With all the talk of budget cuts in education funding, it almost seems a miracle to receive a grant. Luckily, UK has been fortunate enough not to be affected by these cuts.
Recently the College of Agriculture received a $67,795 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grant was awarded under the College Grants Program. It will be used for a project called Agripedia.
Agripedia is a program that is set up for interactive instructional resource for agriculture. It would be used to present facts, figures, interviews, field trips and demonstrations about the concepts, practices, and vocabulary of agriculture in a multimedia format using video, audio clips, text and animation on the Internet.
Joe Davis, associate dean for the instruction of agriculture, said the funding will encourage agriculture students to make use of the Internet, while aiding them in analyzing the global, social and economic issues of agriculture.
The students would not only be able to talk about the issues of agriculture, they would be discussing these issues with students and professors around the world.
"This would be used as a way to gather information from both national and international universities," Davis said.
Another use of the grant would be to aid the instructors of the agriculture classes. It would enable them to relay ideas about agriculture through the Internet.
"It will give both students and professors the ability to use and interpret information in a way they weren't able to before," Davis said.
Davis added that being connected to the Internet will also unite the College of Agriculture with government departments, like the USDA and the Library of Congress. The data from these institutions would allow students to study better and know more about the world of agriculture.
Because the field of agriculture is very complex, this type of funding is necessary.
"In order to provide food and fiber to the world, students and professors must have ... new and accurate information," Davis said.