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FALL 2021  

Message from Joe Parcell

How can I help? I often hear this question from alumni who want to give back to their university. If this same question has crossed your mind, then know you can make an important contribution by simply connecting with young people and sharing your Mizzou story. Tell high school and community college students about your experiences at Mizzou and in your degree program. Tell these prospective students about how a degree from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources will help them stand out from the crowd. Tell them to consider a degree that takes a people focus, which can open a wide array of professional opportunities.

At their core, our division’s degree programs emphasize a people-focused, customer-centric mindset, and divisional faculty relate to each other because of this shared theme. Our faculty teach students how to work with people, how to improve the customer experience and how to uphold values of service and loyalty. This type of training gives students in all five of our degree programs — agriculture, agricultural education (with teaching and leadership and communication emphases), agribusiness management, hospitality management and personal financial planning — an advantage. The people-focused, customer-centric skills they learn and practice allow them to excel in careers that involve teaching in a high school classroom, advising a family on estate planning, communicating product values to a retail grocer, marketing a new conference platform, formulating policy or lending to a farm family.  Read more

Student Success
CAFNR’s most recent partnership with Agriculture Education on the Move is the College’s biggest yet, and brought more than 50 Missouri high school FFA students to the Mizzou campus for a one-day curriculum training. CAFNR students led the training and are pictured, from left to right: Evan Davidson, Lauren Quinlan, Elizabeth Brooks, Hattie Grisham and Reagan Limbach.

Agriculture Education on the Move

CAFNR partners with Agriculture on the Move, a program of Missouri Farmers Care, for student training Read more
The Italy study abroad program is one of several summer offerings in CAFNR. The program takes place in the city of Florence, and is primarily for students interested in restaurant management or event planning – as well as Italian culture. Lauren Tippen was able to participate in the program this summer, after the program was cancelled last year. Photo courtesy of Lauren Tippen.

Finding Joy in New Experiences

The Italy study abroad program allowed Lauren Tippen to experience growth in numerous ways Read more

In Brief

Claire Shipp was selected as one of 62 recipients of the nationwide, competitive Truman Scholar award.

Jenny Melo Velasco, doctoral student in rural sociology, received a $2,000 award to fund her research on “Digital Agricultural Technologies in Latin America.”

Lucy McGowan and Barituka Bekee, doctoral students in agricultural and applied economics, took top honors at Mizzou's Three Minute Thesis competition held this month.

Faculty Spotlight
Gentry Hall

An Innovative Approach to Networking

Rebecca Mott and Amy Leman created an innovative teaching approach to enhance their students' experience Read more
The Italy study abroad program is one of several summer offerings in CAFNR. The program takes place in the city of Florence, and is primarily for students interested in restaurant management or event planning – as well as Italian culture. Lauren Tippen was able to participate in the program this summer, after the program was cancelled last year. Photo courtesy of Lauren Tippen.

Unconscious Biases Can Drive Foodborne Illness Outbreaks, MU Researchers Find

Study concludes outbreak prevention policies should account for inadvertent behaviors Read more

In Brief

Jamille Palacios Rivera received the Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award.

Agricultural leadership, communication and education faculty received Outstanding Research Presentation award.

Mary Hendrickson received award through the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society.

Mauro Palmero was recently promoted to associate teaching professor of hospitality management.

Joe Horner received Dairy Leadership Award.

Jill Moreland received 2020 DASS Excellence Award.

Program and Center Updates

Teaching and research faculty from the personal financial planning program transitioned to our division effective July 1, 2021.

The Division of Applied Social Sciences Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) Awards Ceremony was held in May. The event honored students, faculty and alumni, and was presented by the DASS IDE Awards Committee.

The University of Missouri Extension Farm Management Minute shares a relevant tip, announcement or takeaway that listeners can use when managing their farms or agribusinesses.

Research Highlights

The baseline update that the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute released in September provided a revised look at U.S. agricultural market outlook

Keri Jacobs (DASS) will collaborate on a newly funded project to study the feasibility and sustainability of perennial groundcovers as cover crops. The five-year project received $10 million in funding from USDA-NIFA. Researchers at Iowa State University will lead the project, and Jacobs and colleague, Morgan Davis (School of Natural Resources), will represent the University of Missouri-Columbia in the project team.

MU Plays Crucial Role in New NSF Artificial Intelligence Institute: MU’s team, including Michelle Segovia and Corinne Valdivia, will conduct surveys, participatory workshops and economic experiments to identify the social, behavioral and business catalysts, and barriers to adoption of the digital twins.

Harvey James recently received a grant from USDA-NIFA for his project titled “Assessing Fairness and Expectations in Agricultural Markets.”

Pei Liu received a Richard Wallace Faculty Incentive Grant this spring from the Mizzou Alumni Association.

Alumni Corner
After multiple internships and professional work experiences related to agriculture communications – and numerous leadership opportunities within CAFNR – Samantha Turner now has the opportunity to share the agriculture message across the state as the newly named director of communications for Missouri Soybeans. Photo courtesy of Samantha Turner.

An Opportunity to Share Missouri Agriculture

Samantha Turner named director of communications for Missouri Soybean Read more
Lesleighan Cravens, instructor of floral design in the Division of Plant Science and Technology, was recently honored for her dedication to teaching with the CAFNR Golden Apple Award. The award is designed to recognize faculty in CAFNR who go above and beyond in teaching and/or advising.

A Blooming Passion for Teaching

Lesleighan Cravens earns CAFNR Golden Apple Award Read more

Give to DASS
If you’d like to give to the Division of Applied Social Sciences, then please consider a gift to the DASS Excellence Fund, which provides donors with an opportunity to support a wide variety of initiatives. Those include enriching the student experience and enhancing the learning environment.

Stay connected to DASS.

 

Connect with us on LinkedIn for updates about work created by our faculty, staff and students.

 

Watch our YouTube videos to hear about divisional research and student internships.

You are receiving this newsletter as an alumnus, donor or friend of the Division of Applied Social Sciences within the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

Questions? Contact cafnralumni@missouri.edu

CAFNR Alumni Association

112 Eckles Hall, Columbia, Missouri

 

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