Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
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Table of Contents • Notables Dean reviews 2006 accomplishments Non-profits workshop and career day, Monday & Wednesday Vision Credits
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Minority student club promotes diversity in Bumpers College
Recruiting minority students is one of the objectives of the University of Arkansas chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS), says president Jeremiah Wilson of Oklahoma City, a graduate student in Agricultural Business. The club was recently recognized in connection with its co-sponsorship of a Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration speaker for Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. The speaker, Dr. Handy Williamson, vice provost for international programs at the University of Missouri in Columbia, spent the evening of Jan. 18 with the MANRRS students on a service project. He was put to work along with the UA students tutoring children and their dads during a "Math, Science and Technology Night" at Apple Glen Elementary School in Bentonville. "I was very impressed with your MANRRS chapter," Williamson said. "They are helping to build bridges between Bumpers College and the university and the community while developing their leadership and communication skills." "Agriculture is not a very popular major for minority students," said MANRRS vice president Sherea Dillon, a graduate student in Agricultural Economics from Merrillville, Ind. "Everybody thinks it's just farming; they don't know about all the other opportunities." Bumpers College Dean Greg Weidemann said most graduates have non-farm careers in business, public service, research, education and communications. Popular career paths include the apparel and fashion industry, human nutrition and the food and hospitality industries, agribusiness, and diverse facets of the meat and poultry and food and fiber commodity industries. Weidemann said increasing minority enrollment, now about 7 percent of the student body, and diversity in the faculty and staff, are top priorities for Bumpers College and the campus. "We want the diversity of our students and our faculty and staff to resemble the diversity in the state's population, and we have a lot of work to do to achieve that," Weidemann said. A new diversity plan for the college includes seeking more minority scholarship funds and increased emphasis on minority-related student groups, such as MANRRS, and recruiting efforts such as the George Washington Carver internship program.
MANNRS president Jeremiah Wilson said, "My experience as a George Washington Carver intern is why I am here." The Carver Program provides summer internships in academic departments for graduates of historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving Institutions and tribal colleges. "I received a lot of hospitality from the faculty" as a Carver intern in agricultural economics and agribusiness, Wilson said. "I was planning to go soewhere else, but my experience with the faculty here changed my mind. "I can go to my professors and they will always make time for me. They are interested in me as a person, and they even care about my family, because that is important to me." Wilson said minorities and other students need to hear from their peers about the open, friendly atmosphere in Bumpers College. MANRRS member Laura Sossamon, a junior in Agricultural Business from Ozark, said, "A bragging point for me with my friends in other majors is that my professors and I really know each other, and I feel like I can talk to any one of them whenever I need to." MANRRS faculty sponsor Daniel Rainey and a former graduate student, Melvin Landry, started the UA chapter in 2001. Rainey, an associate professor of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, helped draft the new Bumpers College diversity plan. "We felt like MANRRS was needed as a support group for minority students and could also help us with recruiting," Rainey said. Dillon said the club is important to her as a social group and because she shares the goal of recruiting more minority students. "I would like to see a much more aggressive program to let minorities know what we have to offer them," Dillon said. Rainey said the primary goals of MANRRS are to promote leadership and increase job and educational opportunities in addition to social and service activities for the members. The national MANRRS organization helps members network with each other and with partner organizations and companies that provide job opportunities. Rainey said, "Membership is open to anyone with an interest in promoting diversity and inclusion in agriculture, natural resources and related sciences." Membership categories include student, professional, associate, affiliateand business. For more information on MANRRS, contact Rainey in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness.
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