Aaron Shropshire, left, accepts his Teaching Assistant Teaching Excellence Award from Austin Holliday, senior Grazing Livestock Systems major.
Aaron Shropshire, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture graduate student, was honored during the Holling Family Award Program for Teaching Excellence on March 2. The annual awards honor outstanding teaching in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Shropshire received a Teaching Assistant Teaching Excellence Award. This award recognizes students who are currently in graduate degree programs under the supervision of IANR faculty members involved with agricultural sciences and natural resources. The award emphasizes imaginative and creative teaching efforts in carrying out IANR educational programs.
During the fall semester of 2017, Shropshire served as the teaching assistant for Agronomy 445/845 Livestock Management on Range and Pasture taught by Sunkist Fiesta Bowl professor of agronomy Walt Schacht and animal science professor Dennis Brink. In this course, Shropshire guided students in the development of ranch plans that included five sections and a description of the case-study ranch.
According to Schacht and Brink, Shropshire stepped in at the beginning of the semester to become one of the instructors in out-of-the-classroom instruction and advising of the students. They also stated he was an outstanding teaching assistant in terms of being fully engaged in advising students and critically evaluating all sections of the ranch plan throughout the semester.
Shropshire received his bachelor’s degree in mechanized systems management with a minor in agronomy. He is currently an agronomy graduate student specializing in grazing management and researching the effect of stocking density on Sandhills meadows.
Future plans for Shropshire include expanding the family Angus beef business, Magill Farms, in Ashland, Nebraska.
The Holling Family award program for teaching excellence was made possible by a gift from the Holling family to honor their pioneer parents. John Holling was a 1912 electrical engineering graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and his brother, Gustave Holling, attended the College of Agriculture before farming the family’s land in the Wood River Area.
More details about the 2018 Holling Family awards at https://go.unl.edu/07x7.
