FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Faculty and students from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science's Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology won several awards at a regional meeting for educators, communicators and scientists in San Antonio, Texas.

The department claimed six first-place and one second-place award in the education and communications sections of the Southern Region of the American Association for Agricultural Education and Agricultural Communication. The meeting was held in conjunction with the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists.

Faculty members Don Johnson, Kate Shoulders, Leslie Edgar, Donna L. Graham and Jill Rucker teamed to win the outstanding manuscript award.

In the agricultural communications section, graduate students Fawn Kurtzo and Maggie Jo Hanson, and Edgar and Rucker received the outstanding research poster award. Professor Jeff Miller, graduate student Kyle Hunter and student Andrea Love placed second in the same category.

The department captured four first-place awards in the agricultural education section.

Alumna Carly Calico, now a graduate student at Mississippi State University, and Shoulders teamed to win the distinguished innovative poster category.

Shoulders, Oklahoma State University assistant professor Marshall Baker and University of Florida associate professor Brian Myers won outstanding innovative poster honors.

Graduate research assistant Jackson Alexander, Rucker, Graham, Miller and animal science professor Jason Apple earned the distinguished research poster award. Graduate student Kristina Bautista worked with Johnson, Shoulders and Edgar to win distinguished research poster honors.

SAAS has been in existence since 1899 and strives to bring together agricultural leaders in education and industry. It also offers young scientists opportunities to present papers resulting from research, extension or other efforts.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.