Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future

2017 Annual Meeting | Oct. 22-25 | Tampa, FL

105988 Enrollment Trends in American Soil Science Classes: 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 Academic Years.

Poster Number 1216

See more from this Division: SSSA Division: Soil Education and Outreach
See more from this Session: Soil Education and Outreach General Poster

Monday, October 23, 2017
Tampa Convention Center, East Exhibit Hall

Eric C. Brevik, 291 Campus Dr., Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, Karen L. Vaughan, WY, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, Sanjai J. Parikh, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, Holly A.S. Dolliver, 410 S. 3rd St., University of Wisconsin-River Falls, River Falls, WI, David Lindbo, Soil Science Division, USDA-NRCS, Washington, DC, Joshua J. Steffan, Dickinson State University, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, David C. Weindorf, Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, Paul A. McDaniel, 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 2339, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, Monday Mbila, Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL and Susan Edinger Marshall, Forestry and Wildland Resources, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Abstract:
Studies indicate that soil science enrollment in the USA was on the decline in the 1990s and into the early 2000s. However, a recent study suggested that from 2007-2014, enrollment trends were on the increase, but that study only looked at the number of soil science majors and did not look at other important trends in soil science enrollment. Therefore, this study was developed to investigate enrollment numbers in individual soil science classes. To investigate this, we collected data from ten different American universities on the enrollment trends for seven different classes taught at the undergraduate level, introduction to soil science, soil fertility, soil management, pedology, soil biology/microbiology, soil chemistry, and soil physics, over a 10 year time period. Five and ten year trends were evaluated. All classes showed increasing enrollment over the five year study period except for soil physics, which experienced a modest decline in enrollment (-4.1% per year). The soil chemistry (23.2% per year) and soil management (10.1% per year) classes had the largest percentage gain in enrollment over the five year time period. All classes investigated experienced increased enrollment over the 10 year study period except soil biology/microbiology, which had an essentially stable enrollment (0.8% enrollment gain per year). Soil physics (28.9% per year) and soil chemistry (14.7% per year) had the largest percentage gain in enrollment over the 10 year time period, although soil physics enrollment declined in the later 5 years of the study. Overall, the individual classes showed 12 examples of increasing enrollment, one example of stable enrollment, and one example of declining enrollment. These results were interpreted as indicating that enrollment in soil science classes at American universities was on the rise over the time period of the study.

See more from this Division: SSSA Division: Soil Education and Outreach
See more from this Session: Soil Education and Outreach General Poster