million

The Legislative submission also includes building appropriation requests. Iowa State is seeking $62.5 million over four years (fiscal years 2024-27) in capital funds for an estimated $66.5 million second phase of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Phase 1 is scheduled for completion early next fall. University funds ($2.7 million) and private gifts ($1.3 million) would cover the remaining cost.

Busy students

In their back-to-campus update to the board, senior vice president for student affairs Toyia Younger and her two peers commented on students' eagerness to be involved this fall. Younger said first-year students are joined by returning students who, following two years of virtual and hybrid college experiences, are relearning how to make the most of their in-person experience. In many cases, that includes learning in-person communication skills, she said. Student service units are focused especially on some of those skills this fall, in support of faculty who have offered similar observations about their students, Younger said.

"I'm intrigued by the number of students who are showing up at events," she said, citing high student numbers at the Friday evening cookout and Saturday breakfast at Cyclone Welcome Weekend, ClubFest and Welcome Fest.

"#we'reoutside is popular on students' social media right now. I asked them about it, and they said they're just so happy to be out -- out of the quarantine, out of isolation," Younger said.

Inflation impacts construction budgets

The regents approved revised budgets for two campus projects:

• Therkildsen Industrial Engineering Building (new construction). A 35% increase (from $54 million to $73.2 million) allows the scope of the project to remain unchanged while accommodating a 25% construction cost increase over 2021 estimates. Additional private gifts and university funds will cover the $19.2 million increase.
• Union Drive Marketplace dining center (renovation). A 53% increase (from $3.6 million to $5.6 million) reflects both higher construction costs and an additional phase to what was a three-summer project, in order to complete additional venue upgrades and equipment purchases next summer (2023). ISU Dining funds will cover the increase.

Lease for local tennis courts

The board gave Iowa State permission to negotiate a 20-year lease with Ames Racquet and Fitness (ARF), which plans to add three indoor courts and build six outdoor courts, locker rooms, spectator space and restrooms at its south facility in the ISU Research Park. As proposed, ARF and the athletics department/Cyclone women's tennis team would share use of the tennis facility.

The team uses a university-owned, two-court facility in west Ames for practice and also has access to six outdoor courts south of the Forker Building, neither of which are suitable for competition. The Cyclones currently host home matches at Ames High (outdoor) or in Urbandale (indoor).

The west Ames tennis practice facility then could be redeveloped as a practice facility for the Cyclone volleyball team, which currently practices at Hilton Coliseum or in Forker Building gymnasiums.

Iowa State announces plans for CYTown

By Jeff Budlong
September 22

University leaders announced details for a multiuse district, called CYTown, to reimagine the Iowa State Center during a news conference Sept. 19 at the Stark Performance Center. The project will sit on three acres between Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum and would be a first-of-its-kind on a college campus.

In phased development, the $200 million district would include a medical facility, retail and office space, an outdoor public plaza and amphitheater, and luxury suites, according to a news release.

"The basis of this project is taking a huge asset we own -- the land -- and finding a way to repurpose it to provide new revenues to attract and retain students, visitors, faculty and staff," said athletics director Jamie Pollard. "It will energize that space in a way that will allow us to reinvest in the Iowa State Center."

When the state Board of Regents meets in November, Iowa State will seek approval for a $25 million first phase of the project, five months after the board gave permission to begin planning the project. Funds for the phase 1 parking lot, lighting and infrastructure improvements would come from university and athletic funds and repaid by project revenues. Work would begin after the football season and is expected to be completed by fall 2025.

Later phases could include a renovation to Hilton, paved parking lots on the east side of University Boulevard and a hotel and convention center south of the Scheman Building, the release said.

The CYTown concept is modeled after the Power & Light District in Kansas City -- an area familiar to Cyclone basketball fans who flock there yearly for the Big 12 championships -- and Titletown, near the stadium of the NFL's Green Bay Packers, Pollard said.

Impact

When the project is complete, Pollard estimates it will generate approximately $200 million in revenue over 20 years, with $50 million dedicated to facility improvements at C.Y. Stephens Auditorium, Fisher Theater and Scheman. Each building has a significant deferred maintenance backlog; Stephens' currently is estimated at $25 million.

Seventy-five percent of the funds for CYTown are expected to come from land monetization opportunities with the balance coming from fundraising and leases on 20 suites. The suites are part of a three-story building with garages and retail on the first floor. All units would have a balcony, garage and one or two bedrooms.

"It's taking what we do at the football stadium for seven days and building suites our constituents can use 365 days a year," Pollard said.

ISU Research Park executive director Rick Sanders said it's likely some current or new park tenants could come to CYTown.

"We have 17 buildings at the research park and work with just over 100 tenant companies with about 2,500 employees, and we are out of space," he said. "Our focus at the research park is making sure business and industry have access to the talent pool graduating from Iowa State every year. We help keep that relationship robust."

President Wendy Wintersteen believes that could have a major impact for students.

"The opportunities for students to have internships with business, retail outlets and other venues will be tremendous," she said.

Iowa State will continue to own the land CYTown is built on, but the university will work with tenants on the ownership style they prefer, similar to how the research park operates.

Tailgating

Pollard said CYTown would not reduce tailgate parking spaces during the Iowa State football season.

"The most vital asset to Iowa State athletics is our fans' ability to tailgate," he said. "There is nothing we were going to do to take away from that."

The total number of parking spaces available when the project is completed will increase by 200 spots, Pollard said. The development of the RV Village freed up 1,500 parking spaces and new parking lots northwest of the Iowa State Center added more than 300 spaces.

Continued commitment

Three years ago, Wintersteen transferred oversight of the Iowa State Center to the athletics department, which partnered with the Iowa State Research Park to update former ISU President James Hilton's vision of the Iowa State Center.

Pollard said CYTown is the latest project to enhance the southern gateway to the university, which also includes:

• Pedestrian bridge over University Boulevard
• RV Village and parking upgrades
• Stark Performance Center
• Albaugh Family Plaza and Concourse
• Sukup Endzone Club
• Reiman Gardens Plaza
• Larger parking lots in the northwest corner of the Iowa State Center

Gradescope pilot open to all instructors this fall

By Jeff Budlong
September 22

Instructors looking for an assessment tool to pair with Canvas' assignments and quizzes have a new option. A Gradescope pilot for all instructors is underway for fall semester and faculty feedback will help determine its future at ISU.

Gradescope is an assessment, feedback and analytics tool that enables instructors to administer, grade and provide students feedback on pen-and-paper, bubblesheet and computer programming assignments. The app can be added to Canvas and is especially helpful for STEM courses.

"This is for courses where you don't just have students picking A, B or C. They are using charts or making graphs where you want to see them plotting data," said Sonya Nichols, CELT instructional technology specialist and member of the Gradescope pilot team. "Previously, it was a real challenge for instructors to see someone's thought process as they were working through a long problem."

Gradescope works well for courses in math, science and engineering, but is just as effective in English for activities like diagramming sentences. Economics associate teaching professor Darin Wohlgemuth used Gradescope this summer for a master's course of about 20 students and has continued to use it this fall.

Wohlgemuth has simple advice for instructors: "If you write 'show your work' on assignments then Gradescope is well suited for you."

Instructors can pick and choose how they want to use the app within Canvas. There are currently 30 instructors participating in the fall pilot and more can join by contacting CELT.

How it works

Written work is scanned and uploaded to Gradescope, where instructors digitally grade homework, quizzes, exams and other assignments. Although students can submit written work digitally using Canvas assignments, instructors must each manually one at a time. Grading is easier and faster through rubrics -- grading guides -- the instructor creates beforehand or in real time, which can be changed and applied, and submissions can be grouped to provide fast and effective responses. 

"If numerous students are missing the same key point, an instructor can identify that to create a Gradescope rubric feedback option, save it and apply it to the current student submission and to any others that missed the same point," said Lori Mickle, CELT instructional technology specialist and pilot coordinator.

Instructors also can update grading decisions and apply it to work they already completed, Mickle said. Multiple graders can work at the same time and any updates to the rubric apply to all graders, especially helpful for large enrollment courses with multiple sections. 

"It is a great way to get an analysis of how students are doing," Nichols said. "The Gradescope platform provides instantaneous assignment and question analytics. Instructors can use this information to identify areas where students are struggling, then quickly provide feedback to everyone who needs it."

Wohlgemuth said using the app saved him time when grading and commenting on students' work. The rubrics also helped him be a more consistent grader without having to go through each assessment individually to make changes.

Other features

Instructors can create programming and coding assignments that can be automatically or manually graded or use the bubble-sheet option. Distance learning students can use Gradescope to print off an assessment, complete work, take a picture and send it back to the instructor, Mickle said.

Nominations open for MLK Advancing One Community Awards

By Carly Hanson, office of diversity, equity and inclusion
September 22

Sponsored by the office of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the Martin Luther King Jr. Advancing One Community Awards recognize efforts to enhance and cultivate an inclusive university community that embraces justice and equity. Up to three $500 awards may be awarded in the categories of employee, student or group. Nominations for the 2022 awards are due by noon on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

"For 16 years, we've celebrated amazing leaders and changemakers at Iowa State with the Martin Luther King Jr. Advancing One Community Awards," said nicci port, coordinator for DEI outreach and community engagement. "Whether you're nominating a colleague or submitting your own work, we look forward to learning more about and elevating the great work being done by our students and employees dedicated to positively impacting the Iowa State community."

Award winners will be announced Jan. 30 when Iowa State observes King's birthday with a campuswide celebration.

Recipients of the Advancing One Community Award demonstrate a commitment to the principles and goals of King over a sustained period through nonviolent actions. Nominations should highlight the nominee's commitment to improving the campus climate for members of underrepresented groups and bringing about systemic change at Iowa State through their volunteerism, engagement, scholarship, research, teaching or program development. Past winners are honored on the DEI website.

More information about the awards, including the nomination form, is online.

Roasterie develops third Iowa State coffee blend

By Anne Krapfl
September 22

Loyal coffee customers at several of ISU Dining's campus cafés have been enjoying a new blend from Kansas City-based Roasterie this month. "Rise Iowa State" -- or Rise for short, is a light roast that's replacing 1858 coffee in the five cafes that feature Roasterie coffee: Business, Design, Bookends in the library, Gentle Doctor at Veterinary Medicine and the Hub.

While the Roasterie has provided Iowa State-inspired coffee to the campus since 2004, this one is a little different because it's the first blend officially licensed through Iowa State's trademark licensing office. Cardinal and Gold, sold from 2004 to 2012, and 1858, which has been in campus cafés since 2012, simply were sold under an ISU Dining contract with The Roasterie.

Dennison native and 1983 alumnus Danny O'Neill owns The Roasterie and developed the earlier blends for ISU.

Trademark licensing director Leesha Arunsiripate Zimmerman said her team approached O'Neill two years ago about developing another coffee blend for the university, this time licensing it "so it's recognized by the university as an official Iowa State product." The company agreed and completed the process of taste testing several options to develop the new blend. Collegiate Licensing Co. (CLC), Iowa State's licensing partner, helped develop the name and packaging for Rise Iowa State. (Yes, it's a nod to the college era song, "Rise, Sons of Iowa State." )

Because the new blend is covered by a license agreement, The Roasterie pays a 12% royalty on its sales of Rise Iowa State, both retail sales through its website and wholesale prices to retailers. There are no royalties on brewed coffee sold on campus. After trademark licensing and CLC recoup their administrative costs, net royalties support the Cyclone athletics department.

How can I try it?

In addition to the five ISU Dining cafés that sell brewed cups, the ISU Book Store sells Rise Iowa State in 12-ounce whole bean or ground bean bags, and the Hub's Roasterie retail location will soon, too. It's also available on the Cyclone Fanatic Shop website and at Rally House, a Jordan Creek Mall store in West Des Moines, with an Ames store scheduled to open this year. Look for it later this fall at Fareway, Hy-Vee and Scheels stores in Iowa.

Additionally, the bookstore will host two sampling events this weekend, Friday afternoon in the store and Saturday morning outside the Alumni Center prior to the Iowa State-Baylor football game (see box).

Campus cafés offering Roasterie coffee will continue to sell "Dark Mojo" as a dark roast option as well as seasonal flavored coffees.

Free speech training launched for new academic year

September 22

All faculty, staff and students will need to complete the state Board of Regents' annual free speech training again this year.

The virtual training, required of all students and employees at the three regent universities -- Iowa State and the universities of Iowa and Northern Iowa -- should be completed by the end of the spring 2023 semester.

The training module, which is unchanged from its launch last spring, emphasizes the importance both of using speech and expression in classroom and out-of-class activities, and respecting the protected speech and activity of others.

The online training can be completed in about 10 minutes. Faculty and staff can access the training in Learn@ISU, where "First Amendment Training Course, 2023" appears in employees' "My Enrollments" course list. Supervisors of staff members without regular access to computers should work with their employees to arrange access to a computer during their work hours.

Student employees should complete their training in Canvas.

Mobile devices may be used to complete the training, though a laptop or desktop computer is recommended. Faculty and staff also should make sure to follow instructions on the last slide of the training to properly exit the course and receive credit.

Iowa Staters who have technical problems accessing the survey should contact the IT Solution Center, 294-4000. More information about university policies related to free speech is on Iowa State's Free Speech website.

Surprise! 'The View' spotlights Cyclone marching band

By Anne Krapfl
September 22

Thirty members of the Cyclone marching band enjoyed an 11th-hour trip to New York City last week at the invitation of ABC Television's "The View" talk show. Co-hosts wanted to surprise their colleague and Newton native Sara Haines with an Iowa-themed birthday celebration at the end of the Sept. 16 show. The phone call came to Simon Estes Music Hall Monday morning, Sept. 12: Could the Iowa State band fly in to help with the task?

"We responded with enthusiasm to this opportunity and arranged the entire trip in about 24 hours," said Brad Dell, chair of the music and theatre department. "It was a thrilling adventure."

Associate director of bands Christian Carichner selected section captains and other top musicians for a small but mighty representation of the full band. They represented about 8% of the marching band.

Band members participated in a three-hour rehearsal Thursday afternoon and were treated to the Broadway musical "Beetlejuice" Thursday evening before performing live on "The View" Friday morning.

Full disclosure: The View's producer extended the same invitation to the University of Iowa marching band. Turns out, Cyclones are quicker and more decisive than Hawkeyes . . .