Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Minutes of NCA 24
Washington, D.C.
January 23 & 24, 2003


Administrative Advisor: Chair: Secretary:
Shirley Baugher, Dean Jim Leising Joe Harper
University of Minnesota Oklahoma State University University of Illinois
Room 32 McNeal Hall 448 Agricultural Hall 133 Bevier Hall
1985 Buford Avenue Stillwater, OK 74078-0484 905 S. Goodwin Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108 Urbana, IL 61801

Members in Attendance: Robert Birkenholz Ohio, Steven Herbstreit  Kansas, Joe Harper  Illinois, Rosemary Cafferella  New York, Mohammad Douglah  Wisconsin, Susan Fritz  Nebraska, Bryan Garton  Missouri, Kirk Heinze  Michigan, James Knight  Arizona, James Leising  Oklahoma, Robert Martin  Iowa, Roland Peterson Minnesota, Glen Shinn  Texas, Allen Talbert  Indiana, George Wardlow  Arkansas, Jeffrey Gilmore and Henry Bahn , CSREES  Washington, D.C.

Guests: Dr. Larry Case

Meeting Call to Order: The NCA 24 Committee Chair Jim Leising called the meeting to order at approximately 8:30 a.m. The annual meeting of the NCA 24 was held at the USDA Higher Education Programs office, Waterfront Centre, Washington, D.C.

Introductions: Each committee member gave a brief introduction and Henry Bahn, CSREES, welcomed the committee and provided a brief introduction to CSREES.

The meeting agenda was reviewed and approved.

Registration: A registration fee of $20.00 was collected from each person in attendance to cover expenses associated with meeting refreshments and the noon box lunch.

Minutes of 2002 Meeting: Committee secretary presented the minutes from the previous meeting. The minutes were approved without dissent.

New Members: The membership roster of the committee was reviewed. A motion was passed to accept Matt Baker, Texas Tech University, for membership. Additional discussion was conducted relative to additional memberships. Martin provided an overview of guidelines for North Central Administrative committees and membership. It was noted by the committee that representatives from the Pennsylvania State University and North Carolina State University be invited to attend the next meeting. It was also noted that those representatives on the committee who were not able to attend this year, be continued for membership.

State Reports: Each representative provided an update of research activities and program issues that were affecting them and their local institutions. Many of the states were experiencing budget cutting situations and several were conducting searches for new faculty members, primarily in agricultural teacher education and agricultural communications.

Regional Reports: No regional research reports were presented.

National Agricultural Education Research Group Report: Shinn provided a written report from a three day committee work session that had been held to develop a research grant proposal related to student achievement in science, mathematics and reading. Two written reports, An Examination of the Contributions to Student Achievement in Mathematics, Science and Reading: A Report of the National Agricultural Education Research Group and An Examination of the Contributions to Student Achievement in Mathematics, Science and Reading: An Important Role for Secondary Agricultural Education in the 21st Century were provided to the committee. Considerable discussion followed the report concerning possible NSF funding and publications. The discussion was continued after the Administrative Advisor Report.

A motion was passed to establish a NCT committee to write a formal proposal related to student achievement. A committee was established to include Shinn, Wardlow, and Herbstreit, and it was suggested to include Craig Edwards from Oklahoma State University. This report is to be revised by the NCA 24 committee by January 1, 2004.

Administrative Advisor Report: Dr. Shirley Baugher communicated with the committee via conference telephone call. She introduced herself and provided an overview of the nature and scope of the NCA committees. She explained the role of an NCA committee is to review projects from other committees and to review duplication of research within and among institutions. Also the NCA 24 committee is charged with characterizing future research needs and to prioritize research in the discipline. The Committee should also review requests for new proposals and for continuation of on-going projects. Dr. Baugher emphasized the importance of reporting activities to Experiment Station Directors and that any proposals that NCA 24 would support be unique and avoid duplication of other projects. She also indicated that with proposals such as the student achievement project discussed earlier it would be important to work closely with the USDA as the proposal is developed.

ESCOP Social Science Committee Report: Martin presented a written report on the ESCOP Social Science Committee that is comprised of representatives from Agricultural Education, Rural Sociology, Agricultural Economics, and Agricultural Communications, in addition to ex-officio members from CSREES and the Regional Rural Development Centers. The committee is a subcommittee of and advisory to the ESCOP Science and Technology Committee. The NCA 24 members who serve on the Social Science Committee are Martin, Shinn, Birkenholz, and Knight. Shinn also provided a written ESCOP Update that identified five potential social science contributions to priority issues: homeland security, community vitality, biotechnology (genomics), food safety and health, and the physical/natural environment. The NCA 24 Committees discussion considered the interactions of the groups represented on the Social Science Committee and effective strategies to work with the committee. No immediate action was taken by the NCA 24 Committee.


NCR 203 Report: Birkenholz presented a report of the NCR 203 Committee on Impact of Human Capital Development on the Quality of Rural Community Life. Heinze provided a description of a website developed by the NCR Committee as an annotated bibliography. He suggested that members of the NCA 24 Committee submit items for inclusion on the website. Birkenholz distributed a report Frontiers on Agricultural Research: Food, Health, Environment and Community. The NCA 24 committee suggests that additional faculty participation in the NCR 203 activities would be beneficial and NCR 203 continue efforts to develop appropriate NC project(s) as one of the action steps in year two or three of the NCR 203 action plan. NCR 203 should also develop a plan for its continuation beyond its current timeline for approval and a midterm progress report to the NCA 24 Committee.


Research Framework Discussion Paper: Shinn provided a written copy of a discussion paper Confirming and Communicating Our Knowledge Base and Contextual Applications, authored by Baker and Shinn. The paper generated considerable discussion with suggestions being provided for clarifying, possible inconsistencies, critical review of the presentation of the knowledge base related to the language and defining the knowledge base. No consideration for immediate action was taken as the first day of the committee meeting came to an end at approximately 5:00 pm.

The NCA 24 meeting reconvened at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, January 24, 2003. The morning agenda items were a series of committee briefings.

NAUSLGC Briefing: Dr. Richard D. Wootton, the director of Extension and Outreach National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), discussed with the committee the fundamental opportunities for research and support. He indicated possible perceived strengths for agricultural education research. These included the increased interests in social science research, the limited number of social science projects that have been submitted, links with Extension and the research opportunities related to staff development and decision-making capabilities.

USDA Higher Education Program Briefing: Jeff Gilmore, the director of Higher Education Programs  USDA, provided the committee with a description of the USDA Higher Education Programs. He presented three areas of interest; an education research analyst position announcement, higher education challenge grants programs and an update that included a written report on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board.

CRREES System of Accountability Briefing: Dr. Cheryl Oros, the director of Planning and Accounting, USDA, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, provided a formal presentation about the CSREES accountability. She presented a Models of Evaluation/Management cycle, a Logic Model of Evaluation and examples of program reviews.

CoFARM Briefing: Tamara Wagester, executive director of the Coalition on Funding Agricultural Research Missions (CoFARM) met with the committee to provide a briefing about the mission and activities of CoFARM. The organization has representations from twenty-one professional societies and over 130,000 professionals that have a commitment to advance and sustain investment in our nations fundamental and applied agricultural research. She invited NCA 24 to sent a representative to the next CoFARM meeting on April 3, 2003. She also challenged NCA 24 to identify agricultural education research priorities for the five to ten years. She also emphasized the importance of identifying success stories of the profession and providing examples to policy makers.

COSSA Briefing: Howard Silver, executive director of the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) presented an overview of the nature and scope of COSSA. He discussed the implications of current government fiscal spending trends and issues that may impact social science research. Also, he described several research reports and activities related to social science research and provided the committee with related web sites.

National Science Foundation Briefing: David Campbell with Elementary, Secondary and Informal Education program (ESIE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided an introductory description about the NSF. The presentation provided an overview of each of the following NSF program areas:

1. Instructional Materials Development
2. Teacher Professional Continuum (TPC), formerly Teacher Enhancement
3. Center for Learning and Teaching
4. Informal Science Education
5. Information Technology Experiences
6. Community Research to Public Audiences
7. Math and Science Partnership Program
8. Advanced Technological Education Program

Research Framework Concept Paper: Discussion continued on the Baker and Shinn paper, Confirming and Communicating Our Knowledge Base and Contextual Applications. This paper generated considerable discussion. Many members indicated support for the nature of the paper and suggested that a framework continued to be developed towards a research agenda for agricultural education. A motion was passed that the NCA 24 committee continue to work towards a research framework for agricultural education.

ESCOP Community Vitality Concept Paper: Birkenholz provided a description of a concept paper, Rural Community Vitality developed for the ESCOP Social Science Committee. The committee discussed the possibilities and implications to develop a NCT proposal to request the approval of a writing committee. The NCA 24 Committee passed a motion to endorse and support the Rural Community Vitality paper through the ESCOP Social Science Committee.

Biotechnology Concept Paper: Shinn presented a third discussion paper Examining Decision Making Processes that Influence Public Understanding and Use of Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Techniques. This paper proposes to establish a NCT Committee to examine decision-making processes that influence the public understanding and the use of foods that are modified using functional genomics and bioinformatics techniques. The committees discussion focused upon the educational aspects of biotechnology and related topics. The committee passed a motion that the Biotechnology, Genomic and Bioinformatics paper be reviewed and revised, then submitted to the North Central AES directors as a proposal to create a NCT Committee.

Meeting of Agricultural Education Department Heads: A motion was passed by the committee that Dr. Blannie Bowen, Pennsylvania State University, be asked to consider setting a meeting of agricultural education program department heads in conjunction with the National Agricultural Education Research Conference and the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Agricultural Education to be held in Orlando, Florida, December 10-12, 2003.

Meeting Place for 2004: After a brief period of discussion, it was decided to hold the 2004 meeting on January 22-23, 2004 in Tucson, Arizona. The meeting and the itinerary will extend from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday to serve as a travel day.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Friday, January 24, 2003.

Respectfully submitted,



_________________________
Joe G. Harper, Secretary Shirley Baugher, Administrative Advisor
NCA 24 Committee, 2003 NCA 24 Committee, 2003�