Division of Ag faculty making connections with university in Mexico
A webinar on drought was the spark that made this international connection.
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With file art of Looper, Rivera
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Mike Looper and Daniel Rivera recently presented to a collegiate cattlemen's group through an informational webinar in November that connected students and faculty between the U of A and Universidad Autonoma de Neuvo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico.
Looper is a professor and head of the Department of Animal Science in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, and Rivera is director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope, a 1,185-acre laboratory managed by the University of System Division of Agriculture through its Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
After being contacted by the group in Mexico, Looper and Rivera planned a webinar via Facebook Live to share about the department, research opportunities and experience among faculty members, as well as the background of the Hope extension center.
Rivera was contacted by the group at UANL after presenting during an Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service webinar in July, where he spoke about raising cattle in a drought. The university group, a club named Charolais-Charbray Juvenil, saw the webinar, which led to many questions about cow management during droughts. After hearing responses from Rivera, the UANL students and faculty became interested in the U of A System Division of Agriculture.
After making the connection between the Division of Agriculture, education and academics, and animal science, UANL students and faculty have proposed plans to visit Arkansas next spring to tour the Southwest Research and Extension Center, various livestock operations and Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station farms and labs associated with animal science in Fayetteville.
More potential collaborations are in the works.
About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at Bumpers College.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media contact: Karli Yarber, communications graduate assistant
Bumpers College Dean's Office
479-575-4625, ks080@uark.edu