The 2009 ASHS Annual Conference

Objective(s):
The objective of the colloquium is to develop an awareness and provide information to ASHS members on issues and opportunities facing horticulture higher education preparing students for the challenges of global competitiveness in the 21st Century.

It has been posited that a “Quiet Crisis” in science and technology education in the US is occurring due to the greying of the American scientific community and a lack of well-trained scientists, and the educational programs preparing scientists to replace them. The crisis may lead to a lack of international competitiveness. A panel of scientists appointed by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) studied US global competitiveness and reported recommendations in, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” stating problems and solutions in training and retaining the best and the brightest in sciences and technology. The Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources under the aegis of the NAS held a “Leadership Summit to Effect Change in Teaching and Learning Agriculture Science” in October 2006 to stimulate change in agriculture higher education. Summit goals were to enhance excellence in higher education, increase collaborative and integrative efforts of education and research, increase communication among the scientific professions, to foster integration of teaching, research and outreach, and to set a national agenda for higher education in academic programs in agriculture and the life sciences. This leadership summit was a call to arms to think about a new academic mission - to rethink the “land grant mission” of agriculture education. The colloquium will present big-picture perspectives on agriculture higher education and scientific competitiveness with some focus on specific challenges and opportunities faced in horticulture education. The proposed colloquium brings these perspectives and ideas to the ASHS to provide a basis for members to renovate and innovate horticulture higher education.

• History of Horticulture Higher Ed; background to the colloquium; challenges to the audience from the speakers.A Leadership Summit to Effect Change in Teaching and Learning
  

• Importance and History of an Effort to Effect Change; Recommendations for Change, Dr. Adam P. Fagen, Transforming Agricultural Education for a Changing World, BANR/NAS Leadership Summit for Agriculture Higher Education
  

• Filling the Nation’s Need in Industry and Business in the future. Pat Verduin, VP for global R&D at Colgate Palmolive Summit Committee Member

• The University of the Future, Dr. Michael V. Martin, Chancellor, LSU

• Horticulture Education and Research for the 21st Century, Dr. Randy Woodson, Provost, Purdue University
  

• Changes in Teaching and Learning in the Biological Sciences for the 21st Century; Recommendations from the Summit Report Affecting Teaching; Dr. Susan R. Singer, Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of Natural Sciences,National Academy of Science Board on Science Education
  

• Down in the Trenches: Transforming the Horticulture and Crop Science Image and Curriculum to Recruit More Students.