Four Agricultural and Extension Education Grad Students Earn NACTA Recognition

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Patterson Hillaire (left) and Kylie Hackworth, Bumpers College master's degree students in agricultural and extension education, received graduate student teaching awards at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture annual meeting.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Four graduate students from U of A's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences were honored at the recent annual meeting of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Patterson Hillaire, Kylie Hackworth, Katie Dobbins and Shaylee Wallace, all agricultural and extension education master's degree students, were recognized.

Hillaire and Hackworth received graduate teaching awards, which go to NACTA graduate student members involved in classroom instruction who excel as teachers in agricultural disciplines. Dobbins and Wallace both placed second in poster presentation competitions and will have their abstracts published in a supplement of the NACTA Journal.

A total of seven students, all from the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology, presented papers, posters or workshops at the conference.

NACTA is a professional society focusing on improving teaching and learning in agriculture, food and natural resources. Members are from two- and four-year colleges, public and private. The annual conference provides new teaching techniques, ideas and resources as well as professional development activities for networking with other teaching professionals where the common discipline is "teaching."

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. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

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.