- \n
- \n
- \n
- Agricultural Degree Program Development,<\/li>\n
- Agricultural Science Workforce Promotion, and<\/li>\n
- Student Recruitment and Support.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Our two degree programs received final accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in Fall 2019, and we are currently offering a wide variety of classes to develop both the management and practical skills of our students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ACC\u2019s Agricultural Sciences program was honored to partner with the USDA\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) in furthering agricultural education in the Central Texas area through an award from their HSI Education Grants Program. The Purpose of the ACC “Opportunities in Agriculture” program was to develop an Associate of Science (AS) degree program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-221","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"layouts":[{"acf_fc_layout":"two_columns","heading":"","column_1":"
![\"The](\"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/ACC-Agriculture-Sciences-Option-2-Poster-copy-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","column_2":"Our presentation<\/a> at the 2024 Texas Hispanic Farmer and Rancher Conference, featuring three of our agricultural science students<\/strong><\/h5>\n","background":"Color","background_color":"#FFFFFF","background_gradient":{"gradient_start":"","gradient_end":""},"background_image":false,"text_mode":"dark","id":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"accordion","heading":"Accomplishments","accordion":[{"title":"What was accomplished under these goals?","description":"
1. Enhance the quality of postsecondary instruction within the food, agricultural, and natural resources and human (FANH) sciences.<\/strong>
\nCoordinating our two-year degree programs with regional four-year programs has been a major focus during the term of the OiA grant. We have worked with representatives from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Texas State University, and Texas Tech University in particular to make sure that our offerings align well with their programs. Our department chair has also participated in state-wide committees working towards program articulation, including the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board\u2019s Agriculture Business & Management Field of Study Advisory Committee and the Texas Agricultural Community College Committee. Within our department at ACC, we have instituted a Continuing Education-to-Credit conversion pathway and tweaked our course offerings in reaction to the real-world needs of our students. We have also been able to bring on two full-time and three adjunct faculty members to provide a well-rounded instructional staff. Finally, our agricultural facilities and student farm have proven to be an invaluable resource in supporting the quality of our coursework.<\/p>\n2. Develop a minimum of fourteen (14) credit courses in Agriculture and Horticulture to be offered as part of ACC\u2019s Agriculture A.A.S. and A.S. program.<\/strong>
\nWith input from our Agriculture Industry Advisory Board and the ACC Curriculum Development office, we have created the following fourteen credit courses to support our two new agricultural degree programs:
\nAGCR 1341 Forage and Pasture Management
\nAGCR 1371 Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture
\nAGCR 1393 Special Topics in Plant Protection – IPM
\nAGCR 2313 Soil and Water Conservation Management
\nAGCR 2418 Soil Science
\nAGME 1315 Farm and Ranch Shop Skills I
\nAGMG 1311 Introduction to Agribusiness
\nAGMG 2386 Internship – Agricultural Business and Management
\nAGRI 1307 Agronomy
\nAGRI 1325 Marketing of Agricultural Products
\nAGRI 1415 Horticulture
\nAGRI 1419 Introductory Animal Science
\nAGRI 2317 Introduction to Agricultural Economics
\nHALT 2421 Small Farming<\/p>\nCourse syllabi from regional four-year institutions were referenced in the development of these classes to ensure conformity in instructional content for students pursing the A.S. transfer degree.<\/p>\n
3. Develop one Associate and Applied Science 60 hour degree program in Sustainable Agriculture and one Associate of Science 60 hour degree program in Agriculture.<\/strong>
\nBoth degree programs have been successfully created and accredited; following are the general award plans for each degree:<\/p>\nA.A.S in Sustainable Agriculture<\/strong> (60 Credit Hours Total)<\/p>\n
Semester I
\n<\/strong>EDUC 1300 Learning Framework: Effective Strategies for College Success
\nMATH 1332 Contemporary Mathematics
\nENVR 1301 Introduction to Environmental Science
\nAGRI 1415 Horticulture
\nAGCR 1371 Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture<\/p>\nSemester II<\/strong>
\nENGL 1301 English Composition I
\nAGRI 1419 Introductory Animal Science
\nAGMG 1311 Introduction to Agribusiness
\nAGCR 1341 Forage and Pasture Management
\nAGCR 2313 Soil and Water Conservation Management<\/p>\nSemester III<\/strong>
\nHIST 1301 United States History I
\nAGRI 1325 Marketing of Agricultural Products
\nAGCR 2418 Soil Science
\nAGCR 1393 Special Topics in Plant Protection – Integrated Pest Management<\/p>\nSemester IV<\/strong>
\nPHIL 1301 Introduction to Philosophy
\nHALT 2421 Small Farming
\nAGME 1315 Farm and Ranch Shop Skills I
\nAGMG 2586 Internship – Agricultural Business and Management, General<\/p>\nA.S. in Agricultural Science (60-61 Credit Hours Total)
\n<\/strong>
\nSemester I<\/strong>
\nEDUC 1300 Learning Framework: Effective Strategies for College Success
\nMATH 1314 College Algebra
\nENVR 1301 Introduction to Environmental Science OR
\nBIOL 1411 General Botany
\nENGL 1301 English Composition I
\nAGRI 14154 Horticulture<\/p>\nSemester II<\/strong>
\nENGL 1302 English Composition II
\nSPCH 1315 Public Speaking
\nAGRI 1307 Agronomy OR
\nAGRI 1107 Agronomy (Lab)
\nAGRI 1419 Introductory Animal Science
\nECON 2302 Principles of Microeconomics<\/p>\nSemester III<\/strong>
\nAGRI 1325 Marketing of Agricultural Products
\nHIST 1301 United States History I
\nCHEM 1311 General Chemistry I Lecture
\nCHEM 1111 General Chemistry I Lab
\nGOVT 2305 United States Government<\/p>\nSemester IV<\/strong>
\nPHIL 1301 Introduction to Philosophy
\nHIST 1302 United States History II
\nGOVT 2306 Texas State and Local Government
\nARTS 1301 Art Appreciation
\nAGRI 2317 Introduction to Agricultural Economics<\/p>\nTo date, we have graduated eight students from our degree programs, two of which received scholarship funding.<\/p>\n
4. Provide opportunities and access to FANH careers in the public and private sector.<\/strong>
\nWe instituted a \u201cHarvest Festival\u201d event, including a farmer\u2019s market with local producers and career education presentations, to foster relationships between students and local and governmental employers. Restrictions related to the COVID pandemic forced a pause on this event, but we have recently started to hold in-person gatherings of a similar nature to continue these relationships. Our department chair has also established connections with local agricultural-related businesses and government entities through the ACC Agriculture Industry Advisory Board and in one-on-one meetings with local producers, resulting in internship opportunities for our students.<\/p>\n5. Attract and support undergraduate students from underrepresented groups to prepare them for careers related to the food, agricultural, and natural resources and human (FAHN) sciences of the United States.<\/strong>
\nOver the course of our OiA grant, we were able to provide fourteen students with $44,000 in scholarship funds and two students participated in our stipend program. We also have a robust website in place that provides information on our programs, funding opportunities, job and internship openings, and more. Pre-COVID, we tabled numerous College and Career events to promote awareness of our degree offerings and have also spread the word through communications with dual-credit students on our home campus and social media posts. We have seen an explosion in the number of students enrolled in our courses, going from an unduplicated enrollment figure of six students in Fall 2019 (our first semester of offering classes) to 55 students in Spring 2022.<\/p>\n6. Align the efforts of HSIs and other non-profit organizations in support of the academic development and career attainment of underrepresented groups.<\/strong>
\nThe \u201cLearning Framework: Effective Strategies for College Success\u201d course is required in the first semester of both our award programs especially to meet the needs of first-generation college students. Our department also worked closely with other HSIs in our region (Texas State University and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) and local non-profit organizations (Austin\u2019s Sustainable Food Center and the Texas Center for Local Food in Elgin) to make sure our programs were relevant for students from underrepresented groups.<\/p>\n"},{"title":"What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?","description":"Both our Farm and Ranch Shop Skills and Small Farming courses provide students with hand-on training in the agricultural field, imparting skills that are of use in real world situations. Internships with entities such as Middle Ground Farm, the ACC Sustainable Student Farm, and VERDNT Farm also give students a chance to hone their agricultural skill set. Additionally, several local farmers have come in to share their expertise with students in the Small Farming class.<\/p>\n"},{"title":"How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?","description":"
A primary means of communication with the community prior to COVID was through working the aforementioned College and Career events at local high schools, concentrating on those with large Hispanic populations. We also tabled at various events such as the SXSW Music Festival, ACC\u2019s Applied Tech Open House, and the more generally targeted ACC Fest. As the pandemic has subsided we have been increasing our in-person attendance at similar events to spread the word about our awards. Also, we worked closely with the ACC Hispanic Outreach Projects department to broadcast through their channels, including airtime on the local Telemundo affiliate. Our website continues to be a primary means of communication to the local community as well.<\/p>\n"}],"background":"Color","background_color":"#FFFFFF","background_gradient":{"gradient_start":"","gradient_end":""},"background_image":false,"text_mode":"dark","id":""}],"hero_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image_content":{"ID":294,"id":294,"title":"EGN Sustainable Ag Farm","filename":"RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651.jpg","filesize":278446,"url":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651.jpg","link":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/home\/egn-sustainable-ag-farm-12\/","alt":"Vegetables at the Sustainable Agriculture Farm on the Elgin campus.","author":"1","description":"","caption":"ACC continuing education students harvest greens and vegetables under the direction of program coordinator Evelyn Rosas on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, at the Sustainable Agriculture Farm on the Elgin campus.","name":"egn-sustainable-ag-farm-12","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":205,"date":"2019-06-17 20:38:23","modified":"2019-06-17 20:38:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2000,"height":1333,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/06\/RS4000_20171011-EGN-Sustainable-Ag-Farm-ca-487-e1562018540651.jpg","2048x2048-width":2000,"2048x2048-height":1333}},"image_description":"","readability":["true"]}],"sidebar":"
![\"The](\"https:\/\/dmcat.austincc.edu\/agricultural-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/ACC-Agriculture-Sciences-Option-2-Poster-copy.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","column_2":"