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Department of Communications and Agricultural Education

Category: 2019

CASE-Agriscience Plant Institute conference hosted on campus

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

by Rachel Waggie, agricultural education and communication master’s student

 

Twenty-three teachers from 10 states gathered on the K-State campus for the “Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education – Plant Institute,” June 16-21. This fast-track course is a professional development training leading to course certification. CASE Institutes provide teachers with 50 to 100 hours of hands-on instruction related to a specific year-long CASE course. Fast-track CASE Institutes are condensed trainings focusing on lab instruction. Topics covered during this CASE included soil texture, plant reproductive structures, and plant pigments. At the end of the week, these 23 agriculture education professionals were fully certified in CASE Agriscience-Plant. We love hosting these events and spreading K-State purple across the country!

Hock, Rogers-Randolph honored at NACTA conference

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

by Rachel Waggie, agricultural education and communication master’s student

 

Drs. Gaea Hock and Tiffany Rogers-Randolph received awards at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference in Twin Falls, Idaho, June 18-21. Hock was awarded the NACTA Educator Award while Rogers-Randolph received the NACTA Graduate Teaching Award. Both awards require an extensive application and review process.

 

Spring capstone class works with alumni

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

by Rachel Waggie, agricultural education and communication master’s student

In the spring 2019 agricultural communications capstone class, teams of two paired with alumni clients to create a strategic communication plan related to a work project of their client. Students worked with Jesse McCurry (’00), Kansas Grain Sorghum; Robin Kleine (’12), Focus Marketing Group; Nicole Crosson (’13), Wyandotte County 4-H youth development extension agent; Jessica Bowser (’03), USDA rural development; and Maggie Seiler (’15), Hoard’s Dairyman.

“This class brought together all of the elements that I learned about throughout my collegiate career,” spring graduate MiK Fox says. “Delving into the background about a company or campaign, unpacking problems and possible solutions and learning the various strategies and tactics necessary for the creation of a campaign that encompassed all of the qualities needed for a successful campaign will help me in my future. Being able to see the real world implications throughout the class has helped to bring what I learned in the classroom into fruition in the real world.”

“The class helped them think critically and strategically about audience analysis and modes of communication,” Dr. Katie Burke remarks. “The alumni were great to work with, too!”

Fall 2018 Agriculturist earns national award

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

Congratulations to the fall 2018 Agriculturist editorial staff on being awarded top student publication at the National Agricultural Alumni Development Association competition in Louisiana June 10-13. View the publication here.

 

 

Katie Burke named Assistant Professor

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

by Rachel Waggie, agricultural education and communication master’s student

Katie Burke recently moved into a new position within the department, going from instructor to assistant professor. In this new role, Burke is a 12-month faculty member with a 70% teaching, 30% research appointment. Burke will be specializing in strategic outreach regarding natural resources and conservation and giving natural resource professionals more tools to engage landowners.

“We’re excited to have Dr. Burke as an assistant professor with the agricultural communications and journalism program,” says Jason Ellis, communications and agricultural education department head. “This new role capitalizes on her talents and expertise beyond teaching, adding an emphasis in natural resource and environmental communication Extension work in Kansas.”

Congratulations, Dr. Burke!

Departmental research published in JAC

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

by Rachel Waggie, agricultural education and communication master’s student

Spring 2019 master’s graduate Anissa Zagonel recently had a paper published in the Journal of Applied Communications. The article is titled “Printing and Mailing for the Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Seeking to Understand Internal Branding and Marketing Within University and Extension Communication Services Units.”

Zagonel’s research investigated whether the investment of employees in a brand can lead to greater public understanding and positive impressions of a brand by external stakeholders. Her study sought discover how well employees in a university and extension printing and mail entity understood the extension brand and their investment in the brand. Research questions included: 1) What perceptions and investment do communication services employees have in the extension brand? And 2) what are employees’ perceptions of the organization’s branding and marketing efforts?

Results of this study indicate these employees are not invested in the brand with the majority having little to no understanding of the mission of extension. This contradicts previous research with employees in other brand segments of extension. Implications of this work include a need for training on the extension mission for communication services employees, a shift in culture to encourage investment in the brand, and inclusion of all extension employees in the mission of extension.

For the full abstract and article, visit https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2236.

Faculty changes

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

by Linda Gilmore

Lauri Baker will be leaving the department to work as an associate professor with the Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (Center PIE) at the University of Florida. She will have a tenure home in their department of agricultural education and communications. Her last day with the department will be June 22 and she will be completing some special project work for K-State Research and Extension through August 3. Be sure to wish her the best in her new position.

 

Tiffany Rogers-Randolph will join our agricultural communications and journalism faculty as assistant professor starting July 1. She recently finished her doctorate at the University of Florida in agricultural education and communication and has a research interest in social online media’s use in agricultural storytelling and engagement.

Disberger named Faculty of the Semester

Posted on by Deanna Reid

by Rachel Waggie, agricultural education and communication master’s student

Brandie Disberger, agricultural education instructor, was honored as Faculty of the Semester by the K-State College of Agriculture for the spring 2019 semester.

Congratulations to Brandie for this accomplishment!

The Agriculturist selected for national award

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

by Rachel Waggie, agricultural education and communication master’s student

Lisa Moser, instructor in agricultural communications and journalism and marketing and communications specialist for the IGP Institute, has two publications up for awards in the Publications & Projects Contest at the National Agricultural Alumni Development Association (NAADA) Conference this year. In the print media division — magazine produced by students category, the Kansas State Agriculturist is a finalist. Also in the print media division — annual reports/strategic plans category, the IGP Institute 2018 Year in Review is a finalist.

The first and second places will be announced at the NAADA Annual Conference, June 10-13, 2019, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.