Preliminary Findings-Site Visit Summaries
AgrowKnowledge™ ATE Center – Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids, IA)
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AgrowKnowledge™ ATE Center at Kirkwood Community College, which hosts the 2nd largest Agricultural
program in the country, served as the first full-site visit of the selected ATE centers conducted
by the project. The full-site visit was completed on March 21-24, 2007. A total of 35 participants
including 4 faculty members, 2 administrators, 3 staff members and 26 students were interviewed.
One faculty member also served as an administrator of the ATE Center. This site visit yielded
insightful interactions with faculty, administration, staff and students in relation to the
critical aspects of ATE programs (e.g., student learning, curriculum development and pedagogy,
dissemination, and transformation leadership). Data collected from site artifacts (i.e., initial
NSF proposals, NSF Annual Evaluation Reports, External Evaluation Reports, etc.) and on-site
interviews are being transcribed and analyzed. However, preliminary findings indicate that faculty,
administration, staff and students are excited about taking a better look at their engagement in
learning, curriculum development, professional development for faculty and product dissemination
through participation in annual conferences, faculty and student internships, in addition to
determining the significant role community colleges play in advancing science, technology,
engineering, and math in fields such as agricultural sciences to prepare future technicians to
meet the needs and rapidly changing demands of business and industry.
