Source: SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
SC STATE 1890 RESEARCH & EXTENSION AGRICULTURE INNOVATION SCHOLARS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1029987
Grant No.
2023-38430-39314
Cumulative Award Amt.
$521,052.21
Proposal No.
2023-01650
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 15, 2023
Project End Date
Jul 14, 2027
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[SCST]- 1890s Scholarships
Recipient Organization
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ORANGEBURG,SC 29117
Performing Department
1890 Research & Extenstion
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of SC State 1890 Agriculture Innovation Scholars program is to provide scholarships to support recruiting, engaging, retaining, mentoring, and training of incoming freshmen undergraduate agribusiness and family and consumer sciences students at SC State. The program will support the enrollment and matriculation of baccalaureate degree graduate in the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human science degree programs, within four years. The program will seek to address a critical workforce needs by expanding educational opportunities to students to interested in attending SC State University to pursue and complete a baccalaureate degree in the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human science degree programs, which would lead to a highly skilled food and agricultural systems workforce.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360993020100%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
Increase enrollment and retention of student in the Agribusiness, and Family and Consumer Sciences degree programs by 15% within the 4-year project period.Increase the number of graduates from the Agribusiness, and the Family and Consumer Sciences degree programs by 15% within the 4-year project period.Expand the experiential learning opportunities for SC State 1890 Agriculture Innovation Scholars within the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences and Department of Accounting, Agribusiness and Economics, by 20% within the 4-year project period.
Project Methods
SC State University will utilize a systematic and developmental process, where we will conduct intensive academic advising for our 1890 Agriculture Innovation Scholars, to ensure direct involvement of our students and their academic advisors. They will also receive guidance from the Director of Student Development and Support Services in activities and initiatives that will prepare them for success in the workplace. The Ag Innovation Scholar Program will prepare and graduate attractive and character-defined graduates who can work anywhere in the world. The MANRRS training as well as the School of Business Executive Speaker Series program will create opportunities for networking; and assist mentees to facilitate decision making, problem solving, and goal setting.Assessments will occur throughout the duration of the USDA-NIFA 1890 Ag Scholarship grant project and serve both as a formative and summative function. Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods will be utilized. Quantitative data collection will consist of an assortment of survey instruments (e.g. pre and post surveys, program evaluation survey). These surveys will serve two primary purposes: to describe the incidence, frequency, and distribution of the characteristics (e.g., demographic data, background information); and to assess participants' perception (e.g., attitudes) of their experiences pertaining to the project's goals and objectives.Qualitative data collection will consist of semi-structured interviews involving project participants, document collection (i.e., pertaining to identified project activities, outputs, and outcomes), and participant-observation (i.e., pertaining to project activities), and focus group sessions.

Progress 07/15/23 to 07/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The scholarship recipients for the SC State 1890 Agriculture Innovation Scholarship (AIS) program are students from the United States of America who have excelled academically and who have an interest in agriculture and food production related careers. Potential scholars for the AIS program must meet the following selection criteria: (1) Must be a citizen ornational of the United States; (2) Accepted for admission to SC State; (3) Begin school at SC State no later than the firstfallsemester following their high school or community college graduation; (4) Agree to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree within an accepted food and agricultural sciences and related fields within the College of Agriculture and Family & Consumer Sciences departments; (5) Intend to pursue a career in the food and agricultural sciences or other related disciplines; (6) Have a minimum cumulative 3.0 grade point average (GPA) or higher at the time of application (either from high school if entering as a freshman or community college if entering as a transfer student), and maintain at least a 3.0 GPA or higher on a semester and cumulative basis while receiving scholarship support from the program; (7) Be enrolled in at least 15 credits in the food and agricultural sciences and related fields degree program leading to an undergraduate degree during each semester he/she receives 1890 AIS support. Hence, the scholarship award is good for a maximum of 8 consecutive fall/spring semesters (excluding summers) at SC State, provided the 1890 scholars maintain the required minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Scholars who wish to be reconsidered as a scholar, must first regain admission to the university and reapply for the scholarship program; funding will be awarded based upon availability. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?To accomplish this goal, AIS program has instituted actionable strategic and intentional initiatives providing academic and professional coaching to scholarship recipients. Scholarship recipients are required to meet collectively for WIN Wednesdays(Fall Semester) and AG Mondays (Spring 2023), which provides academic, professional, leadership, and personal development opportunities. This monthly development workshop originally began as WIN Wednesdays during the Fall 2022 semester, but we changed it to AG Mondays during Spring 2023 to better accommodate the class schedules and availability of our scholarship recipients. The workshop occurred once a month for 2 hours. In addition to this development workshop, each scholars met twice 1:1 with a staff member of the program team during the academic year, once during the beginning of the Fall semester to set goals and expectations for the academic year and then once at the end of the Spring semester to review and discuss successes and challenges of the academic year. Research indicates that students who make early meaningful connections with faculty and/or staff are more likely to persist to graduation. AIS program collaborated with the USDA liaison to host the Ag Speaker Series. The Ag Speaker series is a monthly virtual meeting that introduces the scholars to a wide array of professionals in different career fields connected to agriculture and nutrition. Students were able to attend Professional Development Conferences such as Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences Regional and National Conference, USDA Outlook Forum, Men of Color National Summit, Association of Research Administrators Symposium, USDA-NRC Career Development Fall and Spring Conferences, Professional Agriculture Workers ConferenceNational Black Growers Council Field Day, Agriculture Future of America. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated to communities of interest through social media, press releases, podcasts, surveys, and emails. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the goals of the AIS program we will coordinate robust recruiting efforts to obtain outstanding students who were interested in majoring in the College of Agriculture and Family and Consumer and Sciences at SC State University. The recruitment team will host both in-person and virtual recruitment events to provide information about the AIS to potential students, parents, and high school administrators. The AIS program will continue to hold its monthly professional development workshops and continue to take students of professional development trips where they will have the opportunity to present research and compete in competitions relatedto agriculture and natural resources.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Under these goals the AIS program was able to accomplish the following: 1. Thirteen graduates in May 2024 all under the College of Agriculture and Family Consumer Sciences. 2. No students removed from the program due to academic ineligibility.

Publications