In an effort to bolster one of its oldest academic disciplines, Auburn has created a two-year project to encourage careers in agricultural education and general enrollment in the College of Agriculture.
Don Mulvaney is a professor and leadership coordinator in the College of Agriculture, and Brian Parr is assistant professor of agriscience education in the College of Education.
The two men have created "MATRIX for the Future: Premiere Agriscience Education Academy" using a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"This program came about as a funding opportunity to bolster and improve secondary agricultural education programs," Parr said. "Don Mulvaney and I teamed up because, though we're in different departments, we had that common denominator of agriculture. We teamed up to create a secondary program, which has resulted in a leadership development seminar conducted in three areas in the state."
This seminar, previously held in Cullman, has been in Auburn this week and will be in Andalusia in January.
Collegiate members of the Future Farmers of America conduct these secondary school workshops.
A cornerstone of the MATRIX program is the Agricultural Leadership Education Academy (ALEA) in June 2010.
A group of rising high school juniors and seniors will stay on campus for a five-day, four-night period at which they will partake in leadership programs and learn how to implement those programs.
Students will also be given basic instruction as to what is currently happening in Auburn agricultural research.
All these measures culminate in a recruitment effort to attract interested high school students to the College of Agriculture.
"We were thinking about the urgent need for agriculture students, particularly those students interested in agriscience," Mulvaney said. "Programs in secondary schools are put in jeopardy if they can't think in a timely fashion. We saw the need to revitalize curriculum programs and make grad students a more marketable product."
They were trying to put all the pieces together and open that pipeline, making it easier for students to come into agriculture, Mulvaney said.
Students will be given the opportunity to earn college credit through the sessions they attend.
A reason for this is the dwindling number of agriculture educators, both on the university and high school level.
"This state has a little over 300 agriculture teachers, many of whom will be eligible for retirement in the short term," Parr said. "After the students have gone through the academy we are going to offer two or three dual enrollment courses that can be taught at a distance. This will allow them to achieve college credit, credit that we hope they will bring to Auburn and use to become educators."
Mulvaney said the program will also provide opportunities for students to prepare for the ACT to better their chances of getting into Auburn.
"Dr. Mulvaney and Brian Parr have really developed and established a leadership program for the whole University, not just the College of Agriculture," said Richard Guthrie, dean of the College of Agriculture. "Dr. Mulvaney's work is something that we're proud of in the College of Agriculture, and I'm sure the College of Education is proud of Dr. Parr. This is a good example of cooperation between colleges, and this program is something that we're committed to."
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