Concordia University reps present new agricultural sciences program

Representatives from Concordia University were in Imperial, Nebraska, Tuesday, March 10, to promote their new agricultural sciences program.

The three representatives, Kurth Brashear, Dr. Dennis Brink and Megan Vieselmeyer (2015 Holyoke High School graduate) hosted a dinner at Zion Lutheran Church in Imperial to meet with the public and educate about the new program.

“We want (Chase County) to know about Concordia broadly, but also about this new ag science program that we started in 2019,” Brashear said.

The program is one of only two four-year ag programs in the state.

“(Concordia has) been in Nebraska for 125 years, but we don’t really claim to know ag,” Brashear said. “The way we really started this is we just invited different parts of the industry to come to campus for a day, saying we would like to have you come and we want to float an idea in front of you and kind of get your feedback.”

Their guests suggested creating a program that gives students an understanding from field to table of how ag works, then giving those groups a chance to have internships with the students while they’re still in school.

Which is how the program was born.

Brashear, Brink and Vieselmeyer are visiting communities and high schools across the state to promote the program.

The bachelor’s degree is more than a “general ag” program, Brink said.

“I like to think it’s more of an integrated or combined ag program,” he said.

Brink, who taught animal science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for 40 years, is coming out of retirement to help start this unique program.

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