July 2021

In this issue:

NACTA Featured Member - M. Susie Whittington, President
NACTA Bylaws and Standing Rules
NACTA 2021 Award Winners
Welcome New NACTA Members!
Renew or Become a New NACTA Member

NACTA Featured Member - M. Susie Whittington, President
Each month we sit down with a member to highlight their academic and professional career and to see how they are making the best of their membership in NACTA. This month’s Featured Member is NACTA 2021-2022 President M. Susie Whittington.

M. Susie Whittington, PhD
Executive Director of the second year transformation experience program and the office of academic enrichment, distinguished prof in the college of food agriculture and environmental sciences
The Ohio State University

Where did you complete your studies, where have you taught and where are you now? What are you teaching, if you still have time in the classroom?

All at The Ohio State University (OSU). I taught at the University of Idaho for 5 years and Penn State for 5 years. I have been at OSU for 22 years in September. I am just completing my 4th year in the administrative role of STEP, which means my role covers 80% administration and 20% teaching.

I taught my last general education course for the university in December 2020. Prior to that I designed and taught courses throughout our department including Introduction to Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership; Data Instrumentation and Collection; Experiential Learning; and Methods of Teaching for both formal and non-formal instruction.

How long have you been a member of NACTA? When was your first meeting?
My first NACTA meeting was in 1993 in Twin Falls, Idaho. I was presenting a 3-hour workshop and you had to be a member to present. I paid my life membership when we were at Iowa State in 1997.

Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing?
By far the personal and professional interactions with other members in conversations around improving teaching. And that has just been a constant. No matter what else is going on, the ebbs and flows of the organization, that has been a constant across all of those years.

What are you looking forward to?
Outside of the presidency, like most members, what we are most looking forward to at this moment is our first face-to-face conference at Ohio State-Wooster in 2022.

What interesting things are you working on outside the Association right now? Research, presentations, etc.
When I was named a distinguished professor in CFAES in January 2021, with that honorific came grant dollars. This summer I am using that grant to hire a postdoc and a current graduate student to assist in preparing journal article manuscripts for national dissemination. We have data that have been collected by our OSU Center for the Study of Student Life about: our second-year student experiences; students’ transitions between 1st and 2nd year; and characteristics related to 1st gen and underrepresented populations in the 2nd year at the university. The data need shared. Among those studies, we are writing one of the manuscripts with the NACTA Journal in mind.

What challenges have you faced in the past year that you feel have better prepared you for your upcoming presidency?
The shear challenge of being apart for such an extended period has taught me that we can continue moving forward progressively even in the face of obstacles. I have learned that we are all capable of pivoting very quickly and moving in an unexpected direction, while continuing to be efficient and effective. This year has also confirmed for someone as old as me that telephone calls are still a viable use of technology in our global environment! Ha!

The first female president of the Association was Jean Glelchsner from Fort Hays University in 2000. Since then, there have been eight female presidents, including yourself, with five women in the leadership role in the last ten years. Could you speak to this inclusion and representation in NACTA over the last 20 years?
I would say I am fortunate to have been among the first women who were members of what had traditionally been a male-dominated profession, and that I am grateful for the profound impact NACTA members have had on my personal and professional life. From the early 1990s, I always felt welcomed as a member and respected as a teacher of agricultural sciences. I welcome the opportunity to give back to this organization as the president, and I look forward to us continuing to be inclusive, accepting, and inviting to anyone desiring to learn more about improving college teaching in the agricultural sciences.

Anything else that you would like to add?
Our goal initiatives during the next year will include overseeing a review of the website and membership management system. We will be revisiting our vision and mission statements, assisting in the implementation of a new Journal Board of Directors, and working collectively with JulNet and the new Secretary/Treasurer, Chris Estepp, in examining the efficiencies in our financial oversight structure for the organization.

NACTA Bylaws and Standing Rules
NACTA members reviewed, discussed and accepted some amendments to the Association's bylaws and Standing Rules at the 2021 annual business meeting, held virtually on June 24. The proposed revisions that were considered can be found here. The final version of those revisions, that were adopted by the membership during that meeting, can be found here.

NACTA 2021 Award Winners
NACTA awarded honors to nearly 90 educators from all across North America at the NACTA 2021 Virtual Conference last month. A complete listing of the award winners is below. To download the 2021 Awards Program please click here.

E.B. Knight Journal Award
Pat Crawford
Wendy Fink

Bob Gough Teaching Tip Award
McKenna Bush
Holli Leggette
Shannon Norris
Theresa Pesl Murphrey
Audra Richburg

Jack Everly Journal Award
Chris Estepp
Donald Johnson
Catherine Shoulders

NACTA Graduate Student Teaching Awards
Melissia A. Grant
Jacqueline Aenlle
Hannah Angel
Jessica Ann Johnson
Peyton Beattie
Michelle Burrows
Bradley Coleman
Caitlin Cridland
Natalie Ferand
Colby Gregg
José Guilherme Cesário Pereira Pinto
Ariel Heminger
Abbigail Hines
Linnea Langusch
Brittany Lippy
Jazmin Markey
Summer McLain
Ashley McLeod-Morin
Didier Mena Aguilar
Tyler Meyeres
Brittany Miles
Katelyn Miller
Taylor Nash
Jonathan Orsini
Anika Parks
Jordan Pettiglio
Alyssa Rockers
Logan Simon
Lovepreet Singh
Whitney Stone
Sakina T. S. Dixon
Lauren Trotta
Rachel Veenstra
Jessica Wesson
Jacey Wickenhauser
Jacqlyn Yourell

NACTA Educator Awards
Kimberly Ange-van
Lea Ann Kinman
Benjamin Baiser
Shirley Baker
Rebecca Baldwin
W. Brandon Smith
Christen Burgett
Chad Carr
Danhong Chen
Danny Coenen
Marne Coit
Matt Davies
Erin E. Alvarez
Wheeler G. Foshee, III
Alvaro Garcia-Guerra
Ken Lee
Monica M. Lewandowski
Lauren M. Pintor
Jeanette Mary Andrade
Melanie Miller Foster
Gerardo Nunez
William Pelletier
Dustin Perry
Deirdre Prischmann-Voldseth
Balasubramani Rathinsabapathi
Amber Rice
Kraig Roozeboom
Eric Rubenstein
Quisto Settle
Ajay Sharma
Misti Sharp
Samantha Siemers
Cecilia Suarez
Rudy Tarpley
Karen Vines
Ben Weikert

Faculty Teaching Award of Merit Certificates 2020 - 2021
Katheryn Cerny
Michael Clayton
David Evans
Christine Haney-Douglas
Nikki Hawlyryshen
Kathleen Jogan
Nikki Kendrick
Annie Kinwa-Muzinga
Hadley Kutcher
Vanessa Lane
Annette Levi
Farish Mulkey
Jenn Nielson
Rob Powell
Jonathan Rosset
Danile Witten

Murray Brown Leadership Award
Ann Marie VanDerZanden

NACTA Distinguished Educator Award
Cheryl Wachenheim

NACTA Teaching Scholar Award
Kathryn Orvis
Thomas Paulsen

NACTA Judging and Student Service Award
Curtis Bensch

Excellence in Teaching and Learning with Technology Award
Jamie Loizzo

New NACTA Members

NACTA had 14 new members in the last month. We hope you will join us in welcoming them!  

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!