On October 26th, we had the official groundbreaking for the new Agricultural Technology Building. It is tentatively slated to be completed by Fall 2023.

Plans for the Chambliss Building renovation are progressing much slower than anticipated, primarily due to construction price increases and supply chain issues. We hope to start the renovation of the welding lab in January.

We continue to make progress on the completion of Beef Unit #2. We are anticipating the construction of permanent holding pens after the first of the year, along with climate control work in the classroom/meeting room. We still need to add lanes to the new cattle handling facility along with additional clearing and fencing. We have completed the shop and equipment barn at the John W. and Margaret Jones Langdale Forest. The office, classroom, and necropsy lab should be completed very soon. 

With much anticipation, we hope to begin the construction of a new clubhouse at Forest Lakes Golf Club towards the end of spring. Fingers crossed, there are no delays! We continue to be grateful for the commitment of ABAC administration, the University System of Georgia, and our donors for supporting the School’s needs due to our continued growth and the need for up-to-date teaching facilities.

The SANR Classic Golf Tournament and Ball Drop were a tremendous success again this year. We netted close to $40,000 to support student academic and engagement scholarships along with faculty/staff professional development. We thank the teams, donors, and the SANR Alumni Council for supporting this vital fundraiser for the School. 

Our SANR Leaders (the School’s ambassadors) have been very busy this semester, helping with tours, Sunbelt Ag Expo, Career Connections, and recruitment events under the direction of Mr. Corey Lovell, Academic & Career Coordinator. These 13 students were very enthusiastic about promoting the School and its programs. I appreciate what they do for the School in helping to extend our reach.

This semester, we unveiled the SANR Leadership Hall near the Dean’s Suite in the Agricultural Sciences Building. It showcases all past leaders of the school, division, and departments. In addition, it includes current and past cohorts of SANR Leaders, club/organization officers, and our Student Government Senators. We will add our Faculty Senators and SANR Alumni Council to the hall in the spring. 

We now have three graduate school agreements available to our students. The latest one is with the University of Tennessee-Martin for their Master of Sciences in Agriculture and Natural Resources. Previous agreements are with Murray State University and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. All of these agreements allow ABAC SANR students to receive credit for prior learning (6-9 credits, depending on the program), which is a significant financial and time-to-completion savings. We continue to look for additional graduate school partnerships.

Dr. Preston Byrd will start in January as an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Education to fill the vacancy due to the retirement of Dr. Frank Flanders. Dr. Byrd is currently on the faculty at West Virginia University. Mrs. Keegan NeSmith was hired as the Assessment and Certification Coordinator in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication. Mr. Matthew McGlashan will begin as the Farm Technician for the J.G. Woodroof Farm after the first of the year. We have begun the search for an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Communication in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication and a Department Head at the Professor or Associate Professor rank for the Department of Agriculture (due to the upcoming retirement of Dr. Ray Smith). We will resume our search in the spring for an Assistant Professor/Lecturer of Forestry in the Department of Forest Resources.

These are just a few thoughts and highlights as we end the fall semester and year. We look forward to a safe, healthy, and restful holiday break along with looking forward to the New Year! I wish each of you and your families the same, too. Please do not hesitate to stop by and see us when you are in the area!

Sincerely, 

Dr. Mark Kistler

Dean 

The Sponsors

We are incredibly thankful for the sponsors of the 22nd Annual School of Agriculture and Natural Resources (SANR) Classic Golf Tournament! Our corporate partners' and friends' generosity and continued support have allowed this tournament to be successful year after year. Many of our sponsors are repeat sponsors. Some of them are connected to ABAC - alumni and/or have employed our graduates.

The Teams

Thanks to each of the teams who participated in our tournament. Your playing is paying the way for some of our students. Since Forest Lakes Golf Club at ABAC is a nine-hole course, the teams played through twice. The teams brought their "A" game with very close scores. Turf and Golf Club Management majors Lane Morgan & Hayden Morgan verified the teams' scores. Triangle Chemical Company was the winning team. Bryce Brandenburg, Mike Grier, Wen Carter, and Matthew Ray were the team members. Each member received a special trophy designed by Dr. Alex McLemore and our Agriculture Technology Management Students, along with a SANR Classic Golf Towel.

The winners of the special competitions were as follows:

Longest Drive – Daniel Fowler with Southwest Georgia Farm Credit

Closet to the Pin – Clarke Mayo with Vantage Southeast

The winners of these contests received or will receive a Bridgestone Golf Bag.

The Ball Drop

The 9th Annual Ball Drop was held on Monday, October 10th. A total of 580 golf balls were placed in the bucket of a front-in loader. The balls were dropped on Hole 2 at Forest Lakes Golf Club at ABAC, the Club Superintendent Austin Lawton.

The three balls that rolled closest to the hole were determined by measurements conducted by ABAC Turf students and ABAC Agripreneurs representatives.

The ball closest to the hole belonged to Marcus Pollard, who had the 1st pick from our fabulous prizes. He selected the 7-night Golf Villa vacation at Edgewater Beach Resort & Golf Course, Panama City Beach, Florida. The Stitt Family provided the accommodations.

Fall Graduation 2022 Highlights

Congratulations to our Fall 2022 Graduates! We are PROUD of you and EXCITED to see the impact that each of you will have in the industry of Agriculture and Natural Resources as your professional career progresses! Please stay in touch with us - join the ABAC Alumni Association and come back for a visit whenever you can!

We would love to have you participate in future SANR Classic Golf Tournaments, serve on the Alumni Council, and help support the current and future students in the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources through networking, giving financially, and engaging with the School in a variety of different ways.

Before the graduation ceremony, each SANR graduate was presented with an ABAC SANR pin. We hope the pin will be a treasure for years and will be worn with pride!

Enjoy a few photos of our students with their families and friends and our faculty members celebrating Graduation. The smiles and hugs say it all! Additional photos can be found on our Facebook page.

The AET Club was blessed with excellent weather for the Fall Truck and Tractor Pull. The attendance of pulling participants and spectators reflected this excellent weather. While the professional Southern Pullers Association pullers always bring a terrific show on Friday and Saturday night, the amateur pull that takes place on Thursday night has grown larger each year, bringing local street trucks and tractors directly out of the field. The crowd showed their support through record attendance on all three event nights. The Club also participated in the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, GA. The students operated a service truck and other support vehicles to aid exhibitors in need. This allowed the students to meet potential employers and exhibitors to meet excellent members of the Club.

From November 13-20, 16 ABAC’s Turf Club members volunteered at the 2022 RSM Classic Tournament at Sea Island Golf Course & Resort. The turf students worked with the Sea Island staff to help prepare the course for the tournament, and they gained valuable experience during the RSM Classic, which lasted from Thursday to Sunday.

On November 15th and 16th, Justin Exum (Horticulture Technician) and John Layton (Assistant Professor) attended the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach, SC. They had the opportunity to visit with numerous alumni at the ABAC booth during the trade show and network with industry professionals.

On Wednesday, December 7th, a dozen of ABAC’s Turf Club members volunteered to help lay pine straw at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Tifton. The turf students installed about 100 bales of pine straw throughout the church grounds and helped beautify the landscape for the Christmas season.

Agripreneurs Launch Women in Agriculture and Natural Resources Lunch and Learn Series

Through various initiatives in recent years, the US Department of Agriculture has taken strides to educate, encourage, and empower the next generation of women in agriculture. While women have been a critical element of farm and ranch operations across the globe for centuries, historically, the agricultural industry has often been viewed as a male-dominated industry. Fall semester 2022 allowed the ABAC Agripreneurs to initiate a lunch and learn series geared towards female students pursuing careers in agriculture and natural resources. The series offers a platform for students to engage with female industry professionals.

The Women in Agriculture and Natural Resources (WANR) Lunch and Learn series kicked off on September 2nd with an introduction of the initiative and an introduction from each of the eleven female faculty in the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The October meeting focused on “Getting a Seat at the Table,” with Dr. Katheryn Cerny and Dr. Audrey Luke-Morgan sharing advice and testimonies from their professional journeys about overcoming challenges and finding your place in the agricultural industry. In preparation for Career Connection, November’s meeting highlighted timely insight from Mrs. Britta Cox and Dr. Taylor Hendricks regarding “Professionalism in Your Career.” Dr. Deidre Martin closed out the semester with an interactive session on “Creating Your Personal Brand and Identity.” Tentative dates for Spring Semester 2023 are January 20th, February 24th, March 31st, and April 28th.

Through the guidance of co-Advisor, Dr. Gertrude Nakakeeto, the Agripreneurs have also started participating in the adopted a mile initiative. Dr. Nakakeeto is on the board of the Keep Tifton Beautiful organization, which coordinates the initiative. In January she will start her role as the Chair of the organization.



The ABAC Horsemen's Association was also very busy Fall Semester. Here are a few highlights:

• They held a successful barrel race at the ABAC Rodeo arena. The next barrel race is scheduled for February 18th, 2023.



• They also hosted their first annual Horsey Halloween obstacle course. Students loved running through obstacles in the arena. Horses were dressed in Halloween costumes too.

We are just ending the semester and looking forward to time with family and friends. ABAC gets quiet quickly as our students go home for a break. This year, we want to remember the Christmas Blessing. We are excited about our Departmental Christmas blessings that are soon to arrive.

We are pleased to announce that a new Assessment and Certification Coordinator joined us in October. Keegan NeSmith joined us in this role; she is an ABAC Alumni with an Agricultural Communication degree and has some classroom teaching experience. She has settled into her role well and is taking care of our Ag Ed students and organizing needs in the department for our teaching certifications with the state. 

Dr. Preston Byrd will join us in January. In November, he and his wife (Nicole) had a baby girl (Reagan). In addition, we have a current search for an Agricultural Communication Assistant Professor that we hope to hire to begin in August of 2023. 

Perhaps the Christmas Blessing is our students – this year in Ag Ed, we will have over 40 student teaching interns for the spring 2023 semester! This easily places us in the top three institutions in the country for student teachers this spring. As one can imagine, when down by two faculty members, we all carried a heavy teaching load as program numbers for Agricultural Education and Agricultural Communication continued to increase. The faculty all took a sigh of relief that our fall had come to an end. Years ago, when I was a high school agriscience teacher, my principal told me that busy people get stuff done. I certainly thought about his comment several times this semester. He was right; we got it done this semester. We could not have done it without the dedication and drive of our students. Here is a preview of our Fall 2022 in the department: 

•  In September, Agricultural Education students celebrated Teach Ag Day activities involving the campus community and high school students' recruitment into agriculture teachers. Teaching is rewarding, but being an Agriculture Teacher is the most rewarding!

•  In October, ABAC Agricultural Education students (50 in all), under the direction of Drs. Mulkey and McHugh created, organized, and ran the Youth Ag Challenge at the Sunbelt Ag Expo. Our students worked to develop the content assessments for plant science, animal science, agriculture mechanics, forestry/ENR, and Ag business. Over 500 students and teachers dropped in on the event day to complete the assessments. Also, at Sunbelt Expo, Agricultural communication students served as interns. During the summer, the students wrote stories to be featured in the Sunbelt Ag Expo show program. During the expo week, the students created social media content, including post text, photographs, and stories; produced live-stream ads with expo vendors; and made new connections that may serve them well in their careers.

• Later in October, Drs. Mulkey and McHugh took over 50 Agricultural Education students to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN. While there, students worked the ABAC booth at the expo and assisted with the Nursery and Landscape CDE and Ag Mechanics CDE. They also attended professional development sessions in consideration of their future careers as an Agriculture teacher. 

• Drs. Mulkey and McHugh took the Ag Ed Cohort overnight to Camp John Hope for their Gold Leadership Experience.

• Giving back comes with learning opportunities as well. Students in this department assisted with several events at the Georgia National Fair through weigh-in, ring help, mini booth project judging, and landscape design plan judging. 

• Ag Communication students assisted Dr. Moore in judging the national nursery landscape business letters before teams from around the nation competed at the National FFA Convention. 

•  Agricultural Communication student Bryce Roland completed his ABAC Ag Fellow in Washington, DC with Congressman Austin Scott. 

• The Horticulture Club (advised by Thoron and Dr. Mulkey) held two community classes this semester and had great student attendance at their meetings. 

• Agricultural Education students (19 in total) attended the National Association of Agricultural Educators conference in Las Vegas, NV with Dr. Thoron. While at the conference, the Agricultural Education and Communication Department was recognized nationally for their collaboration with NAAE and the Georgia Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association (GVATA). Heather Schmidt and Kelly Rauch were selected to participate in the Future Agriscience Teacher Program (FAST). 

• ABAC held state FFA CDEs and LDEs at the end of the semester, with over 20 of our students assisting state staff and ABAC faculty with the events. The students made everyone feel welcome on our campus. Our department hosted teacher appreciation rooms in two buildings to welcome our agriculture teachers and provided coffee, drinks, snacks, and donuts.

The Christmas season is a time for reflection and a time to enjoy those around you. In this department, one might think we have Christmas year around – we are always reflecting on ways to do things better, and we enjoy working with each other and our students. The faculty are our north star, and the students are our true north! T Link

Congratulations to our December graduates! Agricultural Communication graduate Bridget Dixon was recognized at the December commencement with the David and Kim Bridges award, signifying the top graduate. We are proud of Bridget’s accomplishments, being an active leader on campus, her scholarship, and her community engagement at ABAC. We are proud of all our new Agricultural Communication and Agricultural Education Alumni! 

Join us as we will have our light on – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

Dr. Andrew Thoron, Department Head 

In October, Dr. Vanessa Lane and Forest Resources Technician Philip Ford traveled with eight students to the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Annual Conference in Charleston, WV. In addition to attending presentations on current wildlife management and research activities all over the Southeast, the students could network with other southeastern students and wildlife professionals while at the conference.

In November, Dr. Jason Scott and Philip Ford traveled to Georgetown, SC, for a 4-day Waterfowl Ecology Management Field trip. The students heard presentations from alumni and current SC biologists Joseph Woods and Ashleigh Nelson on waterfowl management and were able to view the various management activities occurring at the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center, a state-managed waterfowl refuge. They also could see the management techniques used at the Santee Coastal Reserve, a SC Wildlife Management Area. In addition, they toured a private waterfowl plantation.*  

The first day ended with a tour of Annandale Plantation, a privately funded waterfowl hunting operation located just north of the Santee Coastal Reserve. The host at this site was another ABAC Alum, Bill Mace (ABAC 1975 – Wildlife).

 It was an absolute privilege for our students to tour this plantation with him. Mr. Mace has spent 45 years working on brackish water impoundments for waterfall habitat management. His knowledge runs deep, and his enthusiasm for touring around many eager ABAC students was high! We all learned a lot from our time with Mr. Mace!

The final day was spent touring the Yawkey Wildlife Center with Joseph Woods (ABAC 2016 – Wildlife), the waterfowl biologist. He has worked there since his ABAC graduation. The Yawkey Wildlife Center was created and funded by Tom Yawkey, the past owner of the Boston Red Sox. The entire property functions as a hunter preserve. The management efforts are geared towards brackish impoundment management for waterfowl, but with the expressed requirement that the waterfowl not be hunted on the property!  



 It was a treat to experience a property like this and see so many ducks, including the first American Black Ducks (Anas rubripes) I’d ever seen in person. 



I want to express my deepest gratitude to Joseph for hosting us all three nights on Yawkey. He went out of his way to set up our field trips and ensure we were comfortable. What struck me most during our time there was how ABAC graduates have been shaping management actions and manipulating habitats on the Carolina Coast for decades and will continue to do so for decades to come! In retrospect, we unwittingly uncovered an ABAC legacy of waterfowl on the Carolina Coast. This legacy may be true now, considering two of our current students on this field trip have now applied for summer jobs there. 

Finally, after what was probably too long of a pause, I asked the potential student what they wanted to go into for a profession. He said that since he really loves duck hunting, he’d like to be a waterfowl biologist. 

“Yeah kid, I think ABAC can help you with that.”

Well, I guess the 7-day free winter trial was nice while it lasted last month. While solar winter is upon us, so comes the season of togetherness, SEC championships, and great food. With that in mind, we have had a rather successful fall semester this year. This was a year of growth, exploration, and learning.

Sunbelt Expo

October is home to the Sunbelt Agricultural Expo, and it was a huge hit this year. We showcased the new Agricultural Technology Management (ATM) degree program. Drs. McLemore and Porter, along with Nick Gladden, Precision Agriculture Technician, helped to set up and facilitate our showcasing of new equipment. The SANR Leaders and I enjoyed sharing this degree program and our other degree programs with the many high school FFA student and alumni who visited us!

SANR Career Connections

November was a busy month as Career Connections took off. We had a record number of attendance from both employers and students alike! With 74 registered booths and a total of 382 students in attendance, we were able to make connections for both students and professionals. We gained valuable data to use for upcoming events and future Career Connections. I want to extend a thank you to everyone who supported this year’s Career Connections.

SANR Leaders

As we wrap up such a great semester, we also say “see you later” to our graduating SANR Leader, Bridget Dixon. Bridget has proven herself a leader both on-campus and off-campus. We will miss her smiling face, but we can’t wait to see all she accomplishes after ABAC!

Our SANR Leaders have stepped up and stood out this semester. They have dedicated countless hours representing SANR. They have done an excellent job.

Internships

December holds a lot of prep work for internships. I am finally coming full circle on my job duties. Next spring will be a small trial run, then a large push to automate our database building for the internship program. This will save approximately three weeks (literally- that’s how long I spent on it last year) of manually entering data into excel. I am beyond excited to begin to build a database of information based on our students and their internships.

I want to extend a large and heartfelt thank you to everyone in the school of Agriculture and Natural Resources for helping train, mentor, and teach me the ropes of this department. I am excited to hit the ground running in January and as always, if you need anything, let me know.

Corey Lovell, Academic & Career Coordinator