Leadership Summit to Effect Change in Teaching and Learning: Undergraduate Education in Agriculture

Abstract

On October 3-5, 2006, more than 300 leaders from the nation's food and agricultural systems convened at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, to discuss the current status and future of undergraduate education in agriculture. This "Leadership Summit to Effect Change in Teaching and Learning" 1 was a first step in what is planned to be an ongoing conversation that is likely to transform undergraduate education in agriculture and hopefully lead to a cultural change in the way that students, faculty, and universities view agriculture in the context of scientific areas of study. It should be of interest to readers of CBE-Life Sciences Education for two important reasons: 1) a significant component of the disciplines that comprise agriculture are the life sciences, and 2) the process now being followed for the introspection and transformation of agriculture education may have application in a wide variety of fields, including the life sciences. The summit was organized by a National Academies committee that will be authoring a consensus report recommending action to reinvigorate un