DESIGN Success Story:
AG*IDEA: An Affiliate of the Great Plains IDEA

The agriculture deans at Iowa State University, Kansas State University, University of Missouri, and University of Nebraska were eager to collaborate on academic programs that would help them address agriculture educational needs, but they were uncertain how to get started. With a small, shared investment, the deans hired the IAA to:

• conduct a survey of faculty and employers
• examine their current online offerings
• help select programs for development
• organize a kick-off meeting of deans, department heads, faculty and agriculture employers

The IAA followed up by writing a successful USDA Challenge Grant proposal to initiate the development of four collaborative distance education programs. Other institutions expressed interest, and several years later the AG*IDEA officially organized in March of 2008, under the auspices of the Great Plains IDEA, and has been growing significantly since then. AG*IDEA now includes 13 land grant institutions located across the country, and has received formal "intent to join" from 15 others. New programs are currently being developed by faculty groups and it is expected that AG*IDEA will be able to offer graduate certificates in six agriculturally-related areas by 2011. To ensure continued success, the IAA provides on-going management services to AG*IDEA.