Wickstrom receives AJCA Director’s Scholarship

ACEL graduate student, Ashlan Wickstrom, was awarded a Director’s Scholarship from the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA).  This $1,500 scholarship will be used to support Wickstrom’s graduate studies in the upcoming academic year.

The AJCA is the oldest dairy breed association in the U.S. and has a long history of sponsoring educational programs for “young people interested in the Jersey breed.”  Wickstrom has been involved with Jersey Cattle since her childhood on her family’s dairy farm in Hilmar, California.  Wickstrom’s passion to tell the story of agriculture led her to Texas A&M University where she completed her BS in Agricultural Leadership and Development.  While at Texas A&M, Wickstrom attended AJCA’s Jersey Youth Academy, where she gained a deeper understanding of the challenges facing the Jersey breed and the dairy industry as a whole.

Wickstrom’s desire to help face these challenges, led her to join the ACEL Master’s program with a specialization in Agricultural Communication in autumn 2015.  She is completing her degree under the advisement of Dr. Annie Specht and would like to focus on consumer perceptions in the dairy industry.  Her current research involves understanding the influence that online content related to dairy products has on consumer decisions. She hopes to put her research to use after graduation in a role that allows her to promote the consumption of dairy products nationwide.

Students in the AEE graduate program learn to understand and use knowledge grounded in foundation disciplines for planning, implementing, and evaluating educational and communication programs in food, agricultural, and environmental sciences.  The specialization in agricultural communication is designed to prepare students to become leaders in the field of agricultural communication. Graduate students plan, develop, and implement a research project focused on agricultural communication as part of their Master’s thesis.  To learn more about the AEE graduate programs, please visit acel.osu.edu or call 614-292-3352.