The Department of Agricultural Education and Agricultural Sciences empowers the future of agriculture with an integrated approach that incorporates knowledge, skillset, and leadership to create opportunities for our students and advance the agricultural industry.
About Us:
The department of Agricultural Education & Agricultural Sciences prepares the next generation of agricultural educators, communicators, leaders, and entrepreneurs to create positive change in the world around them. Through science-based agricultural knowledge, hands-on learning opportunities, and leadership experience graduates are equipped to succeed in a variety of agricultural settings.
Since 1918, we have been helping students pursue a career in agriculture, whether that includes teaching the importance of agriculture in a high school classroom, directing a commodity organization, leading an extension workshop, or a natural resources communications specialist.
Our Students:
We are proud to serve a diversity of students from different states, countries, ages, backgrounds, and experiences. Some of our students are veterans, starting their own business, first-generation college students, parents, and full-time working professionals, all of which bring unique perspectives into the classroom, both online and on-campus. Some students come from a family legacy of agriculture and some are exploring agriculture for the first time.
Our Academics:
Our department houses the Agricultural Sciences undergraduate major which is a customizable agriculture degree that allows students to obtain a holistic agriculture experience while also choosing to specialize within specific areas. Our department also houses five undergraduate minors: Agricultural Education, Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Communications, Comparative International Agricutture, and Leadership. For our graduate programs, we have a master's degree program in Agriculture Education and a Ph.D. program in Agricultural Education. Our department is also unique as we host the College of Forestry and College of Agricultural Sciences undergraduate Leadership Academy, which is a one-year program for agriculture and forestry students to develop and improve their leadership skills.
Our Faculty & Staff:
Our faculty and staff work closely with students to help design an education path that leads to their desired agricultural career. We work with students inside and outside of the classroom to create a family-like atmosphere, so students can find their home away from home, in the department. Advisors help students explore and identify agricultural passions, internships, study abroad opportunities, student clubs, and courses that would benefit the student. While helping students create their own individual program of study, our advisors always keep in mind students’ backgrounds, interests, career goals, and future plans.
Our Alumni:
Our alumni are distinguished leaders in the industry and the positions they hold are as diverse as the agricultural industry itself. Some alumni are leading environmental government agencies, teaching agriculture across the state of Oregon, returning to the family farm as the next generation of production agriculturalists, directing agricultural literacy efforts and communications strategies, and many more. Our alumni are holistically equipped to serve today’s agricultural and natural resources industries landscapes.
Our Legacy:
The Department of Agricultural Education and Agricultural Sciences empowers the future of agriculture with an integrated approach that incorporates knowledge, skillset, and leadership to create opportunities for our students and advance the agricultural industry.
Our Values
-Maintain a student-centered culture and environment that develops the technical, social, and leadership skills of students.
-Recognize and honor the diverse talents, needs, and capabilities of our students.
-Prepare career-ready students to be competent leaders, communicators, and educators for the 21stcentury agricultural landscape.
-Produce energetic, effective, and qualified educators for secondary agricultural education programs and non-formal education environments.
-Guide and influence rigorous personal and professional development of students to further themselves and the industry.
-Develop competent communicators to help spread knowledge, awareness, and understanding of different agricultural policies, products, production processes, and issues.
-Create openings for students to explore agriculture in different contexts and experiential environments.
-Guide students toward critical thinking and career preparation within leadership, agricultural education, agricultural communications, and agricultural sciences.
-Conduct meaningful research to add to the scholarship and body of knowledge in the agricultural social sciences.
-Contribute substantially to the overall land grant mission of the college and university.
Our Manifesto
Agriculture. It is the bedrock of civilization and the origin of some of humanity’s most meaningful discoveries. When we advance the understanding and appreciation of agriculture, we are cultivating a future of unimaginable innovation and impact.
The Department of Agricultural Education and Agricultural Sciences empowers that future with an integrated approach that incorporates knowledge, skillset, and leadership to boost opportunity.
We have a deep abiding belief in the limitless potential of people who care about their communities and the future of agriculture, to make tomorrow better. We are excited when students realize their ability to create positive change in the world around them. And we are humbled to equip future educators to do the same. We are motivated by research that proves diverse, integrated agricultural education drives progress.
We believe in fostering meaningful conversations and crafting healthy communication about agriculture to help bridge rural and urban divides. Because communicators are connectors and we are all linked to agriculture.
Our graduates are empowered with the holistic knowledge, skillset, and the universal leadership skills necessary to drive change and create opportunity in every facet of agriculture.
Agriculture is the grass beneath our feet, the clothes on our back, and the food on our plate. It’s what brings people together.The future of agriculture is people and we are here to support and grow them.