Foundation Award for Service

I. Philosophy of Service

Service has always been a labor of love for me. Throughout my career at Missouri State it has been my honor and privilege to engage in service at all levels. I believe in the power of meaningful service to change lives and I especially love finding ways to integrate service activities to create opportunities for students, academia and the community.

For example, my work with the Missouri Food Entrepreneurs Network, a collaboration among Missouri’s institutions of higher education to support and grow value- added food production, has led to a graduate student research project, a grant benefiting value-added producers in Southwest Missouri giving them access to educational workshops in digital marketing and communication, additional instructional resources at Missouri State, and a statewide leadership development program for college students!

I truly believe that service is at the core of everything we do at Missouri State and I am so honored to be a part of it.

II. Examples of Service

University Service

At the university level I am on the BrightSpace Advisory Board where we discuss updates to the Learning Management System, pass updates along to the college and provide feedback from a faculty standpoint. I also participated in the initial LMS review and served as an early adopter (using the system for a full year prior to university wide implementation). Further I applied for and led a Faculty Learning Community to assist the College of Agriculture in the BrightSpace transition.

Additionally,  I am a member of First Year Council which provides guidance for the First-Year Foundation Course, GEP 101. I have served on Committee on General Education and Intercollegiate Programs, the Public Affairs Committee, and as a member of the campus wide alignment data analysis group \ prepared and presented results to the group.

Discipline Service

Darr College of Agriculture Alumni Committee

Tying in both community and college service, I serve as both a university representative and as an alumni member for the Darr College of Agriculture Alumni Committee. The committee was formed in 2013 and charged with helping to support student success in the then School of Agriculture. In the last 11 years, we have hosted an Annual Ag Celebration with Alumni and Friends silent and live auction and thus far have raised over $525,000 for student support initiatives including scholarships, student events, and even vans for the College. As a member of the committee, I help to secure donations, advertise the event and provide hospitality the night of. Further, I teach a Public Relations in Agriculture course. The course allows students to work with an actual client on a public relations issue and the Alumni Committee served as our Spring 2025 Client. The students have been charged with developing a comprehensive PR campaign for the 2025 event scheduled for November. This allows the class to gain real world experience and the Committee to enjoy an infusion of new ideas.

Community Service

MO-FEN
The purpose of the Missouri Food Entrepreneurs Network is to foster collaboration among Missouri’s institutions of higher education to support and grow value- added food production. One early goal of the group was to study value-added production in Missouri to best see what educational gaps might exist. I volunteered to assist with the survey design and working with one of my non-thesis graduate students we analyzed the data. Together we presented the results to the group at large as well as then Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe. Utilizing these results, the student presented a poster at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association annual conference and complete her non-thesis project as well! Moreover, we were able to leverage the results to successfully apply for a grant.

Since then, MO-FEN has further evolved and this October I was part of a sub-committee formed to explore creating a leadership development program for collegiate students. As a result, the Show- Me Value-Added Agriculture Institute kicked off in December 2024 with 17 students selected for the inaugural class. The institute draws from higher education institutions across the state, including two- and four-year institutions. The students and one faculty advisor toured three distinct regions to learn about value-added agricultural enterprises and participate in panel discussions and professional development opportunities all while networking with peers from other colleges through guided discussion and a group project. I served as the faculty advisor for the five Missouri State participants and coordinated the planning and logistics of hosting the group in March when they visited Southwest Missouri.

Show-Me Educational Grant
Expanding on my work in value-added agriculture, in June 2023 I was awarded a Show-Me Educational Grant focused on serving value-added producers in the state of Missouri through professional development. The collaborative grant with the University of Central Missouri hired an agricultural communication instructor and to provide workshop opportunities for value-added producers in digital marketing and communication. In one year, we have been able to reach 75 producers through free workshops hosted in Springfield, Mountain Grove, Warrensburg, and West Plains. 

III. Future Commitment to Service

Service has been an integral part of my career and is truly one of my favorite parts of my job. I enjoy trying new and integrated approaches to problem solve. Moreover, my service activities have remained largely student focused, and I find great satisfaction being able to leverage service opportunities to enhance student experiences here at Missouri State and beyond. As the world continues to change, I have no doubt service to others and our communities will only become more important and I’m excited to be a part of it all.

IV. Topics related to service for which you are available for presentations and/or consultations (e.g., public affairs, relationship of service to teaching, and relationship of service to research).

• Value added agriculture
• Social capital
• The role of community
• Beginning farmers
• Beginning farmer programs