September 2020
In this issue:
President's Message
Global Engagement Committee Update
Call for Special Edition Articles
New NACTA Members
#NACTAChat
Upcoming Events
Renew or Become a New NACTA Member
Greetings, NACTA Colleagues!
In late August, you should have received a new monthly e-newsletter, the “NACTA Journal Update.” The NACTA Leadership Team felt that aside from the monthly NACTA News e-newsletters, that a regular monthly update listing all newly published articles, as well as listing important updates, deadlines, and journal-related statistics, would be useful to NACTA members. We are appreciative of our NACTA Journal editor, Dr. Frank Robinson, the members of the NACTA Journal Committee, and Ms. Cassie Chinn, JulNet, for their vision and effort putting this new communications piece together. As always, please feel free to share any comments, suggestions, or feedback you may have (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
This month we hear from Dr. Melanie Miller-Foster, The Pennsylvania State University, and chair of the revitalized NACTA Global Engagement Committee. As with other NACTA Committees – seeking your participation, input, and service -- the current members and leadership with NACTA’s Global Engagement Committee are already busy discussing and planning programs and initiatives that should be of interest and value to the membership. Interested? Then contact Melanie Miller-Foster to learn more about this recharged NACTA Committee!
In closing, know that I consider it a privilege to continue to serve NACTA and its membership.
J. Marcos Fernandez
2020-21 NACTA President
Purdue University
Global Engagement Committee Update
From an interview with the Global Engagement Committee (formerly the International Committee) Chair, Dr. Melanie Miller Foster on September 3, 2020.
The Global Engagement Committee, renamed from the International Committee during the annual meeting in 2020, met in June and July of this year. We established several new projects and discussed some continuing goals to come up with our roadmap of goals for the upcoming year. It was amazing how many people attended those meetings and showed interest in joining the small working groups that will be moving forward.
Our five goals for 2020-2021 academic year are:
- Release a special call for teaching tips on global engagement. We are also encouraging authors to co-write their tip with a global partner. Be on the lookout for this call soon so you can send in your best tips!
- Leverage all those amazing resources and authors for an online seminar for global engagement. Look for this initiative in Spring 2021.
- Global partner spotlights. We would like to highlight international partners around the world to get an idea of what makes a good partnership from their point of view.
- Conduct an inventory of global engagement of NACTA members. We are crafting a survey for the NACTA membership to gain insight on what they currently do and what they have done.
- Global Engagement Fellows. This project began in 2019 and a subcommittee is working to finalize a proposal to establish a fellowship in the coming year.
Small subcommittees have been appointed for each of the five goals and will begin work soon. We realized that so much emphasis surrounds the annual conference that there are often many opportunities throughout the year for member activity. The Committee would like to increase attendance and engagement with these proposed sessions and events.
I’d like to focus on international work outside of US borders and recognize more of the work that builds global competencies. Understanding that the most popular option here is study abroad but, given the current circumstances, I’d like to highlight other tools and contexts.
If you’d like to join an upcoming meeting or help with one of these projects, email Melanie at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Call for Special Edition Articles
The pandemic disruption that has taken place in the last few months has resulted in an unprecedented abrupt change to remote teaching for many NACTA instructors. The NACTA Journal will feature a special issue to be released in early 2021 focusing on how the transition was implemented, student perceptions of the transition and lessons learned in the transition process. Manuscripts should be submitted through the normal process by December 31, 2020.
Please refer to the instructions for authors posted on the NACTA website (https://www.nactateachers.org/index.php/2016-01-18-18-32-57). If NACTA members prefer, they can write a Teaching Tips article (not reviewed) following the instructions on the NACTA Website (https://nactateachers.org/images/TeachingTips/UPDATED_Teaching_Tips_Guidelines.pdf).
Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have questions.
NACTA had 3 new members in the last month. We hope you will join us in welcoming them!
| Amy Collins-Warfield | Sabrina Ruis | Gerardo Celis |
It is likely that we are all pretty good at teaching agriculture in some way. However, there are always more layers to the onion! If you had to teach a class on one thing unrelated to your current courses what would you teach?
Join the conversation with photos, videos and stories on Facebook and Twitter by using #NACTAChat.
Upcoming Events
International Conference on Food Science and Nutrition
*Live presentations delivered in JST local time.
September 7 - 8, 2020 *Virtual
American Association of Agriculture Education 2020 Western Region Conference
September 21 - 23, 2020 *Webinar
NACTA Leadership Meeting
Tuesday, September 15, 2020 *Virtual
8th Global Summit on Plant Science
September 25 - 26, 2020 *Virtual
Renew or Become a New NACTA Member
NACTA is the largest professional development organization that focuses specifically on the scholarship of teaching and learning in agriculture, food and natural resources.
Need to renew your membership? Want to invite a colleague to join? Want to change your membership status? Visit the membership page here.
We appreciate your NACTA membership!
