Community and Extension planning a future for Lakeside Laboratory

Since 1909, summers have welcomed professors, researchers, undergraduate and graduate students from all over the world to Lakeside Laboratory’s 140-acre campus on the shores of Little Miller’s Bay. The lake, adjacent uplands, streams and wetlands are natural classrooms for Lakeside courses.

This summer Iowa State University Extension staff came to West Okoboji’s west shore to study and audit the laboratory — a field station run cooperatively by ISU, University of Northern Iowa, University of Iowa and Drake University. Cory Peterson, Lakeside interim director, and her Extension colleagues are creating plans that will secure a sustainable future for the laboratory.

Tracy Tucker was an ISU journalism summer intern at Lakeside. “There is so much science that goes on here,” Tucker said. “In the classrooms, labs and in the field — even over meals. Top science professors discuss issues over lunch with visiting researchers and students, blending several fields of study. Talk about total immersion!”

These three- or four-week courses are offered during three summer terms. Lakeside offers short programs weekly to the general public.

Lee Burras, agronomy and environmental science professor, is a strong proponent of immersion learning. “Lakeside gives students studying soil, water quality and watersheds the opportunity to make the subject matter part of their life as it becomes part of their vocabulary. Lakeside also offers the community educational opportunities where they learn about our research and can become involved with projects.”

Jane Shuttleworth, Friends of Lakeside Laboratory executive director, started training local volunteers to collect lake data in 1999. Water samples these volunteers collect are processed at the lab and provide important lake ecology information to the area — helping citizens understand what is in the lake and where it is coming from.

Barbara Mendenhall is a local fund-raiser for Friends of Lakeside. “Lakeside Laboratory fills a niche in biological field research because it includes not only the inland waters, but the surrounding prairie, prairie potholes and forests.”

Peterson and ISU Extension specialists are exploring the potential of year-round academic programming and an enhanced research program at Lakeside.

Lakeside classes are small, full-immersion, field-oriented courses that meet five days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summer.

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Fall 2004 homepage

The Extension Connection is a quarterly publication of Iowa State University Extension.

Laura Sternweis, editor, lsternwe@iastate.edu

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Last update: October 2004

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