UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences’ Global Teach Ag Network is launching a new program focusing on professional development for teachers in agriculture, thanks to new funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The program — called Educators Empowering Educators, or E3 — will gather master educators from across the nation passionate about expanding global agricultural literacy as framed by USDA’s six Agriculture and Food Research Initiative priority areas: plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition and health; bioenergy, natural resources and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agricultural economics and rural communities.

The program is funded for three years, and 12 educators will be selected annually. Each year, participants will be formed into three task force teams with the task of developing helpful interventions for other educators in the space through collaboration with each other and pre-eminent agriscience researchers in their selected areas.

Educator teams will share their work at an annual Global Agricultural Literacy Summit in June of each year and will send team representatives for face-to-face workshops at the regional and national level.

Melanie Miller Foster, associate teaching professor and Global Teach Ag Network co-founder, said that just as teachers aim to instill a love of learning in their students, it’s important that they also engage in continuous learning through professional development. She said the E3 program is designed to let teachers drive their own professional development journey, as well as to empower other educators to do the same.

“Teachers need the opportunity to develop and apply the skills necessary to integrate compelling global food and agricultural science concepts into their classes,” Miller Foster said. “With guidance and training, teachers from diverse disciplines can establish meaningful connections to global agriculture by highlighting how their subjects intersect with critical aspects of food production, sustainability, economic systems, cultural practices and environmental impact on a global scale.”

The program has two main objectives. The first is to equip teachers with a comprehensive understanding of the links between global agriculture, diverse subject areas and real-world issues, enabling them to integrate agricultural themes into their curricula.

The second is to develop an event that connects teachers across disciplines, allowing them to exchange insights, share best practices and collaboratively develop cross-curricular projects targeting global agriculture topics.

The program is designed for K-14 educators currently teaching in a U.S. school system. The first cohort will include:

Plant health and production and plant products team

• Jeff Klose (team lead), agriculture teacher at Canyon High School in Texas
• Kristin Beery, agriculture teacher at Valley Career and Technical Center in Virginia
• Nicolette Cusate, agriculture teacher at Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania
• Amy Mire, agriculture teacher at Southside High School in Louisiana

Food safety, nutrition and health team

• Julia Hudyncia (team lead), agriculture teacher at Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville Jr./Sr. High School in New York
• Tambra Clark, library/media specialist at South Hampton K-8 School in Alabama
• Tiffany Gauthier, agriculture teacher at Lafayette High School in Louisiana
• Myken Poorman, agriculture teacher at Bellefonte Area High School in Pennsylvania

Bioenergy, natural resources and environment team

• Jerry Comellas (team lead), agriculture teacher at Wilson Middle School in Florida
• Kim Alvin De Lara, elementary educator at Butterfield Elementary School in Arizona
• Nicole Hall, agriculture teacher at Millville Area High School in Pennsylvania
• Krista Pontius, agriculture teacher at Greenwood High School in Pennsylvania

These educators will attend a three-day professional development immersion at Penn State’s University Park campus, participate in virtual huddles with industry experts and scientists, and take part in opportunities to collaborate with educators from across the nation and around the world in virtual and face-to-face settings.

“How cool is it,” said Daniel Foster, associate professor of agricultural education, Global Teach Ag Network co-founder and grant principal investigator, “that we can leverage the expertise of outstanding secondary educators to help translate the expertise of our renowned Penn State agricultural scientists to advance the global understanding of the next generation of change agents in communities?”

For more information, visit the E3 program website.