World Grain - March 2023 - 66

Plans to reverse these enrollment trends include engaging
a full-time recruiter and having student mentors
and ambassadors representing the Department of Grain
Science and Industry. Having a new state-of-the-art facility
to show prospective students and their parents is
also part of the equation, Minton said.
Of Shellenberger Hall, Minton said: " We don't have
the look of an elite, worldwide department when you
go into that building. It's difficult to quantify the degree
to which that provides disincentive to 18-year-olds and
their families that come to visit. So, it's getting out of
that space that's failing and doesn't have the modern
look - and to a certain degree equipment - that will
be required for modern instruction and research. "
Given the 63-year history of Shellenberger Hall and
the reverence for the man it's named after - John
Shellenberger, head of KSU's Department of Flour and
Feed Milling from 1944-66 - officials in the College of
Agriculture are discussing how to honor Shellenberger
in the new building.
" How the building will be named, given the other
new donors, is a complexity that we'll have to work
through, " Minton said. " But we have an awareness of
that sensitivity already from his family. We have to
Shellenberger Hall, home to the KSU Department of
Grain Science and Industry for the last 63 years, will
soon be razed.
honor that and figure that out. We don't know what that
looks like yet exactly. "
Ag campus connectivity
Although there was some discussion about constructing
the new Department of Grain Science and Industry
building at the same location where Shellenberger has
stood, in the center of campus, officials ultimately decided
on a site just north of Shellenberger, in the same
vicinity as the Animal Science buildings, Call Hall and
Weber Hall.
Meanwhile, the Agronomy Research and Innovation
Center will be built just to the west of the Grain Science
Complex that includes the Hal Ross Flour Mill, O.H.
Kruse Feed Mill, IGP Institute and other facilities.
Minton said having these departments in roughly the
same location would " remove barriers to interdisciplinary
collaboration " that currently exist.
" It will remove the physical barriers that keep students
who are majoring in different departments from
interacting and studying alongside students in another
discipline, " he said. " We think the real difficult problems
that food and agriculture will be facing over the
next two decades won't be solved by any one discipline.
It will be a multidisciplinary effort, and we think
that's true in this case as well. "
Because of the downward trend in enrollment across
Dogan
66
Minton
the various departments in the College of Agriculture,
one of the stipulations for receiving state money is that
the new buildings maintain the square footage of the
current facilities. Minton said even with that constraint,
the new buildings will be designed to maximize efficiency
of space to benefit students.
March 2023 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - March 2023

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