A group of outreach-oriented high school students from 41 High Plains counties will be headed to Texas Tech University on Wednesday (Feb. 28) to participate in the inaugural Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources Grand Challenges Catalyst Summit at the central campus Texas Tech Dairy Barn.  

The day-long outreach effort will center on three critical West Texas issues that include drug abuse and prevention, rural education, and mental health in rural America.

“The Catalyst Summit is the first step in a broader research project that we will be conducting in the Panhandle/South Plains region,” said Jason Headrick, Project Director and an Assistant Professor of Leadership & Community Development within the Department of Agricultural Education & Communications. “We'll gather information from the students about their hometowns, find out what issues concern them, and where they see opportunities. We'll take that information and develop surveys that we will distribute in the region.”

Davis College Associate Dean for Outreach & Engagement Erica Irlbeck, added, “Our students offer a great deal of information that can help us understand the challenges in our area. Most of them are still very connected to their hometowns, and they will be a reliable source of information, plus they can help us make connection with leaders in their home communities.” 

Among the scheduled speakers in the morning session are Conrad Lyford, Professor, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics; Jared Horsford, Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture; and Mike Ballou, Chair and Professor, Department of Veterinary Sciences.

The afternoon session highlights Matthew Barnes, Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources Management; Katie Lewis, Associate Professor of Soil Fertility with a Texas A&M AgriLife Research Joint appointment; and Amy Boren-Alpizar, Associate Professor of Agricultural Leadership, Department of Agricultural Education & Communications.

The program will wind up with a collaborative catalyst session spotlighting the bigger picture while sharing team solutions. It ends with a wrap-up session and evaluation. 

Davis College's Grand Challenges Catalyst Grant Program is made possible through a generous contribution from Gordon W. Davis, a longtime supporter and former faculty member within the Davis College Department of Animal & Food Sciences. 

In 2022, Davis and his wife, Joyce, gave a $44 million donation to the college, which represented the single largest philanthropic donation to Texas Tech in school history and one of the largest investments in people and programs in an agricultural college in the U.S. College officials utilized some of that money to create the new competitive grant program aimed at addressing critical challenges faced by the region, state and nation. It is divided into two components. 

“The Gordon Davis contribution is critical to the future of our college,” said Davis College Dean Clint Krehbiel. “The program offers Davis College faculty the opportunity to pursue regionally important research, build innovative and dynamic research capacity across the college through integrated, multi-disciplinary teams, and provide momentum for the college to reach for aspirational strategic objectives that will place Davis College at the top of colleges of agriculture and natural resources nationally.”

CONTACT: Erica Irlbeck, Associate Dean for Outreach & Engagement, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-6708 or erica.irlbeck@ttu.edu  

0212NM24