College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department of Agricultural Education & Studies

Current Students

Got a question?

Graduate Programs: Greg Miller 515-294-2583 / Undergraduate Programs: Mike Retallick 515-294-4810

Learning Communities

AgEd Learning Community

The AgEdS Learning Community is for freshman students majoring in Agricultural Education or Agricultural Studies. The overall goal of the learning community is to help students adjust to University life. Specific objectives of the AgEdS Learning Community are to ease the transition to University life, assist in the development of a network of resources and support, and career awareness and exploration.

As a member of the AgEdS learning community participants will be involved in the following activities:

Common classes – Participants are enrolled in the same sections of courses.
Weekly seminars – Educational and fun-filled seminars planned by the peer mentors will be held weekly.
Fall field trip – An educational field trip is planned for early in the fall semester. The trip will focus on agribusiness sites with tours and presentations related to career development. The university covers costs for the trip.
Peer mentors – Two upper-class students in AgEdS are selected to provide a direct link to current students. Mentors coordinate the seminars, trips, and activities; additionally, they will be available to answer questions related to ISU, the department, and university life in general.
Faculty/staff involvement – Learning community participants will have the opportunity to interact with AgEdS faculty and staff.

Why should I sign up for the learning community? Specifically, learning community participants will:

Develop a time management plan
Learn effective note and test taking skills
Identify personal strengths and weaknesses
Understand the steps in the career development process
Find out what skills employers are seeking
Identify ISU academic and career resources
Establish a peer network of AgEdS students

Signing up: Enrollment for the AgEdS Learning Community will be on a first-come, first served basis. Interested students are asked to sign up by returning the registration form or by e-mailing your response to Mr. Michael S. Retallick. Special registration procedures will be provided at summer orientation.

Contact:
Michael S. Retallick, msr@iastate.edu, 515.294.4810.

Agricultural Community Encourages Success (ACES)

ACES is a residential learning community with space for 25 men and 25 women. Students can enroll in common sections of Econ 101 and 102, Biology 211 and 212, and Biology 211 and 212 lab if they desire. Activities include meals followed by informal talks by faculty or staff, visits to area agribusinesses, tours of special interest facilities on campus, study groups, and service projects.

Living Options: ACES men and women are housed on separate floors in Maple Hall, with an upper class ag student peer mentor living among them on each floor.

Signing up: To sign up for a residential learning community simply click on the “Learning Community” tab when filling out your Department of Residence contract on AccessPlus. You can go in and update or change your learning community preference information at any time up until the deadline without losing your “priority date.” Sign up for the learning community course(s) takes place at summer orientation.

Contact:
Ed Braun, ebraun@iastate.edu, 515.294.0951
Helen Olson, holson@iastate.edu, 515.294.1438