CROOKSTON-A high demand for teachers of agriculture and a desire to serve the needs of the region have led to the return of an agricultural education major to the University of Minnesota Crookston.
The University of Minnesota Board of Regents approved the degree program in February, setting the stage for review by the Minnesota Board of Teaching. At its October meeting, the board approved two teacher licensure areas: Teachers of Agriculture Education and Teacher Coordinator of Work Based Learning in Agriculture Education.
The major is a great match for the Crookston campus, which has a long, rich agricultural tradition, the university reported. Graduates of the program will earn licenses, adding flexibility to the courses they can teach and making them highly competitive in the job market. The agricultural education major is a mix of courses from agricultural science, natural and managed environmental science, and agricultural systems engineering technology. Along with these required components, students majoring in agricultural education will have core courses focused on education and agricultural education.
"The applied education offered at the University of Minnesota Crookston is ideal for training future agriculture teachers," said Professor Lyle Westrom, who teaches in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department. "Our long time relationships with ag teachers in high schools and our ability to offer students hands-on learning experience make this campus a great place to train teachers. We also take great pride in the fact that we have the only Collegiate FFA chapter in Minnesota."
Graduates in agricultural education have many career opportunities, including teaching high school agriculture/natural resources, teaching adult farm business management, Extension education, environmental education, government agencies, and agri-business opportunities. Over 95 pecent of past agricultural education graduates are currently placed with most having multiple job opportunities.
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U of M Crookston Chancellor Fred Wood echoes Westrom's enthusiasm for the return of a major in agricultural education. "Our campus serves this region in an exemplary manner, and the agricultural education major incorporates our long history in agriculture with unique opportunities for students to build leadership skills on a rural campus with outstanding agricultural-related facilities. They will also learn from faculty who are experts in the field of agriculture including the areas of animal science, ag business, precision agriculture, agronomy, and so much more," says Wood. "Agriculture is critically important to the State of Minnesota and the entire world, and we are excited to offer high schools well-trained, qualified teachers for their ag classrooms."
Go to www.umcrookston.edu/ageducation for more information.
The University of Minnesota Crookston now delivers 34 bachelor's degree programs, 22 minors, and 39 areas of emphasis on campus as well as 14 degree programs entirely online. These degrees are offered in the areas of agriculture and natural resources; business; liberal arts and education; and math, science and technology. The college has an enrollment of 1,800 undergraduates from more than 20 countries and 40 states.
