In the first half of the 2017, the Department will have 47 undergraduates earn their diplomas in one or both of our undergraduate degree programs. With four students completing their degrees at the end of Winter Term, 32 students finishing in June and an additional 11 students on track to graduate at the end of Summer Term, the department is celebrating yet another wonderful group of newly minted alumni!
Within our Agricultural Business Management major, we will graduate 32 students. These students are finding employment opportunities throughout the agricultural and food sectors, although half are committed to one of two job destinations. About 25% of our graduating ABM majors will be taking jobs within the financial sector (i.e., banking, financial advising, investment firms) and another 25% will be headed home to join their family’s agricultural production operations. Other students will be joining the managerial staffs of agricultural and food business companies in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Some will be operational managers on farms and ranches, while others will have jobs working in sales, marketing, customer relations and shipping for packers, shippers and food processors. Although the department does not systematically track wage data, anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of our ABM majors have starting salaries ranging from the upper $40Ks to lower $60Ks as base pay.
For our graduating seniors in the Environmental and Economic Policy degree program, the prospects are equally exciting but much more diverse in post-graduation destinations. Yet again, the department will have an EEP major who will be joining the Peace Corps, heading to Zambia. Several other EEP graduating seniors have plans to begin graduate studies next Fall either here in the Department or at other universities in the U.S. Still others will be working for the public sector or non-governmental agencies.
As has long been the tradition, the Department hosted an afternoon reception in the halls of Ballard on June 16, 2017. The event saw many of these graduating seniors and their extended families visiting the department and sharing memories with their classmates. We also had the opportunity to recognize Clark Seavert, who was selected as this year’s recipient of the Students’ Choice for Outstanding Teacher in Undergraduate Instruction Award. Well done Clark! And well done Class of 2017! Go Beavs!!