Monday, November 5, 2007
31-3

A Century of Agronomic Education Publications.

Meghan Buckley-Zeimen, Kansas State University - Plant Pathology, 1106 Bertrand Street, Manhattan, KS 66502-5128 and Stephen J. Thien, Kansas State University, Dept. of Agronomy, 2004 Throckmorton, Manhattan, KS 66506.

Approximately 650 papers discussing agronomic education have appeared in the Agronomy Journal, under its various titles and branch journals, starting with the journal's first volume in 1909. A review of these papers has produced interesting trends in their focus and source. In early years, most papers presented descriptions of crop and soil courses and discussed the need for standardization amongst institutions. Later emphases included teaching methods, teaching philosophy, teaching evaluation, student characteristics, and advising. These contributions to agronomic education came mostly from faculty at land grant institutions in the United States. However, in more recent years, up to 25% of contributions were from non land grant or international institutions including some from industry. Along with the increase in number and type of publishing institutions, another notable trend was the increasing number of authors and number of institutions per paper. The amount of collaboration has increased over time from less than 15% multi-author papers in early years to the current trend where 70% of papers are a collaborative effort. The number of papers representing a collaboration between institutions has also increased though it remains less than 10%. The steady increase in documentation of agronomic education over the past century proves that education continues to play a vital role in developing the science and future of agronomy.