Page Contents: Overview | In Focus | Funding | Partners | Events| Results/Impacts | Resources | Contacts

Education Overview

Education programs support all CSREES National Emphasis Areas. These programs promote teaching excellence, enhance academic quality, and develop tomorrow’s scientific and professional workforce. In cooperation with public institutions, private sector partners, and the Land-Grant University System, CSREES provides national leadership to address critical educational issues.

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In Focus

• CSREES directed the multi-agency effort to develop an Avian Influenza Lesson Plan for high school science students.
• The CSREES Multicultural Alliances section manages programs and activities that target historically black land-grant universities, land-grant tribal colleges, and Alaska native-serving, native Hawaiian-serving, and Hispanic-serving institutions.
• Annual, Regional Teaching Improvement Workshops for university food and agricultural sciences faculty are funded in part by CSREES Higher Education Programs.
• The 2006 Academic Summit for Colleges of Agricultural, Life, and Related Sciences worked to redesign approaches to postsecondary education in the agricultural sciences.
• Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) is a national partnership of state-level volunteers, coordinated through CSREES Higher Education Programs, to improve agricultural literacy in U.S. elementary and secondary schools.
• National Awards Program for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences: Guidelines and nomination procedures for this annual awards program recognizing outstanding, baccalaureate-level faculty throughout the country.
• The Food and Agricultural Education Information System gathers and compiles demographic information relative to degree programs.

Funding

• 1890 Institutions Teaching and Research Capacity Building Grants Program
• Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship Grants Program
• Higher Education Challenge Grants Program
  
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Partnerships

• CSREES partners with the National Science Foundation to conduct Annual Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), which assess trends in Ph.D. production.
• CSREES works with Purdue University to study employment opportunities in the food and agricultural sciences.
• Space Agriculture in the Classroom (SAITC) is a joint project of CSREES, NASA, and the University of Florida designed to boost student awareness of the space program and the role of agriculture in our economy and society. SAITC helps students see the connection between agricultural practices on Earth that relate to space-based research, particularly in the plant sciences. View various teacher and student resources that inspire us to reach for the stars!
  
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Events

• North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) and USDA/SERD Project Directors Conference, Utah State University, Logan, UT, June 10-13, 2008.
• Galaxy III Conference: "Celebrating the Extension System: Strengths, Diversity, and Unique Qualities," Indianapolis, IN, September 15-19, 2008.

Selected Results and Impacts

• New learning model at the University of Delaware explains issues in biotechnology.
• CSREES awarded the University of Illinois a Higher Education Challenge Grant to create a resource for agriculture faculty interested in learner-centered teaching methods.
• CSREES awarded Lake Land College in Illinois a Secondary and Two-Year Postsecondary Agriculture Education Challenge Grant to provide high school teachers and students with curriculum materials and training in Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology.
  
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Resources

• SERD Project Director’s Conference, March 30 - April 1, 2005, Fairmont Hotel, New Orleans. Assistance for grant project directors, including post-award management guidelines and abstracts of successful teaching, research and Extension projects.
• The Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS).
• 1890 Scholars Program, USDA.
• USDA Living Science – Careers in the Food and Agricultural Sciences, Purdue University.
  
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Contacts

P.S. Benepal, Director, Multicultural Alliances
Franklin E. Boteler, Acting Deputy Administrator

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Last Updated: 08/07/2008