Enhancing Culturally Relevant Mentorship for Under-represented Minorities in Colleges of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences (1:00-1:15pm)
Mary Rodriguez
Ohio State University

Increasing the presence of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in agricultural and life sciences disciplines has been a sought-after goal at land-grant institutions. However, Latinx, LGBTQ+, and women (as we define URMs) continue to find themselves in a system that lacks the structural changes needed to create the space for and support their success. URMs in doctoral programs are particularly in need of mentorship as they continue to navigate the culture of academia during their transition into faculty positions. The primary mentoring role falls on the faculty mentor who is often underprepared to work with URMs. We sought to address the need for improved mentorship of URMs studying in the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences at a Midwestern University through the creation of an 8-session program. The goal of the program was to enhance the capacity of faculty (mentors) to mentor URMs and for URM doctoral students (mentees) to be better prepared to navigate academia. Specifically, overall program aims were to: (1) deliver programming for faculty mentors to engage in culturally responsive mentoring; (2) deliver programming for mentees to develop skills needed to be successful in academia and as future mentors; and (3) deliver co-curricular programming for both faculty mentors and URM mentees to facilitate productive and supportive dialogue about race, gender and sexual orientation; the experiences of URM students at PWIs; the development of the mentor/mentee relationship; and how to navigate academia. Several participants mentioned that by creating faculty mentor/mentee pairs, it facilitated co-learning of the topics 'without having to worry about power dynamics that often exist in those relationships." Similarly, most participants appreciated the candid conversations about academia and challenges in URM mentorship. Good mentoring is an essential component of the recruitment and retention of URM individuals and can help them successfully navigate higher education.

Teaching Food Product Development - Faculty vs. Industry Perspective (1:15-1:30pm)
Fernanda Santos
North Carolina State University

It has been suggested by two recent surveys (McGraw-Hill and Forbes) and several news articles that there is a clear gap between the expectations of the food industry employers and other food industry stakeholders related to new food science graduates' food product development (FPD) skills and the real performance of these graduates when tasked with managing and leading FPD projects. Some possible reasons for this might include the fact that many food science programs do not have FPD as an independent course or the lack of a generally accepted curriculum. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the opinions and suggestions of faculty of higher education institutions and industry professionals related to the training of food science students in FPD, including how FPD should be taught and what should be crucially included in the FPD curriculum. Forty-four faculty and 59 industry professionals completed the survey between November 2020 and July 2021. Several inconsistencies were found on how the FPD course is taught, including which courses are prerequisites for FPD, a laboratory session as a co-requisite (85%), the use of industrial ingredients when developing their food product (73%), and the lecture delivery methods (67% face-to-face). Several industry professionals (53%) believed that there is a significant disconnect between academia and industry in preparing students for FPD careers. Industry professionals who completed the survey clearly believe that the most important skills graduates should have are in food processing, sensory science, ingredient technology and food safety. However, the majority of industry professionals (51%) responded that most graduates are not prepared to lead FPD projects or can recognize the challenges and demands when executing FPD from start to finish. Therefore, an updated and improved FPD curriculum will be created to prepare graduates to meet the challenges of their careers in the food industry.

Understanding Research Through Experiencing Research (1:30-1:45pm)
Phil Urso
Sam Houston State University

Research Methods is a required class for all SHSU Agricultural Science M.S. students, but a significant knowledge gap on the how and why of research exists, particularly for non-thesis students. Due to this gap, a change was made in the pedagogy of this course beginning with the addition of two projects. The first was a class project where the class designed a research study from concept to implementation. Each week, students brought ideas for the next phase of the project, discussed them, and made decisions on the direction of the project. This promoted student buy-in to the project and provided an opportunity to be engaged. These phases included the research question, research design, data collection and interpretation, with charts and graphs, abstract development and presentation of a poster.  Student input on each section helped understanding of the basics of research design as well as the difficulties faced in interpretation of research. Additionally, students worked on individual projects where students had to answer any question of interest. These ranged from topics like 'What would you do for a Klondike bar?" to a comparison of driving ability between the sexes. The ability to choose one's project from any area of interest allowed students to have buy in to the project itself. The individual project involved data collection from either student data or any other previously generated data. Each phase of the individual project was due a week after the class project, enabling students a second opportunity to understand each phase of the process. Finally, the individual project would conclude with a 12-minute professional conference-style presentation. By utilizing both of these projects in class, alongside traditional methods of lecture and reading of journal articles, we were able to provide a well-rounded, hands-on opportunity to all students regardless of previous experience.

Marauder Agricultural Scholarship Program: Agricultural Industry Career  Awareness (1:45-2:00pm)
Katrina Held
Central State University

Research has shown that the US workforce is deficient in the agricultural industry for many reasons, including negative perceptions about agricultural jobs. Consequently, millions of positions are being unfilled, adversely impacting production capacities and the ability to compete internationally. This situation is alarming as the demand for agricultural products is expected to increase and the vulnerability of the supply chain systems have been exposed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, existing initiatives to enhance the agricultural workforce have targeted students majoring in agricultural fields, excluding current students studying in other areas. This project has sought to address the deficiency of the US agricultural workforce by conducting research related to the workforce in the US agricultural sector and attempt to provide narratives apt to increase the awareness of students and families on the nobleness of agriculture. This has been accomplished thus far by having students participate in a brief project in researching careers in agricultural sectors in their business or education courses. Additionally, students who are not majoring in agriculture, had the opportunity to apply for a scholarship program that required them to enroll in two agriculture courses on the campus. Trends that have been captured by the research team includes drivers of interest for careers in agriculture, student interest in agriculture in general, and careers of interest to students who are not majoring in agriculture. Each of these trends can provide insight into how to recruit students to pursue careers in the agriculture industry.

Cowboy Culture in the University Core Curriculum (2:00-2:15pm)
Robert Williams
TAMU-Commerce

Cowboys & Cowgirls is a university core signature course available to all students in the first year track. A signature course is required of all first year TAMUC students. Such courses are designed to help students develop and demonstrate competence in written, oral, and visual communications as part of the university core curriculum. Courses are designed around themes selected by the professor. Cowboys & Cowgirls is the creation of the author of this presentation and introduces students from a variety of majors, backgrounds, and perspectives to the lives and legends of one of America's most recognized icons. Beginning with the origin of the vaquero students follow the trail through the cattle drive era, ranching. cowboy poetry, music, art, and literature to rodeo and movies.  Lectures, discussions, and guest speakers are included in class activities for Mondays and Wednesdays.  Fridays are 'flipped" so that instead of students coming to class, they utilize that class time to view videos and other online resources aligned with each weekly module. The objective of this presentation is to share innovative teaching strategies, topics, and activities used for this class. Course organization, specific topics, and activities as well as how the course promotes agricultural and food literacy will be included