Miles Community College continues to add to its educational offerings for students interested in pursuing a bachelor’s degree in agriculture-related fields. The college has recently approved an Associate of Science degree and transfer pathway in Agricultural Education and Leadership. This degree program provides two possible pathways for students planning to transfer and pursue further studies – Agricultural Education as well as Agricultural Leadership and Extension. Depending on education goals and career plans, students can choose between the two options for their sophomore year of study before transferring on to a four-year institution for the last two years of their degree.
The Agricultural Education Teaching Option provides opportunities for students to transfer into bachelor’s degree programs that will prepare them to become middle and high school teachers with a broad background in agricultural economics, along with animal, range, and plant sciences.
The Agricultural Leadership-Extension Option prepares students for transfer into bachelor’s degree programs that will provide training for leadership or management roles in fields such as extension education, community ag education, and government or agricultural agencies.
MCC Ag Programs instructor and advisor Kim Gibbs was instrumental in the program’s development and is excited to see the ag offerings at MCC continue to grow.
“As our program has been involved in area FFA and youth agriculture events, we’ve heard from advisors, counselors, and others of the need to get more local students into pathways like this, so they can come back and contribute to their local communities.” said Gibbs. “The ability to start at MCC and not lose any credits when then transferring to a four-year college or university will be a huge benefit for these students.”
MCC has made a concerted effort over the last several years to expand its transfer offerings in several fields. Erin Niedge, Dean of Enrollment Management and Educational Support Services at MCC, works closely with transfer partners and expects students will be able to easily transfer this degree into Montana State University or similar institutions to complete their studies.
“As Kim and our other faculty have worked extremely hard to expand our ag, range, and animal science offerings, we’ve seen our MCC students transfer successfully to our regional four-year partners,” comments Niedge. “The expansion of these programs helps meet crucial needs in our rural communities and provides students in eastern Montana the opportunity to start on their four-year degree close to home.”
In additional to the new programs in Agricultural Education and Leadership, Miles Community College also offers transfer pathways programs in Agribusiness, Animal Science (with Pre-Veterinary and Livestock Management Options), Range Management, and Wildlife Biology.
For more information about this and other MCC Agriculture programs, please contact Ag Programs Instructor Kim Gibbs at 406.874.6227 or GibbsK@milescc.edu.
