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Congratulations to the 2022 Ag and Food Studies Graduates
We are proud to have thirteen AAFS graduates this year! On May 3, 2022, the AAFS Department honored fourteen seniors with our customary steak dinner. Each student shared a favorite or memorable moment, advice for continuing students, and where their life is taking them after graduation! Some of these Include moving home to the family farm, graduate school, land management accounting, TCU ranch management program, ag teaching, student teaching for fall graduation, and coaching! We say every year “we have the best students”, and this graduating class has no exceptions! We wish you all tons of success and happiness in your future endeavors!
L to R (staggered): Weston Schultz, Trevor Siroky, Gage Dewsbury, Jacob Mitchell, Tyler Vavrina, Megan Drey, Tyler Wingert, Mattie Tucker, Will Hurd, Kyler Krieg, Tristin Johnston, Faustino Barroso, Anna Van Dusen
Morningside University Buys Farmland to Continue Ag Program Growth
Morningside University has purchased 76 acres of land southeast of Sioux City that will be integrated into the curriculum of the Regina Roth Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department.
“This purchase not only adds high-quality land to our investment portfolio but continues our work to provide students interested in pursuing a career in the agricultural sector more active learning experiences,” said former Morningside University President John Reynders. “We are incredibly grateful to our Board of Directors for working with us to make this purchase possible.”
The two parcels of land that were purchased include just over 63 acres that are north of Old Highway 141 and a little more than 13 acres that are located south of Old Highway 141. Morningside intends to use the land for active learning opportunities related to topics such as agribusiness management, budgeting, hybrid analysis, and crop scouting. Additionally, it is expected that new areas of study may be developed in the future.
“Our faculty have done a great job of building a robust curriculum with lots of great opportunities for students over the last several years. The acquisition of this land will enhance that work while giving us significant growth potential,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Chris Spicer. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the Regina Roth Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department, our Board of Directors, students, faculty, and staff.”
AAFS Department Honored with IAAE Outstanding Post-Secondary Program
Morningside University’s Regina Roth Agricultural and Food Studies department was recently awarded the Outstanding Postsecondary Program Award by the Iowa Association of Agricultural Educators (IAAE) at its annual convention in Ankeny, June 27-29.
“It is an honor to receive this award from the IAAE,” said Dr. Thomas Paulsen, professor and head of the department. “Much of our success stems from the tremendous support of our board of directors, administration, advisory committee, stakeholders, alumni, faculty, staff, and students. We are excited to continue to develop high-quality, authentic, meaningful experiential learning opportunities for all of our students. Empowering our students with broad knowledge and transferrable skills, a strong sense of values, ethics, and civic engagement; and combined with personalized attention will enhance their career success in the Agricultural and Food Industry.”
In addition to the Outstanding Postsecondary Program honor, Dan Witten, an assistant professor within the department, was elected to the IAAE Board of Directors as the Vice President for Postsecondary Programs. Witten will represent postsecondary agricultural education programs in the state through his work as a board member. “We are very proud of Professor Witten and his nearly 25 years of service to agricultural education in the state of Iowa,” Paulsen noted. “Dan taught for 20 years as a secondary agricultural education instructor and FFA advisor and we are pleased to have him here on the Morningside faculty. He will represent postsecondary agricultural education well.”
Seaboard Triumph Foods Meats Judging Workshop Held
The Morningside University Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department hosted the Seaboard Triumph Foods Meats Judging Workshop on Thursday, June 30th on Morningside’s campus in Sioux City, Iowa.
The event included a mock competition for middle and high school 4-H and FFA students and ag teachers from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. This event featured an unprecedented number of retail ID cuts out of the National FFA Meats Judging Competition. Students received hands-on practice with industry experts as they developed industry knowledge related to careers in the animal processing industry while educators took part in professional development and learned some best practices for coaching meats evaluation participants.
Scholarships were awarded to the Top Individual, Blake Oostenink of Sioux Center and Top Team, Sioux Center.
Thank you to Seaboard Triumph Foods for being the named sponsor for this meaningful event for high school students, and meats expert Jace Hollenbeck for lending his expertise procuring the meats and conducting the teacher training.
Externship Update
Externship Update
The Externship is the highlight of our Applied Agricultural and Food Studies program at Morningside University. We build everything we do in our curriculum around this experience. I talk with employers in the agriculture industry often and they love our Externship program. They love that the Externship takes what our students learn in the classroom to another level. Those employers understand better than anybody that students can only learn so much in the classroom and many of the skills they need for whatever job they take are best taught on the job.
Students are also a big fan of the Externship. They’re able to get their hands dirty and really jump into the industry head first. Their employers give them projects that require them to think outside the box and get out of their comfort zones. This is when the real learning has begun and they’ll take these newly-honed skills with them throughout the rest of their career journey.
We had six Externs in 2021 and many of them received full-time job offers from their Externship employers. Two of the six continued to work for their Externship employer in some capacity after their experience ended. The remaining students found employment elsewhere in the agricultural industry or have continued their education beyond a bachelor’s degree.
We currently have eight students out on their Externship experience this fall semester and one who completed their experience at Security National Bank in Moville and Mapleton, Iowa during the spring and summer semesters. The fall Externs are placed at sites around the greater United States including Heritage Pork in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa; Central Valley Ag in South Sioux City, Nebraska; AgState in Kingsley, Iowa; Landmand Golf Club in Homer, Nebraska; AgriLand Custom Harvesting across the greater Midwest and West; Jochum Farms in Salix, Iowa; Seaboard Triumph Foods in Sioux City, Iowa; and the Rosen Ag Center at Morningside University. These students aren’t taking any courses this semester and are instead working full-time. The knowledge they’re gaining through this experience is invaluable and will truly set them apart when it comes time for them to find a job after graduation. They’re a step ahead of their competition because of this Externship experience.
Logan Schuelke worked for BASF this summer and traveled across Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and other states working in an agronomy role with the company. Logan will finish his Externship experience with Central Valley Ag in South Sioux City, Nebraska this fall.
Tom Heetland has been working for AgLand Custom Harvesting this summer and fall. He has traveled the greater Midwest and West harvesting small grains and will continue doing so this fall for the remainder of his experience.
Managing a Greenhouse Teacher Training Held
Managing a Greenhouse Teacher Training Held
Eleven high school agriculture teachers from across Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota gathered for a two-day "Managing a Greenhouse" Teacher Training July 6-7.
Greenhouse expert Don Josko and department head Dr. Thomas Paulsen led the teacher training sessions which included hands-on experiences with greenhouse environmental controls, irrigation and fertigation systems, as well as water quality testing and horticultural crop scheduling. Teachers gained practical skills that they could take back to their home schools and greenhouses.
AAFS Among Team to Receive National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
AAFS Among Team to Receive National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced that Morningside University will receive a $142,797 Humanities Connections Implementation Grant to support a three-year project that will implement an agricultural humanities minor at the University.
“Receiving an NEH grant is a great honor and certainly reflects the quality of faculty, students, and the great work being done within the humanities and the Regina Roth Applied Agricultural and Food Studies departments,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Chris Spicer. “Morningside faculty do a great job of partnering across disciplines to create innovative programming. I look forward to seeing this evolve.”
English professor and humanities department head Dr. Leslie Werden will serve as the project director for the grant. Werden, an award-winning professor who teaches British literature, academic writing, mythology, film analysis, literary analysis, and public speaking at Morningside, is excited to begin the work the grant will fund.
“We are excited to showcase the interdisciplinary nature of humanities courses, starting with our connection to applied ag and food studies,” noted Dr. Werden. “We already have connecting courses like ‘Religion and Food’ and ‘Literature, Writing, and Empathy.’ We will add courses like ‘The Land Ethic’ as well as ‘Integrative Communications for Humanities and Agriculture.’”
The team who completed the work on the grant proposal included Dr. Elizabeth Coody, assistant professor of religious studies; Dr. Brandon Boesch, assistant professor of philosophy; Dr. Jen Peterson, assistant professor of English; and Dr. Tom Paulsen, professor of applied agriculture and food studies.
Witten Elected IAAE Postsecondary Vice President
Witten Elected IAAE Postsecondary Vice President
AAFS Associate Professor Dan Witten was elected Vice President for Postsecondary Programs to the Iowa Association of Agricultural Educators Board of Directors. Witten will represent postsecondary agricultural education programs in the state through his work as a board member. “We are very proud of Professor Witten and his nearly 25 years of service to agricultural education in the state of Iowa,” said Dr. Thomas Paulsen, Morningside Regina Roth Applied Agricultura and Food Studies Department head stated. “Dan taught for 20 years as a secondary agricultural education instructor and FFA advisor and we are pleased to have him here on the Morningside faculty. He will represent postsecondary agricultural education well.”
NACTA Conference 2022: An Un-Expected Virtual Conference
NACTA Conference 2022: An Un-Expected Virtual Conference
Getting abstracts accepted at the NACTA national conference has become an annual department activity. The North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) is a professional society with a focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning agriculture and related disciplines at the postsecondary level. NACTA holds its national conference in June of each year at different college and university campuses across the US and Canada. In 2022, the city of Wooster OH was the location chosen for the 2022 NACTA conference.
Four abstracts from AAFS faculty were accepted for either poster or oral presentation at the 2022 NACTA national conference.
Experiencing Cultural Diversity through the Production and Sale of Ethnic Vegetables Using
Hydroponic Grow Towers by Dr. Kinwa-Muzinga and Dr. Lawrence Muzinga (School of Business).
Dr. Tom Paulsen
Empowering learners in a capstone course: Student development of business plans for a new ag center
Mentoring3: Developing a win-win-win scenario through a collaborative public-private School Partnership
Dan Witten
Teaching Precision Agriculture with a Collaborative, Community, Teaching Approach
Melissa Nelson
Creating an Engaging Career-Readiness Curriculum for Post-Secondary Agriculture Students
We were all excited to travel to Wooster, OH to display our teaching innovation until that Friday of June 17 when an email from the NACTA office informed us that the conference would be virtual. Oh no! The city of Wooster, home to The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) Wooster Campus, was hit by four EF1 tornadoes early that week damaging homes and businesses. The hope to get things back to normal in order to host many NACTA members was very slim. Therefore, all in-person activities planned for the 2022 NACTA Annual Meeting were officially canceled. The 2022 conference continued virtually.
Virtual meetings have become our way of life for a while now. AAFS faculty were ready to transition the in-person meeting to an online format. Adjustments were quickly made for our presentations. Great communication between the organizing committee and members. Dr. Annie Kinwa-Muzinga was the moderator of an oral presentation session on June 23, which went very well.
One thing that we all missed was the social activities /tours to different businesses offered by NACTA. Despite the regional devastation that forced NACTA 22 to be virtual, the conference was once again a success. We are looking forward to the 2023 NACTA national conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico from June 19 to June 23, 2022.
Visit the Ag Department!
Visit the Ag Department!
Morningside University Admissions would like to invite high school senior students to join us for our Senior Ag Visit Day on Saturday, November 5, 2022!
This special visit day was created with high school students in mind; someone with an interest in Agriculture and/or Food Studies. This will allow students the opportunity to get an up close and personal look at the Regina Roth Applied Agricultural and Food Studies program and Morningside University with planned tours of campus, the Ag Department, and facilities. The day also includes a pre-game Tailgate and game passes for the Morningside football game.
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