College of Agriculture

The College of Agriculture houses two academic departments, the Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research and a Cooperative Extension Program. Through these significant entities, the College fulfills the tripartite mission of the land-grant system – teaching, research, and extension. Teaching programs are conducted through the two academic departments with the help of research and extension-funded faculty scientists who have tenure/tenure track status in the academic departments. The Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DAES) provides exemplary traditional classroom instruction and cutting-edge experiential and service-learning opportunities to its undergraduate and graduate students. The department offers a B.S. degree in Agricultural Sciences, three M.S. degrees: Agricultural Sciences, Food and Animal Sciences, and Environmental Science, and one Ph.D. program in Agricultural Sciences. The Department of Human Sciences offers a B.S. degree in Family and Consumer Sciences with concentrations in Child Development and Family Studies, Fashion Merchandising and Product Development, Consumer Sciences Leadership, Education, and Communication, Food Service Management, and Food and Nutritional Sciences

Research is conducted in the 34 state-of-the-art research laboratories on Main Campus and the three outlying Agricultural Research and Education Centers. Our research caliber is well recognized nationally as our faculty continues to excel in winning competitive research grants from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the National Science Foundation. According to a recent NIFA publication, TSU Agriculture is the most competitive institution among the 19 HBCU land-grant institutions continuously for ten years, from 2008-2018.

Extension programs are conducted in 60 of the 95 counties with Extension agents jointly funded by county, state, and federal governments. We also have Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in seven counties. Our Extension program is one of the largest county operations among 1890 institutions. Our Extension programs are conducted jointly with the University of Tennessee’s Extension programs. This partnership between the state’s two land-grant institutions is a model for the country.

Recent highlights of College accomplishments include:

• Agricultural enrollment has more than doubled, while graduate student enrollment has increased eight-fold.

• In 2022, the College of Agriculture published 114 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Of these publications, 53 had students as senior authors, and 61 were faculty publications. The College made 248 presentations at professional meetings, of which 122 were made by student presenters and 114 by faculty presenters. Faculty Published 73 Extension, outreach, popular press articles, or other items.

• During the 2021-2022 Academic Year, the College obtained 71 competitive grants totaling $14,187,607. In the last few months, the College received $25 million new grant funding.

• The Dean’s Scholars Program and pre-college summer apprenticeship programs continue to attract highly qualified students. The College’s educational programs help educate minorities in STEM fields and offer pre-professional medical, dental, and veterinary medicine programs.