Month: March 2018

When You Have Students Studying in “People Majors”…

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The students in our department are great. There, I said it. It’s my bias, but I believe there is a compelling argument to support my premise. This has been on my mind lately because, during the spring semester, many types of recognition, awards and positions are announced in the college, across our campus and beyond. To me, there is no surprise that our students are selected for many these accolades and responsibilities. In sum, we have students in majors who focus on people – communicating with people, educating people and leading people. When you have students who study in “people majors,” it should be no surprise they excel at interacting with others and engaging in solutions to issues.

We have excellent example of the ways our students are interacting and engaging across several levels. Let me give you a quick snapshot from 0ur 2017-2018 academic year:

Our student success is not a recent phenomenon.  For example, we have had strong representation in the college’s outstanding senior competition. Twenty years ago, I was one of nine from this department selected as a “Top 20 Senior.” At that point in time, that Top 20 list was narrowed to a Top 10 list and announced at our college banquet. Even more striking than having nine of 20 is that out of the Top 10 honorees, eight of us came from this department. But our markers of excellence over time are not only within our college.

Profiles of the 1998 CFAES Outstanding Seniors, from the 1998 AgriNaturalist

Our students have also been well represented across the campus. Aforementioned students in the list above join ACEL alumni who have also served in those organizations and received similar recognition. When you peruse the list of former university leadership award recipients, you may notice several ACEL alumni. During our centennial, we had the opportunity to reflect on our student involvement over the years. In our 100 Facts for 100 Years booklet, we shared many statistics about our student involvement over time:

  • Seventy-eight students have served as CFAES Ambassadors. Numerous other students served in phalanx student organization, the precursor to the ambassador program.
  • Forty students have represented our department on the Edward S. “Beanie” Drake Student Leader Endowment Fund Board of Directors.
  • Stacie Seger McCracken, ‘15, served a two-year term as the undergraduate student trustee on the University’s Board of Trustees. She was appointed to the board by Ohio Governor John Kasich.
  • Ellen S. Gilliland, ‘14, won the Spirit of Ohio State in 2013, which recognizes students who represent the values, traditions, and spirit of Ohio State through their engagement in and commitment to the campus community.
  • Twenty-four students have been members of Ohio Staters, Inc., a student, faculty and staff organization.
  • Our department has had at least 79 students named outstanding senior (Top 20) in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
  • Twelve students have been honored as an outstanding University Senior.
  • Dustin Homan, ‘12, and Jarred Shellhouse, ‘17, are recipients of the University’s Stanley D. Gottsegan Leadership Award, which recognizes one student leader annually who has demonstrated outstanding involvement in co-curricular activities. Homan was also awarded the Scarlet, Gray and Green Student Leadership Award, presented to an individual student who has shown leadership in furthering sustainability efforts on campus.
  • Fifteen students have served as senators for the University’s Undergraduate Student Government.
  • Eleven officers of the National FFA Organization have been students in our Department at the time of their service: Ralph Bender, ‘33, ‘41, ‘47 (1930-1931), Glenn Lackey, ‘54 (1949-1950), Dale Ring, ‘59 (1955-1956), Jerome Donovan, Jr., ‘63, ‘89 (1960-1961), Dennis C. Sargent, ‘76, ‘78 (1971-1972), Doug Loudenslager, ‘78 (1975-1976), Rob Hovis, ‘81 (1977-1978), Dan Schroer, ‘93, ‘99 (1989-1990), Katy Poth Endsley, ‘04 (2000-2001), Hannah Crossen Everetts, ‘12 (2008-2009) and Sydney Snider, current AGRCOMM student, (2015-2016).
  • Seven graduate students have served on the University’s Council of Graduate Students.
  • As a doctoral student, Dr. Jamie Cano, ‘88, served as president of the Council of Graduate students during the 1987-1988 academic year, a position which allowed him to serve on the university’s Graduate Council and the University’s President Cabinet.
  • Twenty-four students have been members of the Bucket and Dipper junior class honorary.
  • Four students have been inducted into Chimes Junior Class Honorary.
  • 133 students have been part of an Ohio State’s ROTC. One-hundred nine ACEL ROTC cadets received a B.S. in agricultural education. Two cadets received a B.S. in agricultural communication. Fort-two received a master’s degree in agricultural education. Ten received a PhD in agricultural education.
  • Thirteen students have been members of the Ohio State University Homecoming Court, including Katy Poth Endsley ’04 (AGRCOMM) who was named queen in 2003.
  • Forty-five students have marched as part of The Ohio State University Marching Band.
  • Forty-seven students have earned a letter as a varsity athlete.

Even further than recognition during your time in college is to ask how our students fare after they graduate and enter their careers? Again, the evidence is strong that we fare well.  During the first weekend this March, CFAES Alumni recognized Ag Ed alum and retired agriculture teacher Cliff Baughman ’59, ’68 with a Distinguished Alumni Award for his years of positive influence on his agriculture students and the greater community in Champaign County, Ohio. Cliff joins the ranks of numerous ACEL alumni who have received this or other college alumni awards.

Beyond awards, we have leaders playing important roles across the broader agricultural industry. In our centennial video, you heard Ohio Farm Bureau Executive Vice President Adam Sharp ’94 (AGRCOMM alum) and Ohio Agribusiness Association (OABA) President Chris Henney ’98 (AGREDUC alum) discuss how this department helped to cultivate their respective futures. Other examples include AGRCOMM alum Hannah Thompson-Weeman ’11, ’12, Vice President of Communications for the Animal Agriculture Alliance, who provides influence and leadership beyond Ohio in her role. This is just the tip of the iceberg as I’ve not even talked about the award-winning agriculture teachers and Extension educators who have provided leadership within the state and across the country in their fields.

Among our graduate student alumni ranks, we have a strong history of MS and PhD alums being selected for university faculty positions. Our alums-turned-faculty win teaching and research awards within and beyond our discipline. Some of those faculty have emerged as academic leaders on their campuses such as Professor Emeritus Dr. Kirby Barrick ,’70, ’73, ’80, who was a Dean at the University of Florida. Dr. Blannie Bowen, ’80 PhD retired as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Penn State; Dr. Barbara Kirby, ’76, ’81 served North Carolina State University as Associate Vice Provost of Administration and Curricular Programs in the University College. And, Dr. David Doerfert, ’89 MS/PhD is an Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Texas Tech University. And if you are a university faculty member in an ACEL-type department or program but don’t have a degree from ACEL, you likely have someone in your academic lineage who does hold such a degree.

I am very proud of our students and alumni. By mere proportion, our presence is strong given the size of our department in comparison to other units across campus. The breadth of ways of students and alumni are represented across the campus and beyond is also impressive. Given those points, I conclude that our representation is not one-dimensional, which is something of which we should be rather proud. Finally, the successes of our alumni provide longitudinal support of the excellence our students bring to their work and interactions.

CFAES Vice President and Dean Cathann Kress shares with our constituents and partners that in our college we have one mission: We Sustain Life. On reflection, I contend ACEL’s specific role in carrying out that mission may be more nuanced. Our alums will likely not be the ones to develop the biological, chemical, environmental or engineering-related discoveries connected to some of our issues surrounding food, agriculture and the environment (unless they obtain an advanced degree in those areas). However, there is one thing our fields’ problems have in common: they all involve people. This leads me back to the title and initial conversation of this post. When you have students who study in “people majors”… you have people dedicated to the mantra: We Enhance Living! I see the way that you all enhance the lives of the people, communities, teams and industries around you and it makes me proud to not only serve as chair, but to be an alum of this department, as well.