As the top producer of associate degrees in agriscience and agribusiness in the State of Washington (top 20 nationwide among both two and four year institutions) Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) and Walla Walla School District (WWSD) were granted funding for expansion and enhancement of education and training offerings in support of the agricultural industry in the intermountain northwest region (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, Northern California). The specific focus of this project is to enhance agricultural education through an analysis of current and future workforce needs, curriculum enhancement and expansion, and facilitation of articulation arrangements between secondary and postsecondary academic institutions. Secondary and postsecondary program curriculum are being examined with respect to new and emerging workforce changes relating to enology and viticulture, water management and environmental studies, outdoor power equipment and related agricultural businesses. Due to the fact that many of the current and future employees in these dimensions of the agricultural industry are or will be of Hispanic cultural descent, an industry based General Advisory Committee will be established with Hispanic representation to provide overall direction for the project. Program/cluster level skill panels will be convened to complete an occupational task analysis for agriscience and agribusiness high demand jobs cluster as a basis for refinement/development of curriculum and program offerings. The project outcomes will be utilized to update curriculum of existing Secondary and Two-Year Postsecondary programs, design new program offerings and create academic institutional articulations as deemed appropriate. The proposed timeframe for the project is July 1, 2005 through December 31, 2006.
