Christopher Estepp, U of A professor of agricultural education in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, has been named the inaugural Bumpers College Dean's Fellow, Dean Jeff Edwards announced.

In this role, Estepp will engage in specific activities related to assisting the dean with improving and updating the Razorback AgCademy program. Activities include collaboration with the dean, associate dean, department heads, faculty, U of A Global Campus and stakeholders.

"I am excited for this opportunity to work with Dean Edwards to revamp the AgCademy program," Estepp said. "There is great potential with this program to provide Arkansas students with a quality agricultural education at a reduced cost."

Specifically, activities include researching online programs similar to Razorback AgCademy to identify aspirational goals, interacting with stakeholders to determine an optimal price structure and curriculum to make the Razorback AgCademy program relevant and affordable, evaluating the course offerings and propose new courses based on stakeholder needs, working with Global Campus and college leadership to initiate development of new courses and revamping of current courses, investigating options to increase faculty participation and ownership of the program and making recommendations to the dean regarding a structure for faculty incentives, and investigating marketing strategies for the program and recommending a course of action to the dean.

"We have a great pool of talent in Bumpers College," Edwards said. "This is a way for us to help our faculty build upon their leadership skills and move the college forward. The Razorback AgCademy is a great example of how Bumpers is working to create opportunities for students and build a stronger workforce for Arkansas."

The Razorback AgCademy gives high school and community college students the opportunity to enroll in college courses through Bumpers College. It allows students to get college credit at reduced tuition costs while engaging in an online learning experience. Three courses, or modules, are currently offered and designed to model U of A's commitment to high quality teaching and learning and expose students to the wide range of career opportunities in the agriculture industry.

"The USDA has projected a shortage of qualified graduates with agricultural degrees to fill the workforce needs, and courses such as these can help draw students into the agricultural sciences at an earlier age by giving them a sense of what opportunities are out there by pursuing an agricultural degree," Estepp said.

Estepp is a faculty member in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology. He is a graduate of LEAD21, a national leadership development program, and has earned the Educator Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture professional organization. He has also received the college's John W. White Teaching Award, the Jack G. Justus Award for Teaching Excellence and the NACTA Teaching Scholar Award.

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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 $3 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 few 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 and Economic Development News.