UF PIE Center Is Thankful for these 5 Things

The University of Florida’a Center for Public Issues Education has plenty of reasons to be grateful this November. They narrowed it down to the Top 5:

1. The PIE Center’s opportunity to connect with you

Faculty and staff with the PIE Center have the opportunity to connect with students, researchers, stakeholders, leaders, and agriculturalists to discuss issues in agriculture and natural resources sectors. The PIE Center is thankful to connect with people like YOU through outreach activities, webinars, and social media. The PIE Center recently connected with many of you through our recent webinar on effective social media, which you can still view.

2.Faculty who are making a difference 

The PIE Center gets to work with amazing faculty who are working to explore emerging issues impacting food and agriculture, advance the responsible use of water and conservation of natural resources, and help communities and organizations understand and adapt to changing agricultural and natural resources issues. Assistant professor of family, youth and community sciences Angie Lindsey has been working to help communities recover from recent hurricane devastation and recently shared her experiences with us on Facebook Live.

3.Ability to learn new things and teach others

Faculty and staff with the PIE Center appreciate learning opportunities and want to share new findings with others so they can apply new knowledge in their own lives. PIE Center staff Phillip Stokes and Ashley McLeod recently learned about revitalizing an organization’s brand and will be sharing what they learned on the November installment of the Easy as PIE Webinar series.

4.Support and guidance from the PIE Center Advisory Board 

Fifteen individuals serve on the PIE Center’s advisory board and offer support and guidance year-around to those in the PIE Center. The advisory board recently met with faculty and staff at the PIE Center to discuss the previous year and plan for the future. The PIE Center is especially thankful for the time and dedication of Bo Beaulieu as he completed his term as board chairman this past meeting.

5.Hard-working graduate students 

Graduate students from various disciplines work with the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education to advance the mission of the center.

Meet Shelby Oesterreicher, a master’s student at the University of Florida studying agricultural education and communication. She began working with the PIE Center as an undergraduate student, completing her undergraduate thesis with the PIE Center working as a media assistant. Oesterreicher recently had the opportunity to work with the PIE Center on a research project that allowed her to create communication materials.

Learn more about Shelby Oesterreicher and her experiences with the PIE Center.

We here at the Ag Institute are thankful for the PIE Center’s research and dedication to increase public knowledge and engagement in agriculture!