Progress 09/15/24 to 09/14/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this program is agriculture and natural resources teachers at colleges and universities that grant bachelor's degrees who have demonstrated excellence in the classroom or in laboratory instruction who have not received a USDA Teaching Excellence Award. We are particularly targeting individuals from non-agricultural education disciplines because these disciplines have fewer winners of the Teaching and Student Engagement and Early Career awards. Changes/Problems:The original request for applications for the USDA Teaching Excellence Awards required an administrative review and this caused a delay in its release of several months. Given the shift in submission of award applications, we have consulted with USDA NIFA and APLU and awards for the 2025 cycle will be given at the 2026 APLU November meeting. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The 2025 Mentorship Cohort included mentorship pairsfrom the following disciplines and universities: Mentees: Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech Poultry Science, University of Arkansas Agribusiness, Illinois State University International Development, The Pennsylvania State University Mentors: Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University Animal Science, South Dakota State University Animal and Food Science, Oklahoma State University Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tennessee State University Mentees and Mentors hold at least sevenvirtual meetings. The first meeting allows the mentors and mentees to introduce themselves,identify administrators and others who will provide letters of supporter,develop a work schedule, and set future meeting dates. The next five meetings are focused on the five sections of the nomination package (Teaching Quality Assessment, Philosophy of Teaching and Evidence of How it Translates into Teaching Methodology, Service to the Teaching Profession, Professional Development and Scholarly Activity, and Service to Students and Community). The final meeting allows the mentors and mentees to review the entire nomination package prior to submission to USDA for review. Based upon feedback we received during the first cycle, wepaired mentors and mentees from the same time zone to ease challenges scheduling mentorship meetings. This year, we had a pause for several months in the middle of the Mentorship Program because of the change in the submission date for the nomination package, and I provided frequent communication as we received updates from USDA about these changes. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The co-Project Directors provided a conference presentation about the 2023 Mentorship Program at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Annual Meeting in June 2025. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Applications for the USDA Teaching Excellence Awards for 2025 are due from applicants on September 30, 2025. We will assist the review of the applications in partnership with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Additionally, we are hopeful that the research project coordinated by the co-PDs and the graduate studentfunded by this grant will be published by the next reporting period. The research objectives of the project were to:1) compare language used to describe the purpose of 12 teaching award programs in agriculture and natural resources, 2) review the items required for teaching award applications, and 3) compare required application materials with common metrics used to evaluate teaching. We compared teaching awards given by the American Dairy Science Association, American Meat Science Association, American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Animal Science, American Socieyt of Nutrition, Entomological Society of America, Institute of Food Technologists, North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, Society of American Foresters, Soil Science Society of America, The Wildlife Society, and the USDA Teaching Excellence Awards.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The following individuals were selected and honored with USDA Teaching Excellence Awards in November 2024: National Award: Michael Larry Mashtare, Jr.,Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University National Award: Tyson Joel Sorensen, Applied Sciences, Technology, and Education, Utah State University Regional Award: Elizabeth Leigh Karcher, Animal Sciences, Purdue University Regional Award: Elizabeth Anne Yeager, Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University Regional Award: Margaret Crowley Huffman, Landscape Contracting, The Pennsylvania State University Regional Award: Lara Brongo Pacifici, Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, North Carolina State University Regional Award: Patricia J. Moore, Entomology, University of Georgia Regional Award: Sergio Abit, Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University Early Career Teacher Award: Amanda Bowling, Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership, The Ohio State University Early Career Teacher Award: Sushil Paudyal, Animal Science, Texas A&M University Teaching and Student Engagement Award: Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman, Entomology, Texas A&M University Teaching and Student Engagement Award: Rebecca Dean Swanson, Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resource Communication, University of Minnesota
Publications
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Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this period were agriculture and natural resources teachers in higher education who had the potential to win USDA Teaching Excellence Awards. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two review panels of the USDA Teaching Excellence Award nominations have been organized for Summer 2024. Members include: Dorcia Chaison Asst. Dean for Academic Advising and Student Success Michigan State University chaison@msu.edu Matt Interis Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Clemson University mginter@clemson.edu Christine Wade Associate Dean and Director of Academic and Student Affairs University of Wyoming cwade@uwyo.edu Barrett Vaughn Interim Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Success Tuskegee University bvaughan@tuskegee.edu Jim Connors Associate Dean and Director of Academic Programs South Dakota State University james.connors@sdstate.edu How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We targeted theselection of mentees for the mentorship program by identifying teachers with potential from 1) geographic regions that have traditionally received fewer nominations, 2) faculty from non-agricultural education disciplines, 3) faculty from HBCUs, and 4) faculty from colleges and universities that have not previously won a USDA Teaching Excellence Award. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. The review panels will be held in June and July to evaluate the 2024 USDA Teaching Excellence Nominations. 2. We are interviewing mentors and mentees of the first mentoring program to evaluate their experience of participating in the mentorship program. 3. We will select mentees and mentors for the second cycle of the mentoring program. 4. We are collecting data to assess the alignment between the content of teaching award nomination packages and metrics for evaluating excellence in the classroom.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: The following USDA Teaching Excellence Awards were made at the 2023APLU Annual Meeting National Award Winners: Michael Gonda (South Dakota State University) and De'Etra Young (Tennessee State University). Regional Award Winners: A. Ozzie Abaye (Virginia Tech), Laura Bowling (Purdue University), Kristen Govoni (University of Connecticut), Russ Hovey (University of California, Davis), Kathleen Boyce Rodgers (Washington State University), and Stephanie Yarwood (University of Maryland, College Park). Early Career Award Winners: Logan Britton (Kansas State University) and Brandy Phipps (Central State University). Teaching and Student Engagement Award Winners: Dan Stern (Oklahoma State University) and Jennifer Weeks (University of Florida). Goal 2: A mentorship program was developed to assist teachers with potential to apply for the USDA Teaching Excellece Awards. The members of the 2024 mentorship program were: Mentee: Dr. Kirsten Stephan. School of Natural Resources, West Virginia University. 1862 Land Grant University. North East Region. Selected because this is university and region are underrepresented among USDA Teaching Excellence Award winners and applications. Mentor: Dr. Pete Bettinger - University of Georgia. Mentee: Dr. Brent Pease. School of Forestry and Horticulture, Southern Illinois University. Non-land grant university. North Central Region. Selected because his university has never had a USDA Teaching Excellence Award winner and his discipline is underrepresented in the Early Career Award category. Mentor: Dr. Dean Winward - Southern Utah University. Mentee: Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarlay. Department of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Central State University. 1890 Land Grant University. North Central Region. Selected because her university is an 1890 Land Grant University. Mentor: Dr. Shyam Nair - Sam Houston State University. Mentee: Dr. Elisa Monaco. Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences, Oregon State University. 1862 Land-Grant University. Western Region. Selected because her discipline is underrepresented in the Teaching and Student Engagement Award category. Mentor: Dr. Ranjith Ramanathan - Oklahoma State University.
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