Bumpers College Faculty, Students Make Presentations, Earn Awards at NACTA Conference

Students and faculty members combined to make eight presentations and earn three awards.

Students and faculty members from four different units in U of A's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences combined to present eight papers and posters at the 2021 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agricultural annual conference held virtually in June.

In addition, two students received teaching awards and three faculty members teamed up to win a journal article award.

Eleven faculty members and four graduate students from the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology, Department of Animal Science, Department of Horticulture and the School of Human Environmental Sciences participated.

Graduate students Devin Boggs and Breanna Wade, from HESC, and Teddy Hood and Austin Wise, from AECT, presented. Boggs and Wade were in human development and family sciences, and Hood and Wise, in agricultural and extension education.

Faculty members presenting were instructor Casandra Cox, associate professor Chris Estepp, University Professors Donna Graham and Don Johnson, professor Jeff Miller, associate professor Jill Rucker and department head and professor George Wardlow from AECT; instructor Kathi Jogan from animal science; assistant professor Ryan Dickson from horticulture; and professor Betsy Garrison and associate professor Jacquelyn Mosley from human development and family sciences in HESC.

Agricultural and extension education master's degree students Anika Parks and Jessica Wesson received the Graduate Student Teaching Award. Teaching awards go to student members involved in classroom instruction who excel as teachers in agricultural disciplines.

Estepp, Johnson and professor Kate Shoulders earned the Jack Everly NACTA Journal Article Award, which recognizes one of the top two articles from the journal each year, and Estepp was recognized as the incoming NACTA secretary-treasurer.

NACTA is a professional society that focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning in agriculture and related disciplines at the postsecondary level.

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: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.