According to Iowa State University (ISU), undergraduate enrollment has exceeded 3,000 in its College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for the first time in 30 years.
Let’s crunch the numbers:
- The actual number is 3,082, an increase of 237 students since one year ago.
- The last time it was more than 3,000 was in my college graduation year — 1980 — at 3,126.
- The college’s undergraduate enrollment peaked in 1977 at 3,623.
- In 1987, the college’s undergraduate enrollment fell to 1,895 due in large part to Iowa’s farm crisis.
- Undergraduate enrollment in the college was at 2,065 in 1990 and in 2000 enrollment was at 2,758.
Iowa State says that during the past five years, the college has admitted a larger number of new students, both freshmen and transfer students.
What’s their secret? David Acker, dean of academic and global programs, says the continued increases are due in part to an aggressive effort to recruit students.
"We listened to what alumni, industry representatives, and other stakeholders told us about the importance of attracting and training more young people to help meet the demands of food, agriculture, natural resource, and life sciences industries," Acker says. "Their advice has added a special urgency to our efforts in recruitment over the past five years, and it certainly made a difference this year."
Adding new majors has broadened the college’s appeal. These include biology, culinary science, genetics, global resource systems, microbiology, dietetics, and environmental science.
Another change is the college’s gender ratio. In 1967, the 42 women in the college made up 1.8 percent of the undergrads. In 2008, there were 1,303 women — that’s 46 percent of the total undergrad enrollment.
Hopefully this is a trend that is already or beginning to occur at ag colleges nationwide. And that would be great news for retailers hoping to recruit quality ag graduates.
