Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
March 1, 2002

Announcements

March 14 conference: Learning in wireless environment
"Discovery-Based Learning in a Wireless Environment" is the topic of a March 14 conference in the Instructional Technology Center. The conference (9 a.m. to noon) includes three sessions: a talk by one of the developers of the first wireless educational communities in the nation, a discussion of wireless computing at Iowa State and a demonstration of what can be done in wireless classrooms. Participants may attend any or all of the sessions. Registration is encouraged. For more information see http://www.itc.iastate.edu.

Cholesterol screening offered through March 9
Cholesterol screening will be offered at the Thielen Student Health Center six days a week from Feb. 25 to March 9 during regular health center hours. The cost is $9 to anyone in the campus community; a 12-hour fast (water only) is required. Call Brian Dunn, 4-2722, for more information.

Lowe's purchases will need ISU purchasing card
Effective March 1, all purchases at Lowe's Home Centers must be made with an ISU purchasing card. General contract orders (B2-XXXXX-XX) and payment authorization vouchers (PAVs) no longer will be allowed.

Another procurement option is ISU Central Stores, which offers a wide selection of in-stock items, and a customer service that will place and deliver Lowe's orders for you. Contact the Central Stores customer service desk, 4-8484, for more information.

For more information about the ISU purchasing card, contact Lesley Lackore, 4-4589, e-mail: llackore@iastate.edu, or visit the purchasing card Web site, http://www.iastate.edu/~purchasing/pc_home.htm.

Who's eligible for early retirement program
ISU's current early retirement incentive program expires June 30. If you're eligible for early retirement as of that date, you have two extra years (until June 30, 2004) to apply for the program. You're eligible for early retirement under the current plan if you are at least 57 years old and have at least 15 years of service by June 30, 2002.

However, early retirement is subject to approval by unit supervisors, who may set additional guidelines for determining whether to grant early retirement requests. Those guidelines may be based, for example, on a unit's program priorities or budget situation. The unit's guidelines may change over time, as priorities and budgets change.

ISU conference on race, ethnicity is March 1
The third annual ISCORE (Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity) will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, March 1, in the ISU Memorial Union. It features more than 30 concurrent sessions developed by a team that attended this year's NSCORE (National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education). Staff, students and faculty are welcome. Registration opens at 7:30 a.m. For more information, call 4-6338.

Student challenge will result in job swap for some
Six ISU administrators will switch spots with six students this spring or fall as part of a promotion of Academic Success Week, March 4-7. Iowa State's Academic Success Center is challenging students to set a personal GPA goal and strategies they'll use to achieve it. The goal is to get 5,000 students to participate. The names of all who do will go into a drawing and on March 8 six students will be selected to switch places for at least part of a day with President Gregory Geoffroy, vice president for external affairs Ben Allen, vice president for student affairs Tom Hill, provost Rollin Richmond, vice provost for undergraduate programs Howard Shapiro and College of Agriculture dean Catherine Wotecki.

Course in van driving offered
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a cautionary warning to users of 15-passenger vans because of an increased rollover risk under certain conditions. ISU Transportation Services will offer a course to help drivers handle 15-passenger vans. The instructor is from the Iowa-Illinois Safety Council and the course is open to faculty, staff and students. It will be taught from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, March 7, in Room 8, Fire Service Training Bureau, Haber Road. The cost is $20, payable by intramural to Transportation Services. Call 4-3414 to register.

T.A. Wilson lecture is March 12
Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at the NASA/Langley Research Center in Virginia, will present the biannual T.A. Wilson lecture at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, in the Howe Hall auditorium. His talk is titled, "Futures of Civilian Aeronautics and Space -- Frontiers of the Responsibly Imaginable." A reception will follow his lecture. For more information, call Ping Lu, 4-6956.