IAA: 50 and Thriving

For many people, turning 50 signals the time to make retirement planning a top priority.  Not so for the University of Maryland’s Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) which turns 50 this academic year.  For the IAA, its golden anniversary showcases a vitality of fresh growth.

“Our student enrollment reached a ten-year high this fall,” says IAA Director Glori Hyman. “And with 15 faculty members, we have nearly tripled in size compared to where we were seven years ago.”

While she attributes the IAA’s recent growth to many influences and strong alumni support, Hyman identifies two significant factors: “One is our better integration with the College and University through our general education courses and Ag Forward program and the second is the addition of our Sustainable Agriculture option,” says Hyman.

The IAA, an undergraduate certificate program in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, offers eight 60-credit academic certificate concentrations that provide students with the entrepreneurial and technical skills needed to manage profitable agricultural enterprises. These include farming operations, golf courses, sports fields, horticulture businesses and landscape companies.

“People don’t realize it but IAA faculty now teach more than 1,600 undergraduate students a year at the university,” says Hyman.  “And that’s a significant change for us.  We are contributing to general education at Maryland not only in oral communication, but also in scholarship and practice.”

The IAA is also reaching out to rural communities and opening doors for students through Agriculture Forward at Maryland, known as Ag Forward, an access program for first-year college students who plan to pursue a degree in agriculture and natural resources. Students have the opportunity to earn both an IAA certificate and a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland.

“Ag Forward is great for students interested in pursuing ag-related degrees at Maryland.  They begin their academic careers with the IAA and then transition into degree programs.  At the end of four years, the students can be dually credentialed,” explains Hyman.

Now in its second year, Ag Forward is attracting students interested in Sustainable Agriculture and Agricultural Business Management certificates.  According to Hyman, enrollment in the agricultural business management areas had been low, averaging fewer than 10 students a year for the past 25 years, until now.  The IAA added Sustainable Agriculture as an option in 2009  and the IAA Teaching Garden soon followed, giving students more hands-on learning, creating campus awareness of production agriculture, and supporting campus-wide sustainability efforts.

Sustainable Agriculture has attracted a diverse group of students of all ages, making it and agricultural business management the largest major with more than 50% of IAA students pursuing certificates in those areas, surpassing golf course management which held the lead for 20 years.

Hyman is quick to add that the IAA owes much of its success to Dr. Kevin Mathias and the strong reputation he developed for the IAA’s nationally recognized turfgrass program.  Under Mathias’s leadership, students have won four national titles from 2013 to 2015 in turfgrass competitions, and turfgrass alumni and industry personnel remain strongly supportive of IAA programs and students.

Throughout its 50th anniversary year, the IAA is reaching out to alumni and supporters to reconnect and join celebrations and events including Open Houses for prospective students, a homecoming tailgate, a Turkey Bowl Hall of Fame flag football game and more.  Visit http://www.iaa.umd.edu/news/iaa-launches-50th-anniversary-year-celebration for more details.