Expanding Grant purpose and focus

I have been really trying to nail the grant purpose and scope before my letter is sent out. I have been collecting background numbers on minority enrollment. I believe it is also important to note the numbers of minorties in professional agriculture positions. Employment within the agriculture industry remains strong with a projected 52,000 annual job openings in 2010 (Goecker, Gilmore, Smtih and Smith, 2005). According to this report there will be only about 49,000 qualified graduates to fill these positions. With this info it is evident the need to produce more qualified graduates is high.
The National Academy of Science recently reported that Universitys with Agriculture and Food Sciences need to be more proactive in stregthening thier programs. There were six steps that the Academy suggested Universitys take to strengthen thier programs. These included:
1. Implement Strategic Planning- Colleges and Universitys should act strategically to recruit and retain students. The main goal should be to prepare them for the agriculture work force of tommorrow. In this planning should be steps to include a wide variety and diversity of students.

2. Broaden the Treatment of Agriculture- I took many interesting things from this idea. It is interesting how many cross content areas are covered in the foeld of agriculture, even at the High SChool level. Business, engineering, leadership, biology, they are all part of the curriculum to some extent. this is actually close to what I am doing my dissertation on.

3. Broaden the Student Experience- I believe that we are doing this by offering students courses in leadership and agriculture communications.

4. Build Stronger Connections Between Universitys- This focuses on institutions partnering to foster students learning within agriculture. Many universitys are sheltered or distant from one another. They all have the same goal- to help prepare the future leaders in agriculture.

5. Start Early- increasing student's awareness of agriculture and it's affects on student's lives early on can attract more people to agriculture careers. Colleges should reach out to students and teachers in grades K-12. I believe that this should go further to include administrators and counselors as well.

6. Build Academic Partnerships- Academic institutions should include representatives of business and other areas as well. This may lead to student's oppertunities in internships and jobs within the professional industry. I believe this can also include many Summer oppertunities and possibly job shadowing.

By putting these practices into place we can reach our goal of increased enrollment of students in Agriculture Science, especially those of underrepresented groups.