Progress 07/15/09 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The goals of the Horticulture Education Connection Program were to encourage students to pursue 2- and/or 4-year postsecondary degrees in the agrisciences and to assist students in achieving their career goals and to help meet workplace needs by increasing the quality of postsecondary instruction by facilitating the interactions between high school students, NCCC horticulture and non-horticulture students, the Western New York State Nursery and Landscape Association and its 86 member firms, 4-year universities, and the general public. NCCC updated the horticulture certificate program requirements, developed an A.A.S. horticulture curriculum, developed 3 new courses including BIO 230 Introduction to Soil Science, HRT 130 Sustainability Topics in the Agrisciences, and HRT 131 Careers and Educational Opportunities in the Agrisciences. NCCC modernized all horticulture and plant biology courses to include the latest sustainability research, best management practices, and technology, and expanded interaction between NCCC horticulture students and the industry. NCCC applied for SUNY general education status in the Arts or Natural Science knowledge and skills areas for 8 horticulture and plant biology classes in order to make those classes available to non-horticulture students to fulfill their general education requirements. A program was developed to prepare currently employed individuals and horticulture students for the NYS Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional examination and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Certified Pesticide Applicator Exam. NCCC facilitated visits by high schools to campus for lectures on agriscience careers and hands-on activities involving various aspects of plant sciences, biotechnology, and computer-aided design. Lesson plans were created for high school biology, math, and art courses highlighting the application of those topics in horticulture careers. These plans were distributed to 7 local high schools and 8 other high schools at the NAAE conference in 2011. A yearly joint project between high school agriscience students, NCCC horticulture students, and the WNYSNLA was developed for Plantasia, a public garden show. NCCC coordinated campus visits to 4-year universities by NCCC horticulture students and developed transfer agreements at two universities for NCCC horticulture students who wish to continue their education. In order to communicate these efforts, NCCC developed a branding and outreach campaign that included a mission, logo, tradeshow booth, banners, posters, brochures, a website that focuses on student success stories, scholarships, career and educational opportunities, and links to fun horticulture and agri-science topics, and a Facebook account. Presentations were made to high school counselors. Four seminars were held for the general public and exhibits were placed at local garden fairs. Newspaper articles and press releases promoting seminars and other educational activities were developed. Additional industry outreach was conducted through email newsletters, trade publication articles, association meeting presentations, and trade show exhibition. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals who worked on the project: Carolyn A. Stanko, Project Director and NCCC Horticulture Program Coordinator, coordinated all aspects of the grant project; Partner organizations: Cornell University, SUNY Morrisville, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, McKinley High School, South Park High School, Western New York State Nursery and Landscape Association and their member firms; Collaborators: NCCC Admissions, Academic Affairs, Public Relations, and Grants departments, NCCC Science and Technology (formerly Life Sciences) Division, NCCC Faculty Senate committees on Curriculum, General Education, and Recruitment and Marketing; Both the project director and one faculty member participated in professional development funded by the grant project to learn Dynascape landscape design software and implement its use in the HRT 282 curriculum. TARGET AUDIENCES: 1. NCCC horticulture students and non-horticulture students including both traditional and non-tradtional student demographics 2. Western New York high school students enrolled in an agriscience program and not enrolled in an agriscience program (rural, suburban, and urban schools involved) 3. Niagara and Erie county residents (general public) 4. Current employees of horticultural businesses in western New York PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
All NCCC horticulture graduates who seek employment in the industry find jobs. This 100% employment rate has continued even though the NYS unemployment rate has risen from 7.6% in Jan 2009 to 9.2% in Jan 2012. The successful employment of the graduates can be attributed to the quality of their education, course scheduling, and the networking interactions they participate in during the course of their studies. Overall fall enrollment in the Horticulture certificate program has stayed fairly consistent over the last 5 years, but spring enrollments have exceeded projections with spring 2011 enrollment triple that of the previous year. Additionally, attrition rates have decreased from 46.2% in Fall 2008 to 35.7% in Fall 2011, a level that is below the college average. This important decrease can be attributed to curriculum improvements that emphasis career success and additional education opportunities and course scheduling that fits both the students' needs and the industry's needs. The graduation rate is at a level that hasn't been achieved since 2000. The Horticulture AAS program will be offered for the first time in Fall 2013 with an anticipated enrollment of 15 full-time and 10 part-time students. After 5 years, the projected enrollment is 25 full-time and 15 part-time students. 6 high schools, with a total of 105 students, have visited campus for career and educational pathway discussions and hands-on activities. 50 high school students have participated in the Plantasia experience with 32 college horticulture students. 15 high schools have received the biology, art, and math lesson plans. With data provided by 7 of these high schools, these lesson plans will reach at least 3200 high school students each year. Transfer agreements with Cornell and SUNY Morrisville have been developed providing easy transition for NCCC horticulture students to continue their educations. Seminars for the general public reached over 150 people. Additional outreach efforts to the general public reached over 25,000 people due to staffing of an informational booth at local garden-related events. Web outreach efforts to date have reached 103 individuals on a weekly basis. Fourteen students have been prepared for the NYS DEC Certified Pesticide Applicator Exam with anticipated future enrollments of 24 students per year. Twenty two people participated in the NYS Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional Exam review courses, 17 took the exam, and 7 passed. This pass rate is consistent with results achieved in the past when the Erie County Cornell Cooperative Extension provided the review courses. They no longer offer this service due to budget cuts. The Buffalo News article about the project director and the grant efforts reached a Niagara County readership of almost 200,000. Due to the outreach efforts of this USDA grant project, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo became aware of the NCCC horticulture program and developed a scholarship and marketing program for $28,000 that provided scholarships to 10 students and marketing funds. The scholarship recipients commit to 2 years of volunteer work with a local green organization.
Publications
- Kearns, Michelle. (2012, Jan. 29). Growing a Passion for Plants in Others. Buffalo News. p. D1.
- Stanko, Carolyn. (2011). Making Connections in Horticulture Education. New York State Nursery and Landscape Association Nursery Lines. (pending)
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Progress 07/15/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The goals of the Horticulture Education Connection Program were to encourage students to pursue 2- and/or 4-year postsecondary degrees in the agrisciences and to assist students in achieving their career goals and to help meet workplace needs by increasing the quality of postsecondary instruction by facilitating the interactions between high school students, NCCC horticulture and non-horticulture students, the Western New York State Nursery and Landscape Association and its 86 member firms, 4-year universities, and the general public. NCCC applied for SUNY general education status in the Arts or Natural Science knowledge and skills areas for 8 horticulture and plant biology classes in order to make those classes available to non-horticulture students to fulfill their general education requirements. A program was developed to prepare currently employed individuals and horticulture students for the NYS Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional examination and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Certified Pesticide Applicator Exam. Lesson plans were created for high school biology, math, and art courses highlighting the application of those topics in horticulture careers. These plans were distributed to 7 local high schools and 8 other high schools at the NAAE conference in 2011. NCCC coordinated campus visits to 4-year universities by NCCC horticulture students and developed transfer agreements at two universities for NCCC horticulture students who wish to continue their education. Presentations were made to 40 high school counselors at the Orleans Niagara Counselors luncheon promoting the agrisciences. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Overall enrollment in the Horticulture certificate program has stayed fairly consistent over the last 5 years. However, attrition rates have decreased from 46.2% in Fall 2008 to 35.7% in Fall 2011, a level that is below the college average. This important decrease can be attributed to curriculum improvements that emphasis career success and additional education opportunities and course scheduling that fits both the students' needs and the industry's needs. 15 high schools received the biology, art, and math lesson plans. With data provided by 7 of these high schools, these lesson plans will reach at least 3200 high school students each year. Transfer agreements with two 4-year universities have been developed providing easy transition for NCCC horticulture students to continue their educations. Outreach efforts for the general public during the July 2011 to December 2011 time period reached over 2500 people due to staffing of an informational booth at local garden-related events. Web outreach efforts to date have reached 103 individuals on a weekly basis. Due to the outreach efforts of this USDA grant project, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo agreed to a second year of funding for the scholarship program that provided scholarships to 10 students and marketing funds. The scholarship recipients commit to 2 years of volunteer work with a local green organization.
Publications
- Stanko, Carolyn. (2011). Making Connections in Horticulture Education. New York State Nursery and Landscape Association Nursery Lines. (pending)
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Progress 07/15/10 to 07/14/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: NCCC has enhanced agricultural education and awareness of career opportunities in the agrisciences and educational pathways through curriculum improvements and interaction with other academic institutions and the public. The program announcement and curriculum structure for an A.A.S. in horticulture was approved by the NCCC Life Sciences Division, Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee, Academic Affairs, and the Board of Trustees. Three new courses were created and successfully passed through college governance: BIO 230 Introduction to Soil Science, HRT 130 Sustainability Topics in the Agrisciences, HRT 131 Careers and Educational Opportunities in the Agrisciences. All existing HRT courses were updated to rewrite course descriptions to be more descriptive of course content, re-word course objectives into measureable student learning outcomes, reorganize and re-word content for clarity and to reflect the sequence in which it is presented, add content as needed to maintain emphasis on current research and best management practices, and update bibliography to reflect current holdings. These updates passed through college governance. The updated syllabi are being reviewed by two universities to determine transfer credits. Ms. Stanko and her students setup and staffed a booth at the Western New York State Nursery and Landscape Association (WNYSNLA) Education Day and Trade Show, a public 5-day garden show called Plantasia, the 2-day Lewiston Garden Fest, and the nationally-recognized 2-day Garden Walk Buffalo. Faculty and students promoted horticulture careers and educational pathways to attendees. A seminar on container gardening in western New York was presented at Plantasia to a broad audience that included horticulture students, industry professionals, and the general public. NCCC horticulture students worked with horticulture students from two local high schools on a the extensive setup of Plantasia including the children's garden and plant distribution, further tying prospective students, current students, and the industry together. NCCC collaborated with the WNYSNLA to develop a series of review classes for the NYS Certified Nursery & Landscape Professional exam. The review classes will be held for the first time in Spring 2012. The Office of Workforce Development at NCCC will be administering the program and the Horticulture Program at NCCC will be coordinating the educational activities. The NCCC Public Relations Office distributed a postcard promoting the horticulture program to local residences. Two press releases were distributed to publicize the achievements of NCCC horticulture students. The program, careers, and scholarship opportunities were also publicized through radio stations, community bulletin boards, the Buffalo News garden happenings column, the NCCC website, the NCCC campus wide system message, the UDig NCCC Facebook page, campus flyers, the Upstate Gardener's Journal website and Facebook page, and the WNYSNLA email list. Promotional materials including a logo, poster, brochure, trade show booth, and banners have been developed. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The program announcement and curriculum structure for an A.A.S. in horticulture and three new courses successfully passed through college governance. The new courses are slated to be offered for the first time in Spring 2012. If the rest of the new program development process goes according to plan and is approved by SUNY and NY State Department of Education, the new A.A.S. in horticulture program will be offered in Fall 2012. All existing HRT courses were updated and passed through college governance as well. The updated syllabi are being reviewed by two universities to determine transfer credits. The new curriculum for HRT 282 Landscape Design II using new landscape design software was run for the first time in Spring 2011 with 15 students. Spring courses were again scheduled in a ten-week block format to enable students to be available for employment and/or their externships starting April 1. Students from three high schools were hosted on the NCCC campus by the horticulture program. The students attended a presentation on horticulture career opportunities and educational pathways. Then the students were taken to the campus greenhouse to participate in a plant propagation hands-on exercise. All students were able to take home a new plant. During the NCCC CCI day, a day where over 600 high schools students arrive on campus for career talks, students are able to meet with Ms. Stanko at a booth during the lunch hour as well as participate in a hands-on propagation exercise. Ms. Stanko traveled to Cornell University with a group of NCCC horticulture students to tour the greenhouses and research facilities. Students were treated to in-depth discussions on current projects as well as information on transfer options. The UDigNCCC.org website is still under development, while the corresponding Facebook page is gaining more participants. Students, alumni, community green organizations, and the general public are now involved with the UDigNCCC social networking efforts and are kept up-to-date on program activities and opportunities. Enrollment levels are being tracked. Spring 2011 enrollment was triple the enrollment of the previous spring. Curriculum improvements are continuing to include application for general education status. High school students, the general public, and current horticulture students have been exposed to careers in the agrisciences, educational pathways, and hands-on activities. The program was also promoted through projects developed by horticulture students and used during campus events including: Niagara Orleans high school counselors' luncheon, western NY women's leaders group luncheon, and the SUNY Operation Inform breakfast, and CCI day.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 07/15/09 to 07/14/10
Outputs
NCCC has enhanced agricultural education and awareness of career opportunities and educational pathways in the agrisciences through curriculum improvements and interaction with other academic institutions and the public. The program proposal for an A.A.S. in horticulture is undergoing the review and approval process. Modifications have been made to the curriculum of several courses to achieve objectives. Faculty members were trained on Dynascape landscape design software. Two continuing education workshops have been presented with broad audiences including horticulture students, industry professionals, and the general public. Spring courses were scheduled in a ten-week block format. High school students attended lectures and hands-on projects to learn more about horticulture careers and educational pathways. The UDigNCCC.org website is under development with corresponding Facebook and Twitter applications. Promotion of these activities through press releases, supporter email blasts, social networking, community bulletin boards, NCCC continuing education catalog, and off-campus consumer gardening and industry trade events has significantly increased awareness of the program. Efforts supported by this grant have unexpectedly opened even more avenues for promoting the agrisciences in our community. PRODUCTS: A new curriculum proposal for an A.A.S. in Horticulture was developed. It was approved by the NCCC Life Sciences division. It will go to the curriculum committee in Fall 2010. A two-session horticulture careers module was added to the beginning of HRT100 Introduction to Horticulture to expose the students (both horticulture majors and non-majors) enrolled in the class with an overview of possible career opportunities and educational pathways. Students re-evaluated their educational and career goals after learning about a diverse array of opportunities. Ms. Stanko and an adjunct faculty member attended training on Dynascape Landscape Design software. The software has been incorporated into the curriculum of HRT 272 Landscape Design II and all lesson plans, lectures, student projects, and assessments have been created. The software has been installed on all computers in the landscape design classroom. The plant materials lists for HRT 171 Woody Plant Materials and HRT 181 Herbaceous Plant Materials have been updated to reflect species required as part of the NYS Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional examination. The new textbooks for math applications in horticulture have been purchased. The textbooks have already been used in the HRT 180 Turf Management curriculum. Two continuing education workshops have been created and presented. The first 3-hour workshop was entitled Landscape Architecture in Western New York - The Past, Present, and Future. This workshop was open to all students, campus community, industry professionals and the public. The New York State Nursery and Landscape Association granted continuing education credits to Certified Nursery and Landscape Professionals in attendance. The second 4-hour workshop was entitled Gardening Galore with the NCCC Horticulture Faculty. This workshop was open to all students, campus community, and the public. In addition, two community education seminars were held at the WNYSNLA's public gardening event, Plantasia. Those seminars were Going Green in the Garden and Landscape Design Basics. The spring 2010 semester was scheduled in the 10-week format allowing horticulture students to finish most if not all of their studies by April 1st. A developer was selected to produce the new website for the program. The UDigNCCC.org domain was registered. The overall logo, site design and layout is complete. Approximately 80% of the content is developed including pictures and videos, student and alumni bios, program information, and career opportunities. A corresponding Facebook page and Twitter account have also been created for the UDigNCCC initiative. Students, alumni, community green organizations, and the general public are now involved with the UDigNCCC social networking efforts and are kept up-to-date on program activities. The mission and vision statements for the website have been developed as well. The draft layouts for the trade show booth and the promotional posters have been developed. OUTCOMES: A new curriculum proposal for an A.A.S. in Horticulture was developed. It was approved by the NCCC Life Sciences division. It will go to the curriculum committee in Fall 2010. Spring 2010 horticulture courses were scheduled in a ten-week block format to enable students to be available for employment and/or their externships starting April 1. Students from three high schools were hosted on the NCCC campus. The students attended a presentation on horticulture career opportunities and educational pathways. Then the students were taken to the campus greenhouse to participate in a plant propagation hands-on exercise. All students were able to take home a new plant. During the NCCC CCI day, a day where over 600 high schools students arrive on campus for career talks, students are able to meet with Ms. Stanko at a booth during the lunch hour as well as participate in a hands-on propagation exercise. During the setup of Plantasia, Ms.Stanko and her students worked with the McKinley High School students on display creation, landscaping and hardscaping projects for the event. Ms. Stanko traveled to Cornell University to meet with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences transfer coordinator, the chairperson of the Plant Sciences department, and the admissions coordinator for the Landscape Architecture department. During these discussions, it was recommended that we pursue an A.A.S. degree in lieu of the originally planned A.S. degree. Cornell will review all of the NCCC horticulture master course syllabi to create a transferability agreement. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Ms. Stanko worked with the NCCC Public Relations Office to create and distribute a press release announcing the receipt of the grant from the USDA and a summary of the planned activities. Two additional press releases were produced and distributed to publicize each of the two community education seminars that have been held. The seminars were also publicized through TV and radio station community bulletin boards, the Buffalo News garden happenings column, the NCCC continuing education catalog, the NCCC campus wide system message, campus flyers, the Erie County Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener email list and website, and the WNYSNLA email list. Ms. Stanko and her students setup and staffed a booth at the Western New York State Nursery and Landscape Association Education Day and Trade Show, Plantasia (WNY's public 5-day garden show), the 2-day Lewiston Garden Fest, and the nationally-recognized 2-day Buffalo Garden Walk. FUTURE INITIATIVES: No activities beyond the funding period are currently planned.
Impacts
The draft program for an A.A.S. in Horticulture has been approved at the division level. Enrollment levels are being tracked. Curriculum improvements are continuing including modifications for general education status. New course development is progressing. High school students have been exposed to careers in the agrisciences, educational pathways, and hands-on activities. The transferability arrangements with the 4-year colleges will be pursued once the new courses are approved and all curriculum modifications are complete.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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