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Watch our students shine
The college's latest student recruitment video features some of the best and the brightest of 2008-2009. |
When inner city kids attend 4-H
Inner
city youth. Mention this term and what do you envision? Apathy? Low-slung pants?
Teen pregnancy? 4-H. Mention this program and what do you think of? Freckle-faced
kids raising blue-ribbon farm animals? In Baltimore, a 4-H program developed
and run by Manami Brown, University of Maryland Cooperative Extension educator,
challenges both of these images. Through Teen Corps (pdf), a 3-year-old leadership
development program, urban middle and high-school students are learning about
and participating in public service, entrepreneurship, and environment
stewardship.
One
of the beauties of the program, Brown says, is "it makes youth think beyond
what they think they're capable of." The service-learning component, she says,
teaches civic responsibility and giving back to the community. Teens do
community mapping by twice walking their neighborhoods, assessing resources and
then problems. After interviewing residents to determine neighborhood needs,
teens use GIS and GPS technology to create neighborhood maps that illustrate
their assessments and recommendations. Maps, first presented to residents and
city council members for feedback, have even found use by the mayor in the
city's master plan.
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 Burn
wood, not oil?
Burning
wood to produce energy for heating homes and schools? Sounds "Little House on
the Prairie." And if we burn wood now wouldn't we pollute the air and deplete
our forests? Actually, no, says natural resources specialist Jonathan Kays. The
University of Maryland Cooperative Extension educator recently visited Austria
to examine its ability to produce 13% of its energy from wood. New technologies
reduce pollutants. Wood, which would be chipped and sold by the ton, produces low
sulfur and nitrogen emissions and is carbon neutral. Wood energy would open a
market for low-value timber and salvage from natural disasters and insect and
disease kills. Plus, there's a huge quantity of what Kays calls urban
wastewood--wood from fallen trees and construction sites that's hauled to
landfills. He cites a district in Pennsylvania that uses wood to heat 2
schools, saving 90,000 gallons of oil and $120 thousand per year. And
the money spent on wood stays in the community. |
If you build them,
what will happen?
The
District of Columbia is offering grants for residents to build them. They can
help cities mitigate the urban heat island effect. They last two to three times
longer than their conventional counterparts. And the university is building one
right now atop Cumberland Hall. "They" are green roofs, which decrease energy
costs summer and winter, reduce carbon dioxide, and absorb storm water runoff.
Why
is the District offering grants to residents? At some point, says Jack Sullivan, associate professor and coordinator of the college's
landscape architecture program, governments will be requiring that a certain
percentage of buildings install green roofs. Some European countries require this
now. In the District, Sullivan notes, "excess surface water fills storm lines
that also carry waste water, which ends up flowing into the Anacostia River
instead of into the treatment plant." More green roofs ultimately mean a
healthier Chesapeake Bay watershed. (The Chesapeake Bay Foundation offers
grants for installing green roofs on commercial buildings.)
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Wei's Way
I'd like to welcome several new members to the AGNR family. Dr. Patsy Ezell has accepted the position of FCS Assistant Director, two new AREC faculty members--Vivian Hoffman and Charles Towe--have been hired, as have two new MCE 4-H Youth Development faculty: Lacie Berkebile in Allegany County and Shante Stokesin Prince Georges County.
I believe that an important direction of our college is to train the next generation of leaders, especially in the area of research. Two recent programs sponsored by the college show our commitment and give me hope for the future. This summer's AgDiscovery program was a huge success, with 15 students attending from five states including a majority from Maryland. AgDiscovery is a joint program with USDA APHIS, which provides funding, receives applications, and selects participants. On October 8, AGNR participated in a national experiment conducted at all Land Grant Universities as part of 4-H National Youth Science Day, which was founded to prepare youth for careers in science, engineering, and technology. UM's experiment involved Provost Farvardin, myself, and 4-H members from Baltimore City and several counties.
When it comes to preparing older youth for the future, I'm happy to announce that, while overall student enrollment for the university is down, AGNR is the only college with an increase. We currently have 1,087 undergraduates. If you meet any of these talented young people in the hallways or elsewhere on campus, please welcome them to the AGNR family.
A final note regarding upcoming AGNR events: Fall semester graduation will be held Dec. 21, 1:00-3:00 p.m. All groups and on-campus faculty are expected to attend. And mark your calendar for MCE's 2009 annual conference, which is scheduled for April 1 at Martins Crosswinds.
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