The American Association for Agricultural Education: Our Powerful Professional Organization Made up of Remarkable Faculty Members

Dr. Gregory Thompson presented the 2015 AAAE Distinguished Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Agricultural Education in San Antonio, Texas in May, 2015. The article is a philosophical work based upon the author’s experiences in the agricultural education profession. Thank you. It is a pleasure to stand before you as the 2015 AAAE Mystery Speaker. When Steve Fraze2 called to present me with this overwhelming task, I was blown away for the opportunity to present to my peers and the people I have always looked up to and admired in my professional career. Immediately, I downloaded the Distinguished Lectures all the way back to the 1960’s and after reading through them, once again, I became intimidated and humbled – and rightly so. However, I talked myself off the ledge by saying, “Greg, you are the Mystery Speaker you fit the bill, as your students and colleagues always considered what came out of your mouth as truly a mystery.” I see heads nodding in agreement. Mystery speaker sounds a lot less intimidating and may be more fitting. Before I begin, I would like to introduce my wife (for two reasons); First, to recognize her for her love and support throughout my career and second to let you folks in the crowd know that she is like a mama bear protecting her cubs, so you might want to be careful what you say about me and about this speech. The American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE) Today, I will focus on two important influences in my career: The American Association for Agricultural Education and some remarkable individuals who have made very positive impacts in our profession. I will discuss what makes our profession powerful and the qualities I have found in my AAAE colleagues that make them truly remarkable. I will not mention names in fear of leaving out some outstanding professionals who are so deserving of our respect and admiration. However, you can play a game in your mind (rather than on your electronic devices) and see if you can figure out the individuals I may be referring to this morning. I have observed remarkable people in a variety of professional situations over the years and have continually tried to emulate their actions. These remarkable people are young and old, early-career, mid-career, late-career, and retired. Some are or were teachers, administrators, faculty members, state staff, students, and leaders in business, industry and education. I even looked through APA to determine how I could cite the remarkableness of these professionals. Maybe during this conference, you will walk up to some individuals and say, “I’ll bet Greg Thompson was talking about you when he was describing remarkable in the distinguished lecture.” 1 Dr. Gregory Thompson is a recently retired Professor and Department Head of Agricultural Education and Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, 112 Strand Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, (Greg.Thompson@oregonstate.edu) 2 Dr. Steven Fraze is the 2015-16 President of the American Association of Agricultural Education and Department Chair and Garrison Endowed Chair in Agricultural Education and Communications at Texas Tech University. Thompson Our Powerful Professional Organization... Journal of Agricultural Education 2 Volume 57, Issue 1, 2016 This week we are in San Antonio for the American Association for Agricultural Education Conference. AAAE is a great professional society because it is made up of dedicated individuals who have worked diligently to advance our profession. I would like to recognize some of the leaders who are responsible for the advancement of you, me, and our profession. Would all past and present AAAE Presidents please stand? Please remain standing as you are joined by past and present executive committee members – treasurers, secretaries, executive directors, historians, and vice presidents of communications. Past and present regional vice presidents, secretaries, and treasurers please stand. Those who served The Journal of Agricultural Education as editors, associate and assistant editors, editing and managing board, and editorial review board members please stand. Those who served as Standing Committee Chairs and Fellows please stand. Will those who served as chairs of National and Regional Research Conferences please stand. Special Interest Group (SIG) past and present chairs, please stand. NCAC-24 past and present officers please stand. Committees for the National Research Agenda and Teacher Standards please stand. Those who represented us on other boards and organizations, such as consultants to National FFA, FFA Alumni, CAST, and the other organizations in which we serve, please stand. Please join me in applause to show these servant leaders our gratitude. Strength of the Herd The American Bison is the largest surviving land mammal in North America (Lott, 2003). These massive animals are also surprisingly agile and will defend their young vigorously. Historically, the American bison played an essential role in shaping the ecology of the Great Plains, and many Native American tribes worship the Bison and consider them a symbol of strength and unity (DuBray, 1995). The American Bison rely on the strength of the herd, as these huge animals will work together for the betterment of the herd. In the winter of 1988, a group of friends and I rode snowmobiles through Yellowstone National Park (it was legal, then) and observed a herd of Bison on the move, trudging across the prairie in over three feet of snow. The leader of the herd would plow the way until she got tired and then would move to the back of the herd to rest, but continued traveling with the herd. The Bison took turns and worked in unison to make their way across the cold, frozen snow to another feeding ground. It was an incredible site and demonstrated commitment to the herd. As a profession, we must look at the strength of our organization and membership to build our discipline. We need to do more than just join the herd, but like the Bison, we must also take our turn and share the leadership load within our organization. Just as the American Bison work as a herd, it takes all of us to be successful within our profession. Our collaborative efforts help to promote our institutions, agricultural education, and ourselves. A Powerful Professional Organization The American Association for Agricultural Education needs all of us and we all need our professional organization. We need a “one team” mentality. AAAE encompasses different functions, but we are one team with one mission: to advance the broad field of study which integrates social and behavioral sciences with agricultural, life, environmental, and natural resource sciences (American Association for Agricultural Education, 2015). If we use our time to learn, understand, adjust, and focus, we will develop a powerful organization and become better educators in this great profession. We have the structure in place for our organization to move forward, to be powerful, and to benefit all of us. The structure is in our committees, special interest groups, sessions for distinct disciplines, multi-state groups, and Fellows in AAAE. I believe our organization will continue to grow to meet the needs of our membership, and for the betterment of our students and society. Thompson Our Powerful Professional Organization... Journal of Agricultural Education 3 Volume 57, Issue 1, 2016 Over the years, AAAE has experienced growth in both quality and quantity. Our professional organization has grown from a single focused discipline in teacher education to a multi-disciplined organization consisting of educators and researchers in teacher education, international agricultural education, extension education, agricultural communications, distributed learning, higher education, and leadership education (American Association for Agricultural Education, 2015). The American Association for Agricultural Education is a powerful professional organization, but along with being a powerful group, we have to commit to being powerful. Allow me to share a commitment within our administrators in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University called, “Our Powerful Group.” The concept of “Our Powerful Group” is based on a commitment of the principles and practices we embrace and our responsibility to be a powerful group (College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State University, 1998, 2014). The document is posted as a reminder at all of our administrative meetings. I did some slight tweaking for our purposes and will call it: AAAE Our Powerful Professional Organization.... ...is made up of professionals who commit and deliver ...produces results ...respects the individual ...handles disagreements ...has personal energies focused on the common good ...manages our reputation as a profession ...is clear about the decision processes ...is able to declare "breakdown" and address it ...has conversations about what doesn't work ...is responsible for its effect on the world in which it operates ...calls something a mistake only if we haven't learned from it ...has fun together. Additionally, our department adopted “Being a Powerful Group.” We revised the document and each year we present the powerful group concept to our student teaching cohort and post it on the classroom wall. I believe this document can be adopted and adapted for most any group of people committed to working together. Over the next few years we will see AAAE transform, grow, thrive, and continue to be a powerful organization because we are made up of individuals who are committed to being a powerful group. I am confident the future of AAAE is bright. As we move forward, I hope our profession can embrace and further develop the aspects of being a powerful group. I hope we can all come to AAAE this week to participate, contribute, and take something powerful away. If we are committed to our professional conference, it is likely we will gain new in