Presented By: Dante Pizarro, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Co-Authors: MaryGrace Erickson, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Eric Ronk, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Michel Wattiaux, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Recent studies have illustrated continued transformation in the demographics and interests of undergraduates involved in Animal and Dairy Science courses (ADS). To describe student preferences in our program, we designed a survey on career intentions (as identified in the literature), as well as curriculum topics, and desired skills/abilities based on College- and Department-level strategic planning documents. Students rated their intentions to pursue career directions (1 “definitely will not” to 5 “definitely will”) and their interests in curriculum topics (1 “Not at all interested” to 10 “Extremely interested”) using anchored scales. In November 2023, students enrolled in ADS 101 Introduction to Animal Sciences at the University of Wisconsin - Madison responded via an online survey (n = 125, response rate = 84.8%, of which 80% were freshmen). Students reported growing up in a suburban or urban community (73%) and indicated that their high school did not offer any agricultural courses (65%). Within three years of graduation, students reported that they were most likely to attend veterinary school, have job duties related to managing animals on farms, research, or other settings, or have job duties related to research and development. The least likely option was to work in the field of education (K-12 or higher education). Students indicated animal welfare, behavior, anatomy, and physiology as the most important curricular topics for their future careers. The lowest-ranked topics were agronomy and food systems. In addition, students reported the following skills/abilities most important for their future careers: skills for lifelong learning, applying knowledge to real-world problems, written and oral communication skills. Capturing student's preferences and how they may change throughout their undergraduate studies may be important for curriculum design. This type of survey can help characterize student preferences and guide curriculum decisions at a department or university level.