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Department of Communications and Agricultural Education

Category: 2018

Passing of Jeff Campbell

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

provided by Gregg Hadley, director for extension

Jeffrey “Jeff” Campbell passed away Thursday, December 5, in Manhattan, Kansas.

Jeff was a printer specialist in University Printing. A highly skilled pressman, he was known for his impeccable attention to detail. He cared a great deal about the projects he worked on and made sure they were of the highest quality. Jeff was a valued member of K-State Printing Services and University Printing for 35 years.

Jeff is survived by his parents, Sammy and Donna Campbell, Manhattan, Kansas; one sister, Renee Adolph and her husband, Alan, Manhattan; an aunt, a niece, a nephew, and numerous cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Katie’s Way and sent in care of Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas 66502.

Advisor Forum presents November Charlie Award

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

submitted by Beth Stuewe for the K-State Today, November 6, 2019

The K-State Advisor Forum has selected Brandie Disberger, instructor in agricultural education, for the November Charlie award.

Disberger was nominated by her colleague, Gaea Hock, for the work that she does for both her advisees and students who have been reinstated in the College of Agriculture.

As an instructor, academic advisor, advisor to the agricultural education student organization and current doctoral student, Disberger sets a high standard in her department. In her nomination, Hock writes, “Brandie’s work ethic and dedication to students makes all of the faculty advisors in the department push to be better. We constantly go to her to ask her advice.”

Not only does Disberger encourage her peers, but she also encourages her students. Disberger encourages her students to push to get to the next level in their academic studies and extracurricular activities. She inspires them to take advantage of new opportunities as a way to better themselves for their future careers. Along with her current students, Disberger also works with newly reinstated students in the College of Agriculture. She encourages them and helps them be successful so that they can accomplish their goals of completing a degree.

Hock adds, “Brandie constantly goes above and beyond to make sure her students’ needs are being met. She is able to get them to open up to her and tell her their struggles. I have seen her go to extreme measures to help students succeed.”

Ulmer travels to Ethiopia

Posted on by Rachel Waggie

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

Agricultural education professor Jon Ulmer traveled to Ethiopia to attend the All African Post Harvest Loss Congress and Expo in Addis Ababa. While in Ethiopia, Ulmer visited different regions and interviewed farmers for a grant project with USAID. Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-harvest Loss is a strategic, applied, research and education program aimed at improving global food security by reducing post-harvest losses in stored product crops, such as grains, oilseeds, legumes, root crops and seeds.

Randolph Fills Open Agricultural Communications Professor Position

Posted on by Deanna Reid

We’re pleased to announce that Levy Randolph will be our new assistant professor in agricultural communications and journalism. He will join the department in summer 2019 and begin teaching during the fall semester. 

Levy earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University in agricultural education and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Florida in agricultural education and communication. Along with experience as a conference facilitator for National FFA, he and his wife Tiffany own and operate a video production company. He has taught multiple media production courses and business writing. His research agenda focuses on science communication through narratives. We look forward to his arrival and having a full faculty.

His office will be located on the third floor of Umberger Hall.

 

Richard Baker Retires

Posted on by Deanna Reid

To hear Richard tell it, he became a broadcaster because a fraternity brother told him he should get into the media business because he likes to talk.

With those inspiring words, Richard set off on his quest, studying at K-State and working at several radio stations across Kansas in the 1960s and 70s. He was running a black radio station in Omaha when legendary K-State broadcaster Ralph Titus called him looking for a new news director at KSAC, the college’s radio station that would later become KKSU. Richard ran the news operation for the radio station from 1977 until 2002, when the university lost the station, to the regret of many. At that point, Richard was offered the opportunity by our former department head to transition to teaching agricultural communications, which he did from 2002 until this week.

Throughout his four decades at K-State, Richard also produced a weekly interview program called Perspective. His original charge was to share information that people would not otherwise have easy access to, so for decades, Richard has hosted a wide array of thought-provoking authors on topics from astrophysics to xenophobia.

Whether working by serving the Kansas listening audience or working with students, Richard has held to – and taught – his personal ethics of fact-based reporting, fairness, quality and transparency. He’s never been afraid to ask the tough questions – and as a good journalist, he actually relishes those moments. Iron sharpens iron, and Richard, to his credit, helped many a colleague and student sharpen their skills and thinking.

The department thanks Richard for his four decades of service at Kansas State University!

Agricultural Education Student Named National FFA Star in Agriscience

Posted on by Deanna Reid

By Gaea Hock, ’03, ’08, associate professor of agricultural education

Eric Koehlmoos, senior in agricultural education, was named the 2018 National FFA Star in Agriscience.

As a high school student at South O’Brien in Paullina, Iowa, Koehlmoos used his home ATF-approved ethanol facility to research the processes used in a commercial ethanol plant. In high school, his research competed nationally and internationally. While at K-State, Koehlmoos has conducted research on teacher perceptions of the Kansas FFA Agriscience Fair.

https://www.ffa.org/the-feed/meet-eric-koehlmoos-2018-star-in-agriscience-finalist/

Alumni match doubles scholarship donations

Posted on by Deanna Reid

Doug and Sabrina Kruse have given a gift to create 15 matching scholarships in the College of Agriculture as part of the new K-State Family Scholarship Program. Doug graduated in 1988 with a degree in feed science and management.

This match means an individual, group of individuals or an organization can donate $30,000, and it will be matched with $30,000 from the Kruse contribution to form a college scholarship.

The Kruse K-State Family Scholarship will be used to match at least 15 new gifts for student scholarships. New gifts of $30,000 will be matched with $30,000 from the Kruses’ gift. $10,000 will go into an expendable scholarship fund, making $2,000 scholarships immediately available to students for up to five years. The remaining $50,000 will go into the endowment, ensuring future generations of Wildcats will receive scholarships as well. The $30,000 donation can be one lump sum or contributed in five annual contributions of $6,000. 
If you are interested in participating in the K-State Family Scholarship Program, visit www.ksufoundation.org/family for more information or contact John Morris, senior vice president of development, at 785-532-7587.

K-State Meat Judging Team wins in Texas

Posted on by Deanna Reid

On October 28, the Kansas State University Meat Judging Team brought home the first-place cup from the Cargill High Plains Meat Judging Contest in Friona, Texas. K-State won overall team as well as first place in beef grading, total beef and specifications. The team scored an impressive perfect score of 400 in specifications, a difficult feat that rarely happens.

K-State had three students place in the top 10 individuals. Twelve schools from across the nation competed at the Cargill contest.

The contest consists of placing 10 classes including beef, pork and lamb carcasses, two classes of beef cuts and two classes of pork cuts. Students also must write reasons on five of those classes, identify specification defects and quality and yield grade 15 beef carcasses.

Certain specifications are set by the USDA to ensure meat is similar by different companies. Contestants must know these specifications and identify any defects the cuts may have. Grading beef carcasses determines the value the carcass has to the consumer. In the contests, students grade the quality of carcasses based on the degree of marbling in the ribeye. Yield grades must be calculated to the nearest tenth while factoring in the carcass’s ribeye size, fat and weight.

Each part of the competition is timed, which forces students to be concise and accurate in their decision-making process. Along with decision-making skills, students gain knowledge of the meat industry and make connections with other students, professors and industry professionals.

“Achieving a perfect team specification score and being only the second K-State meat judging team to win Cargill made this contest the most memorable of this fall,” said Kaci Foraker, junior in agricultural communications and journalism. “This contest had some of the most challenging classes we had encountered all year. It was rewarding to have our hard work and long hours spent practicing pay off.”

The team competed in their final competition on November 11 at the International Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest in Dakota City, Nebraska.

Travis O’Quinn, associate professor of animal sciences and industry, coaches the team. Members include: Cole Liggett, Dennison, Ohio; Grace Luebcke, Marysville, Kansas; Hannah Taylor, Arlington, Wisconsin; Kaci Foraker, Burrton, Kansas; Keayla Harr, Jeromesville, Ohio; Leah Parsons, Leavenworth, Kansas; and Sam Davis, Madison, Kansas.

AgComm graduate students participate in Science Communication Week

Posted on by Deanna Reid

 

By Rachel Waggie, agricultural communications master’s student

Kansas State University hosted its second annual Science Communication Week Nov. 5–10, 2018. The Nov. 8 graduate student poster session focused on “Research and the State.” About 50 K-State graduate students, representing five academic colleges and 25 graduate programs, presented research posters. Approximately 17 presenters were from the College of Agriculture, two were from the Department of Communications and Agricultural Education. Mariah Bausch and Anissa Zagonel presented posters titled “Undergraduate Research Perceptions in Agricultural Communications” and “Printing and Mailing for the Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Seeking to Understand Internal Branding and Marketing within University and Extension Communication Services Units,” respectively.

Anissa Zagonel’s research focused on “Printing and Mailing for the Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Seeking to Understand Internal Branding and Marketing within University and Extension Communication Services Units.”

 

Experiences such as these are great chances for graduate students to present research in a more relaxed setting. “Opportunities like these are helpful for me to practice communicating my research, as well as learning from other disciplines,” says Zagonel, a second-year master’s student from Girard, Kansas. “Additionally, during this poster session, I enjoyed connecting with other graduate students from across campus.”

Both students presented their posters to a panel of judges, as well as other students and interested individuals, for the chance to earn a spot at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit hosted in Topeka this coming February.

Other events throughout the week included communications workshops, lectures, panel discussions, and other activities to engage graduate students across campus.

Mariah Bausch’s research focused on “Undergraduate Research Perceptions in Agricultural Communications.”

 

Imagery in agriculture: ACT calendar project

Posted on by Deanna Reid

By Leah Geiss, agricultural communications and journalism senior

The Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) club has implemented a 2019 calendar sale into their fundraising efforts. Calendar proceeds will help support chapter professional development and travel opportunities.

Calendar photos were taken by agricultural communications and journalism (ACJ) students during in AGCOM 420, Imagery in Agriculture class. Audrey King ’13, ’16 taught this class in the 2018 spring semester. Many ACT members were in the class and wanted to create a calendar to showcase student photography.

“The class was such a great learning experience and helped me really understand the basics of photography,” says Leah Giess, ACT president. “Many ACJ students thrived in the class and took such beautiful photos, so as a club, we decided we needed to share that with everyone.”

Katelyn Harbert, agricultural communications and journalism student, headed the calendar creation process.

“Designing the calendar was an excellent opportunity for using skills learned in the classroom in a real-world situation,” Harbert says. “Gaining this experience while helping support our club has been wonderful, and I am excited to see the project come to fruition.”

For those interested in purchasing a 2019 ACT calendar, the price is $15. Copies will be ready for distribution by December 12. Payments can be made in cash, check or by credit card in person in 301 Umberger Hall. Checks can be made out to Kansas State University ACT and mailed to 1612 Claflin Road, 301 Umberger Hall, Manhattan, Kansas 66506. For credit card payments, call (785) 532-5804. Use this link for online orders: https://goo.gl/forms/v3jIbQsvXE9MUW4U2.

If there are any questions, email kstateact@gmail.com.