BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES.
This is our work.
Auburn University Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
Finding solutions to the complex challenges facing agriculture, the food system, the environment and the economy isn’t our goal. It’s our work. WIT H A S TRO N G UN DE R GR A DUAT E PR O GR A M IN AG R ICU LT U R AL B U SIN ESS AND ECONOMICS AND OUTSTANDING GRADUATE DEGREE OPTIONS, AUBURN’S D E PA R T M E N T O F A G R I C U LT U R A L E C O N O M I C S A N D R U R A L S O C I O L O G Y I S PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION OF POLICY ANALYSTS, FARM MANAGERS, BUSINESS OWNERS, STATISTICIANS, COMMUNITY DEVELOPERS, CONSERVATIONISTS AND B A N KER S.
UNDERGRADUATE MINORS The department offers three minors—in agribusiness, in natural resources economics and environmental policy and in rural and community development—to students in other majors. The latter two minors also are available to agricultural business and economics majors.
UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS Our undergraduate students take general business, economics and accounting courses their freshman and sophomore years. As juniors and seniors, they advance to industry-specific courses in resource management, agribusiness marketing, farm management and agricultural finance, law, prices, policy and trade. They also can choose from a number of professional and agricultural electives to fit their interests, whether those lie in management, marketing, finance, farm-level decision-making, natural resources or rural development.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS Our graduate program offers master of science degrees in agricultural economics and rural sociology and the Ph.D. in applied economics.
O F E V E RY $1 S PE N T ON FOOD, ON LY 16 CEN T S GO E S TO T H E FA R M ER WH O PRODUCED IT. AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS PROFESSIONA L S F OCU S ON B OT H T H E FA R M E R’S S H A R E A ND T H E R EM AIN IN G 84 C E N T S T H AT A R E SPEN T ON FOOD M A R K E T I N G A S T H E Y APPLY ECON OM IC PR I N C I PL E S TO R E AL-WOR L D ISSU ES A F F E C T I N G H OW F OOD IS G R OWN, SOL D, T R A N S P O R T E D A N D CON SU M ED.
What can you do with a degree from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology? The career possibilities are almost endless, but our graduates most often follow one of eight major pathways to professional success •
AGRICULTURAL FINANCE AND BANKING
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AGRIBUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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AGRICULTURAL LAW
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AGRICULTURAL SALES AND MARKETING
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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
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EDUCATION AND ACADEMICS
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GOVERNMENT
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PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE
Our successful alumni and our faculty members can help you discover the pathway that’s right for you.
Our alumni are building stronger communities and a better world every day. 1
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AS BANKERS
Boles Pegues, ’85, is president and director of Keystone Bank, a community bank based in Auburn, with branches in Gadsden and Opelika. Keystone’s customer service philosophy is simple: Treat foiks like they’re more important than their money—because they are.
AS AT TORNE YS
Rebecca Chamblis, ’05, was accepted into Cumberland School of Law and received the juris doctorate degree in 2010. She is now an associate attorney at a Montgomery law firm that specializes in insurance defense litigation.
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IN THE MILITARY
2005 alumnus Will Hurd is the Battalion Operations officer for the U.S. Army’s 711th Brigade Support Battalion in Mobile. In that position, he is the top advisor to the battalion commander on combat, combat service, operational matters, organization and training.
AS AGENCY DIRECTORS
In her work as district conservationist with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in west Alabama, Sutton Gibbs, ’87, administers cost-assistance programs that basically help people help their land with practices that reduce soil erosion, improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat.
AS MOVERS, SHAKERS AND POLICYMAKERS Chuck Penry, a 1986 graduate of our program, went to Washington, D.C., in 1988 as a Senate Agriculture Committee staffer. But Penry dreamed of bigger things, and in 1994, he landed a job as chief lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Association. While in that role, he was named among the top 10 lobbyists on Capitol Hill on energy-related issues. He left that position in 2009 to become Tyson Foods Inc.’s vice president of federal affairs in Washington. A year later, he was named vice president of government relations and is now the top lobbyist for the second-largest food-producing company in the world.
AGRIC ULTURAL ECONO MI STS CON D U CT R E S E A R CH,
This may be G ATH ER AND A NALYZE DATA, MO NITOR PAS T AN D PR E S E N T
how some ECONOMI C TRENDS AND DE VELOP F OR E CA S TS
folks predict AIM ED AT O PTI MI ZI NG AGRICULTU R AL MA R KE TS
futures. I N THE U.S. AND ABROA D.
We invest in your life’s work through scholarships. SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AUSOM. AND THEY’RE AVAILABLE. • Generous financial gifts and commitments from our dedicated alumni and supporters allow the College of Agriculture at Auburn to award its students more than $640,000 in scholarships every year. • Many freshman and general scholarships also are available through Auburn’s Office of University Scholarships. • All current and accepted incoming Auburn students can apply for university, college and departmental scholarships at www.auburn.edu/AUSOM. • Reviewers consider each applicant’s grades and standardized test scores as well as campus/community involvement and leadership in making awards.
Come see for yourself. Schedule your visit. aers.auburn.edu
AUBURN UNIVERSITY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION/EMPLOYER.
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & RURAL SOCIOLOGY 202 COMER HALL AUBURN UNIVERSITY, AL 36849