Land-grant Universities Research Articles

Perceptions of Agricultural Leadership Academic Programs of 1862 Land-Grant Universities

This study characterized perceptions of agricultural leadership programs in colleges of agriculture, food, life, human, or environmental sciences at 1862 land-grant institutions. Objectives included describing the need for programs, studying evolution within the discipline, discussing faculty recommendations for future development, and examining why programs are relevant. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis, which included open and axial coding. A total of 26 academic agricultural leadership programs were identified, and a telephone interview was completed by 19 agricultural leadership faculty members. Results of the study indicated agricultural leadership was historically founded under the umbrella of agricultural and extension education but also evolved from a need in industry. The discipline evolved because the academic subject matter was broadly appealing to students and, and its growth was also spurred by the popularity of community and rural leadership development programs. To improve agricultural leadership programs, faculty surveyed recommended collaborative efforts across the discipline to establish a unified vision and a national professional organization. Throughout the interviews, themes emerged related to the relevancy of agricultural leadership programs in higher education: (1) The agricultural leadership discipline creates leaders through developing “human capital,” and (2) graduates promote industry growth through their political, policy, and public influence. Future recommendations for research included identifying perceptions of agricultural leadership beyond the scope of 1862 land-grant institutions.

Describing Parents' Perceptions, Valuation, and Support of Study Abroad Programs at Three Southern Land-Grant Universities

Parents are an integral part of the decision to study abroad, but little research investigates parents’ perceptions about study abroad. This study uses the Theory of Planned Behavior as a conceptual framework to explain perceptions and value of study abroad by parents of agriculture students Land-Grant universities based on previous international experiences and other beliefs. Researchers delivered a questionnaire to 1511 parents at three universities to measure perceptions and value of study abroad, and intent to support their students’ participation in study abroad. We found that parents had little international experience, which may limit their behavioral beliefs and impact their decision to support study abroad. We also found that parents believed short-term, summer programs, that cost between $2000 and $4000 were ideal. Finally, we found that parents believed that study abroad programs were somewhat important and that they were somewhat likely to support their students’ participation. Administrators and faculty should consider parent expectations and value when planning study abroad, and work to provide education and outreach to enhance value beliefs and normative beliefs of parents. Further research should explore the predictive value of previous experiences in parents’ likelihood to support a students’ decision to study abroad.

Digging Deeper: Transdisciplinary and Systems Approaches to Food Security

I've been writing for several years now about the importance and usefulness of applying systems concepts to work in food systems. Several of my JAFSCD columns have offered highlights from different reports issued by the National Research Council (NRC, 2010) and from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council (Institute of Medicine & NRC, 2015) which have strongly called out the need for transformative food and agriculture research (K. Clancy, 2013; 2016). In this column, I want to focus on a report funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) and released in May 2017 by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), entitled The Challenge of Change: Harnessing University Discovery, Engagement, and Learning to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security. Although directed to public research universities, most of the analyses and recommendations apply just as well to private universities and other institu­tions of higher education that are tackling food security and insecurity at all levels....

A colonial history of the higher education present: rethinking land-grant institutions through processes of accumulation and relations of conquest

ABSTRACTThis conceptual paper examines the colonial conditions of possibility for a formative moment of US public higher education, the Morrill Act of 1862, and considers how these conditions continue to shape the present. The federal government’s accumulation of Indigenous lands in the nineteenth century helped provide the material base for land-grant legislation, and although conquest of the frontier was eventually metaphorized in higher education discourse, public institutions remain both dependent on and vulnerable to the imperatives of accumulation that were established during colonization, as is evident in contemporary privatization efforts. I argue that if efforts to resist privatization fail to address how colonialism has historically shaped US public goods, then these efforts risk re-naturalizing the imperative of capital accumulation and relations of conquest.

Recent Trends in Faculty Governance and Its Overall Impact on Work Life, Job Satisfaction and Faculty Retention

Recent decades show an emerging trend of shortened job duration by those who serve in leadership positions within the university or college campus setting. Current research indicates that the relationship between university faculty and administrators is a subject that would benefit from further investigation. This study attempts to illuminate and understand perceptions about this relationship of five different faculty members, each from the same department within a land grant university, located in the northwest region of the United States. To do this a descriptive methodological approach is employed that allowed the researchers to examine and reveal the perceptions, insights, and opinions of the participants. By discerning and evaluating the elements that contribute to a positive collegial work environment through an interview process results of this research will be used to inform those who have a vested interest in faculty-administrator relationships. It will provide a guide to follow when setting out to establish and implement policy and procedures that may be used to improve professional culture and climate within the respective schools or departments. It makes fiscal sense for those in leadership roles to work diligently toward retaining and sustaining highly trained professionals and minimize both faculty and administrative turnover within the university setting.

Was Higher Education a Major Channel Through Which the US Became an Economic Superpower in the 20th Century?

This paper offers a thesis for why the US overtook the UK and other European countries in the 20th century in both aggregate and per capita GDP as a case study of recent models of endogenous growth, where “human capital” is the engine of growth. By human capital we mean an intangible asset, best thought of as a stock of embodied and disembodied knowledge comprising education, information, entrepreneurship, and productive and innovative skills, which is formed through investments in schooling, job training, and health as well as through research and development projects and informal knowledge transfers (cf. Ehrlich and Murphy 2007). The conjecture is that the ascendancy of the US as an economic superpower in the 20th century owes considerably to its faster human capital formation relative to that of the UK and “old Europe.” This paper assesses whether the thesis has legs to stand on through both stylized facts and a supplementary quasi-experimental empirical analysis. The stylized facts indicate that the US led other major developed countries in schooling attainments per adult population member, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century and lasting throughout the 20th century, especially at the secondary and tertiary levels. The quasi-experimental analysis constitutes the first attempt to test the hypothesis that the US’s ascendancy to a major economic power stems largely from the impact of the first Morrill Act of 1862, which launched the public higher education movement in the US through the establishment of land grant colleges and universities across the nation during the latter part of the 19th century. The higher education movement appears to have spearheaded a higher long-term rate of growth in per capita income in the US relative to the UK and other major European countries.

Evaluation of Educational Offerings Associated with the 2014 Farm Bill

AbstractThe 2014 Farm Bill required farmers and landowners to make a set of one‐time, irrevocable decisions lasting for the duration of the farm bill. The decisions included the choice between three program alternatives with uncertain payments. To aid in making those decisions, the farm bill funded two key educational efforts: (a) the development of two online decision tools and (b) additional funding to support land grant institutions and extension systems to educate farmers through more traditional extension mediums, particularly in‐person meetings. This paper provides an evaluation of both types of farm bill education through two case studies.

Retention and promotion of women and underrepresented minority faculty in science and engineering at four large land grant institutions

The current climate on college campuses has brought new urgency to the need to increase faculty diversity. In STEM fields particularly, the dearth of underrepresented minority (URM) and female faculty is severe. The retention and success of African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian and female faculty have direct implications for the quality and diversity of the future scientific workforce. Understanding the ways retention patterns differ by discipline and institution is crucial for developing a diverse faculty. This study investigates tenure attainment, retention, and time to promotion to full professor for women and URM faculty. We analyze personnel records for assistant and associate professors hired or appointed from 1992 to 2015 at four large land grant institutions. Representation of women and URM faculty in STEM disciplines increased substantially from 1992 to 2015, but mostly for women and Hispanic faculty and more slowly for black and American Indian faculty.Results by genderIn the most recent cohort, 2002–2015, the experiences of men and women differed substantially among STEM disciplines. Female assistant professors were more likely than men to leave the institution and to leave without tenure in engineering, but not in the agricultural, biological and biomedical sciences and natural resources or physical and mathematical sciences. In contrast, the median times to promotion from associate to full professor were similar for women and men in engineering and the physical and mathematical sciences, but one to two years longer for women than men in the agricultural, biological and biomedical sciences and natural resources.Results for underrepresented minority facultyURM faculty hiring is increasing, but is well below the proportions earning doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines. The results are variable and because of the small numbers of URM faculty, the precision and power for comparing URM faculty to other faculty were low. In three of the four institutions, lower fractions of URM faculty than other faculty hired in the 2002–2006 time frame left without tenure. Also, in the biological and biomedical and physical and mathematical sciences no URM faculty left without tenure. On the other hand, at two of the institutions, significantly more URM faculty left before their tenth anniversary than other faculty and in engineering significantly more URM faculty than other faculty left before their tenth anniversary. We did not find significant differences in promotion patterns between URM and other faculty.

Providing Health Sciences Services in a Joint-Use Distributed Learning Library System: An Organizational Case Study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this organizational case study is to describe the complexities librarians face when serving a multi-campus institution that supports both a joint-use library and expanding health sciences academic partnerships. In a system without a centralized health science library administration, liaison librarians are identifying dispersed programs and user groups and collaborating to define their unique service and outreach needs within a larger land-grant university. Using a team-based approach, health sciences librarians are communicating to integrate research and teaching support, systems differences across dispersed campuses, and future needs of a new community-based medical program.

Challenges to developing cultivars in the public sector

Photo courtesy of Dean Calma/IAEA New plant cultivars are developed in both the private and public sector. Much of the work done in the private sector is focused corn, soy, and other high-value crops. Researchers in the public sector are more likely to deal with minor crops, perennials, or specialty crops within a specific geographical region and are typically based at land grant universities or with the USDA. Although public breeding programs have a high return on investment, there has been an overall decline in funding for them in recent decades. As funding has decreased, there has been an increase in intellectual property protections for cultivars developed at public universities. Intellectual property protection may provide a revenue stream for the university but can also limit the use of germplasm in further research and development. William Tracy, a plant breeder at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and colleagues are interested in how increased intellectual property protections are impacting plant breeding in the public sector. Tracy is a co-author on a recent article in Crop Science (http://bit.ly/2wVzP5b) summarizing results of a survey that asked plant breeders how intellectual property and material transfer agreements (MTA) affect their work. Survey questions were developed with input from an intellectual property symposium. Focusing on the responses of plant breeders actively releasing finished cultivars, the article provides information about restrictions put on shared germplasm and the current status of plant breeding programs from across the U.S. The authors report that more than 50% of respondents indicated the most common source of new genetic material used in their own breeding programs is germplasm from other programs. In addition, almost all respondents reported sharing germplasm with others. However, approximately 60% of respondents indicated sharing germplasm under a material transfer agreement, and 70% of respondents indicated most or all of their cultivars had some form of intellectual property protection. Given the prevalence of intellectual property protection, it is not surprising that greater than 55% of respondents indicated intellectual property restrictions on germplasm from public breeding programs have a negative impact on their work. This suggests that the short-term gain in revenue from intellectual property protections could result in a long-term barrier to the development of new cultivars in the public sector. One way to alleviate some of the MTA restrictions, according to Tracy, would be if researchers could develop a set of agreed-upon best practices among public plant breeders. Currently, individual researchers and their universities set up MTAs, leading to wide variation in MTA restrictions from one institution to the next. With widely accepted guidelines, universities could balance the need for intellectual property protection, and researchers could gain greater access to germplasm sources to advance plant breeding programs. The survey also revealed how demographics could lead to a setback in public cultivar development and release in near future. More than 55% of respondents had been in the field for 21 or more years. As these individuals retire, cultivar release is likely to decline until early career breeders establish programs. Making the situation worse is the fact that almost a quarter of respondents said that there was no plan for their position to be maintained, and another third were unsure if their position would be continued. This would affect not only cultivar development, but also limit the potential for students to gain hands-on training in plant breeding, a skill that will still be in demand. One area of focus in public breeding could be to develop crops resilient to a more variable climate, Tracy says, such as, “profitable forage crops or perennial crops because perennial crops can better resist severe weather events and come back and grow quickly, perhaps getting the farmer some profit.” Tracy and his co-authors hope to bring the issues raised in this article to the attention of plant breeders and university administrators, who can help find a way to balance intellectual property with cultivar development and look for new opportunities for public-sector breeding programs in the future. Dig Deeper Read the full study in Crop Science: http://bit.ly/2wVzP5b.

Usefulness of Delivery Methods for Climate Change Programming: Perspectives of Extension and Research Faculty

Extension is responding to climate change through programming intended to encourage adaptation and mitigation in agricultural production and natural resources management. However, effectively engaging target audiences requires identifying appropriate delivery methods. We conducted a study to identify delivery methods researchers and Extension professionals at land-grant universities in the northeastern United States perceive as useful for climate change outreach. Respondents viewed all delivery methods as only slightly useful, though traditional options, including face-to-face interactions and the use of videos and websites, were perceived as slightly more useful than other delivery methods. Therefore, we in Extension must experiment with various delivery methods to identify those most likely to effect the adoption of adaptation and mitigation practices.

Use of Short Animal-Themed Videos to Enhance Veterinary Students' Mood, Attention, and Understanding of Pharmacology Lectures.

Professional DVM training is inherently stressful and challenging for students. This study evaluated a simple intervention-short breaks during a veterinary pharmacology lecture course in the form of funny/cute animal videos (Mood Induction Procedures, or MIP)-to assess for potential impact on students' mood, interest in material, and perceived understanding of material. Ten YouTube video clips showing cats or dogs were selected to influence students' affective states. The videos were shown in a required pharmacology class offered during the fall semester of the second year of the DVM program at a large, land-grant institution in the western US. The student cohort consisted of 133 students (20 males, 113 females). Twenty days of the course were randomly chosen for the study and ranged from weeks 2 to 13 of the semester. Sessions in which the videos were played were alternated with sessions in which no video was played, for a total of 10 video days and 10 control days. There were significant differences in all three post-class assessment measures between the experimental (video) days and the control days. Results suggest that showing short cute animal videos in the middle of class positively affected students' mood, interest in material, and self-reported understanding of material. While the results of this study are limited to one student cohort at one institution, the ease of implementation of the technique and relatively low stakes support incorporation of the MIP technique across a variety of basic and clinical science courses.

Agriculture and Health Sectors Collaborate in Addressing Population Health.

Population health is of growing importance in the changing health care environment. The Cooperative Extension Service, housed in each state's land grant university, has a major impact on population health through its many community-based efforts, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Education (SNAP-Ed) nutrition programs, 4-H youth engagement, health and wellness education, and community development. Can the agricultural and health sectors, which usually operate in parallel, mostly unknown to each other, collaborate to address population health? We set out to provide an overview of the collaboration between the Cooperative Extension Service and the health sector in various states and describe a case study of 1 model as it developed in New Mexico. We conducted a literature review and personally contacted states in which the Cooperative Extension Service is collaborating on a "Health Extension" model with academic health centers or their health systems. We surveyed 6 states in which Health Extension models are being piloted as to their different approaches. For a case study of collaboration in New Mexico, we drew on interviews with the leadership of New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; the University of New Mexico (UNM) Health Science Center's Office for Community Health; and the personal experiences of frontline Cooperative Extension agents and UNM Health Extension officers who collaborated on community projects. A growing number of states are linking the agricultural Cooperative Extension Service with academic health centers and with the health care system. In New Mexico, the UNM academic health center has created "Health Extension Rural Offices" based on principles of the Cooperative Extension model. Today, these 2 systems are working collaboratively to address unmet population health needs in their communities. Nationally, the Cooperative Extension Service has formed a steering committee to guide its movement into the health arena. Resources of the agricultural and health sectors offer communities complementary expertise and resources to address adverse population health outcomes. The collaboration between Cooperative Extension and the health sector is 1 manifestation of this emerging collaboration model termed Health Extension. Initial skepticism and protection of funding sources and leadership roles can be overcome with shared funding from new sources, shared priority setting and decision making, and the initiation of practical, collaborative projects that build personal relationships and trust.

Lessons in Diversity: Origins of Interior Decoration Education in the United States, 1870–1930

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, many factors, such as greater emphasis on the importance of the home and its decoration, contributed to the separation of interior decoration from other similar vocations. By the early twentieth century, interior decoration as a profession and occupation had begun to gain acceptance in the market place and academic world. Print media attention focused on the interior decorator who was no longer merely a wall painter or furniture salesman but was a furnisher and marketer of art and good taste. Advances in formal education and a culture of professionalism contributed to the realization by practitioners and others that interior decoration required specialized knowledge so many began to push for training in newspapers, books, and magazines. This study discusses the origins of interior decoration education in the 1870s, when the first courses related to the home were offered at mid–western land–grant universities, to 1930, the year before the organization of the American Institute of Interior Decorators (AID) was founded. It covers the variety of training methods for decorators and the sometimes conflicting views of early advocates for the profession and for education. It points out tensions within interior decoration and conflicts with other similar fields. Finally, it looks at several university programs in different academic homes and the various course titles used in the curriculums. If training for interior decorators between 1870 and 1930 could be described in a single word, it probably would be diversity. This was reflected in the many means and places to acquire training, the institutions that offered it, and the opinions about it. The earliest training methods were those that were most readily accessible for most people, such as self–education or apprenticeships. They were soon joined by interior decoration courses and programs at various art, design, and industrial art schools; colleges and universities; teachers’ colleges; and other institutions across the United States. Throughout this early period, institutional training evolved from a single course to complete programs. The first bachelor's degrees were awarded. This early period also established ties between interior decoration and the disciplines of fine arts, architecture, and home economics. Diversity was important to interior decoration at its inception because it permitted individuality, provided availability for more people, and accommodated the evolving definition and practice in the field. At the same time, it reflected and contributed to such challenges as a lack of identity and cohesion. In education, this diversity was evident in the variety of institutions offering study in interior decoration, its various academic homes, the assortment of course and program titles, and differences in program requirements. A lack of standards and consensus in education helped to create gaps and disparities in preparation, knowledge, and skill among practitioners. Interior decoration did not resolve these problems. As a result, they became the foundation on which interior design was built.

Open Scholarship Perspectives among Land Grant University Faculty

Open Scholarship Perspectives among Land Grant University Faculty

Commentary: The eclipse of a generation

Commentary: The eclipse of a generation

“Keep Me Doing What I Love”: A Photovoice Evaluation of the Missouri AgrAbility Project

ABSTRACTThe Missouri AgrAbility program links the Cooperative Extension Service at a land-grant university with a nonprofit disability organization to provide practical education and assistance that promotes rural independence. This project utilized Photovoice to describe how Missouri AgrAbility clients perceived how the program impacts their lives. This article relates clients’ perceptions of the impact of the AgrAbility program on their lives to the socio-ecologic model framework. Although the primary focus of AgrAbility is to help individuals who have disabilities maintain their independence, all levels of the socio-ecological model are integral in meeting the needs of program participants.

It's Easy to Just Toss it Because You Can Get Something Else - Young Adults Perceptions of Wasted Food

Consumers are one of the largest sources of preventable wasted food in developed countries, and age is negatively correlated with quantity of wasted food. This study sought to explore the perceptions, beliefs and behaviors related to wasted food among 18-24 year old adults. Nine, 75-minute focus groups were conducted with young adults on a university campus. Fifty-eight individuals (63.8% female) with an average age of 20.2 y (±1.6) who lived in a residence where they had control over some food purchases (excluding co-op or Greek housing or living with parents) participated in focus groups during spring of 2016. Thirty participants lived in dormitories at a land-grant university and the remaining 28 lived in dwellings off campus. Before focus group participation, interested participants completed online questionnaires to provide sociodemographic characteristics and frequency of domestic food behaviors. Focus groups were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, reviewed for accuracy, and then analyzed for themes by two investigators using the constant-comparative approach. Inductive thematic analyses provided insights that were broadly categorized into: knowledge of wasted food, factors that impact food waste behaviors, motivations for addressing wasted food, suggested intervention to reduce wasted food, and challenges to address when working with young adults on this issue. Additionally, results provide evidence of heterogeneity in perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors related to wasted food based on residential dwelling type. Insights from the current study may be used to inform and tailor interventions focused on reducing wasted food in young adults.

Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and Natural Resources: Barriers and Priorities for Land-Grant Universities in the Northeastern United States

Abstract Climate change has serious implications for agricultural production, natural resource management, and food security. In the United States, land-grant universities and the U.S. Cooperative Extension System have a critical role to play in conducting basic and applied research related to climate change and translating findings into meaningful programming. However, land-grant universities and Extension have had difficulty maintaining their roles as the preeminent source of trusted information on complex topics like climate change. To help guide research and programming agendas of land-grant universities, the authors explored the barriers and priorities that researchers and Extension personnel at 16 northeastern land-grant universities perceive as they pursue climate change research and programming. Through an online survey, respondents indicated their perceptions of barriers related to information, workplace, and target audiences as well as the priorities they perceived as most important for land-grant universities to pursue. Statistical analysis indicated that lack of funding, lack of time, lack of locally relevant climate information, and challenges with target audiences were among the most critical barriers. In terms of future priorities, respondents indicated securing funding for applied research, training Extension educators, and developing locally relevant decision support tools as the most important activities northeastern land-grant universities can undertake. Based on these findings, this study concludes that land-grant universities will need to strategically pursue research and educational programming on climate change in ways that integrate research and Extension and simultaneously address climate change and other concerns of land managers.

Land-Grant Hybrids: From Art and Technology to SEAD

The authors explore the role that public and land-grant universities play in sciences, engineering, arts and design (SEAD). They combine a networked institutional history of art and technology collaborations with an ethnographic study of SEAD initiatives. They use the notion of land-grant hybrids to describe widespread entanglements between research, teaching and public engagement. Their study identifies three “matters of concern” that aid in rethinking the origins, current practices and possible futures of SEAD: disparities in sponsored collaboration, the need for hybrid practitioners to demonstrate measurable impact and the ambiguities of what counts as appropriate art and reputable research.