AECT's Shoulders Earns Cooperation Award for Work With State Agriculture Teachers

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From left, Hals Beard, NAAE Region 2 vice president; Nick Nelson, NAAE president; Kate Shoulders, U of A Bumpers College; and Mike Williams, Forrest T. Jones & Company.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Kate Shoulders, a U of A nationally recognized educator for innovative teaching methods, recently received the Outstanding Cooperation award for supporting agricultural education at the National Association of Agricultural Educators annual convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Shoulders is associate professor of agricultural education in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science's Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology.

She has created programs fostering collaboration between AECT and both state agriculture teachers and student organizations. Shoulders developed Razorback AgCademy, which was Arkansas' first program to provide high school students with college credit for agriculture classes. She is also co-founder of Owl Pellets: Tips for Ag Teachers, a social media platform transforming agricultural education research into formats and language readily consumable by agriculture teachers.

Shoulders also serves state agriculture teachers in cooperation with NAAE. One event, through National Teach Ag Day, is "Tagged to Teach Ag," which encourages teachers to tag students they feel would be successful agricultural educators. Those students are invited to a day-long career event hosted by the U of A.

"This award is particularly special to me, as I was nominated by the state's agriculture teachers rather than by peers at the university," said Shoulders. "The ag teachers of the state are some of my most important stakeholders, and to know that they appreciate the work I do to assist them is a huge honor."

While helping other agricultural educators is a priority, Shoulders was one of 10 professors nationally featured in The Chronical of Higher Education's Innovators Supplement in 2017. She was also named the U of A Alumni Society's Rising Teacher in 2017 and received the Outstanding Young Member Award from the American Association of Agricultural Educators in 2018. In addition, Shoulders has published research recognized as Distinguished Manuscripts by the AAAE and Journal of Agricultural Education. She is also beginning a three-year term as editor of the Journal of Agricultural Education.

NAAE is the professional association for agricultural educators with over 8,000 members nationwide. Its mission is "professionals providing agricultural education for the global community through visionary leadership, advocacy and service." 

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 2.7 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.