In This Issue
- From CFANS Dean Allen Levine: This fall's new students
- University, friends bid farewell to Borlaug
- Siehl Prize now accepting nominations
- Hungry Planet exhibit to begin at Bell Museum
- Next symposium focuses on 21st century agriculture
- Dairy judging team takes 3rd place in nation
- Read Solutions magazine online
- Keep up with CFANS on Twitter and Facebook
- Events
From the dean: Who are our new students?
 We have lots of new faces around campus this fall, and a high percentage of familiar faces too. The official registration numbers are in, with some good news about our undergraduate population. Our freshman retention rate -- the percentage of students who enrolled as freshmen last fall and returned this fall as sophomores -- is 91 percent, a 5 percent jump from a year ago and above the university-wide average.
Retention rates are a good indicator that we’re providing students with the educational experience they expect, and that we’re keeping them on track to graduate on schedule.
The numbers from the U of M’s Office of Institutional Research tell us more about this year's student population:
Read more
- We welcomed 563 new undergraduate students and 138 new graduate students to CFANS for the fall semester. Among new undergraduates, 287 are coming to the college directly from high school, while 276 are either joining the U with advanced standing or transferring from another program.
- The mean credit load for CFANS undergraduates is 15 credits; that’s higher than in all but three of the Twin Cities campus’s 18 schools and colleges. Our graduate students have a mean credit load of 9.1 credits, which is just above the average for all of the Twin Cities campus.
- Our graduate students are exactly equally split along gender lines: 346 men and 346 women. Among undergraduates, though, we have 1,098 female students and 727 males.
- The average age of our undergraduates is 21.5 or just above the 21.2 mean for the whole Twin Cities campus; the mean age of CFANS graduate students is 30.6, or slightly younger than the Twin Cities mean of 30.9.
- Where do our students come from? Of course, the largest numbers are from the Twin Cities metro area – 1,054 undergraduate and graduate students – and the rest of Minnesota (553 total). But students also come from Wisconsin (405), North Dakota (24), South Dakota (26), elsewhere in the United States (296) and outside of the U.S. (183).
These figures are fun to look at and tell us a little bit about CFANS students, but there's no substitute for meeting them in person. To those of you who don't see or talk with our students on a daily basis, I invite you to learn more about them through our mentor and alumni programs, by participating in our academic and professional events, or through the many other opportunities for interaction with our college. I think you'll enjoy getting to know these fine young people.
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University, friends bid farewell to Borlaug
 The University of Minnesota community honored Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug at a memorial ceremony Oct. 8 on campus. Borlaug, an alumnus of the Department of Plant Pathology and the Department of Forest Resources, died last month at age 95.
Watch video of the memorial event
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Siehl Prize now accepting nominations
Nominations for the 2010 Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture are open through December 1. The prize recognizes living individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the production of food and alleviation of hunger in three categories: production, agribusiness and knowledge.
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'Hungry Planet' kicks off at the Bell Museum
The grocery lists and dining tables of people around the globe -- like the family from China pictured above -- are the subject of a new exhibit at the Bell Museum of Natural History that's based on the national best selling book. Hungry Planet, which runs through May 9, combines mesmerizing photos with hands-on displays that explore issues of food in the 21st century — what people eat and where it comes from, as well as how different cultures approach the growing and processing of food.
The exhibit is accompanied by a wide variety of food-related programming during its entire run at the Bell.
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Next symposium focuses on 21st century ag
This fall's Solution-Driven Science symposium is titled "Sustainable Animal Agriculture in the 21st Century." The seminar, to be held Dec. 3 at the St. Paul Student Center, includes speakers Earl Dotson, President and CEO of Validus; Roger Cady of Elanco Animal Health; and Wendy Powers of Michigan State University.
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Dairy judging team takes third in national contest
Members of the U of M's dairy judging team took third place among 19 teams in the national collegiate dairy cattle judging contest, which is held at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin. For seven of the past nine years, the U of M has placed among the top 4 teams in the national collegiate contest.
Pictured, left to right: Coaches Les Hansen and Alicia Thurk, team members Staci Sexton, Charlie Schiller, Brandon Thesing, Jessica Achen, Mike Donnelly and Jeff Pagel, and coach Scott Ellinghuysen.
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 New Solutions magazine published
This fall's issue of Solutions magazine, which reports on research and scholarship in CFANS, is available online and has been mailed to subscribers. This issue's features include a look at how scientists in CFANS are helping improve school nutrition programs; how teams from the college have helped bring back the piping plover; whether forest biomass could be commercially successful as fuel; and a farewell tribute to alumnus Norman Borlaug.
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CFANS is on Twitter and Facebook
Want to catch up with happenings at CFANS more often? Now you can follow college research news and events on Twitter. CFANS Alumni & Friends also is on Facebook, with updates and details on alumni/friends gatherings.
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Here are a few coming events of interest to the College of
Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences community. Visit www.cfans.umn.edu to
see more events.
Minnesota Water Resources Conference
Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 26-27
St. Paul RiverCentre, St. Paul
The annual Minnesota Water Resources Conference presents innovative and practical water resource management techniques and highlights research about Minnesota’s water resources. The conference is for water resources professionals including resource managers, researchers, local, state and federal agency staff, consultants, practicing engineers, as well as students in the field.
Local Foods and Consumer Demand
The Food Industry Center fall networking conference
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1 to 5 p.m.
Coffman Union, University of Minnesota East Bank
The conference brings students and food industry professionals together to learn about current issues. Topics include local-food supply chains; food safety; cooperative business models and a look at a successful student new-food campaign. The seminar is free to students and employees of sponsor companies, and $50 for all others. Pre-registration is required.
Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability
Tuesday-Wednesday, Dec. 1-2
Continuing Education Center, St. Paul campus
The first day of the two-day conference will involve an overview from leading experts on ways people involved in the bioeconomy – farmers, industry, academia, government and non-government agencies – can be part of the agriculturally-based solutions to global climate change and energy supply. The second day will focus on business opportunities for Minnesota.
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