Stewart Faculty Scholar leads development of online courses
Agricultural professionals and students worldwide soon will have access to online OSU classes on integrated pest management, thanks to a privately-funded faculty award.
Professor Carol Mallory-Smith of the Department of Crop and Soil Science has been named the university’s second L. L. Stewart Faculty Scholar, an honor that carries with it a $20,000 award. Through this funding, Mallory-Smith is now leading a team developing three online courses. The team - which presently includes Ken Johnson, a professor of botany and plant pathology, and Sujaya Rao, an associate professor of crop and soil science – intends to eventually create a new online master’s program and/or a professional certificate program.
“This will be the first online degree of this type on the West Coast,” said Mallory-Smith, who is pictured above at the OSU Hyslop Crop Science Field Laboratory. “We’re hoping to have it ready in two years.”
The team approach will call attention to the interaction among diseases, weeds, and insects, as well as the need for systemwide approaches to management tactics. “We’re working on developing innovative lab exercises that will work online. That's probably going to be the biggest challenge," Mallory-Smith said. Possibilities include setting up a virtual online microscope or compiling tool kits that will help students collect and identify insects or weeds in their region.
Established in 2005, the L. L. Stewart Faculty Scholars Program recognizes outstanding faculty at OSU and provides resources to stimulate creative advancements in teaching, research and extended education. The late Loran L. "Stub" Stewart, '32, left a $500,000 estate gift to establish the program through the Mr. and Mrs. L. L. Stewart Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation.
"This award will provide the support to address an important issue that we've recognized for some time, so I'm not only honored to be recognized, but deeply appreciative of what it will enable us to do," said Mallory-Smith.
