Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION
(N/A)
MANGILAO,GU 96913
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The main goal of this proposal is to develop workforce for the meat and poultry processing (MPP) industry in Guam. We are proposing a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate that will provide focus training that will cultivate a new generation workforce with theunderstanding of animal harvest, meat processing, food safety, and agriculture business management. Through a collaboration between the University of Guam and the College of Micronesia - FSM (COM-FSM), and the University of Puerto Rico participating university students will have the opportunity to become active industry professionals. Three specific objectives are proposed: 1. Establish a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate- Design and implement a certificate in MPP that includes industry-approved certifications in food and employee safety and an integration component (i.e., internship or project). Students will be provided with necessary tools to work in an existing MPP facility or establish their own business. 2. Offer a "671 Workshop Series" which will focus on providing hands-on experience for red meat processing, HACCP plan training, and Business Management. Students will gain be challenged with real word problems. 3. Offer a "Taiwan Study Tour" to allow students to visit facilities and industries and gain experience, in traveling to Taiwan's meat and poultry industry and slaughter facilities that are HACCP certified. - Student will gain insight and common challenge in the industry in a setting that are more similar to Guam or the FSM. The primary result of the project should be the generation of MPP-competent and food safety knowledgeable professionals that meets the US industry standards.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The main goal of this proposal is to develop workforce for the meat and poultry proecssing (MPP) industry on Guam. We are proposing a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate that will provide focus training that will cultivate new generation workforce with the understanding of animal harvest, meat processing, food safety, and agriculture business management. Through a collaboration between the University of Guam and the College of Micronesia - FSM (COM-FSM), and the Palau Community College (to be confirmed) participating university students will have the opportunity to become active industry professionals. Three specific objectives are proposed: 1. Establish a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate- Design and implement a certificate in MPP that includes industry-approved certifications in food and employee safety and an integration component (i.e., internship or project). Students will be provided with the necessary tools to work in an existing MPP facility or establish their own business. 2. Offer a "671 Workshop Series" which will focus on providing hands-on experience for red meat processing, HACCP plan training, and Business Management. Students will gain be challenged with real word problems. 3. Offer a "Taiwan Study Tour" to allow students to visit facilities and industries and gain experience, in traveling to Taiwan's meat and poultry industry and slaughter facilities that are HACCP certified. - Student will gain insight and common challenge in the industry in a setting that is more similar to Guam or the FSM. The primary result of the project should be the generation of MPP-competent and food safety knowledgeable professionals that meet the US industry standards.
Project Methods
Accomplishment of Objective 1 (Establish an undergraduate/graduate PP certificate) requires collaboration between participating institutions and industry representatives to identify curriculum content. Investigators recognize that approval processes of the developed academic offering might take over a year to complete. However, both Institutions recognize and promote student participation in events as part of externally funded projects. Furthermore, UOG has the Office of Global Learning and Engaging that allows the offer of courses and certifications beyond UOG-approved programs. If need be, certificate issuance can be coordinated through GLE until the certificate approval process is completed.Investigator-industry meeting - Development of a robust industry-recognized curriculum requires stakeholder input. Thus, a meeting between investigators and industry representatives needs to be organized. In preparation for the meeting, one-on-one conversations will be carried out with stakeholders (i.e., slaughterhouses and processing plants) to explain the project and seek feedback of knowledge and skills of professionals.Gathered inputs will be organized and used by investigators to determine current course offerings at UOG that could be included (as-is or after course content revision), as well as courses to be developed. All data will be presented at the investigators-industry meeting to generate the required discussion leading to curriculum definition.Student selection process - Student recruitment criteria will be defined by investigators to ensure equal and fair opportunities to interested students in all three institutions. Current outlook is for participating students not to be restricted to be Agriculture majors. Investigators agree that participating students from diverse academic fields might result in a richer learning experience and better prepared professionals. Three waves of recruited students are foreseen, starting from years 2. The projects target is to recruit 3-4 students from UOG, 2-3 students from FSM-COM and 2-3 students from USPR, for a total range of 7- 10 students per recruitment class. This distribution is based on budget requirements of the 8 RFA but could be modified based on student applications (i.e., availability or perceived potential) and investigator's consensus. By the end of the project, we expect to impact 30 students in total (9-12 from UOG, 6-9 from FSM-COM and 6-9 from USPR). Student mentoring will be provided by investigators to make sure students at all institutions are guided thought the program and have increased chances of success in their academic formation and future professional development.