Contact: Sammy McDavid
Jacquelyn P. Deeds
A veteran Mississippi State faculty member is joining the board of directors of the United States Department of Education body that guides the country's agricultural leadership development program in public schools.
Jacquelyn P. Deeds of the university's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will be one of nine members overseeing the National FFA Organization. When her appointment becomes official July 1, the professor of agricultural information science and education will represent all institutions of higher learning involved in agricultural education.
Formerly known as Future Farmers of America, National FFA changed its name in 1988 to reflect the evolutionary effects science, business and technology were having on production farming. Open to all students ages 12-21 in rural, urban and suburban schools, the organization currently has more than 400,000 members spread among some 7,200 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and U.S. island protectorates.
Deeds, who joined the MSU faculty in 1985, teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in her department. She also coordinates student and beginning teacher programs, as well as supervising student teaching and field experiences.
She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Oregon State University and a doctorate from Ohio State University. Since coming to the Starkville campus, she has been selected for a number of leadership positions, among them chairs of the MSU President's Commission on the Status of Women and the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine Faculty Senate.
Deeds also is active in the regional chapter of the American Association for Agricultural Education. She received the organization's outstanding teaching award in 1996 and served as its vice president for the past two years.