YDAE Welcomes New AGED Faculty Member

By:Shawna Hubbard
West Lafayette, IN - Welcome YDAE’s newest agricultural education faculty member, Dr. Levon T. Esters. Dr. Esters brings to Purdue both teaching and advising experience related to career development for agriculture students.

“I hope to introduce students to personal career development by focusing primarily on the importance of career exploration, decision-making, and planning,” said Dr. Esters about positively influencing career advancement of ag education students. “This is important because individuals who are able to make better career decisions will inevitably find work more satisfying.”

Dr. Esters has been directly involved with students’ career paths in many settings as an Iowa State University assistant professor since 2004. He has served as an academic advisor to agricultural education students and the Agricultural Education Club, and he was the instructor of an agricultural education career seminar for undergraduate sophomores.

As he starts at Purdue in August 2009, he intends to continue his tradition of being involved in student organizations.

“I hope to be able to lend my professional and life experiences, as well as expertise, to various student groups such as Collegiate 4-H, MANRRS [Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences], and the Indiana Association of Agricultural Educators,” he said.

In addition to his work on career exploration, Dr. Esters looks forward to building on his research interests in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. “Dr. Neil Knobloch and I are working to change STEM to STEAM (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Math),” said Dr. Esters. Dr. Esters received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural business from Florida A&M, and then worked as an agricultural education instructor at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. He subsequently earned his master’s in agricultural education from North Carolina A&T State University in 2000 and his doctorate in agricultural and extension education from Penn State University in 2003.