Ag Ed student and faculty member visit Kenya
September 24, 2008

Craig Edwards, Agricultural Education faculty member and Tim Kock, doctoral student in Agricultural Education traveled to Kenya to help with developing the Extension program. Edwards and Kock spent time at Moi University meeting with administration and faculty.

The department hopes to continue te exchange of faculty and students to Moi University through a grant program and in collaboration with USDA, CSREES and the International Science Education program.

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The NAAE and Delmar Cengage Learning scholarship is awarded to students to aid in costs associated with student teaching. The 2008 Upper Division Scholarship awarded $750 to each of 15 recipients.

Emily Hogland, senior in agricultural education will be be student teaching spring semester 2009. She is involved in Collegiate FFA and Alpha Tau Alpha Honor Society. Hogland is also a Student Academic Mentor for AG1011.

Lindy Wiggins, sophmore in Agricultural Communications and Animal Science, was named one of six new recipients of the Westchester Foundation Scholarship. Each recipient is awarded $1,500 to be spent towards college expenses.

"This year's recipients are top-notch and we're grateful to have the resources available to ease the financial burden of higher education for these dedicated agricultural students," said Murray Wise, founder and CEO fo Westerchester Group, Inc.

The Westchester Foundation, created in 1997, serves the mission of enhancing agriculture by ensuring education of dedicated future agricultural leaders. The foundation works solely to provide funding for deserving agricultural students.

Congratulations to Angel Riggs and Assa Kante. These graduate students in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership are recipients of the Cletis & Martha Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Award.

This award of $2,200 per year, is available to recipients for up to two years if pursuing a master's degree and three years for doctoral students.

Tanya Franke, doctoral student in agricultural education, recieved the Distinguished Graduate Fellowship for the 2008 - 2009 academic year.

Franke, nominated by the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership, was awarded the Distinguished Graduate Fellowship (DGF) given by the OSU Foundation for the 2008 - 2009 academic year. This award was given based on GPA, scholarly contributions, awards, honors, research, publications, and presentations at professional meetings. This fellowship is for $2,200, paid in two installments, one in the fall and one in the spring.

The Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership extend their greatest thanks for the generosity of Jack Stuteville.

Stuteville, with the encouragement from Larry Shell, gave a $250,000 gift to the department to be used to support a new endowed professorship in agricultural education. If fully matched, this gift will offer $1 million to support programs in agricultural education.

Stuteville was an ag teacher for three years before becoming involved in banking. He greatly supports OSU and the agricultural education program. His own agriculture teacher and his children's teacher, Kenney Beams, greatly impacted his life and his children.

The gift will emphasize the college's strong commitment to supporting outstanding educational opportunities for students to enhance the learning experience of the youth and citizens they will one day teach.

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Phillip Scott, OSU college of agriculture graduate, is one of twelve finalists for Oklahoma Teacher of the Year.

Scott teaches at McAlester High School and previously taught vocational agriculture at Oilton High School.

Scott believes educators teaching science should "employ inquiry methods that focus on the 'big ideas' of science reasearch."

The Oklahoma Teacher of the Year will be announced in September at the State Fair of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. More information

The annual meeting of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education, held in Costa Rica March 9-15, 2008 hosted numerous OSU faculty and students.

"The Informer", the associations' newsletter features stories by, praise for and pictures of these individuals.

Check out the link for more information. AIAEE Newsletter

Assa Kante, Ph.D. student in agricultural education will receive the P.E.O Peace Scholarship for the 2008-2009 school year. This scholarship is awarded to women from other countries to assist in their advanced education in the United States or Canada. Scholarship recipients must return to their home country after graduation to share their knowledge.

Kante is from Mali, West Africa. She graduated with her master's from Montana State University in May 2007.

Congratulations to Samba Moriba, Ph.D. student in agricultural education for receiving the Weston Award. The Weston Awards Program recognizes eight students from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by providing financial assistance during their first year of study in the Fulbright program.

The Weston Award honors John Weston, a Fulbright scholar who received his master's degree in economics from the University of New Zealand.

Moriba is from Sierra Leone and graduated with his bachelor's (1998) and master's (2002) in agricultural education from Njala University. After lecturing there for four years, he came to puruse his doctoral degree at OSU.

After graduation, Moriba plans to return to Sierra Leone to be a professor and researcher at Njala University.

Jim Leising, assistant director for international programs in agriculture recently received the American Association for Agricultural Education Fellow Award.

AAAE recognized Leising for his more than 30 years as an active member in the organization at the 2008 AAAE Conference in Reno, Nev. More information...

Congratulations to Kathleen Kelsey, association professor and distance learning director for the department of agricultural education, communications and leadership. She was recognized as Author of the Year - Second Runner Up from the Journal of Agricultural Education Editing Managing Board.

AAAE presented the award on May 23, 2008 for Kelsey's article entitled, "Overcoming gender bias with self-efficacy: A case study of women agricultural education teachers and preservice teachers."

The Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership would like to congratulate graduate student, Tanya Franke, for her recognition as OSU Outstanding Ph.D. student for 2008.

Franke is a graduate research associate in agricultural education. She teaches the introduction to agricultural sciences and natural resources for agricultural leadership majors.

She is an active member of the Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership Graduate Student Association and served as their president this past academic year.