This is a brief update on the Agriculture Workforce Training for Collaborative Leadership (AWT4CL) project. Our intent is to send a message like this once a month to keep various stakeholders informed of activities and opportunities related to the project. If this is no longer of interest to you, please reply to let us know. Otherwise, here’s the news….
AWT4CL Update for October 2023
Global Agricultural Productivity: The Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Initiative mobilizes and advocates for action and investment to accelerate agricultural productivity growth at all scales of production to create returns to farmers, society, the economy, and the environment. The 2023 GAP Report will be released tomorrow, October 3rd, along with a livestream discussion of key implications. This report can help situate our work in a global context.
The Gold Standard Graduate: Our contemporary world is changing traditionally held assumptions about what an ideal graduate should be. An America Succeeds article on "Reimaging the Traditional Profile of a Graduate" discusses relevant concerns and highlights actionable steps to help educators and employers adapt to the new realities. Moreover, one cannot but rethink the profile of a graduate amidst the disruptive nature of technology redefining the future of work.
What is Work-Life Balance?: ‘Convenience is not the same as balance’ neither is ‘equal time for everything’. What [then] Does Work-Life Balance Even Mean? – this Forbes publication explores the meaning of work-life balance and how it can help to prevent overworking and enhance creativity. In a related study, “Work-Life Balance Is a Cycle, Not an Achievement,” researchers offer suggestions for productive and healthy work lives: “increasing awareness, conscious reprioritizing, and implementation of public and private changes.”
The Value of Community Colleges: A recent blog post discusses the potential role of the AWT4CL project in helping community colleges live up to their mandate and values through the lens of recent research on students’ motivations and outcomes. Strada Education Foundation in their research exploring the value of community colleges found gaps in community college education in meeting students’ desire for skills acquisition and development. All of the AWT4CL project-related blog posts are available at the following URL: https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/awt/blog