Author: Karin Pekarchik
Planning Unit: Biosystems & Agr Engineering
Major Program: Beef
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Engineering touches food, energy, agricultural, biological, and environmental systems throughout Kentucky, so it is critical for the links between the university, Cooperative Extension Service agents, and Kentucky’s farmers to be continually renewed. To strengthen its connection to Cooperative Extension Service agents, the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) debuted a quarterly newsletter in the winter of 2017. In the newsletters, faculty with Cooperative Extension Service appointments write timely articles that support the department’s mission to be the primary source of engineering expertise for solving contemporary problems of vital social and economic importance to the state and beyond. Agents are encouraged to post the articles in their newsletters, social media, or other media, and the newsletters are also promoted by the BAE Department through multiple channels. Combined analytics for the first two newsletters demonstrated 108 views, 82 readers, and an average read time of 03:41. Social media posts on Twitter that supported individual stories demonstrated even higher readership. Impressions for Joshua Jackson, Ph.D.’s article on in-field measurement of cattle had 1906 impressions, 50 engagements, and a 2.6% engagement rate. Similarly, Carmen Agouridis, Ph.D., P.E.’s article on outdoor learning environments had 1397 impressions, 38 engagements, and a 2.7 engagement rate.
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