Recognizing its integral role as Kentucky’s flagship and land-grant research university, the University of Kentucky launched the “UK Engage” initiative to envision and support innovation in land-grant engagement. The effort, led by Nancy Cox, Vice President for Land-grant Engagement and Dean of the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Executive in Residence Mary Shelman, identified strategies and priorities for enhancing land-grant engagement across the campus and in Kentucky communities.
The initiative and visioning partners group were engaged with and led by executive-in-residence, Mary Shelman. An alumna and current past-president of the UK Alumni Association, Shelman is an internationally renowned expert in agribusiness and agtech innovation who has worked with the agri-food industry and advised governments, companies and investors around the world.
Building on past success and early cross-campus partnerships, UK Engage: Reviewed existing programs, gathered data and collected community feedback on engagement to plan best practice models and strategic priorities for future success; examined other land-grant universities similarly structured with robust engagement models; identified opportunities, structure and processes to secure and distribute funding for engagement pilot programs; and created a means for evaluating the success for land-grant engagement and community-based programs in alignment with the evaluation of other strategic plan priorities.
The visioning partners supporting UK Engage serve as a “think tank” for the planning process; bringing support, expertise and guidance to frame the future of land-grant engagement. The visioning partners are highlighted below.
