News and notes

In July, Dennis Keeney was one of several Iowa State University faculty members who addressed dignitaries from The World Bank who were interested in learning more about how intensive agriculture can be more sustainable. Keeney talked about the Leopold Center's role in outreach of sustainable agricultural research.

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Work continues in filling the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. Among those serving on the Wallace Chair advisory group are Leopold Center board member David Williams, Villisca; former board member and Practical Farmers of Iowa president Dave Lubben, Monticello; and Center director Dennis Keeney.

The Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Technology (IATP) has announced the appointment of Center director Dennis Keeney to its advisory committee. The IATP was established in 1986 to create environmentally and economically sustainable communities and regions through sound agriculture and trade policy.

Keeney is also now serving on the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation's Environmental Resources Advisory Committee. The committee provides information to the federation on issues affecting agriculture.

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The Leopold Center is preparing for the five-year review of its operations in early November. A four-member review team will visit the Center November 2-5 to meet with university and College of Agriculture administrators, researchers, issue team members, stakeholders, advisory board members and Center staff. Members of the review team are:

  • Dr. Lorna Michael Butler (chair), extension anthropologist and professor, Sustainable Agriculture and Communities, Department of Rural Sociology, Washington State University;
  • Dr. Zane R. Helsel, director of extension and dean of outreach, Cook College, Rutgers University;
  • Dr. Peter E. Hildebrand, professor, Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville; and
  • Dr. Billy R. (Bill) Baumgardt, former agricultural research director and associate agriculture dean, Purdue.


In late September, the Center issued a 100-page peer review document describing the last five years of activities and accomplishments. The main text portion of the document has been posted on the Center's web site.



Return to the Fall 1998 Leopold Letter Index