Recruitment and Enrollment

Attracting Students to Forestry: The Lugar Purdue Future of Forestry Programs and Awards

Ralph R. Johnson et al. — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:30:00 PDT

In an effort to attract more students to the forest sciences, Purdue University and U.S. Senator Richard Lugar have initiated a program designed to introduce students to the forest sciences. Although the primary audience of the program is high school students, the curriculum is being designed for delivery as an optional for‐credit class targeting non‐forestry majors and as a course to enhance two‐year community college agriculture curricula. The program consists of two parts. The first part of the program is an online academic core that consists of 7 modules. Faculty in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources review and contribute to the course content. Portions of the delivery utilize student voices and web video. The modules cover a variety of forest science topics including biology, ecology, benefits, and policy. Delivery utilizes a full array of distance delivery methods including an online course, two‐way video, and a blog. The 7 module portion is about a 2 academic credit equivalent. In part two of the program, students undertakes a research project which is mentored by natural resources professionals and the student’s high school science or Agricultural Science and Business Teachers. After completing the research project, the student presents their findings at the FNR department’s on‐campus research symposium as a poster. Course materials are being mapped to the Indiana Department of Education’s PK12 teaching standards, making the curriculum components teachable by Indiana high school teachers as an optional delivery method. The course is also being proposed as a numbered academic course at Purdue as an Introduction to Forestry distance course. High school students taking the course using this academic credit option can apply their credits to Indiana’s high school graduation program called Core 40 with Honors. The program uses a common curriculum with variable delivery to introduce a variety of students to forest sciences. High achieving students are encouraged to pursue a degree in forestry. The program website is http://www.ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Lugar/Pages/default.aspx I propose to provide an overview of this program and share feedback from students, who will by the date of the conference be in their second month of the program.

Urban High Schoolers as Citizen Scientists: A Collaborative Partnership with University Natural Resource Educators

Nick Fuhrman et al. — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:00:00 PDT

The EscapE (Environmental stewardship and career awareness program for Education) Program created a partnership between urban high school “citizen scientists,” their teachers, and university professors in the collection, interpretation, and sharing of data at a national wildlife refuge. The goal of the program was to increase student interest in natural resource careers by providing opportunities to work with natural resource professionals to collect and analyze data needed by the refuge. University undergraduate forestry programs are at risk because of dwindling student enrollment numbers and limited student diversity. By allowing high school students to partner with natural resource professionals and university professors, high schoolers would know more about opportunities in the environmental sciences and have a point of contact for questions and advice. Students collected data on soils, tree rings, and vegetative species composition during visits to the refuge and entered this information on an interactive website where the scientists and other students could help interpret the data. To assess interest in science‐related careers and life skill development, students completed an online questionnaire immediately after their data collection experience and then four weeks later. Students also participated in an online chat with university professors following data collection at the refuge. During the online chat, professors helped students reflect on the data collection experience by engaging the students in a discussion about the data they reported on the website and how their findings could help refuge personnel make natural resource management decisions. Preliminary results of the online questionnaire indicated that the experience helped build students’ problem solving, team work, and communication skills. In addition, students indicated knowing more about career opportunities in the sciences and felt more comfortable interacting with natural resource professionals because of the EscapE Program.

Recruiting the Military Audience to Natural Resources Professions

Ginny Newman — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:30:00 PDT

The military audience has been a consistent student segment in higher education because of the education benefits they receive as members of the armed forces. Many service members cite receiving training and education as their reason for joining the military. With the new Post‐9/11 GI Bill, which took effect in August of 2009, these benefits have been significantly enhanced. Because service members can use these education benefits on the career field of their choice, many engage in studies to prepare them for post‐military careers in a wide range of professions. Has your institution considered recruiting this audience to your natural resources programs of study? Many colleges and universities have a long tradition of recruiting military members and veterans to their institutions. These institutions have learned that military students tend to have the traits of typical adult learners in being mature and focused, but also with the resources to pay for an education. This session will provide insights as to why your institution may want to consider recruiting military students to your natural resources offerings, understanding the education benefits of service members and veterans, the resources needed to support the unique needs of these learners and general recruitment practices. It will also provide information on helpful resources that can assist your institution in adopting “military‐friendly” policies and procedures. The presenter serves as assistant director of military education at Penn State University. She has provided leadership in launching the University’s Outreach efforts to recruit and retain military learners studying online with the Penn State World Campus. Penn State’s efforts have been recognized with the 2009 Ray Ehrensberger Award for Institutional Excellence in Military Education. In addition, Military Advanced Education included the World Campus in its annual Guide to America’s Military‐Friendly Colleges and Universities for the second year, and GI Jobs Magazine has designated World Campus a military friendly institution.

Factors Affecting Retention of Undergraduate Students in Fisheries and Wildlife Programs

Kelly F. Millenbah et al. — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:30:00 PDT

Undergraduate enrollment in agriculture and natural resources‐related programs has steadily declined for the past decade or more. College administrators and faculty struggle to separate the real causes of this decline from the superficial and often mythical factors. How programs should address this decline is of similar concern. Rather than speculate on why students do not pursue a degree in a natural resources field, specifically fisheries and wildlife (FW), we decided to investigate the question of FW student retention from the perspective of the students themselves. Specifically, we wanted to know: (a) Why do students say they chose to leave the FW program at MSU? (b) Why did students who persisted in program say they chose to stay? and (c) What reasons did transfer students give for choosing FW as a major? We conducted a series of face‐to‐face interviews with these three groups of students, and asked them a series of 10‐14 questions related to their experiences in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University in an effort to better understand student reasons for leaving, persisting, and immigrating into the program. Although our project is just beginning, preliminary results offer some interesting insights into the departure puzzle. Specific, but limited, findings from interviewees include: (a) the importance of job prospects and earnings potential, (b) a general reluctance to pursue postgraduate education, (c) a degree of disillusionment at the relative lack of outdoor experiences offered by the program in classroom and extracurricular activities, and (d) a desire for more active participation and field experiences in the undergraduate program. Several students in this study told us that they selected FW out of a desire to spend more time in the field, and were disappointed this was frequently not the case. Some students expressed a general feeling of deception at the realities of the departmental curriculum, although these were poorly defined and may be the product of other issues such as unrealistic program expectations. This ongoing study has the potential to inform natural resource programs on techniques to attract, retain, and educate undergraduate students.

FAEIS: A Resource for Natural Resource Faculty and Institutions

J R. Hunnings et al. — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:00:00 PDT

The Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS) compiles nationwide higher education data for agriculture, natural resources, family and consumer sciences/human sciences, veterinary medicine and other related disciplines. These data include undergraduate and graduate student enrollment, degrees awarded at all degree levels, placement and faculty numbers and salaries by rank and discipline. FAEIS is used by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in responding to Congressional inquiries to support higher education and related USDA programs. Higher education administrators use FAEIS data in recruiting and benchmarking students and faculty, as well as institutional planning, and regional and national comparisons. Faculty use FAEIS for USDA ‐ Higher Education grant proposals. FAEIS data can help you learn about enrollment trends, emerging disciplines, student placement, and faculty numbers and salaries. You can study these data by discipline, institution or even institution type. FAEIS allows you to track trends of students and faculty by gender and ethnicity. The extensive FAEIS database can help you understand how colleges and universities nationwide are organized, and how ‘natural resources’ is being redefined to include a broad array of disciplines. Multi‐dimensional reports can be created in seconds with FAEIS Report Builder. You can select, filter and present the data exactly as you need it. The online Report Builder is fast, convenient, clear and easy to learn and use. FAEIS team members will demonstrate customized reports to answer questions related to student enrollment, degrees awarded, student gender and race, faculty headcounts and salaries by rank, discipline and institution.

Undergraduate Enrollment Trends in Natural Resources at NAUFRP Institutions: An Update

Terry L. Sharik et al. — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:30:00 PDT

Undergraduate enrollments in natural resources were analyzed for 30 NAUFRP institutions from around the country, covering the period 1980-2009. Results indicate that the steady downturn in enrollments beginning in the mid 1990s reversed itself in 2003 and continued to increase steadily through the present. Enrollments in the general category of Natural Resources and Environment recently eclipsed those in other more traditional fields of study such as forestry and wildlife and fisheries. Forestry enrollments, which in 1980 constituted nearly half of the total enrollments in all natural resource fields, currently make up less than only about one-fifth of these enrollments. These results have important implications for the academic institutions offering programs in natural resources and for the various employers of the graduates of these programs.