College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Agricultural and Extension Education

Overview

This curriculum provides a diversified coverage of technical and professional agricultural subjects necessary to prepare teachers of agricultural education for service in the public middle, secondary, and post-secondary schools; extension agents in agriculture for service in local extension units; and training specialists for agricultural industry.

Specialty areas available for students in the teaching option include agriscience, agricultural production, agricultural machinery service, horticulture, agricultural business, natural resources management, middle school, and teaching the disadvantaged. Students in the extension option may specialize in an area of technical agriculture or receive broad preparation in the basic and applied sciences in technical agriculture. Students in either option will find that the experiences and education gained will well qualify them for training positions in agricultural industry and governmental agencies.

The minor in agricultural education permits students to develop the human relations skills essential for success in people-oriented professions and to meet teaching certification requirements. Those desiring to obtain a minor in agricultural and extension education should consult the career advisor for agricultural and extension education prior to the junior year.

Teaching Option

This program, in the Teaching and Learning Division of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (through 2007), prepares students to teach Agricultural Education in the public schools of Virginia and throughout the United States. The program includes extensive preparation in organization, management, curriculum development, and instructional planning and delivery. The skills developed are aimed specifically at preparing Agricultural Education teachers, but are usable in any profession that requires extensive contact with the public. With over 10,000 teachers of Agricultural Education in the United States and an annual requirement for about 700 replacement teachers nationwide, the demand for our graduates far exceeds the supply. Agricultural Education graduates are highly sought by agricultural business and industry for their "people skills" and because they have broad backgrounds in many of the technical disciplines in the agricultural sciences rather than specialties.

Extension Option

Students in this option are aiming at careers in Cooperative Extension. Most states require master's degrees for beginning extension agents. We would anticipate that most Extension option graduates would continue their formal education at the graduate level in order to qualify to work in Cooperative Extension. Graduates from this program are ideally suited for generalist positions in Extension, such as 4-H agent, because this is a degree program that provides a broad background in many of the technical disciplines in the agricultural sciences, rather than a concentration in a single discipline. This is a very "people-skills" oriented program.

Minor

This program provides the same basic professional development courses and experiences required of Agricultural Education Teaching option students. With a minor in Agricultural Education, students expand both their array of "people skills" and their career options by adding licensure to teach. In addition, graduates in scientific disciplines which are particularly biology-intensive, often find that they are also eligible for licenses to teach biology.

Satisfactory Progress

• Teaching Option: Defined as qualifying for Admission to Professional studies in Agricultural Teacher Education. "Satisfactory progress" will include:
  • completion of 57 hours (within one semester of seeking admission to Agricultural Teacher Education if transferring in 57 or more credit hours)
  • an overall GPA of at least 2.00 and a 2.50 in-major GPA
  • completion of 30 hours of core curriculum courses and 9 hours in the major by the completion of 72 hours
• Extension Option: By the end of the academic year in which the student attempts 60 hours (at least 36 from Virginia Tech) "satisfactory progress" will include:
  • an overall GPA of at least 2.00
  • having passed at least 15 hours that apply to the university core
  • having declared an official option in the Office of the University Registrar

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Undergraduate Course Descriptions (AEE)

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