Professor in Agricultural Education Recognized for Innovative Teaching by APLU

Russell Cothren

Kate Shoulders is an assistant professor of agricultural education and researches renewable energy.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Kate Shoulders, assistant professor of agricultural education in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, has earned national recognition for innovative teaching from the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities.

Shoulders, who is on the faculty in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology, won one of five Innovative Teaching Awards selected by the APLU. Shoulders created a professional book club for agricultural education students at the U of A with students at North Carolina State University.

The award includes a $2,000 prize, which is intended to help faculty create innovative experiences for students and supports collaboration between faculty at different institutions. It recognizes and encourages innovative approaches to teaching and learning in food, agricultural and natural resources sciences in addition to serving as a base for potential future grant proposals. Shoulders worked with Travis Park at North Carolina State to organize the book club.

"The book club allows our preservice teachers to think about teaching from perspectives offered outside the classroom," said Shoulders. "The books we read focus on solving the challenges current teachers face, so this sort of early professional development gives our students a head start before they become teachers. Additionally, becoming familiar with using nonfiction books as avenues for individual growth prepares the students to use similar resources on their own in the future."

In addition to teaching, Shoulders, who earned her doctorate in agricultural education at the University of Florida, focuses research on energy conservation in agricultural settings and manages the Renewable Energy Analysis Project. Her energy stations at the U of A farm in Fayetteville and the beef farm in Savoy demonstrate to ranchers, farmers, students and city leaders how agriculture can be sustainable and more energy efficient.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.