Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
7/23/03
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Joel Brown, United States Department of Agriculture, (505)-646-2854, joelbrow@nmsu.edu
Kris Phelps, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515)-294-7329,
kphelps@iastate.edu
Jean McGuire, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515)-294-7033,
jmcguire@iastate.edu
ISU Continuing Education Offers Online Global Change Course for USDA
AMES, IOWA--Iowa State University (ISU) and the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) are offering a Web-based course on global change to USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) employees.
The semester-long course, which is an existing three-credit course at Iowa State, has been adapted for NRCS staff to cover the scientific, economic, social, political and ethical implications of global environmental change. The goal of the class is to create a group of trained NRCS staff with skills in assessing and responding to global change via existing conservation programs.
"Once they have taken the course, I think we will have a group of NRCS staff in multiple disciplines and regions that have a working, quantitative knowledge of global change issues and can incorporate solutions into our day-to-day activities," said Joel Brown, global change leader for the USDA NRCS.
ISU developed the Web-based delivery method of this course so the USDA could deliver the course to their employees located across the country.
"The USDA was impressed with the quality of Iowa State's course and asked us to convert the class to fit their needs," said Kris Phelps, continuing education specialist for ISU Extension.
Brown said he looked at more than 100 universities and found several land grant institutions that offered what he was looking for.
"I was most impressed with the ISU course because of the interaction among students and faculty," Brown said.
The course is being offered this summer and again during the spring of 2004. For more information go to http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/gccourse/.
-30-
ml: state
Extension programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.