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While it presents many opportunities, the National FFA Organization faces a variety of obstacles toward achieving a more diverse membership. Research has recognized the role of social identity, or the way a person perceives belongingness to a larger group, in how individuals select groups for hopeful inclusion. Photos indicate who is part of a group and can elicit attitudes and emotions toward an organization. Recent statistics show teenager use of Instagram, a mobile photo sharing application, has increased while other social media applications have declined. This qualitative study analyzed the frequency and themes presented by state FFA associations through their Instagram accounts to promote a diverse membership through an ethnographic approach. A total of 434 Instagram posts featuring diversity were identified throughout the 52 state FFA associations. Of those, state FFA associations with a minimum of 25% overall diversity posts were further analyzed to determine themes. The most common theme within the diversity posts was "participation," which included student involvement in contests, conventions, or conferences. This study illustrates variability in the diversity efforts of state FFA associations in their Instagram accounts, and the need to highlight and promote a diverse membership on a consistent and intentional basis.

In 2020 Oregon suffered one of the worst wildfire seasons on record that included a higher percentage of burned forest area, the destruction of residential areas, and significant risk to human health. The level of wildfire intensity was largely attributed as an effect of climate change, and future Oregon wildfire seasons are predicted to grow in intensity, acreage burned, and total duration. Public policy can be a tool to help to mitigate the effects of climate change, but successful policy implementation relies on public support. Therefore, this study sought to explore two factors that may influence support for climate change policy: risk experience and personal values. Oregon residents' perceptions of and experiences during the 2020 Oregon wildfire season were assessed. Results indicated the value of universalism had a significant and substantial association with support for climate change policy, and power, achievement, stimulation, selfdirection, and benevolence had significant low associations. Participants' risk experience with wildfires accounted for little total variance in regard to support for climate change policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plagued by recent and historic drought, the need for water storage and management solutions in California is apparent. As a potential solution, the Sites Reservoir project offers an opportunity to a state eager to conserve and better manage water. The Sites Reservoir project involves complexities from a variety of standpoints and stakeholder perspectives. This study investigated the frames and sources used by The Sacramento Bee to communicate about the Sites Reservoir project over a 10-year period. The most frequently used frames throughout the dataset were "policy and government" and "water conscious," and the sources most frequently utilized for information about the project in the articles were elected officials, government agency representatives, and nonprofit representatives. The findings suggest water management is linked with political activities and supports the assertion that the media tend to focus on the role of policy and political opinion in water management issues. At the same time, the findings suggest the need for water solutions is evident, given the prominence of the "water conscious" frame. Future studies should evaluate frames over time, and investigate the potential nuance between frames used to communicate about water management in different areas of the United States facing water management issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kuh's (2008) High-Impact Educational Practices define scholarly teaching and learning practices that positively impact students. This study examined university student perceptions of mentoring and whether high-impact practices increased mentoring opportunities. The study data found most students in the sample had a positive perception of mentorship. Respondents who reported not having a mentor also had a positive perception of mentoring and stated they could have stayed on track if they had a mentor while enrolled in college. The data also found students believed highimpact practices provided greater exposure to more mentoring opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri swept across the central and eastern United States bringing extreme cold, widespread power outages, and rolling blackouts throughout Texas. This storm prompted climate change to emerge as a major topic of controversy and conversation with scientists and the public alike, and many began to think about the impacts of climate change. Risk communication experts have suggested prior disaster experience is a key mechanism of understanding how risk perceptions are shaped, and ultimately, on how individuals arrive at a judgment, evaluation, or attitude toward information and situations. Drawing from risk communication scholars, we examined the role of prior disaster experience, risk perceptions of climate change, and individual characteristics on its relationship with support for climate change mitigation policy. To do so, we sourced a Qualtrics public opinion panel of residents who lived in Texas during Winter Storm Uri (n = 486) to answer a series of questions related to prior disaster experience, their climate change risk perceptions, and their support of climate change mitigation policy. We conducted two hierarchical regression models to examine how prior disaster experience and climate change risk perceptions predicted support for policy. We found the inclusion of prior disaster experience provided a significant change in the respondents support for climate change mitigation policy. Although academic conversations in agricultural communications have started to explore the varying opinions of climate change, there is much more research needed in this area to fully explore the dynamic and complex phenomena of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opioid drug abuse has created an epidemic recognized as a public health emergency in 2017, and the detrimental impacts of this epidemic have reached into rural America. When it comes to presenting information via the mass media, communications professionals serve as gatekeepers for what information is passed on to media consumers. Additionally, news organizations place certain degrees of importance upon issues through the amount of coverage dedicated to an issue. In late 2016, when the Farm and Dairy newspaper editorial staff decided to dedicate a vast amount of time and resources to covering Ohio and Pennsylvania's rural opioid epidemic, a variety of questions and concerns followed. This complicated topic was largely unfamiliar and untraditional to agricultural communications. Concerns about how to research the topic, work with sources, and manage responses from stakeholders emerged at the onset, but motivations to increase awareness, reduce stigma, and instill hope in the midst of a rural opioid epidemic brought the series to fruition. This case study details the actions taken by those involved in the series and stakeholder reactions to a unique journalistic investigation from a rural newspaper. Discussion of recommendations for future research and curricular impacts are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regardless of academic discipline or future career responsibilities, college students are challenged to meet future employers’ demand for strong communication skills. However, becoming an effective, professional writer is a struggle for many college students. Based upon concepts of writing self-efficacy and writing apprehension, the Media Writing Self-Perception (MWSP) scale was administered to undergraduate students in a writing-intensive agricultural communications course to evaluate differences in writing self-perceptions as the semester progressed and to determine any relationships between MWSP scores and scores on assignments. Statistically significant differences were found in writing apprehension, self-efficacy, and elaborative/surface construct scores from the beginning of the semester to the end. A positive correlation was found between MWSP pretest and posttest scores and grades on major writing assignments, supporting the assertion that stronger self-perceptions of writing self-efficacy is related to improved writing overall. Students also reflected upon their MWSP scores, which revealed themes that illustrated variation in preferred styles of writing and highlighted the role of writing assignments in influencing their writing self-perceptions. This study supports the growing body of literature that indicates rigorous, diverse assignments are beneficial to improving writing skills and allowing time for reflection helps student writers understand how they can improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural America faces challenges unique from other parts of the United States with vulnerabilities leaving its potential resilience at risk. In particular, issues associated with public health leave many in rural communities in lack of needed care and resources to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The rural opioid epidemic has added greater challenges to an already fragile rural health system. The mass media has for many decades served as a vessel for health promotion and health campaigns have been successful at changing levels of knowledge. Given that acceptance or action on an issue can be a result of how the message is framed, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of media frames on attitudes toward the rural opioid epidemic. A framing treatment featuring a story of person in recovery significantly affected perceptions of stigma beliefs. However, while previous studies found describing certain causes associated with addiction to be effective in changing stigma perceptions, that was not the case in this study which suggested not all causal frames are created equally. Additionally, while participants expressed a variety of blame perceptions for the rural opioid epidemic, there were no significant differences based upon the frame that was presented. Finally, policy support was not influenced by participant community types, but there were significant differences in support based upon political party affiliation indicating the rural opioid epidemic represents another example of a social issue with political influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the gap in agricultural experiences between farmers and consumers grow, it is important for agricultural communicators to communicate strategically with their audiences and be proactive in addressing consumers' concerns. Communication media can present a variety of messages or pieces of information that represent multiple perspectives within one unit. The dynamic nature of communication media, such as video and audio messages, lead to the fluctuation of feelings and responses to different elements within one singular message. While agricultural communications has traditionally relied upon quantitative and qualitative survey data, there are likely gaps in complete understandings of individual perceptions in response to varying elements of the communications message. Continuous response measurement (CRM) is a method that can be used to monitor and track individual responses to media messages in real-time to reveal critical moments within a communications message. CRM holds the potential to help those in agricultural communications understand what specific elements within messages resonate most with consumers. This professional paper explores how researchers can use CRM, showcases benefits and drawbacks of CRM, and provides recommendations for contributions to agricultural communications literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of non-prescription opioid abuse has increased to the point that a person is now more likely to die from an accidental overdose than an automobile accident. Rural areas have been hit particularly hard, and many farmers indicate direct impacts resulting from the opioid epidemic. Researchers have recognized the role of the media in communicating complicated issues and influencing potential solutions. This study analyzed the frames and sources used to communicate issues regarding the rural opioid epidemic in The New York Times and five additional newspapers from states most affected by the opioid epidemic. A total of 115 news, feature, editorial, and other articles were analyzed. The most often used frame was “growth or spread” of the epidemic and the sources most frequently referenced were medical professionals and elected officials. Although a non-traditional issue in agriculture, agricultural communicators should not shy away from getting involved given the potential for harm to rural communities and, in turn, the agriculture industry. Future studies should investigate rural community member and journalist perceptions on the issue, as well as coverage in other states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]