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INVESTIGATOR: Jalaluddin, M.; Islam, S.; Adamu, U.; Ntamatungiro, S.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
UNIV OF ARKANSAS
PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS 71601

ENHANCING RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION STRATEGIES BUILDING ENROLLMENT PIPELINES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Although some improvements have been achieved through the use of a few CBG Teaching Projects during the past several years improving the teaching facilities, the present enrollment and retention/graduation situations in the agronomy and agricultural education degree programs at UAPB are yet to be considered satiafactory. Recruitment strategies needed to be more innovative and aggressive than in the past to meet the present dire needs for enrollment and retention. Especially, making efforts is a must to change the public perceptions and ignorences about the high-value and state-of-the-art of modern agricultural sciences to a positive notion. As one of the recruitment strategies, an on-campus earn & learn opportunities for the incoming enrollees plus scholarships or research assistantships for the better ones to be retained should help the situation. Our recent approaches have indicated some positive outcomes; however, more rigorous faculty/mentor approaches supported by the institutions with faculty compensations and remunerations can promise to bear some fruits.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of the project is to enrich recruitment strategies to build a critical mass of talented high school students in the enrollment pipelines for the Agronomy and Ag Education degree programs and to increase the number of graduates with strong background in food and agricultural sciences. This will be achieved through enhanced recruitment and retention approaches mobilizing academic communities, offering appropriate curricula, providing students with scholarships and/or on-campus job opportunities, and thus creating general awareness about the rewards and respects in the careers in food and agricultural sciences. The specific objectives are to: 1) develop a precollege summer course involving plant, soil, environmental, and biotechnological sciences; 2) develop a hands-on summer research apprenticeship program with faculty mentorship; 3) provide scholarships or undergraduate research assistantships to entice talented students to enroll into Agronomy or Ag Education degree options; 4) organize workshops, seminars, and group meetings to create awareness about the career opportunities in the agricultural sciences; 5) enhance curricula to make it holistic for the degrees and interesting to the enrollees; 6) develop two new Agroecology courses for the undergraduate agriculture students and also for the graduate students in the Agricultural Regulations program; and finally, 7) widen the scope of agronomy majors by introducing ag-business and environmental topics in the course curriculum. Successes will be realized by increasing the number of enrollees from 7 to 14 in 2 to 3 years, and retaining at least 10 of them to graduation in the Agronomy and Ag-Education, combined. The strategies used here may be replicated by other institutions, especially the 1890 institutions, for a foreseeable success in the recruitment and retention strategies.