By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

URBANA, Ill. — Addressing a decades-old trend of declining enrollment in crop sciences courses at universities, the Bloomington-based Illinois Soybean Assoc. (ISA) and the University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) in Urbana have come together to offer a scholarship of up to four years, worth up to $50,000.

The scholarship must be used for enrollment in the College of ACES crop sciences curriculum and can be utilized for tuition, fees and other educational expenses.

“We really have to give a lot of credit to the ISA because this (scholarship) is their vision,” said Jason Emmert, assistant dean for academic programs for ACES. “(ISA) approached us, and we were able to develop this partnership and come up with what I think is a very exciting program that should get a lot of attention from potential students.”

Today’s students often overlook exciting and well-paying careers in the crop sciences field, even as advances in seed genetics continue to expand the world’s food supply, with enrollment in crop sciences on the decline at all four state universities in Illinois.

“We could look back for dozens of years to see that trend,” said Emmert. “You just don’t have as many students that either seem to understand or be interested in crop science, or agronomy, careers.
“Like a lot of things related to agriculture, as the population becomes less rural, there is less understanding as to what these careers entail. It has been a challenge for us.”

After taking a set of core courses, those enrolled in the ACES crop sciences program will have a menu of three areas of concentration from which to choose.

“I think of them as three overlapping circles: there is a social sciences circle, a business-oriented circle and a science circle. Students make the decision whether they want to go into a science-based career that could involve research or technical service, or into a sales-type job or production agriculture-type job,” Emmert explained. “All offer great starting salaries, even at the bachelor’s (degree) level in crop science.”

Though the deadline for incoming freshmen to apply for the 2010 scholarship has passed, transfer students have until March 15. The scholarship will be ongoing and may be applied for by sophomores and juniors currently in the program.

“We can’t describe how excited we are and how much we appreciate what the ISA has done,” Emmert added. “Beyond giving opportunities to students in crop sciences, I think they are setting an example for other commodity groups that see some of the same trends.”

Interested students may contact Emmert at 217-244-4540 for more details.