AUBURN, Ala. – An agreement has been made between Central Alabama Community College (CACC) and Auburn University’s College of Agriculture (AUAg) to provide CACC students with a “streamlined pathway” to enter AUAg.
The agreement, made back in early May, essentially creates a pre-agriculture program at CACC that will apply to 28 AUAg academic pathways.
“In the past few years, several of our students have transferred to Auburn’s College of Agriculture and gone into amazing and rewarding careers,” explained Jeremy M. Carr, chemistry instructor at CACC. “[This] agreement will streamline this process and help us to prepare agriculturally-minded students for a successful transition to AUAg.”
Those interested in agriculture can join the program and receive personalized agriculture-track advising that prepares them for transferring to AUAg.
“Students from Central Alabama Community College and similar schools have found great success in the College of Agriculture and in the careers that followed,” said Paul Patterson, Dean of AUAg. “We are proud to partner with CACC to create opportunities like these for more students in the years to come.”
Carr expressed at the announcement that this agreement would be different and “more flexible” than other deals between two and four-year institutions.
“For example, if a pre-agricultural student plans to major in animal science to get ready for veterinary school, we have a plan in place,” Carr noted, “and if they suddenly plan to change their major to crop and soil sciences, we have that plan too as well as plans for every four-year AUAg academic program.”
CACC president Jeff Lynn explained the importance of agriculture throughout the state of Alabama, especially in the more rural communities.
“Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries data shows that agriculture provides over 580,000 jobs, with exports of $506 million, and covers 28 percent of our states land,” said Lynn. “With over 40,000 farms located in all 67 counties collectively producing over $70.4 billion annually to the Alabama economy, it makes sense to locate and train the next generation of highly proficient agriculture students.”
Although the agreement aims to connect agriculturally oriented CACC students with AUAg, it will also help recruit these rural students who might have otherwise not considered agriculture as a career.
“Our goal at CACC is to provide as many opportunities for our students as possible,” Lynn remarked. “CACC is a great place to start this journey, earn an associate’s degree, and then transfer to Auburn’s College of Agriculture.”
