About Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications
Department Overview
The Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications was officially founded in September 2006. Many of the department’s disciplines like agricultural science and agricultural communications and journalism have a long history at Texas A&M University. The roots of our department date back to over 100 years ago and form the foundation of agriculture and public education in Texas. Now, we have grown and evolved to become one of the leading departments in Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications.
By student enrollment, we are one of the largest departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with approximately 850 students, 40 faculty and post-doctoral researchers, professional service staff and five emeriti faculty. Our size doesn’t stop us from providing an inclusive, people-first environment in which our students can grow and learn. We invite you to learn more about our values and aims and how you can become part of our story as we advance the next generation of leaders in agriculture and the life sciences.
Howdy and Welcome!
We are glad to hear you’re interested in Texas A&M University and the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications. I hope that you will one day soon stop by our beautiful campus to see first-hand our fantastic facilities and meet our dedicated and caring faculty, post-doctoral researchers and students. We are a world-class department. Despite the strain placed on our schools, workforce and food value chains in this post-pandemic world, our department has risen to embrace this change. We have an outstanding Advisory Board of former students and friends who provide us insight on direction and focus and our faculty are actively working to advance our land-grant mission.
Now, more than ever, we are purpose-driven to do our part to improve the lives of youth, families and adults through leadership, educational, and communication programming. We bring light into organizations by applying our core Aggie values of respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity and selfless service to every task at hand. We are large department, but our students come first. They thrive while in our programs and transition into important leadership positions upon graduation. We have caring friends and former students who are constantly giving back to our department family through their time and resources. If you are one of our numerous former students, we encourage you to drop by for a cup of coffee or tea the next time that you are in the Brazos Valley. We would love to reconnect and learn more about your professional journey. Thanks & Gig ’em!
Matt Baker, Ph.D.
Professor and Head
Mission
Our mission is to improve the quality of life and well-being of individuals and communities in Texas, in the nation and the world through high-quality teaching, research, Extension, and outreach programs that communicate crucial information for agricultural sciences and human performance.
Vision
We advance the scholarship in our field of study through innovative approaches to teaching, research, and outreach. We provide balanced academic curricula that link science, technology, leadership, education, communications, and human performance systems. We are recognized as one of the premier programs of agricultural leadership, education, and communications worldwide and forge interdependent relationships with other world-class programs that share complementary missions, and we assist those programs aspiring to serve their countries and the world better.
Looking to the Future
We are extremely optimistic about our future direction and purpose. We have developed a new, bold strategic plan and are committed to be the global flagship department in preparing the best leaders, educators, and communicators in the world. We will accomplish this by ensuring a high-quality curriculum, mentoring students, delivering the best Extension programming, developing adult leaders, working with global partners for the co-creation of knowledge and the development of human capacity, and generating scholarship with societal impact.
Baker named Department Head for Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications
In his role at Texas A&M, Baker will provide leadership to program faculty, staff and students in the department, continue his research into cognitive and emotional responses to medium and messages, and teach courses in research and statistics. His vision is to enhance the impact of departmental research programs, recruit students into the department from around Texas and throughout the world and further develop an already outstanding Extension unit.
Bringing international agriculture to the classroom
Dr. Kim Dooley engages in international development work all across the world and brings those experiences back to Texas A&M to share with her students and inspire them to think globally to solve pressing issues in the agriculture industry.