Presented By: Thomas Paulsen, Morningside University
Co-Authors: Brandon Boesch, Morningside University
Keren Brooks, Morningside University
Elizabeth Coody, Morningside University
Annie Kinwa-Muzinga, Morningside University
Brian McFarland, Morningside University
Jennifer Peterson, Morningside University
Leslie Werden, Morningside University
Dan Witten, Morningside University

[University] recently received a $150,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Humanities Connections Implementation Grant which funded a three-year project titled Rooted: Integrated Humanities and Agriculture to establish an Agricultural Humanities minor. Faculty from the disciplines of agriculture, religious studies, philosophy, English, writing, and rhetoric came together to develop the project centered on the interrelation of humanistic inquiry with agriculture and food studies, culminating in the new minor. [University] is located at the crossroads of three states, where supplying the nation with food has been woven into the rural fabric for generations. Faculty training to implement the new minor was completed during the summer of 2023 with a week-long collaboratively planned and implemented faculty training workshop. Rooted in experiential learning theory, agriculture and humanities professors co-led learning experiences related to humanities-based pedagogical approaches (storytelling, textural analysis, historical pedagogy, cross-matching language, interpersonal skills, and question-asking) through applied experiences within agriculture (field trips to a family cattle operation, precision-focused agriculture operation, pork processing plant, and various activities on campus agricultural facilities (greenhouse, outdoor classroom, garden, and farm). Post-training faculty reflections supported high levels of interest, learning, and opportunities to integrate new pedagogies and contexts into their current and newly developed courses supporting the new Agricultural Humanities minor. This presentation shares information about the 2025 faculty development conference to be held at [University] as well as the challenges overcome and successes achieved through the collaborative project development and faculty training phases of the new minor's initial integration into the [University] curriculum.