Education

The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign often cites its land-grant legacy, but the land-grant university system is not a well-known concept outside of higher education. In fact, many current students, staff, and faculty struggle to define it. So, let’s get into what it means, how it came about, and why it still matters. 

"As an education major, I never thought I would know so much about corn,” says College of Education sophomore Hannah Haas.

Haas is part of a unique project partnership between the College of Education and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. With funding from a USDA grant, this collaboration brings together future educators and agricultural researchers to develop an engaging, standards-based curriculum for K–12 students using popcorn.

When the semester ended this May, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said goodbye to one of its most beloved professors. Paul Stoddard has retired after more than 25 years of dedicated service to the university and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. 

Students in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences know communication is key. From public speaking requirements to advanced composition classes, ACES students are trained to share their knowledge with the world. Pam Leiter, the recruitment coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, is part of that effort.

Cherisse Smith (she/her), the new coordinator of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) education for the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences,, is at the forefront of inclusive intelligence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

As a rising senior with an animal and veterinary science major at Tuskegee University — home of the Golden Tigers — Kyeaira Faustin does not call the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign her everyday campus. But becoming a temporary Illini during last year’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at the Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) revealed new passions that Faustin is now pursuing back at home.

If you peek into a Turner Hall classroom at the end of the semester, you might see something unusual.

“It’s when you plant one thing, then another, then–”
“Crop rotation!”
“Correct. Next. Um… you have lots of places to live. But they’re all broken up.”
“Landscape mosaic?”
“No, close, you want them to be together–”
“Habitat connectivity!”

The National Association of Agricultural Educators has granted its 2024 Outstanding Postsecondary Agriculture Program Award to the agricultural education concentration, part of the Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications program in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Urbana-Champaign.

The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has launched a brand-new ACES Online website, designed to make education from the College of ACES more accessible to learners around the world.

Many of the youth participatory action research projects that aim to empower young people to lead change in their schools or communities often fail to fully integrate them into the process, diminishing participants’ learning opportunities and the projects’ potential impact, a recent study found.