AWT4CL Update for July 2023

Essential Ingredients for Seasoned Teaching:  Last month, the North American College and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) met for an annual meeting.  The AWT4CL project was represented in the form of a poster presentation on “Essential Ingredients for Seasoned Teaching.”  It was an opportunity to showcase efforts with the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) process, including outcomes documented in the AWT4CL blog.

What Skills Do Employers Value?: Adding to the case for further investment in employability skills (beyond the technical), colleagues at North Carolina State University conducted “An Inquiry into the Professional and Leadership Skills that Employers in Agricultural Private and Public Sectors Value in New Graduates.”  At the top of the list were communication skills, building and maintaining relationships, self-management, and applicable work experience. These findings align well with the assumptions underlying the AWT4CL project logic model.

AWT4CL Blogging:  Networking is one of those buzzwords that frequently gets tossed around; however, it is not always easy to figure out how to go about building professional relationships—and where to start.  In a new blog post, Jama Coartney and Donna Westfall-Rudd discuss “Three Simple Steps to Building Professional Relationships.”  All of the AWT4CL project-related blog posts are available at the following URL: https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/awt/blog

AFRI-EWD Funding: Do you have an idea for advancing agricultural workforce development?  The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Education and Workforce Development (AFRI-EWD) program focuses on developing the next generation of research, education, and Extension professionals in the food and agricultural sciences.  Now is the time to explore ideas for the next round of funding.  More information is available on the program website.