The Students Training in Agriculture and Related Sciences (STARS) Initiative: a Culturally Competent Approach for Understanding Food Security

Non-Technical Summary:<br/>
Agriculture is the foundation of any society, but in the U.S., agriculture and related fields are poorly understood hence undervalued. As a result there is a strong need for additional diversity among students pursing food and agricultural sciences STEM fields. The dramatic demographic shift in the United States has significantly increased the numbers of ethnic minorities college age populations indicating an urgent need to educate an increasingly diverse student body. Unfortunately students from minority groups remain seriously underrepresented at the nation's public colleges and universities in STEM disciplines particularly agriculture. Representation in international experiences is even more dismal. Students and their families may not be knowledgeable about the short and long-term benefits of a global experience. With the retirement of trained scientists in agricultural science disciplines and the lack of a strong and diverse pool of new students entering the STEM fields this will pose a serious challenge in the foreseeable future and threaten the nation's preeminence in food production and food safety research. This proposal seeks an innovative approach to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations into agriculture and natural resources disciplines through the marriage of servant leadership and peer-to-peer engagement. Servant leadership will be used as a mechanism to enhance the awareness of food and agricultural careers by having students use knowledge gained in servant leadership activities related to food and agriculture that benefit the community, the nation, and the world. To aid in the development of servant leadership abilities, a heavy emphasis will be placed on peer-to-peer engagement. The purpose of connecting servant leadership activities and international experience are trifold; to increase cultural awareness of program participants, to develop individuals who are self-actualizing; and to facilitate undergraduate research participation. These tri-fold connections are geared towards agriculture and food sciences which encompasses the USDA-NIFA Priority Areas food security and hunger and food safety. Outcomes of the STARS Initiatives include; increased numbers of underrepresented students majoring in agricultural sciences and natural resource fields; program interns facilitating and program participants engaging in servant leadership activities will be impacted by developing a higher sense of self-actualization. In addition community members (regional and global) impacted by the servant leadership activities will have a greater sense of value for the community; knowledge of food security and hunger and food safety; and increased awareness of the culture around them; program participants will develop greater cultural competency as demonstrated through greater cultural sensitivity and knowledge as well as adaptation to and acceptance of cultural differences; and increased awareness and understanding of food security and hunger as well as food safety issues.
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Approach:<br/>
The evaluation team will employ a mixed-methods research design integrating selected quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques appropriate for addressing the evaluation study questions. The rationale for the use of a mixed-method design is rooted in the evaluation requirement to simultaneously address project results and project. In consultation with project staff, the evaluation team has established the following evaluation questions to guide data collection, analysis and reporting: to what extent are the project purpose and objectives being achieved; how do key project stakeholders (students, faculty, and administration) perceive the effectiveness of the project as well as its strengths and weaknesses; what implementation problems and successes have been encountered and how have the problems been addressed; and how effective are project dissemination efforts and what effects are the efforts having on the wider adoption and application of the curriculum Outcome A-Increase the number of underrepresented students majoring in agricultural fields in CASNR. Document review of student enrollment records for UTIA and each academic unit housed within will provide evidence of underrepresented student enrollment. Baseline data will be collected from students enrolled in Fall 2012. By the end of the project, underrepresented students majoring in agricultural fields in CASNR is expected to increase by a statistically significant. Outcome B-Program interns and program participants engaging in servant leadership activities demonstrate servant leadership attitudes and practices. Interns and program participants will be administered a modified version of the Servant Leadership Questionnaire designed to assess the extent to which the STARS Scholars demonstrate servant leadership attitudes and practices throughout the activities of the program. Outcome C-Program participants will develop greater cultural competency as demonstrated through greater cultural sensitivity and knowledge as well as adaptation to and acceptance of cultural differences. This will be assessed through participant interviews and a survey instrument designed to measure the level of cultural competency. Outcome D-Increased participant awareness and understanding of food security and hunger as well as food safety issues. A pre/post instrument will be developed and validated to measure students' content knowledge, self-efficacy, and dispositions of food security and food safety. This instrument will be administered before summer learning experiences and again after the international servant leadership experience. Outcome E-Curricula developed for For-credit Courses will be effective and of high instructional quality. The evaluation team will support the collection of student outcomes data from each course developed for this project.