ISU's Food Safety Answers program offers Thanksgiving food-safety tips

With the holiday season approaching, Iowa State University Extension offers tips and online resources for safely handling
food at the "Ask a Food Safety Expert" (www.foodsafetyanswers.org). The site contains more than 600 frequently asked food safety questions that cover purchasing, leftovers and everything in between. ISU Extension and Iowa State's College of Family and Consumer Sciences sponsor the site.

News release.

Iowa State sources offer expertise, perspective on Sears/Kmart merger

ISU experts can provide perspective on the Nov. 17 announcement that Kmart Holdings Corp., Troy, Mich., is buying Sears, Roebuck & Co., Hoffman Estates, Ill., for $11 billion. The merger will create the third-largest retailer with $55 billion in annual revenues. Both the Kmart and Sears brand names will be maintained. Headquarters for the new firm will be in Chicago. The merger is expected to be completed in March 2005. The merger offers both challenges and opportunities.

News Release.

Iowa towns recognized for park and playground improvements

A program that helps improve the quality and design of community parks across north central Iowa has recognized park and playground projects in eight towns. Christopher Seeger, assistant professor of landscape architecture and ISU Extension landscape architect, is one of the judges. The North Iowa Area Development (NIAD) Park Improvement Program could be the beginning of a statewide program.

News release.

Agriculture, veterinary medicine and natural resources news from ISU

This month's ag news tipsheet takes Muscatine melons for a spin, points to the most important lesson learned from the decades-long effort to rid Iowa pigs of, suggests a way to earn additional farm income and introduces a statistician who is advising Columbia on nutrition policy.

News release.

Strategic plan in final stages of review

Iowa State's proposed Strategic Plan for 2005-2010 is in the final stages of review. The plan will be reviewed by the Faculty Senate in December and will go to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, in mid-January for action at the February meeting.

ISU's College of Education awarded $600,000 U.S. Department of Education FIPSE grant to prepare teachers for K-12 virtual schooling

Iowa State University's College of Education has been awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant from the U. S. Department of Education to become the first teacher education program in the nation to prepare undergraduates for virtual schooling.

News release.

Rural small business conference Dec. 4 at ISU

A one-day, statewide conference for rural businesses, "Solutions for Managing Business Risk," will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, in the Richard and Joan Stark Lecture Hall (room 1148), Gerdin Business Building, Iowa State University. Registration for the conference is $50 and includes lunch. Registration must be paid in advance. The conference is part of the Grow Your Small Market Farm Business Network, an Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program based in Des Moines. The SBDC is the outreach unit of Iowa State's College of Business.

News release.

Souleyrette appointed to endowed professorship

Reginald Souleyrette, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, has been named the first recipient of the Gerald and Audrey Olson Professorship in Civil Engineering.

News release.

ISU professor helps develop postage stamp honoring noted scientist

When U.S. Postal Service researchers landed on ISU chemical engineering professor Kenneth Jolls' Web site, they knew they'd found the best person to help develop a new stamp honoring a noted American scientist.

News release.

Iowa State experts available to speak to media about Asian soybean rust

The USDA confirmed today that Asian soybean rust has been found in Louisiana, the first known incidence of the disease in North America. Asian soybean rust is an aggressive fungal disease that can reduce soybean yield substantially. Media can contact Iowa State experts who can discuss the disease and what its discovery means for producers.

News release.

ISU psychology professor receives $400,000 National Science Foundation grant to study recognition memory

For those who have stood in line at the ballpark and noticed a passerby who seemed oddly familiar, but couldn't place a name, research from a five-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation grant awarded to an Iowa State University psychology professor may provide perspective. Anne Cleary, assistant professor of psychology, will study familiarity-based recognition memory -- why some features (color, place, texture, etc.) of an experience later give rise to feelings of familiarity and what underlying aspects of the mind cause these subjective feelings.

News release.