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Department of Communications and Agricultural Education

Tag: Graduate Students

K-State Ag Ed attends AAAE Conference

by Brandie Disberger, agricultural education instructor

Faculty members Gaea Hock, Jon Ulmer and Brandie Disberger, along with Jason Hughes, graduate student, and undergraduate students Trenton Smedley and Zachary Callaghan attended the National Learner Centered Teaching and the North Central Region of the American Association for Agricultural Education joint conferences hosted October 10-12 in East Lansing, Michigan.

Hock managed the social media during the conference for the American Association for Agricultural Educators and for K-State Agricultural Education. The research portion of the conference was coordinated by Kansas State University, led by Ulmer. Hock served as chair of the Program Improvement Committee; Ulmer and Disberger served on the Member Services Committee. Smedley and Callaghan presented research and participated in the student experience portion of the conference, which included a tour of the Michigan State campus and research farms.

Attendees from Kansas State University presented the following research during the conference:

Paper Presentations:

Prescribed pedagogical outcomes versus real-world challenges: A content analysis of Kansas AFNR course competency profiles

Zachary Callaghan & Gaea Hock, recognized as distinguished abstract

 

Agricultural education teachers knowledge and perceptions of service-learning

Trenton Smedley & Jon Ulmer

 

Kansas ag teachers’ perceptions of diversity & inclusion in agricultural education

Laura E. Miller, Gaea Hock, Jon Ulmer & Jason Ellis

 

The contributions of George Washington Owens to the development of agricultural education opportunities for African Americans

Zachary Callaghan & Gaea Hock

 

Teacher perceptions of the impact and challenges of middle school agricultural education experiences in Kansas

Anna Williamson, Gaea Hock, Jon Ulmer & Lori Goodson

 

Poster Presentations:

Showcasing agricultural education programs with Book Creator.

Gaea Hock & Zachary Callaghan, recognized as distinguished innovative idea poster

 

Examining secondary talented and gifted and agricultural education experiences relative to college major and career choice.

Darcie Gallagher, Jonathan Ulmer, Gaea Hock & Jason Ellis, recognized as distinguished research poster

 

A districtwide look at agricultural educators perceptions of standards based grading.

Lauren Worley, Jonathan Ulmer, Katie Burke & Gaea Hock

l to r: back – Jason Hughes, Jon Ulmer, Trenton Smedley; front – Zachary Callaghan, Gaea Hock, Brandie Disberger
Jon Ulmer
Zachary Callaghan and Gaea Hock
Zachary Callaghan

Departmental research published in JAC

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.

ACJ/AgEd graduates 39 in spring 2019

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

The Department of Communications and Agricultural Education graduated 29 undergraduates and 10 master’s students this spring. Agricultural communications spring class of 2019 includes Danielle Comstock, Bryanna Cook, MiK Fox, Leah Giess, Megan Green, Kyler Langvardt, Janelle Marney, Taylor Belle Matheny, Ashley McKenny, Sarah Moyer, Tarra Rotstein, Kelly Schrag and Kennedy St. George.

Agricultural education graduates include Rachel Bellar, Moriah Cobb, Sydney Cullison, Allyson Dorrell, Cassandra Ebert, Hannah Fry, Christina Hoffman, Caroline Howsden, Trent Johnson, Eric Koehlmoos, Ashley Lauinger, Savannah Pryor, Matthew Schick, Meghan Strassburg, Melissa Strassburg and Caitlyn Thompson.

Students graduating with a Master of Science in Agricultural Education and Communication include Mariah Bausch, Chelsea Bowen Whittle, Darcie Gallagher, Ernest Jones, Laura Miller, Deanna Reid, Kelsey Tully, Anna Williamson, Lauren Worley and Anissa Zagonel.

Congratulations, graduates! We are proud of you and wish you the best of luck.

Graduate Students win in Birmingham

By Deanna Reid, agricultural education and communication master’s student

Kelsey Tully, Mariah Bausch, Dr. Lauri M. Baker, and Anissa Zagonel presented research at the 2019 NACS Conference.

 

Agricultural education and communication graduate students attended the 2019 National Agricultural Communications Symposium (NACS) in Birmingham, Alabama, February 3–4, 2019. Students Anissa Zagonel, Mariah Bausch, and Kelsey Tully along with faculty sponsor Lauri Baker presented papers and posters focused on current research and professional development. Bausch and Baker’s poster titled “Student perspectives of agricultural communications research” won second place in the poster competition. The paper by Rumble, Wu, Tully, Ruth, Ellis, and Lamm titled “A mixed-methods comparison of self-reported and conversational trust in science” placed second among academic paper presentations.

Papers presented included:

Beyond the post: Equine operators’ communication processes for conservation practices

Anissa Zagonel, Lauri Baker, Shelly Ingram, Jon Ulmer, and Joann Kouba, Kansas State University

Student perspectives of agricultural communications undergraduate research

Mariah Bausch and Lauri Baker, Kansas State University

A mixed-methods comparison of self-reported and conversational trust in science

Joy Rumble, Yu Lun Wu, The Ohio State University; Kelsey Tully, Kansas State University; Taylor Ruth, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jason Ellis, Kansas State University; and Alexa Lamm, University of Georgia

How consumers contrast and assimilate information about agricultural biotechnology

Taylor Ruth, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Joy Rumble, The Ohio State University; Alexa Lamm, University of Georgia; Jason Ellis, Kansas State University

Coauthor network analysis of Journal of Applied Communications articles from 2008 to 2017

Audrey King ’13, ’16 and Quisto Settle, Kansas State University

 

Professional Development Session presentations included:

What are reviewers looking for?

Quisto Settle, Oklahoma State University; Lauri Baker, Kansas State University

Posters presented included:

Scholarship in action: Student perspectives of undergraduate research in agricultural communications

Mariah Bausch and Lauri Baker, Kansas State University

Communicating through chaos: A quantitative content analysis investigating the prepared responses of articles about zoonotic disease on the CDC and USDA websites

Topanga McBride, Lauri Baker, and Mariah Bausch, Kansas State University; Angela Lindsey, University of Florida

Dr. Lauri M. Baker and Mariah Bausch with their winning research poster.

 

AgComm graduate students participate in Science Communication Week

 

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.”

 

Interdisciplinary team awarded $2.9 million NSF Research Traineeship grant to strengthen rural communities

By Linda Gilmore, Editor, Publishing Unit

 

Gaea Hock is part of an interdisciplinary team awarded a National Science Foundation grant to train graduate students to help communities address complex issues of water management and rural vitality. Melanie Derby, K-State assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering and Hal and Mary Siegele Professor of Engineering, leads the team. Derby will help meet these challenges by training students to work at the nexus of several disciplines.

 

“The whole goal of interdisciplinary research is that someone else’s perspective makes both your work stronger,” Derby said. “We do fundamental engineering work, but we want it to go to the field. We need to know how to make that happen. One of our goals is to help western Kansas and other semiarid communities be resilient in the future. We need all the components — engineering, agricultural economics, sociology, and more — to solve these important challenges.”

 

Derby and her colleagues will mentor graduate students as they conduct fundamental research in three areas of the crucial food-energy-water system: conservation of and producer relationships with the Ogallala Aquifer, soil-water-microbial systems, and technologies to transform animal waste into energy and water. They also will work to understand engineering, economic, and sociocultural barriers to implementing emerging innovations.

 

Building communication skills and a common vocabulary across disciplines is a crucial aspect of the training. Students will engage with policymakers and attend state legislative sessions in Topeka, plus they will spend time at the Southwest Research-Extension Center in Garden City to research smart water technologies and meet with farmers and others whose livelihoods depend on conserving the aquifer and other resources.

 

In addition to Derby and Matt Sanderson (co-principal investigator and the Randall C. Hill Distinguished Professor of Sociology), the team includes co-investigators Jonathan Aguilar and Stacy Hutchinson, biological and agricultural engineering; Prathap Parameswaran, civil engineering; and David Steward, civil and environmental engineering department, North Dakota State University; educational lead Gaea Hock ’03, ’06, communications and agricultural education; and advisors Nathan Hendricks, agricultural economics, and Ryan Hansen, chemical engineering. The program will train 50 master’s and doctoral students, including 25 funded trainees from the colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, and Engineering.

Kansas State Welcomes World Food Prize Guests

By Kelsey Tully, agricultural education and communications master’s student

A group of international students and researchers from Cambodia and Senegal arrived in Manhattan, Kansas, on October 11 to begin their U.S. agricultural experience. Kansas State University’s Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) hosted the group before the World Food Prize events in Des Moines, Iowa.

While the international guests were in the Little Apple, the SIIL team provided a glimpse of Kansas agriculture in a variety of settings. Dan Devlin, director of the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment (KCARE), set up farm tours for the SIIL group to see U.S. agriculture up close and in action.

Their first stop was River Creek Farms, which started in 1890. Brothers, Joe and Bob Mertz, discussed how they operate and manage the family farm using a crop and livestock integrated production system and the challenges that face U.S agriculture. This conversation posed an exciting opportunity for a bidirectional learning opportunity, where both native Kansans and international participants shared stories about different production practices used globally, including antibiotic use in livestock, livestock genetics, the use of GMOs, and the cost of farm products.

After a traditional U.S. lunch at Manhattan’s local Tallgrass Tap House, Devlin took the group to see the research side of Kansas agriculture – K-State’s agronomy department research plots. Elliot Carver, an agronomy doctoral student, led the tour. The plots are used to test multiple dimension of cover crop practices, and participants were able to discuss how Carver is applying his research to everyday farming questions and concerns.

Campus SIIL faculty and their colleagues from Cambodia and Senegal participated in a panel discussion on youth engagement and capacity building at the World Food Prize in Iowa on October 18.

 

Kelsey Tully is the social-media assistant for K-State’s Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab.

Student Spotlight: Darcie Gallagher

By Deanna Reid, agricultural education and communications master’s student

Darcie Gallagher, a Missouri native, is pursuing a master’s in agricultural education and communications and conducting research on the involvement of talented and gifted students in agricultural education. Before coming to K-State, Gallagher earned an associate degree of applied science in agriculture business and management technology from Southeast Community College in Beatrice, Nebraska, and a bachelor’s degree in agriculture sciences from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri.

 

In August, Gallagher was hired as a precision agriculture instructor at Highland Community College in Wamego. She is working to expand the program and teach new technologies and farming methods.

 

When asked why she chose to attend K-State, Gallagher said, “I loved the atmosphere of the communications and agricultural education department and the opportunities that I knew I would experience throughout my time at KSU! I have never been happier in my choice of a master’s program and what the future holds.”

 

When she is not in the classroom, Gallagher enjoys running, gardening, and working on her family’s farm.

Student Spotlight: Kelsey Tully

Story by Deanna Reid, master’s student

Kelsey Tully, a Wichita native, is pursuing her master’s degree in agricultural education and communication. Tully graduated from Fort Hays State University in 2016 with a bachelor of science degree in animal science. As a graduate student, she works with Professor Jason Ellis on his research, and she is a teachingassistant for the Agricultural Business Communications class.

 

When asked why she is attending Kansas State, Tully stated, “I’m in graduate school because I wanted to pursue a career in agriculture and be able to not only use my undergraduate degree but also be able to work hand-in-hand with farmers and ranchers.” Her thesis focuses on integrating new-media technology in extension as an educational tool.

 

Tully also works for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification at K-State where she helps with graphic design, webpage design and maintenance, and research.

 

She said, “I grew up in the city not knowing much about agriculture. But I have been very fortunate to work in many different settings with all kinds of livestock, from cattle to alpacas, and I have loved every minute! I look forward to finding a job in which I can keep learning and helping others.”

 

Department well represented at 2018 SAAS Conference

Story by Ashley Fitzsimmons, senior (ACJ)

The 2018 Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) was held in Jacksonville, Florida. Graduate students, alumna, and faculty from our department attend SAAS to learn, network, and present their agricultural communications research.

The SAAS conference is a great opportunity for professionals in the agricultural industry and the educational field to come together to learn from each other and collaborate ways to improve the industry. The conference is divided into sections; agricultural communications is one of them. This networking event allows for other agricultural communicators to challenge each other to find more effective way of communicating the agricultural message.

During one of SAAS’s paper sessions, recent graduate, Courtney Boman (’17) and department head, Dr. Jason Ellis (’98) presented their research focusing on the “Measuring the influence of Twitter-based crisis communications strategies on brand reputation via experimental design.” The Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement managing director, Cassie Wandersee (’16) and graduate professor, Dr. Lauri M. Baker presented their topic, “A quantitative assessment of possession rituals and engagement in Pinterest: An examination of the agricultural industry,” as well during this session.

Graduate students also had the opportunity to share their research findings at SAAS with a poster session and talking one-on-one with other professionals at the conference. Andres De Leon, Deanna Reid, and Kelsey Tully’s research focused on the “The Next Generation of Video Marketing: A qualitative study exploring the use of 360-degree video to market plants to millennials.”

Graduate student, Deanna Reid, says, “Attending SAAS was a great opportunity to meet other graduate students and agricultural communications professors. It was also neat to be able to put faces with the names on the articles and research I’ve been reading.”

Kansas State University and the Department of Communications and Agricultural Education was well represented at SAAS. These events give students the chance to explain and defend their research as well as learning from other academicians in the agricultural communications field.