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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.

APPROACH: Activities will begin with developing an intensive eight-week summer course for college credits through concurrent admissions for the high school interns.The purpose is to provide enough information and training in a broad array of disciplines so that genuine interests and confidence in agriculral careers can be developed among the recruits. A few selected recruits will be provided with eight-week summer research apprenticeships paid from the project. Faculty mentors and the advisory committee will work out research objectives and protocols. At the end of each summer, selected high school graduates will be given undergraduate research assistantships or scholarships based on their high school credentials and summer school performances. These opportunities wil be advertized through electronic and print media as well as community meetings and school visits. The awardees (college freshmen) will serve as counselors for the subsequent summer school recruits. A motivational outreach symposium and award luncheon will be conducted where parents, teachers, community leaders, advisory committee members, and potential employers will be invited. The high school counselors will be invited to bring along selected seniors based on their interests and academic strengths to show interests in the agricultural sciences careers. The present degree curriculum will be enhanced and fine-tuned by incorporating appropriate laboratory hands-on contents for the agronomy majors and practice teaching and licenture examinations for the ag-education majors. Agronomy curriculum will be further enhanced by incorporating agroecology elements for sustainable food production systems. The number of students enrolled and sustained through the project period and beyond will indicate the successes. The overall success will depend on how the faculty mentors, academic advisors, and the departmental administration help and support the recruitment and retension endeavors that will be planned and executed through this teaching grant. At the end of the project period, the hope for increased number of graduates will be indicated by the number of successful research apprentices and the undergraduate research assistants employed.

PROGRESS: 2012/09 TO 2014/08
Target Audience: Although our closest allies ready at hand were the students majoring in agricultural sciences degree programs, the most effective ambassedors were the students already majoringin plant and soil scinces (Agronomy)pioneered by their families and leaders of their local communities.Many of our primary cantacts and advocates were the leaders of the farming communities and agricultural professionals,especially the agricultural extension specialists and their local contacts. We found these people quite proud to be parents/guardians of a student enrolled in and/or graduated from theAgronomy programs. Many of our graduates arevisibly successful and well known in their respective positions/professions in the real world. Changes/Problems: Our project planning needed some changes and refinement for better performane and outcomes.Since, during thesummer seasons, all faculty mentors and their Associates/Assistantsin the Department of Agriculture are heavilyengaged in their designated research projectsandotherprofessional obligations, the recruitment strategies aimed-at orientingpotential recruitsmust follow a better structuredmodules for better time management as well as effective engagement.We shall plan and prepare our next recruitment project to maintain balanced allocation of time and resources for better engagement between the mentors and the proteges.Somefavorable coherencebetween theoretical delibeationsand practicalinvolvements must be achieved considering the levels ofcomprehension of the interns. In the past, we recruited students from tenth, eleventh, and twelve grades, and that might have presented some degree of heterogenity in the group for comprehension and understanding, thus lacking interest and attention.In future, we may have to shorten the range by takinginterns from either tenth and eleventh grades or from eleventh and twelveth grades. This may provide somedegree of cohesivenessin the protege group, hopefully resulting in better understanding within the group as well assatisfaction between the mentors and theproteges. This modification and restructuring in the program planning should provide better outcomes. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? There could not be a major undertaking possible; however, some limited initiatives were taken to expose the participating high school interns to the high levels of technology development and dissemination institutions. Within the limited time availablefor the project activities, planned programs were arranged for the interns to visitsome of the 'state of the art' research and development institutions of the nation for exposing these youngmindsto widen theirworld-vision of modern science and technology in agricultural sciences. The intern groups of high school students along with the freshman agronomy studentswere taken to visit and have first-hand exposures to the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center(DBNRRC) at Stuttgart, AR. The students were taken to theRice Production Expositionarrangedby the Arkansas Rice Research & Extension Center at Stuttgart, AR.The summer interns along with the undergraduate students of the Department working at the UAPB Agricultural Research Center at Pine Bluff wereinvolved in the on-station research activities conducted by the faculty mentors, especially working in the plant & soil science, working in the department of Agriculture.The summer internsalso visitedthe National Plant Introduction Center at Booneville, AR.Part of the expenses for these study toursor field-tripsweresupported bythisUSDA-1890 Capacity Building Grants. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Each year of the project period, two major workshops/seminars were performed, one during the course of internship and the other at the end of summer, during thegraduation award.Community leaders, high school teachers,family members of theinterns,and university faculty mentors, especially theCo-PI's)were present at the graduation ceremony.Parents of the inters were invited In the first workshop, individual interns and their faculty mentorspresented the processes through project objectives, project preparation, and executionthat exhibitedthelevelsof involvements, experiences,andsatisfaction of all concerns, especially the high school teachers, and the guardians. The overall outcomes were pleasing and encouraging to all concerned.All relevant information about the objectives and outcomes of the program were disseminated through the UAPB information servicesand the local media, coordinated by the SAFHS (School of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Human Sciences) communications office. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

IMPACT: 2012/09 TO 2014/08
What was accomplished under these goals? We haveachievedmoderately satisfactoryacomplishments towardsour goals of recruitment and retention in the plant and soil sciences (Agronomy) degree option that was the targetarea to be enhanced by the efforts made through this recuitment & retention acapacity buildinggrant.The eventual results have beenan increased public awareness and slight improvement in enrollment.Currently,21 students enrolled, from which one student graduated, three left the school or relocated,and 17retained to continue forgraduation. During the past 10 years from 2005 through 2014, the fall enrollments in Agronomyranged between2 and 12, with an average of 6. During the same period, the enrollment for the Agricultural Business degree option was between 43 and 55.Accepting the intra-departmental competition, we began our efforts to improve enrollment and retention in theAgronomy area. One of the keyes to the successin the public awareness and eventual improvementinenrollment was the two previous summerintership programs for the high school juniors/seniors, popularly known as SIPSEBS (summer internship in plant, soil, environment, and buiotechnological sciences) thatfocusedthroughthe following seven specific objectives: 1)individual faculty mentors provided lectures andhandouts on specific subject areas; however,theprecollege summer courses could not beformalized; 2)the summer research apprenticeships for the 10 summer weeks were successfully performed in each year for the project period;3) formal scholarships could not be provided before the college enrollment, but the students were employed as paid interns; 4) workshops and group meetings were performed where parents and relatives were invited; 5) syllabi for the individual courses were refined by the faculty to make it appropriate for the degree program; 6) an agroecology course is in preprartion to support the agronomy and agricultural regulations programs;however, objective 7) wasconsidered redundant at the moment because adequate courses to cover the subject matter areas were in place in the existing curriculum. However, the proposed 'Agroecology' course has the potentials to be included in the curriculum innear future to enhance the environmental aspects in the degree options, especially for the interests of the graduate students.As for retention and graduation,6 students graduated between2004 and2014 in Agronomy.However, inspite of this miserable rate, 5 out of 6 students graduated between 2010 and 2014, indicating that recruitment and retention effortsmade through this grant plus other initiatives by the faculty in general, have had a positiveimpact. More grant initiatives including the USDA1890-CBGand USDA-NRI will be necessary to keep the positive trend of enrollment and graduationgoing in this immensely essential field of Agriculturalresearch, extension,and education.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2012/09 TO 2014/08
No publications reported this period.

PROGRESS: 2012/09/01 TO 2013/08/31
Target Audience: Our target audience was the high school communities including teachers, counselors, andstudents, especially in the junior and senior classes of the 12 selected high schools, the community leaders includingcounty and local extension agents,leaders of the farming communities,and the general public that couldbe reached through publications, publicity activities and community meetings in the south Arkansas region. We were fortunate to have positive images built up through the activities of the two previousteaching grants (USDA/NIFA) enhancing classroom facilities, teaching laboratories, and summer internshipsin plant, soil,environmental, and biotechnological sciences (SIPSEBS). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? As our goal is to increase the enrollment in the Agronomy/Horticulture and Agricultural Education degree options, we will continue running publicity for the strengths and success storiesof our faculty-mentors and of theimproved teaching and research facilities that will help supporting the new students' research projects as well as classroom satisfaction.

IMPACT: 2012/09/01 TO 2013/08/31
What was accomplished under these goals? During the first year of the project, there was not muchimprovement in enrollment except for the Agricultural Business degreeoptionwhich had been historicallywell attendedby thestudentswho are generally not so interested in the Plant & Soil sciences (Agronomy/Horticulture) areas, possibly because of their lack of strengths in Chemistry and Math.However, many of the specific objectives weresatisfactorily fulfilled. In objectives 1 & 2, the summer internship programhas been well appreciated by the faculty, administrators, students, and general public. We are fequently asked by the incoming high school graduates and their guardians about the esteemedsummer internshipin plant, soil, environment, and biotechnological sciences (SIPSEBS)program.One of thedraw backs of the SIPSEBS program has been that it is exhaustive on the part of the faculty mentors who would participate in the program but being over-burdened during the summer months when they are extremely busy withtheir mandated research obligations and activities.For objective 3, we could not award scholarships, but students wereemployed in the mentor-intern partnerships in the individual research projects of thefaculty members, especially in the plant and soil science areas.Enrollment in the Agricultural Education degree area has beensteady without a significant increase. Currently, 4 students are enrolled in the Ag-Education program, compared to 2 or 3 in thepast years. In objective 4, no specific attempts have been made on a vigorous recruitment drive in the past year because mainly of theunwell health situationsof the project director. In objectives 5 & 6, the Agronomy/Horticulture curriculum is being made holisticby addingthe environmental components to satisfy the demands of the time by incorporating Agroecological topics in the syllabus.Objective 7 was not valid because agronomy and agri-business degree options were administared by the same department currently. Above all, the good news is, the enrollment goal has been achieved in two years: we have 16 students enrolled in Agronomy/Horticulture option this year compared with 5 -7 in the past years. The moderate goal of retention now seems quite achievable.

PUBLICATIONS: 2012/09/01 TO 2013/08/31
No publications reported this period.