U of A faculty members receive Honorary American FFA Degrees
Contact Information:By Karen Eskew, U of A Division of Agriculture, 479-575-3192
Contact: Dr. Jason Emmert, Faculty Member, 479-575-3595/jemmert@uark.edu or Jerry Wooley, jwooley@uaex.edu
Jason Emmert and Jerry Wooley, University of Arkansas poultry science faculty members, both received Honorary American FFA Degrees during the FFA's national convention held Oct. 26-29 in Louisville.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Jason Emmert and Jerry Wooley, faculty members in the poultry science department of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, both received Honorary American FFA Degrees during the FFA's National Convention held in Louisville Oct. 29.
The National FFA Board of Directors receives nominations from its FFA membership and awards individuals "who have gone beyond the valuable daily contributions to make an extraordinary long-term difference in the lives of students, inspiring confidence in a new generation of agriculturists."
Emmert and Wooley have served on the National FFA Poultry Judging Career Development Event (CDE) Committee for seven and five years, respectively. Emmert was recently named superintendent of the event.
Throughout the school year, both faculty members travel around the state teaching interested high school students how to judge poultry through a series of hands-on workshops.
In conjunction with Division of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Service, Emmert and Wooley hosted over 30 high school agriculture teachers for a two-day workshop this summer, which covered the rules and techniques used in poultry judging. Emmert is also working on a web site to further assist students and educators in poultry judging curriculum and hopes to make poultry judging a part of each high school's agriculture program.
Emmert serves as the coach of the U of A's poultry judging team and has twice led his team to first place honors at the National Collegiate Poultry Judging Contest, most recently in 2004.