Career Outcomes
Why Choose Kansas State for an Agricultural Economics Graduate Degree
RELEVANT RESEARCH, RIGOROUS TRAINING, RESPECTED PROGRAMS
The K-State Agricultural Economics faculty, graduate students and recent graduates consistently rank among the most productive and talented in the nation. Research by Perry in 1999 ranked agricultural economics programs across the United States. K-State ranked first among all agricultural economics departments in terms of research productivity. K-State had the highest number of articles per research faculty member and the fourth highest per research FTE. Likewise, a 2007 study by Hilmer and Hilmer and a 2010 study by Boland and Crespi examining the overall publication rates and publication rates of dissertation-spawned articles, respectively, both placed K-State graduates among the top publishers in the profession. A 2010 examination of the field by the National Research Council found that agricultural economists from across the United States ranked K-State’s research programs between 3rd and 9th in a variety of graduate-related impact factors that compared K-State to nearly 50 departments of agricultural and applied economics. Put us to the test yourself at www.phds.org. Choose the fields of interest to you and see how we compare. Or, better yet, come to Manhattan and pay us a visit, we would love to show you why an outside reviewer remarked in our most recent (CSREES) departmental review, “We knew you were good, we didn’t know you were this good.”
PRODUCTIVE FACULTY
Members of the faculty have recently won major awards for research, including the Western Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding Published Research Award, and the Outstanding Article Award in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE). Various faculty members have served or currently serve as scholarly journal editors or editorial council members of every major US agricultural economics journal, including two current Associate Editors of the AJAE. The K-State Department of Agricultural Economics has faculty members who are dedicated to providing an outstanding learning environment to our graduate students. The department has four faculty members (more than any other department on campus) who have received our University’s most prestigious teaching honor. A number of faculty members have also received other prestigious teaching awards. Two other faculty members are recipients of K-State’s highest award to graduate faculty.
ABUNDANT OPPORTUNITIES
Agricultural Economics at K-State currently has 51 full-time on-campus graduate students pursuing advanced degrees. Additionally, 120 off-campus students are pursuing a Master of Agribusiness in a distance education program. Graduate students are heavily engaged in research, and they shared authorship in numerous departmental publications. During 1995 through 2006, graduate students authored or co-authored over 250 theses/dissertations and 598 other publications (averaging 50 per year) including 142 journal articles (12 per year). Recent graduate theses have been recognized for research excellence by Gamma Sigma Delta, Sigma Xi, the Universities Council on Water Resources, and the Western Agricultural Economics Association.
SUCCESS AT EVERY LEVEL
Masters’ students play an important role in our department by conducting applied research on a variety of grants and assisting professors with classroom education. Data from the National Food and Agribusiness Management Education Commission (NFAMEC) indicate that K-State ranks first among agricultural economics departments for publications resulting from M.S. theses and second in number of M.S. theses written since 1998. M.S. degree graduates have taken a variety of positions with agribusinesses, banks, commodity firms, government agencies and other organizations.
STRATEGIC CAREER PLACEMENT
K-State has had a very productive Ph.D. program developing many highly successful economists. In a recent study comparing the research productivity of graduates of agricultural economics Ph.D. programs in the U.S. K-State ranked fifth in the nation (Hilmer, C.E. and M.J. Hilmer. 2007. “On the Relationship between the Student-Advisor Match and Early Career Research Productivity for Agricultural and Resource Economics Ph.D.s,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 89: 162-175). Since 1996, 13 courses have been taught by doctoral students. Three of these graduate students have been awarded Kansas State University College of Agriculture’s award for outstanding graduate student teaching. Ph.D. recipients have taken jobs at 18 different universities including Purdue, Michigan State, Colorado State, Nebraska, Oregon State, Florida, Washington State, and the University of Missouri as well as government and private sector positions. Other Ph.D. graduates have been hired at various agencies and research institutes, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Centers for Disease Control, and the International Food Policy Research Institute.
TOP FIVE FELLOWSHIP RANKING
Since 1990, K-State Agricultural Economics has been awarded fifteen National Needs Ph.D. Fellowships. We have been particularly successful in developing scientists for academia, government, and industry under this program. Eight recipients are currently in research, teaching, and/or extension positions at major Land Grant Universities, and others are in agribusiness, education, or finishing their graduate program. K-State ranks in the top five of 17 schools receiving National Need grants in terms of graduation rates and placement in tenure track academic positions (Boland, M. 2004. “The USDA CSREES Higher Education Program: Doctoral Fellowships in the National Need Area of Management and Marketing.” International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, Vol. 7. No. 1).
