Message to Parents
Congratulations! Your son or daughter is considering a college degree from Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science at the University of Arkansas. This milestone will perhaps be one of the most important in his or her adult life. We take great pride in our students and want to offer them the best possible education as well as opportunities to develop their creativity and philosophies for living. As you well know as a parent, it is impossible to protect anyone from all frustrations and risks, but we do all we can to make our students' stay at the University positive in all respects. We invite all parents to visit us and to develop the trust that we are sincere in our wishes for the success and well-being of your child.
To provide opportunity for this success, we, first of all, offer an excellent education in the areas of crops, soils and the environment. Our two majors, Crop Management and Environmental Soil and Water Sciences, provide strong scientific foundations as well as courses to satisfy special interests. And they open the door to a great variety of careers from consulting to sales, service, management, research, extension, teaching, and other pursuits with industry, the government, or self-employment. The demand for our graduates is exemplified by a recent survey of alumni of this department that suggests that 91% of them were employed either before graduating or within 6 months of graduation.
Along with a strong education and immediate and successful employment, we want to give our students a wholesome opportunity to develop their reputations and their philosophies for living. To accomplish this aim, we provide each student with a faculty advisor who will discuss, not only course work and requirements for graduation, but also opportunities for such things as scholarships, part-time work, internships, and travel as well as resources on campus such as the recreation center, the writing center or the health center that can provide fun and assistance while they are here. Each student can quickly become well acquainted with their faculty advisor and, thereby, have a sounding board for questions or comments.
Another source of information and enjoyment is the Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science Club. The club not only offers information on scholarships and deadlines and job opportunities, but also allows the student to become involved in activities at the local, regional, and national levels. From pizza parties to visiting other clubs in this region to traveling and competing in national contests, club members network with others and build their reputations. The meetings often involve guest speakers or work on major projects.The most recent project underway is the reclamation of a wetland near Fayetteville. The wetland project serves as an educational opportunity while allowing the members to have fun working together. The restored wetland will provide the community with a natural area where children and adults alike can spend educational and pleasant outings. We also have a Soil Judging Team that competes regionally and, if they win there, nationally. Alumni have suggested that they learned more on the soil judging team than they did in any class.
Obviously, faculty, staff and students in the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences are high on our majors and dedicated to incoming students. We believe in our offerings and want you, as parents of our students, to believe in them, too. We know the serious issue involved in your trusting your son or daughter to educational and developmental opportunities away from home. We cannot make decisions for your child and cannot protect him or her from all the frustrations and risks of living, just as you cannot. But you can trust that we will make every effort to provide a healthy environment in which he or she can make good decisions and get an education that both you and your young adult can be proud of.
Pay us a visit if you can; or call and talk with our Recruiting Coordinator, Holly Yeatman. You can reach us by calling 888-343-7838.
For further information about the department, you can also visit our web site at http://www.uark.edu/cses/ or email our representative, Holly Yeatman, at hyeatman@uark.edu.