For many Oklahoma students who have grown up on farms, Oklahoma State University has always been the place to attend college. Those students learn how to make agriculture better for themselves and a little easier for their fathers and grandfathers still living on the farm.
For others, OSU has been a link to their urban 4-H club, a place they could learn to be a clothing designer, an economist or a microbiologist — things their parents could only dream of being. Still, there are others who grew up only knowing OSU as a school where, if they were lucky, they might be able to gain knowledge that would help make their lives better and their children’s lives better than their own.
Now, think about what OSU is to you. Is it all of these things, perhaps more, or even none? Is it something completely different?
In reality, OSU is all of these things and more. Through research, extension and teaching, OSU has become many things to many people.
Today, a land-grant university includes three aspects - research, extension and teaching — that create a network of educational services for students and the public. This system began with the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862. The Morrill Act established land-grant universities for the pursuit of study in agriculture and mechanic arts. In 1887, the Hatch Act was passed for the creation of state agricultural experiment stations at land-grant colleges to pursue research important to their states. Finally, the Smith-Lever Act was passed in 1914 to enact the cooperative extension services. This act was formed to allow educators and researchers to teach the public about issues effecting their lives, including farm topics and economics.
Research
Before coming to OSU, Darcey Landrith, a biosystems and agricultural engineering junior from
Bartlett, Kan., was unaware of the amount of research that occurs as part of the Oklahoma
Agricultural Experiment Station in the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
A few weeks into her freshman year and biochemistry degree, she became a part of a research
team herself. Landrith was chosen as a freshman research scholar in the biochemistry and molecular biology department.
The research scholar program is designed to give students a first-hand look at research careers in their majors. Each student is matched with a faculty mentor responsible for setting up personal laboratory research for the student.
Landrith worked with John Cushman, assistant professor of biochemistry and experiment station researcher, editing cloned DNA sequences using computer programs. She searched a database maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information to identify the sequence. Then, if the sequence was not identified in the database, it was made available for cross-referencing.
Landrith said the purpose of the project was to find the gene in plants that controls reactions to drought conditions. She began to see how much research was done as she continued in the program. The realization of a career in research hit after two semesters of working in the lab.
“I thought this would be a good opportunity to see if this was something I really wanted to do before it was too late to change my major,” she said.
Landrith said her parents had always encouraged her and she knew she could do anything she wanted. With this in mind, she changed her major to biosystems and agricultural engineering.
She also decided she was interested in the physical requirements of research sampling, not the analytical part, which she had already experienced.
“I like to work outside with trees and plants,” Landrith said. An environmental science option in her degree will allow her the chance to work outdoors and understand both sides of the sampling process because of her research experience.
Although Landrith had always known she would work in agriculture, she did not know about the biosystems engineering opportunity until she came to OSU and was exposed to different academic departments. She said she would eventually like to work as a private consultant in environmental science or work with a government agency doing environmental sampling.
Extension
Shannon Ferrell has seen many different extension opportunities. Ferrell, who holds a bachelor’s
degree in agribusiness and is a master’s candidate in agricultural economics, had an experience as part of his master’s work that really hit home.
Ferrell, a native of Leedy, Okla., began his involvement in extension programs when he joined his local 4-H club at the age of nine. As he grew up, his involvement in leadership development and public speaking also brought self-confidence and the desire to set and reach goals.
As a high school student, Ferrell said he knew the impact of rural development but had no idea it involved so much work and so many people. He said after coming to OSU, he was impressed by the extension professionals who were going the extra mile, meeting locally with producers and community leaders rather than having those people coming to them for assistance.
As part of Ferrell’s project, he researched farm laws that will be included in a question and answer handbook. The handbook will present these laws in layman’s terms for use in county extension offices. Ferrell said he has already been able to use his research for a farmer who found out about the handbook and called for help.
“I was so excited to be able to use my resources and the skills that I learned here to help that person,” Ferrell said. He said he is proud to be affiliated with extension because of the truthfulness of the extension motto, Bringing the University to You, and how well extension works, he said.
Ferrell said extension is one of the greatest tools the state has to transmit knowledge to those who need it most to help improve their quality of life.
Someday, Ferrell hopes to serve in public office and be a strong advocate for extension and its programs. With public support and resources, he is certain the extension plan can do better and go further, he said.
Teaching
Shon Balthaser now realizes how diverse a degree in agriculture can be. Although his bachelor’s
degree is in agricultural economics, Balthaser knew he could work in computer science, accounting,
economics or a number of other things. He did not choose any of these, but chose to pursue a master’s degree in agricultural education.
Balthaser found help from teachers and advisers that allowed him to make decisions about his career, especially which master’s program to enter. “Teachers are so committed and devoted to helping students, they always have time to visit or help with a problem,” he said. “They have helped me not only in academics but also my personal life.”
Balthaser, from Ringling, Okla., said he has been touched from the beginning of his college career by teaching and mentoring programs. As a freshman, his student academic mentor went out of his way to help his group find their way around Stillwater and OSU. From that point, Balthaser knew that he wanted to help students as well.
He began with students from his hometown, helping them get acquainted with the campus and Stillwater and offering common first-day-of-school tips. Next, he began volunteering at Stillwater Medical Center in physical therapy. Finally, he moved into a work-study position in the college’s student academic services office. As a graduate assistant, he has gained the opportunity to offer career counseling to students, recruit new students and be a teaching assistant for the agriculture freshman orientation class.
“The most exciting part of my life right now is coming to the realization that after five years of college, I have figured out what I want to do with my life,” Balthaser said.
In addition to completing his master’s degree, Balthaser’s plans include working in the human resource field, allowing him to apply the skills he gained in college to his everyday life.
So, how did these students get these opportunities? These opportunities were made possible because of land- grant universities. Land-grant universities, although created more than 100 years ago, allow students to become involved with OSU in unique programs found as part of land-grant universities.
By Jill Mason Wagner
This issue of Cowboy Journal
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