April 2, 2008

Good morning! Here's a look at news from the College of Agriculture:

HEADLINES
* Ag Week April 7-11 on Ag Hill
* USDA's Buchanan to address contemporary issues in agriculture
* College adds four to faculty
* Two Ag grad students judged cream of the crop
* Jiang named top international graduate student
* Cline earns Outstanding Student award
* Sports organization honors Guthrie
* Anti-hunger crusader to present York lecture
* IT department offers training in Microsoft applications
* Market at Ag Heritage Park gearing up for '08 season
* Still a ways to go in fund-raising campaign
* Fisheries department takes center stage
* Tire-less in Uganda
* Conference to focus on medicinal plants
* D.C. internships available to students

Ag Week April 7-11 on Ag Hill
April 7-11 is Ag Week at Auburn, and the Ag Council has done a bang-up job of putting together a schedule jam-packed with events for all to enjoy. Activities get under way Monday night, April 7, with a Contemporary Agriculture Program lecture by USDA official Gale Buchanan, and they wrap up Friday night, April 11, with Block and Bridle's Ag Olympics. But in between those two events, there'll be a barn dance featuring Tony Brook and Agronomy and Soils professor/ace bassist David Weaver, the annual Ag Hill picnic (fried catfish and all the trimmings for a mere $6), a blood drive, a bake sale and even a couple of pageants. For all dates, times, locations and contact information on Ag Week events, go to http://www.ag.auburn.edu/events.

USDA's Buchanan to address contemporary issues in agriculture
As noted above, Gale Buchanan, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, will officially launch the College of Ag's 2008 Ag Week celebration with his presentation "Contemporary Issues in Agriculture: Implications for America" Monday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the College of Veterinary Medicine's Goodwin Hall on Wire Road. Buchanan, who served as Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station director and AU College of Ag dean for research in the 1980s, will discuss current circumstances and issues in agriculture that are impacting and will continue to impact farm policy, research priorities and higher education. Following his presentation, Buchanan will entertain questions from the audience. While on campus during the day Monday, Buchanan will meet with AU Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts director Steve Taylor, sit in on a "bioenergy and the environment" class taught by agronomy professor David Bransby, meet with AU President Jay Gogue to sign an Ag Week proclamation and meet with faculty over lunch in Room 207 Comer. Faculty who wish to attend the lunch session must contact Kelley Terry in the Dean's Office (terrykl@auburn.edu) by noon Thursday, April 3, to guarantee a lunch.

College adds four to faculty
The College of Ag is welcoming four new faculty members to Ag Hill. Joining Biosystems Engineering in a 50-percent research/50-percent teaching appointment is assistant professor Sushil Adhikari. Adhikari earned his Ph.D. from Mississippi State University; his areas of expertise are bioenergy and bioproducts. New to the Ag Economics and Rural Sociology faculty is assistant professor Michelle Worosz, a rural sociologist who holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. She has a 50-50 teaching-research appointment in the areas of agrifood policy and governance. Horticulture's new tree fruit crops specialist is assistant professor Jay Spiers. He comes to AU from Texas A&M, where in August he earned his doctorate; his appointment here is 25-75 teaching-research. And in Animal Sciences, Christy Bratcher is on board as an assistant professor with an 80-percent research/20-percent teaching appointment. Bratcher, whose Ph.D. is from the University of Missouri, will focus her research on meat processing and safety.

Two Ag grad students judged cream of the crop
Two Animal Sciences graduate students, Bethany Harris and Elias Bungenstab, have been named to top honors by the AU Graduate Student Council. Harris has been selected as one of the top 10 outstanding master's students at Auburn for 2007-08, and Bungenstab as one of the top 10 outstanding doctoral students. Harris, who holds a bachelor's degree in Animal Sciences from Auburn, has done her graduate research in the area of developmental biology of the female reproductive tract, working under the guidance of Animal Sciences professor Skip Bartol. She hopes to continue working in such an area at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Bungenstab, a native of Brazil, earned a B.S. degree in agronomy in Brazil and a master's in feedlot management from Texas A&M. He began his doctoral research at West Texas A&M in Amarillo, but when his adviser there, Wayne Greene, moved to Auburn as Animal Sciences department head in 2005, Bungenstab followed. His doctoral work is in ruminant nutrition, with Animal Sciences professor Russ Muntifering as adviser. Bungenstab plans to work in the area of beef cattle nutrition, either in the U.S. or Brazil. The 10 outstanding master's and 10 outstanding doctoral students will be recognized at the graduate student council spring picnic today at noon at the Donald E. Davis Arboretum.

Jiang named top international grad student
The College of Agriculture's 2008 Outstanding International Graduate Student is Mingkang Jiang. Though working toward a Ph.D. in Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, Jiang is conducting his doctoral research under the supervision of Biosystems Engineering assistant professor and food engineering and food safety authority Yifen Wang and was, in fact, Biosystems Engineering's nominee for the award. A native of Yantai, People's Republic of China, Jiang has been a graduate student at Auburn since the summer of 2004. He earned a master's degree in aquaculture from Fisheries in 2005 and will receive his second master's in May from COSAM's mathematics and statistics department. In nominating Jiang, Biosystems head Steve Taylor said that Jiang, in his doctoral work on smoked catfish production, has made significant contributions in the area of processing techniques, as well as in the extraction of gelatin from catfish skins for use as food and pharmaceutical packaging materials. Jiang's wife, Yinfeng Zhang, earned her Ph.D. in Fisheries from AU in 2007 and currently is a a post-doc at UAB. The couple has one child, Austin, who's almost 2. Jiang anticipates a December 2008 graduation.

Cline earns Outstanding Student award
Congratulations to Animal Sciences senior Kim Cline, who has been chosen by the College of Ag faculty and dean to receive the AU Student Government Association's Outstanding Student Award for the College. Cline, of Newnan, Ga., will earn her bachelor's degree in Animal Sciences' pre-professional track in May and move from that to graduate school, working on her master's under the direction of Animal Sciences professor Russ Muntifering. As an undergraduate, she is an Office of the Vice President for Research Undergraduate Research Fellow and will be presenting results of research from that fellowship at the 22nd National Conference for Undergraduate Research next week in Salisbury, Md. She currently is vice president of Ag Council and an Ag Ambassador. Cline will be recognized at the 2008 Student Government Association Honors Ceremony Monday, April 7.

Sports organization honors Guthrie
If you didn't see it in yesterday's AUDaily, College of Ag Dean/AAES Director Richard Guthrie won the Distinguished American Award from the Auburn chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Inc. last week. The award is presented to an outstanding American who has maintained a lifetime of interest in football and has made a significant contribution to the betterment of amateur football in the U.S. through the years. Guthrie is a member of the Auburn Football Lettermen's Club and will serve as its vice president for the 2008 football season. He was a football letterman for Coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan in the early 1960s. Guthrie earned his bachelor's degree in agronomy and soils and a master's degree in soil science, both from Auburn, and a Ph.D. in soil science from Cornell University.

Anti-hunger crusader to present York Lecture
David Lambert, a nationally recognized advocate to end hunger, will speak in Auburn Wednesday, April 16, as part of the Auburn University College of Agriculture’s E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series. His presentation, “A World Free of Child Hunger: An Imperative for All,” is set for 7 p.m. in the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center auditorium. The presentation is free and open to the public, as is a reception that precedes the lecture at 5:45 in Ballroom B of the hotel and conference center. The E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series was established at Auburn in 1981 with an endowment by E.T. York Jr. and his wife, Vam Cardwell York, both native Alabamians and AU graduates. For more information on the upcoming lecture, contact Bill Hardy at hardywe@auburn.edu or 844-5620.

IT department offers training in Microsoft applications
If you've upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007 on your work computer and could use a few tips to help you get more comforable with it, consider attending one or more of the Microsoft applications classes the ACES-Ag IT Department will be teaching later this month. These half-day training sessions will be held Thursday and Friday, April 24 and 25, at the AU Human Resource Development Training Facility, 146 N. Gay St. First up on April 24 is Introduction to Microsoft Office Word 2007 from 9 a.m. to noon, followed from 1 to 4 p.m. by Introduction to Microsoft Excel 2007. On day two, the 9 a.m. to noon class will cover PowerPoint 2007 and the 1 to 4 p.m. session, Adobe Acrobat Professional. If you want to attend any of these classes, please e-mail IT specialist Geneva Burton at burtogc@auburn.edu by Friday, April 11—or as soon as possible, if you want to claim one of only 20 computers that will be available for each class. If you don't sign up in time to get a computer, you still can attend the class, but you won't get hands-on experience.

Market at Ag Heritage Park gearing up for '08 season
The Market at Ag Heritage Park will kick off its 2008 season Thursday, April 24, from 3 to 6 p.m., and from then on through mid-August will be a regular Thursday afternoon event. The Market features locally grown, fresh-from-the-farm produce along with locally made products. At the April 24 market, you likely will find strawberries, greens, onions and other spring produce as well as honey, goat cheese, stone-ground grains, baked goods and plants. Educational displays are welcome, too, and any College of Ag departments and clubs interested in having a booth can contact Dani Carroll, 334-749-3353 or carrodl@auburn.edu, or Katie Jackson, 334-844-5887 or smithcl@auburn.edu, for information or to reserve a space. A Market at Ag Heritage Park Web site is under construction and soon will be your source for weekly updates on events and produce being featured each Thursday.

Still a ways to go in fund-raising campaign
The 2008 AU Faculty-Staff Campaign is well under way, and so far, the College of Agriculture is about one-fifth of the way to a goal of 100-percent participation. If you haven’t contributed yet, you have until May 2—one month from today—to do so. The amount you give isn't important; even a $1 pledge counts as participation. And remember that you can designate your pledge to be used for specific scholarships or endowments. Once you donate, your name goes into the hat for weekly drawings for some pretty nice prizes, such as free oil changes, restaurant gift certificates, T-shirts and more. And at the Ag Hill Picnic April 9, there'll be drawings for some pretty special items. If you need more info on the campaign, contact Katie Jackson at 334-844-5887 or smithcl@auburn.edu, or your departmental campaign rep. They include Alan Davis, davisda@auburn.edu, Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures; John Jensen, jensejw@auburn.edu, Poultry, Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures and Entomology/Plant Pathology; Amy Wright, wrigham@auburn.edu, Horticulture; David Weaver, weavedb@auburn.edu, Agronomy and Soils; Dave Williams, willi09@auburn.edu, Animal Sciences; John Fulton, fultojp@auburn.edu, Biosystems Engineering and Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology; and Deborah Solie, das0002@auburn.edu, Administrative Offices.

Fisheries department takes center stage
The AU Office of Communications and Marketing in Samford Hall has launched a worldwide marketing campaign that shines a spotlight on the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures. The office has developed a Web site, http://www.auburn.edu/fishtales, and a companion brochure promoting Fisheries and its impact on Alabama and the world. Several OCM staff members and Office of Agricultural Communications and Marketing chief editor Katie Jackson recently spent 10 days in Uganda learning about and documenting the joint AU Fisheries/U.S. Agency for International Development program "Fisheries Investment for Sustainable Harvest" there. Copies of OCM's "Teach me to fish..." brochure are available in Room 3 Comer Hall. The Web site includes a link to a slide show of pictures AU Photographic Services manager Jeff Etheridge took on the Uganda trip.

Tire-less in Uganda
And speaking of photos from the AU communicators' Uganda trip, here's one (http://www.ag.auburn.edu/PictureThis) that earned Ag Communications chief editor Katie Jackson Picture This! honors this week. Jackson says that when the van carrying the AU entourage broke down in Hoima, Uganda, the two-hour layover to repair a front wheel bearing wound up being a highlight of the trip because it forced the travelers to take the time to sit back and absorb the people and culture of Uganda. She snapped this photo of two young children who stopped their game of tire racing to check out the visitors and then, curiosity satisfied, went back to their game.

Conference to focus on medicinal plants
Farmers, forest landowners and anyone else interested in exploring the possibility of growing medicinal plants can learn all about cultivating, harvesting, drying, preparing and marketing such crops at the Economic Opportunities in Forest Medicinal Plants and Mushrooms conference Friday-Saturday, May 2-3, at the North Shelby Library's Environmental Training Center in Birmingham. Go to http://myspace.aamu.edu/users/catherine.sabota/ForestMedicinalPlants.html to learn more about the conference and to register. Auburn is one of the event's co-sponsors. If you need more information, the contact person here is Agronomy and Soils professor Dennis Shannon at 334-844-3963 or shannda@auburn.edu.

D.C. internships available to students
Ag majors interested in spending fall semester interning in Washington, D.C., can go to http://www.auburn.edu/washington to learn how to make that happen through the program "Auburn on the Hill." Opportunities abound for internships, not only in congressional offices but also in the office of the president, the Smithsonian or in federal government agencies including the CIA, the Secret Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission and more. These prestigious internships give students the opportunity to live in the nation's capital, work with national leaders and learn how the federal government works. Application deadlines vary but are fast approaching. For more information, contact Heather Finch, federal internships coordinator, at finchhm@auburn.edu or 844-4784.