That's how I ended up enrolling in the Master of Agribusiness program at Kansas State University. At least that's the abridged version. Take good notes as you read the rest; there just might be a quiz at the end.
With a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Communications from the Univ. of Illinois, I set out for a career in journalism, working as a farm reporter for a couple of local and not-so-local media companies.
The work was great. I got to travel, met a lot of industry professionals and spent time between large urban centers of politics and industry and vast, unpopulated rural townships. And I really found my place as a communicator and professional. But life and it's changes brought me back to my home state of Illinois in an organizational communications role -- working for a well-known non-profit, Illinois Farm Bureau.
Married with one wife and no kids, I was thinking I'd like to sink my teeth a little more into the business of agriculture. My grasp of communications theory and its practical applications was sufficient, but there certainly could be more meat-and-potatoes in my knowledge base on agribusiness.
And so the hunt for graduate studies ensued.
Is it an MBA I desire? No. Too stuffy. Not enough talk about corn, dirt and cows.
How about advanced studies in general agriculture? Not my cup of biotechnologically improved tea.
So where can I find a fair blending of the two concepts? Well, according to an advertisement on www.AgCareers.com, at Kansas State Univ.
One brochure, and a few phone call and e-mails later I was applying to the MAB program and waiting for word on an admissions decision.
Turns out that I was soon to be a Wildcat, by way of distance learning. Via e-mail (and a follow-up confirmation letter from the Graduate School) I got the A-OK from the Department of Agriculture Economics for enrollment as part of the Class of 2010.
And thus, here we begin.
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