A new look for Pammel Drive

vehicles on new two-lane road with center painted medians and tu

Looking east on a reconfigured Pammel Drive near the WOI Road intersection. Photo by Christopher Gannon.

About five weeks in the making, a new look for Pammel Drive opened over the weekend. The former four-lane road was repaired, resurfaced and restriped last month as a two-lane road with left turn lanes and painted center medians. A final task is scheduled for Saturday when traffic is a bit lighter: painting new approaches on Pammel east of Stange and west of Bissell to align vehicles with the two-lane format ahead of them.

The intent behind the changes is to improve pedestrian safety and help Pammel Drive function more like other campus roads and less like a city arterial street. The posted speed limit (25 miles) has not changed.

Drivers are asked to be attentive to the changes in the weeks ahead as all users -- pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers -- get used to the new format.

Related story:

Pammel Drive to be resurfaced, striped as two-lane road this summer, April 28, 2016


Experience art in the making at the Iowa State Fair

The university's 2016 Iowa State Fair exhibit will showcase "Your Beautiful Adventure," a partnership between university marketing and university museums. Eight works of art will be relocated to ISU's space in the northeast corner of the Varied Industries Building, and 20 portraits will be added during the fair, which runs Aug. 11-21.

Featured art from university museums' Art on Campus collection include a newly fabricated G-Nome, one of four that will replace the figures atop the Molecular Biology Building this fall, and the red metal Solo sculpture from the Anderson Sculpture Garden. Small-scale models of other campus public art also will be featured in the exhibit, open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

"The exhibit will offer visitors a glimpse of what our beautiful campus is all about -- the art, the landscaping and the architecture," said university marketing director Carole Custer. "It will be like a walk through campus, with green carpet underfoot like a lawn."

Artist at work

Visitors can experience art in the making while Iowa artist Rose Frantzen paints portraits on site -- two daily, with the exception of Wednesday, Aug. 17. Frantzen's work has been featured nationally, including an exhibit of her Portrait of Maquoketa project at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. The state fair subjects, chosen by ISU's colleges and select units, will sit (for about four hours) as Frantzen paints. The finished portraits then become part of the state fair exhibit.

Custer said the exhibit will use ISU's award-winning campus as a backdrop. A photo station will offer visitors a virtual trip to campus. Using their smartphones, visitors can take pictures of themselves in front of one of six campus scenes. They also can post their photos on social media sites using #Beautiful Adventure.

Football gameday T-shirt

Gameday T-shirt

More than 120 faculty and staff volunteers will distribute Cyclone football posters and apply tattoos. Athletics trophies will be on display and daily drawings for Cyclone events and behind-the-scenes guided tours of university museums sites will be awarded. University museums' book, "Campus Beautiful," also will be available for purchase ($100) and free post-fair delivery.

A portion of the exhibit space will house cardinal and gold merchandise offered by the University Book Store. Football gameday T-shirts will be available for $10 each, and fans can find discounts in the Cy's Deals section.

Student art

Student artists

  • Taylor Carlson, graduate student, integrated visual arts
  • Michael Day, senior, industrial design
  • Seth Karp, senior, biological/premedical illustration
  • Brice Voss, senior, industrial design
  • Nathan West, senior, integrated studio arts

Five students from the College of Design -- two per day throughout the fair -- will set up easels at event locations throughout the fairgrounds to draw the people, places and things that capture the essence of the state fair. The project, "Artists Next Door," is interactive and encourages fairgoers to talk with the student artists as they work. Students will be identifiable by their cardinal and goal T-shirts and nametags. The drawings -- done in charcoal, pen and marker -- will be displayed as part of ISU Extension and Outreach's exhibit in the 4-H Exhibits Building.

ISU Extension and Outreach

Thousands of 4-H youth will present their entries in the 4-H Exhibits Building and livestock arenas. Students who are high school age also are eligible for ISU scholarships that will be awarded by the Agriculture and Life Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Business colleges.

Extension and outreach also is involved in these state fair features:

  • Iowa State Fair Food Finder app, available in the iTunes and Google Play stores
  • Master Gardeners' Discovery Garden
  • The Wine Experience at Grandfather's Barn
  • Conservation Station in Ruan Plaza
  • Weed identification contest, open to the public (9-11:30 a.m., Friday, Aug. 12)
  • Appearances: VP Cathann Kress as a celebrity chef with the Iowa Pork Producers (11 a.m.- 1 p.m., Friday, Aug. 12); and 4-H youth development program leader John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas as a speaker on the MidAmerican Energy Stage (2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 13)

All about the animals

Volunteers from the College of Veterinary Medicine -- a mix of about 20 students and faculty -- will help with the state fair's youth vet camps. The program, available for kids 10 and up, offers hands-on experience with animal care. Camp registration is required and limited to 30 youth per session.

Dr. Kelly Still Brooks, a clinician in veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, is the state fair veterinarian and will oversee the health of all exhibit and special event animals. She'll be assisted by assistant professor Troy Brick and Vet Med students.


Finalists named for new LGBTQA+ affairs post

Four finalists have been named in the search for the project director of LGBTQA+ affairs, a new position in the office of vice president for diversity and inclusion Reginald Stewart. The finalists will interview on campus over the next couple of weeks.

The project director will provide, develop and facilitate education, outreach and other support functions to students, faculty and staff, with special emphasis on the LGBTQA+ community and other targeted underrepresented populations.

The candidates are:

  • David Green Jr., lecturer in the department of Afroamerican and African studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Paul Hengesteg, former special consultant to the senior vice president for student affairs at Iowa State
  • Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel, director of education and leadership, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Des Moines
  • Nicci Port, administrative specialist in Iowa State's College of Human Sciences

Candidate forums

The campus community is encouraged to attend an open forum with each candidate. (All forums are from 2 to 3 p.m.)

  • Aug. 12, Hoffman-Zinnel (Gallery Room, Memorial Union)
  • Aug. 16, Hengesteg (Gallery Room, Memorial Union)
  • Aug. 17, Port (268 Carver Hall)
  • Aug. 18, Green (3512 Memorial Union)

More about the candidates

The candidates' vitae and an evaluation form are available on the vice president for diversity and inclusion website.


Solar "challenge" lives up to its name

solar car trails a lead van

Iowa State's Phaëton 2 trails its lead vehicle on the road to Topeka, Kansas, on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Team PrISUm.

Five days into an eight-day, 1,975-mile race for student-built solar cars, Iowa State's Team PrISUm and its Phaëton 2 vehicle are in a three-way battle for eighth place among the 12 universities still competing. Twenty teams arrived in Pittsburgh July 21 hoping to qualify in a series of car performance tests and laps completed on a speedway.

If engineers are known for their problem solving, Team PrISUm was put to the test this week. The team has dealt with failed axle bearings on the towing trailer, a battery charging system that blew up on the eve of the race, bent axle and smashed wheel covers due to a gap in the road shoulder (the car pitched into the ditch) and a failed electrical power board. Fixing several of these issues cut into solar cell charging time at the end of the day, with the potential to impact the next day's performance.

Seeing the sites

In partnership with the National Park Service's centennial celebration, the 2016 American Solar Challenge includes checkpoints at nine national parks or historic sites in seven Midwestern states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Wednesday began the longest of the race's four stages, an 850-mile stretch from Republic, Missouri, to Gering, Nebraska, that the teams have up to three days to complete. Team PrISUm reached Wednesday's checkpoint in Topeka, Kansas, and departs from there Thursday. Once the teams reach Scotts Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska, it's a 158-mile jaunt Saturday from Gering to the finish line at Wind Cave National Park near Hot Springs, South Dakota.

 

Related stories:

Team PrISUm enjoys sunny skies and a (mostly) quiet drive to Topeka, Aug. 3, 2016
Team PrISUm races nearly 300 miles on the day, runs out of charge 5 miles from stage stop, Aug. 2, 2016
More Team PrISUm highs and lows: Solar car cruises, arrives seconds late to checkpoint, drops wheel in ditch, Aug. 1, 2016
Another up and down day for Team PrISUm, but Phaëton 2 does hit the speed limit, July 31, 2016
Team PrISUm solves another problem, races well, looks forward to a quiet night, July 30, 2016
Team PrISUm qualifies ninth for American Solar Challenge, believes it has found speed, July 28, 2016
Iowa State's solar car team ready to race 1,800 miles from national park to national park, July 18, 2016


Training time for most faculty and staff

It's time for most ISU faculty and staff to renew training on Title IX and unlawful harassment.

By law, all employees are required to complete training every two years, said equal opportunity director Margo Foreman. Those who need to take the training now will receive an email this Friday from ISU's online training vendor Workplace Answers.

"If you receive the Workplace email, please click your individualized training link as soon as possible and get started," Foreman said. "Training should be completed this month."

Foreman noted that those who took the training earlier this spring or sometime within the past couple of years won't receive an email Friday or need to take the training.

Two courses for most

All employees must take two courses:

  • Unlawful harassment prevention
  • Preventing discrimination and sexual violence. This course covers several federal laws -- Title IX, which prohibits sexual discrimination in education; the Violence Against Women Act, which strengthens penalties against offenders and provides service to victims; and the Clery Act, which requires universities to disclose information on campus crime

Third course for supervisors, faculty

Supervisors and faculty also must complete a third, supplementary course on unlawful harassment prevention.

New employees

New employees who've never received training information should contact eooffice@iastate.edu. Subsequently, they'll receive email instructions from workplaceanswers.com.

Training details

The training sessions are interactive and include a variety of workplace scenarios. The two required sessions for all employees take about 40 minutes each to complete. The supervisor supplement can be completed in about 15 minutes.

Training need not be completed in a single session. Participants can stop and restart as needed.

Trainees can print certificates for their own records upon completion of the courses. However, the certificates needn't be forwarded to administrators or the office of equal opportunity.  Course completions will be electronically recorded.

The office of equal opportunity will keep departments apprised of their employees' progress in completing training.

"This training is important," Foreman said. "It helps Iowa State fulfill requirements by two federal agencies -- the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Office of Civil Rights. More importantly, it helps make us better campus citizens."

Those with questions about the training material or technical issues should contact the Office of Equal Opportunity, 4-7612, eooffice@iastate.edu.


Darr named interim VP for university human resources

Kristi Darr, director of human resources, was appointed interim vice president for university human resources, effective, Aug. 1.

Darr has served in university human resources for eight years in varying roles, most recently as director of human resources, overseeing talent acquisition, employee and labor relations and learning and development.

The VP post previously was held by Julie Nuter, who recently resigned to accept a position with Argonne National Laboratory, near Chicago.


Visitors keep campus busy during summer

Many events -- from local to global -- will bring thousands of visitors to campus this summer. The following is a look at the groups (expecting 100 or more participants) that Iowa State will welcome over the next couple months.

Group Dates Participants Housing Venues    
Special Olympics Iowa summer games May 19-21 3,000 yes Lied, Forker, Beyer, Hilton
Odyssey of the Mind World Finals May 25-28 12,000 yes Campus-wide  
New student orientation May 23-July 1 6,000 yes Campus-wide  
USA Ultimate Iowa High School Championships June 4 100 no Rec fields  
PEGASAS (Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability) annual meeting June 7-9 150 no Town Engineering  
International Social Theory Consortium Conference June 9-10 125 no Morrill  
Agriculture Credit School: Iowa Bankers Association June 13-17 100 no Scheman  
OPPTAG summer youth programs June 13-July 22 400 yes Campus-wide  
USA Track and Field Iowa state meet June 18-19 1,000 no Cyclone Sports Complex  
USA Hockey Bantam Central District Select Camp June 19-24 150 yes Ames/ISU Ice Arena  
Cyclone Volleyball camps June 21-23, 12-14, 25-27 400 yes Forker, Hilton, Lied  
Miniature Hereford Breeders Association Junior Nationals June 22-26 200 no Hansen Ag Center
School Foods Short Course June 23, 19-21 445 no Scheman  
GoServ Global 5th Anniversary Celebration June 25 350 no Sukup Endzone Club  
Iowa 4-H Youth Conference June 28-30 830 yes Campus-wide  
Iowa Reading Association Conference June 28-29 600 no Scheman  
BravO National Dance Competition July 5-10 1,000 no Iowa State Center  
Universal Dance Association Camp July 7-10 150 yes State Gym  
Iowa Masters Golf Tournament July 8-10 100 no Veenker golf course  
Iowa Games July 9-10, 15-17, 22-24 14,500 no Campus-wide  
Project Lead the Way core training July 10-22 285 yes Howe, Sukup, Elings  
National Cheer and National Dance associations July 15-17 200 yes State Gym  
83rd Annual Custodian/Maintenance School July 18-22 100 no Scheman  
National Beep Baseball World Series July 24-30 500 no Rec fields  
Mary Greeley Medical Center Birthday Party Aug. 7 1,000 no Scheman