By Courtney Leeper Girgis, FAC Committee Chair
I recently got called an internet “troll.” Ouch! The comment harkened to images of hateful keyboard warriors in online comments sections. Not my goal. But a quick search eased my mind. To “troll” means to “carefully and systemically search an area for something,” according to Google and Oxford Languages. Sounds like research. I can accept that.
While I did not set out this spring to be a troll, I guess in a way I was.
As the new Future Ag Communicators Committee chair, I had a list of universities with Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapters. There are 28 listed on the National ACT website, though not all of them are currently active. Committee members raised important questions: What students are we not reaching? Should we limit ourselves to engaging with ACT members? Are there others out there who are interested in pursuing ag comm careers?
At the same time, the Professional Improvement Foundation was asking our committee to re-evaluate the Agricultural Communicators Network internship program. We weren’t receiving many applications for host companies. Had the program run its course?
We had more questions than we had answers. So, we decided to turn to you. We asked you to fill out a survey about your thoughts on internships and scholarships, what you look for in college graduates, and how much you value ACT.
We decided to develop another survey specifically for agricultural communications college faculty. We wanted to get their thoughts on students’ needs, challenges, and interests.
Here’s where the trolling comes in.
We noticed several land grant universities missing from the list of 28 ACT chapters, so we decided to search out colleges with agricultural communications programs but no ACT. We started by scouring land grant webpages for mention of agricultural communications programs and courses then broadened the search with additional web searches. We checked into 88 schools and found 45 with agricultural communications or closely related bachelor’s degree programs. We found an additional 17 with ag comm associate degree programs, minors, certificates, or faculty with ag comm research interests.
I ran our list by the National ACT advisers and Dr. Ricky Telg at University of Florida, who oversees the Society of Agricultural Communications Scholars. I asked if they could let me know if we were missing anyone. Within minutes of sending the email, Telg called to say we had identified schools he was unaware of. He planned to start contacting the new schools and invite them to participate in the ag comm faculty/researcher’s network. I’m incredibly happy to report our hunt, or in his good-humored words, “trolling,” helped bring several of those previously unknown faculty members into the fold of the academic professional society.
As for our professional organization, the FAC committee divided up the list of 62 schools and started contacting them. Some replied saying they do not have a robust ag comm program but would be happy to pass on information to students who might be interested. Others are building up programs and are excited for the future. Still others are veterans in ag communications and appreciated the outreach.
In total, we had 17 responses to the ag comm faculty survey and 43 in the member survey.
Thank you to all who shared your time and thoughts with us. We’ll be using the results from both surveys to put together recommendations for next year’s student outreach programming. While our sample size is small, we are encouraged by the input and the personal connections we’ve been able to make so far with ag comm faculty through this process. I’m looking forward to making more at Ag Media Summit in a few weeks.
As one ACN member who responded to the survey said: “While I view these programs as important, it’s the individual follow-up and involvement that will make them meaningful. ACN members need to engage with students if we want them to join our profession and our organization. That’s a one-on-one commitment.”
I couldn’t agree more, and I’d like to encourage everyone to find ways to interact with and encourage students in their own way. Take advantage of the time at AMS to ask a student what they are learning in their classes or about their favorite projects. Ask them what they see as the future of agricultural communications. Invite them to ask questions.
If you are interested in better connecting with an ag comm program or ACT chapter in your state, would be interested in sponsorship opportunities, or otherwise want to partner with the Future Ag Communicators Committee, please contact me at [email protected]. We’d love to have you on our team!
Survey Results
Key findings from the member and ag comm faculty surveys are attached here and here. If you would like to see the raw data, please email me at [email protected]. Special thanks to Ashley Craft for putting these key findings documents together.