Expanding Horizons

UF/IFAS hosted seven Borlaug Scholars 

The UF/IFAS International Programs office brought seven women scientists from Africa to study at UF under the Borlaug Scholars program.  These outstanding women represented Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Burkina Faso.

Each scientist was paired with a mentor on the UF/IFAS faculty, with a wide variety of disciplines represented amongst the group.  Jeffrey Brecht  in the UF/IFAS horticultural sciences department mentored Flora Nelson-Quartey from Ghana.  Eric Simonne, also of the UF/IFAS horticultural sciences department, served as mentor to Mourfat Balogun, who is from Nigeria.  Sabine Grunwald in the UF/IFAS soil and water science department mentored Nome Sakane, from Burkina Faso.

Lisa Guion of the UF/IFAS family, youth and community sciences department mentored Patience Asem of Ghana and Marta Hartmann of the UF/IFAS agricultural education and communications  department served as mentor to Regina Ntumngia of Cameroon.  Roger Natzke, director of the UF/IFAS international program office, hosted Adeola Adenugba of Nigeria and Jane Polston of the UF/IFAS plant pathology department served as mentor to Diop Fatou of Senegal.

The Borlaug Scholars had a busy schedule for their month-long visit.  Some of the highlights were a field trip to an area dairy farm, a reception with the Center for African Studies faculty and affiliates, and library research.  An overview of the UF/IFAS structure as a land-grant institution was also included in their training, explaining the tri-partite organization that includes the teaching component under the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), the research component (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station), and the Extension outreach component, through offices in each of Florida’s sixty-seven counties, as well as the Seminole Tribe Extension office.

Other highlights included a luncheon with women administrators, organized by the Gender, Environment, Agriculture and Participation (GEAP) Program; tours of botanical gardens and other area attractions; and a field trip to the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, which is the world’s largest research facility dedicated to citrus research.  They also took part in classes such as GEO6938 Food and Agriculture in Africa with Sandra Russo of the UF International Center, who led a discussion of resource management in African agriculture.  A second session of that class included the topic agriculture and nature:  environmental impacts of African agriculture and pastoralism.

The scholars also attended a Gender Analysis Seminar led by gender analysis experts and met with P.J. Van Blokland of the UF/IFAS food and resource economics department for training in agricultural profitability.  The busy schedule included trips to St. Augustine and to Tallahassee, where the seven scholars attended seminars with faculty from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU).  FAMU is Florida’s other land-grant institution, established under the 1864 federal legislation establishing land-grant colleges to serve low income and minority farmers.  Another field trip took the scholars to Quincy, Florida for a visit to the North Florida Research and Education Center.

The seven scholars also participated in leadership skills in agriculture training, led by Nick Place, Ph.D. and Rick Rudd, Ph.D., of the UF/IFAS agricultural education and communication  department and Mary Ann Gularte, M.S., of the UF/IFAS human resources office.  For their final project, each Borlaug Scholar presented a Gender Analysis Seminar before an audience in the UF/IFAS Communication Services distance education classroom, which is part of network that can present classes and lectures to remote classrooms located at UF/IFAS sites throughout Florida.  A farewell reception for the scholars took place at Roger Natzke’s home.

The scholars returned home on November 18th after an intense month of study with UF/IFAS faculty.  The program will allow them to incorporate what they learned into their own research and extension programs in their native countries.  The Borlaug Scholars program will also allow the seven scholars to form long-term cooperative research and extension programs with UF/IFAS, which will enhance the research conducted in UF/IFAS and the institutions to which these visiting scientists will return.

The UF/IFAS mentors plan to visit the countries of the scientists they mentored during 2006 as the next step in creating long-term research and extension programs between the United States and those countries.  That is what makes the Borlaug Scholars program so valuable:  it builds critical linkages between nations and institutions that conduct research, extension outreach, and education, enriching the societies each institution serves.

IP director Roger Natzke said, “The Borlaug management team visited Gainesville to observe the program in action. After a very productive dialogue I am confident that IFAS is in an excellent position to host Fellows from other countries in addition to West Africa in subsequent years.”  The Borlaug Fellows program is high IP’s priority list because it provides opportunity for UF/IFAS faculty members to gain international exposure and foster ongoing international collaboration.

Contact: Roger Natzke

• Back to January 2006 International Focus Newsletter