Source: University of Maryland Eastern Shore submitted to
GENERATING AND SUSTAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF THE FOOD, AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND HUMAN SCIENCES WORKFORCE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
NEW
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1030712
Grant No.
2023-70440-40145
Project No.
MDX-RR202306NG
Proposal No.
2022-11793
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
NEXTG
Project Start Date
Jun 1, 2023
Project End Date
May 31, 2028
Grant Year
2023
Project Director
Tubene, S.
Recipient Organization
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
11868 College Backborne Road
Princess Anne,MD 21853
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Building the future agricultural workforce in the U.S. encounters significant changes including limited awareness of the range of agriculture-related career opportunities available across academia, public and private sectors; declining interest in agriculture and in government; an insufficient supply of highly skilled, technologically sophisticated professionals to meet the Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences (FANH) workforce demands; and an important gap in diversity in higher education. The goal of this project is to enable the consortium to build and sustain the next generation of a diverse FANH workforce through domestic and international experiential learning, outreach and engagement programs. The specific objectives are to: 1) Develop and sustain resilient partnerships between the consortium universities and organizations with a vested interest in building the future workforce in FANH and allied disciplines; 2) Establish and sustain effective and responsive Outreach and Engagement Projects (OEPs) including student career development activities, and understanding of process and pathways to federal employment; 3) Develop innovative recruitment, training, and retention initiatives such as Student Scholarship Projects (SSPs) and leadership development activities to attract diverse students to FANH fields; and 4) Implement paid impactful domestic and international experiential learning projects (ELPs) for students to better understand the wide array of career opportunities across FANH. Each partner university has been assigned a number of responsibilities and adequate resources to effectively accomplish the project's objectives. Monitoring and evaluation tools will be used to ensure an efficient and effective management of resources and personnel following the project timeline.
Animal Health Component
0%
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
80604993020100%
Knowledge Area
806 - Youth Development;

Subject Of Investigation
0499 - Atmosphere, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
Project Goal and Objectives: The goal of the proposed project is to enable the consortium members (UMES, FAMU, SU, and KSU) to build and sustain the next generation of a diverse FANH workforce including the future USDA workforce primarily through domestic and international experiential learning, outreach and engagement programs. The specific objectives for achieving this goal are to: 1) Develop and sustain resilient partnerships between the consortium universities and organizations with a vested interest in building the future workforce in FANH and allied disciplines [Lead: FAMU]; 2) Establish and sustain effective and responsive Outreach and Engagement Projects (OEPs) including student career development activities, and understanding of process and pathways to federal employment [Lead: KSU]; 3) Develop innovative recruitment, training, and retention initiatives including Student Scholarship Projects (SSPs) and leadership development activities to attract diverse students (minority and underserved) to FANH fields [Lead: SU]; and 4) Design and implement paid impactful domestic and international experiential learning projects (ELPs) for students to better understand the wide array of career opportunities across the FANH and allied disciplines while developing their professional skills and academic training [Lead: UMES].
Project Methods
Obj1. Develop and sustain resilient partnerships between the consortium universities and organizations with a vested interest in building the future workforce in FANH and allied disciplines: 1) Cultivating a diverse FANH workforce representative of the U.S. population is the focus of these partnerships; 2) This consortium has worked in the past on several other projects funded by NIFA through the EGFSD's activities. Hence partnerships will be done via signing MOUs and articulation agreements whereby the 1890 institutions and their partners draw from each other's experiencesObj2. Establish and sustain effective and responsive Outreach and Engagement Projects (OEP) including student career development activities, and understanding of process and pathways to federal employment: 1) Developed campaign materials (by the Co-PIs and students) will be utilized by the Consortium universities and partners to train FANH students and enhance their exposure and understanding of various employment opportunities. This will be accomplished by the faculty involved with the project; 2) Career Development activities will consist of conducting Washington, DC Study Summits for students, and a three-day career development conferences/workshops (ARD, MANRRS, etc.). The consortium universities have a track-record organizing these events in the past. Additionally, faculty involved in the program (see Key Personnel) at the consortium institutions will establish and sustain mentorship, shadowing, career exploration and students' services including tutoring, career counseling, and academic advising initiatives; 3) Organized webinars and seminars where current employees of various USDA agencies will be invited to speak to students on their activities and careers trajectories.Obj3.Develop innovative recruitment, training, and retention initiatives such as Student Scholarship Projects (SSP) and leadership development activities to attract diverse students (minority and underserved) to FANH fields: 1) SPPs programs will be established at each of the consortium universities to recruit target audience using innovative recruitment materials and recruitment campaigns at diverse venues including the consortium's partners, diverse organizations with vested interest in FANH workforce, and others such as ARD, AEA, MANRRS, etc.; 2) Undergraduate students will be awarded scholarships each annually for four years following a competitive selection (using pre-determined criteria such as a career pathway to USDA, etc.) by an ad hoc committee. It is anticipated that twenty (20) scholars will be selected. There will be a provision of alternate candidates in case those selected dropped out for any reasons; 3) Graduate students will be competitively selected and given the opportunity to receive graduate assistantships to pursue career at the federal agencies including USDA; 4) Appropriate retention and improved graduation rates will be achieved through a Leadership Development program. Three courses including Global Competence, and Soft Skills/Career Pathways; Introduction to Globalization; and Employability in the FANH Workforce, will be developed and team-taught across the consortium universities.Obj4. Design and Implement paid impactful domestic and international experiential learning projects (ELPs) for students to better understand the wide array of career opportunities across the FANH and allied disciplines while developing their professional skills and academic training: 1) Students will receive an allowance to participate in domestic and international ELPs; 2) A linkage Center will be established at partner institution(s) with resources to facilitate and sustain international student ELPs; 3) The consortium universities' faculty will train target students to gain an increased understanding of leadership roles including critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills; ethics and professionalism; interpersonal skills; working in teams; connecting the academic classroom experience with daily leadership roles and organizational activities.

Progress 06/01/23 to 05/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for NextGen includes 1890 universities' students and faculty, domestic and international partners, public and private sector entities, and the general public. Changes/Problems:Some initial challenges consisted of recruiting qualified U.S. students to pursue graduate studies in FANH and hiring experienced support staff with substantial management skills and experience working with students. This will be overcome by adjusting budget to accommodate needed changes with of course NIFA's approval. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The NextGen project provided training opportunities to high school students, undergraduate, and graduate students enrolled in various disciplines of the FANH sciences at the consortium universities. These training opportunities included the enrollment of new students into FANH sciences, students' participation in new courses and curricula development, and experiential learning opportunities. NextGen also provided faculty at the consortium universities with various professional development opportunities including webinars and virtual interactions with domestic, international partners, and face-to-face workshops and symposia on several topics of FANH sciences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The NextGen project disseminates the results using various venues including the consortium universities' website, email messages, flyers, partner universities' websites, press releases, newsletters, webinars, workshops, and conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?NextGen has spent its first year setting up the program and its subsequent four broad goals at respective consortium universities. For the next reporting period, the PI and Co-PIs will intensify the development of partnerships; increase the number of Outreach and Engagement Projects (OEPs) domestically and abroad; scale up Student Scholarship Projects (SSPs) and leadership development activities; and increase domestic and international Experiential Learning Projects (ELPs) for students. As NextGen continues to increase its capacity and activities, FTE for the next reporting period will increase at its full capacity.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The NextGen project received its award on June 1, 2023. The duration of this award is five (5) years: June 1, 2023 - May 31, 2028. The operational framework for the implementation of project activities was established in July 2023. This report accounts for the activities covered during the 6/1/2023 to 5/31/2024 reporting period. Beside the project set up and subsequent hiring of the project personnel, all four objectives have started their operations. In fact, under the leadership of FAMU, partnerships between the four consortium universities (KSU, FAMU, SU, and UMES) and their partners are being established. KSU has been leading the OEPs component of the project while SU and UMES lead the implementation of the two other objectives: SSPs and ELPs respectively. The consortium partners meet virtually on a monthly basis to guide planning and project implementation. More specifically, FAMU has compiled the list of existing partners. New partners are also being formed and contacted for future collaborations. The funding for scholarships has been organized through the Financial Aid system at FAMU and positioned for disbursement based on the Year 2 (Fall 2024) through Year 5 (Spring 2028) recruitment and enrollment of scholars to enter the FAMU Next Gen Program. FAMU's Year 2 Next Gen recruitment is targeting two (2) first time in college (FTIC) freshmen for support over their four year undergraduate program and three (3) master's level graduate students in a two year master's program. The FAMU core Next Gen team has been assisted with recruitment by the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS) college recruitment team. The FAMU group has participated in more than ten recruitment events over the past ten months of project implementation. Additional students are now being recruited to participate in the leadership academy being developed by the project's consortium partners (SU, KSU, UMES, FAMU). Beside leading the OEPs component of the NextGen, KSU has recruited four (4) Agriculture, Food and Environment undergraduate students to be supported by the program starting fall 2024. These students participated in an international experiential learning program in Rwanda this summer (2024). KSU and Rwandan students and faculty explored sustainable agricultural practices, agricultural workforce development and preparedness organized at the Rwandan Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) in Kigali. KSU Co-PI also attended the 2023 World Food Prize Borlaug International Dialogue's annual convention in Des Moines, Iowa, in October 2023 to network with world leaders and seek new partnerships. Several students' recruitment events were organized at the local high schools in Kentucky in March 2024. Project team participated in disseminating NextGen grant objectives and flyers for recruitment of first-year students. SSPs being led by SU, a team comprised of four (4) faculty, two (2) assistants, and two (2) administrators has been assembled to manage the programmatic and administrative aspects of the program at SU A&M College. Bi-monthly meetings have been held since April 2024. A scholarship named "Global Agricultural Scholars" at SU was officially established during the Spring Semester and will support 8-10 students annually for the next 4 years. Each cohort of students must complete two international activities for two consecutive summers as a requirement of the program. Eight Scholarships will be awarded for the Fall semester of 2024 ranging from $3,000 - $4,000 per student. UMES on the other hand coordinates all the activities of the NextGen Project in addition to leading objective 4 (ELPs component). The NextGen administration core structure was established at UMES in July 2023. ELPs planning is being made domestically and internationally. Twenty five (25) UMES students participated in the leadership academy in April 2024. They were trained in the skills needed to achieve and thrive in high-level leadership positions with a focus on food, agriculture and community-based problem solving. This cohort included undergraduate and graduate students identified within various UMES schools including the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences (SANS). In addition, UMES NextGen program sponsored the 2024 Maryland Youth Institute on May 9th, 2024 whereby twenty (20) Maryland high school students competed to secure a student delegate position for the fall Global Youth Institute and participate in the 2024 World Food Prize symposium in Des Moines, Iowa. UMES has also recruited four (4) undergraduate and three (3) graduate students who will attend school in fall 2024 and participate in the NextGen program.

Publications