Agribusiness degree programs train managers to make decisions in complex business environments. Curriculum designers generally look to the offerings of peer institutions for guidance. Decision science (DS) topics are important parts of agribusiness curricula, and students should learn about these areas. Measuring faculty members’ perceptions of the current inclusion and importance of teaching DS topics is a necessary step in developing a prioritized list of teaching needs. Leaving curriculum design to undocumented or random processes would be a poor start to training our nation’s future agribusiness managers. This research used a correlational ex post facto design to analyze faculty members’ perceptions of topic importance and inclusion. A random sample of faculty members was emailed a link to an online four-part questionnaire. Forced Likert-type scales measured the perceptions of importance and inclusion of 18 selected DS topics. Borich’s (1980) model of weighted discrepancy scores was used to develop a rank order of DS topic curricular needs. Forced-entry multiple regression was used to describe how the variation in the dependent variables measuring perceived importance was partitioned among sets of predictor variables. Teaching DS topics in a faculty member’s coursework was significantly correlated with faculty members’ overall perception of the importance of DS topics in the agribusiness curriculum, albeit at a low level. Although most dedicated DS courses were taught in agribusiness departments, no significant relationship existed between department and overall perceived importance of teaching DS topics. Faculty members who had earned a business degree did not rate DS topics as more important compared to those who had not earned a business degree. Respondents from departments with industry advisory councils did not rate the importance of DS topics higher than those from departments without such councils. Of the 18 DS topics studied, Project Management was identified as the one most needed to be added to agribusiness curricula. Forced-entry multiple regression was used for explaining variation among variables. Of the 18 importance-related dependent variables, those for Linear Programming and Material Resource Planning had no significant relationship with any independent variables. The remaining models explained at most 13.9% of the variations, and frequently much less.

In our increasingly competitive world, it is critical that college graduates enter the workplace with the appropriate skills to not only survive but also grow their career. Current college graduates have not consistently acquired the skills needed for success in the workplace to learn and thrive continuously in our rapidly changing world. The Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Science must identify the specific strategies that develop best the needed skills for the success of the graduate and society The purpose of the study was to identify a land grant college of agriculture and life sciences' (LGCALS) current programmatic and classroom strategies for developing students' ability to learn and thrive continuously in our rapidly changing world and a (1) explore programmatic strategies for developing students' ability to continuously learn and thrive; (2) explore innovative instructors classroom strategies for developing students' ability to learn and thrive continuously; (3) describe graduates perceptions of career readiness as measured through the bases of competence inventory, and finally; (4) compare programmatic strategies, classroom strategies and graduates' perceptions for career readiness. A mixed methods convergent parallel design guided the research. Qualitative interviews were employed for exploring experiences using an interpretive, constructivist, and naturalistic approach for research objectives 1 and 2. A cross sectional survey design and questionnaire, Making the Match, was used to conduct the quantitative research for objective 3. The mixed methods portion of the convergent parallel design was used to frame and explore research objective 4. Findings of the study detail need for curriculum improvement in problem solving, learning, time management, creativity and change, and personal strengths. / Ph. D.