Anderson: An age of opportunity for the land-grant system
Being able to reliably separate facts from noise “is more valuable than ever before.” — Anderson
By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Feb. 13, 2024
Fast facts:
- Anderson takes reins of SAEA
- Universities need consistent, deep stakeholder engagement
(410 words)
(Newsrooms: with art )
ATLANTA — As misinformation casts its shadow across the landscape of public discourse, “we are potentially entering a golden age of opportunity for the land-grant system,” said John Anderson, new president of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
Anderson, the new head of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service, was elected to the association post in March 2023. He opened his term as president on Feb. 5, with a speech to his colleagues at the SAEA annual meeting in Atlanta.
Anderson spoke about the plague of misinformation, or “fake news.” And while the topic has been a concern to communications professionals and political operatives, Anderson said there is an “increased potential for false or misleading information to gain traction, with adverse consequences, in a decentralized media environment well beyond the political realm.
“Universities should view the current moment as a unique opportunity to reassert our traditional role as objective, unbiased arbiters of reliable information,” he said. “We can only do this if our stakeholders do, in fact, consider us to be objective and unbiased.”
Declining confidence
Anderson noted a 2023 Gallup survey which found that just 36 percent of adults in the United States had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. That compared to 2015, in which 60 percent of those surveyed had a “great deal,” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education.
“The rate of decline in the public’s view of higher education should be a cause for concern among higher education professionals,” Anderson said. Earning that confidence is paramount for universities, particularly the land grant universities.
“Maintaining — or re-establishing, if necessary — that position will require deep, consistent engagement with a diverse set of stakeholders and a demonstrated commitment to the highest standards of scholarship,” Anderson said. “In short, a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the value and continued relevance of the land-grant university model.”
Being able to reliably separate facts from noise “is more valuable than ever before,” Anderson said, adding that “this is the service that public universities were made to provide. If we can rise to this challenge, we will not only be offering a timely and valuable service to society, but we will also re-establish a bond of trust that has weakened significantly in recent years.
“Doing so will require a deep and sincere commitment to serving our constituent communities through expanding access to our programs and intentional stakeholder engagement,” he said.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen
agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption
of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative
Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work
within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
About SAEA
The purposes and objectives of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association shall
be to foster the study and understanding of agricultural economics and its applications
to problems in the Southern United States; to promote unity and effectiveness of effort
among all concerned with those problems; to promote improvement in the professional
competence and standards of members; to cooperate with other organizations and institutions
engaged in similar or related activities; and to increase the contribution of agricultural
economics to human welfare.
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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu