Inside Iowa State

Feb. 15, 2008

Registration for annual faculty conference due Feb. 29

by Erin Rosacker

Faculty are invited to register for the annual spring faculty conference March 27-28 in the Gateway Hotel and Conference Center (2100 Green Hills Dr.). The deadline for registration -- which is free and includes meals -- is Feb. 29.

"Enhancing Research Excellence at ISU" begins Thursday evening with a 7 p.m. reception and poster exhibit, and an 8 p.m. presentation by former ISU faculty member Alan Marcus. Now the head of Mississippi State University's history department, Marcus will discuss "150 Years of Research Excellence at ISU."

"ISU faculty are vitally engaged in research activities across the university," said Clark Ford, president-elect of the Faculty Senate and chair of the planning committee. "We will celebrate our research achievements, take a look at how the current research environment meets our needs or can be improved, and look at research opportunities and challenges for the future across many disciplines."

Friday's speakers include executive vice president and provost Elizabeth Hoffman; president Gregory Geoffroy; Caroline Levander, director of Rice University's Humanities Research Center; and participants for two panel discussions. Arden Bement, director of the National Science Foundation, will speak at 1 p.m.

Session and panel discussion topics include:

• Improving the research environment at ISU
• Future directions for research at ISU
• Future directions for research in the arts and humanities
• Future directions for research in science and engineering.

The conference will close with remarks from Geoffroy, followed by a 5:15 p.m. reception.

"Our slate of speakers is really exciting. We worked hard to have a program that would interest people and that's relevant," Ford said.

"We have enough space to handle just about everybody who's interested in coming to this," he added.

Coordinated by the Faculty Senate, the conference is open to all faculty members. To register, contact Sherri Angstrom, sangstro@iastate.edu, or go online.

"We worked hard to have a program that would interest people and that's relevant. We have enough space to handle just about everybody who's interested in coming to this."

Clark Ford