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KU News: KU’s Master of Public Administration now available online

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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

 

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Contact: Sydney Bannister, School of Public Affairs & Administration, 785-864-2143, [email protected], @KUSPAA

KU’s Master of Public Administration now available online

 

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas recognizes how family and work commitments, health or mobility limitations, and other responsibilities can create barriers to education and career advancement. With the goal of creating degree programs that are accessible to everyone with the ambition to succeed, KU’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) is now available online.

This MPA program is offered through the KU School of Public Affairs & Administration, which was recently ranked in the top 26 overall best public affairs programs in the nation and No. 1 in local government management by U.S. News & World Report. These online courses are taught by the same highly regarded faculty and expert instructors and meet the same rigorous educational standards as on-campus programs — but offer more flexibility for students to study whenever and wherever is most convenient. This online program is accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA).

“The Jayhawk Global MPA connects nationally recognized faculty to an engaging and online curriculum,” said Maja Husar Holmes, director and professor of public administration at the School of Public Affairs & Administration. “KU is excited to bring the highly ranked MPA program closer to the leaders who want to advance public service in their communities.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for social and community service managers is projected to grow 9% from 2022 to 2032. Earning a master’s degree online from KU, students join a community that focuses on practice- and research-informed coursework, peer-to-peer learning and public sector collaboration to prepare students for successful careers. By the end of the coursework, graduates will be ready to lead and manage in public governance; participate in and contribute to the public policy process; analyze, synthesize, think creatively and make decisions; articulate and apply public service perspectives; and communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry.

A Master of Public Administration (MPA) online from KU prepares students to manage and lead public-serving organizations, especially at the state and local levels. This program specializes in the ethics, knowledge, critical thinking and professional skills needed to serve diverse communities, combining theoretically grounded coursework and practical application to produce graduates who can lead, innovate and problem-solve in public and nonprofit settings.

Graduate certificates — city and county management and public and nonprofit management — allow students to broaden their knowledge in a specific area and learn the most up-to-date theory and techniques used in practice. These certificate programs are a great way for public administration professionals to enhance their skills while earning credit that can count toward the full MPA degree.

Through Jayhawk Global, the university’s education innovation center, KU plans to offer many more online degree opportunities, giving more students the chance to earn a globally recognized degree that signals prestige, quality and career readiness.

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

 

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

 

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

Wheat Scoop: Putting Kernels to the Test

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Kansas Wheat

Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]

For audio version, visit kswheat.com.

​K-State Wheat Quality Lab boosts milling and baking quality of up-and-coming varieties 1,000 grams at a time.

 

The journey from a potential genetic cross to the latest released wheat variety requires years of testing by public and private wheat breeders. They keep their eye on every aspect of agronomic performance from disease resistance to standability. Equally important is the partnership between wheat breeders and the Wheat Quality Lab at Kansas State University. Researchers at the lab help streamline the wheat breeding process by ensuring only lines with acceptable or superior milling and baking performance become the varieties Kansas wheat producers eventually plant and harvest.

 

“Agronomic performance and end-use quality are both critically important when selecting wheat varieties for commercial production,” said Aaron Harries, Kansas Wheat vice president of research and operations. “Supported by the two-penny-per-bushel wheat checkoff, the Kansas Wheat Quality Lab provides breeders, researchers and producers with the information they need to select which wheat lines to advance and which varieties to grow.”

 

Breeders like Guorong Zhang, K-State wheat breeder based at the K-State Agricultural Research Center in Hays, create about 800 new experimental lines each year – the critical step in a decade-long research process. However, not all of these lines have acceptable flour and baking qualities. Early sorting of which lines do or do not meet those standards saves time and cost for further testing down the road.

 

“Quality is an important trait for breeders; we don’t want to release a variety with poor quality,” Zhang said. “Thanks to the lab, they can evaluate all our advanced breeding lines. Based on the lab testing, we can see the lines with poor quality, and we will not continue those lines.”

 

The Kansas Wheat Quality Lab annually tests 350 to 400 advanced lines from the K-State wheat breeding programs. It takes until year five in the breeding program to have enough seed to run preliminary quality tests like protein content and mixograph. But, as lines go through more field testing, more seeds are harvested from each line, allowing for more extensive quality evaluations.

 

“Breeders can select for factors that determine agronomic performance, but milling and baking performance has to be tested in the lab,” said Yonghui Li, director of the Wheat Quality Lab. “These tests require specialized equipment along with training and experience to determine milling and baking quality.”

 

A sample consists of 1,000 grams of wheat. The lab first looks at the sample using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy technology. These tests allow researchers to examine protein quantity and test the moisture content of the grain.

 

Researchers then temper the grain – or add a little bit of water to help make the milling process easier. Then, the sample is milled to separate the bran – the external coating of the wheat kernel – from the endosperm – the white part of the wheat kernel that becomes white flour. This resulting flour sample is tested too – looking at color and how much flour can be produced from the sample – the higher the amount, the better for millers.

 

The testing then progresses to looking at protein quantity and quality and dough properties. Tests like the mixograph and farinograph determine dough-mixing properties like water absorbance, mixing stability and more.

 

The final step is to take the flour, add water, yeast, sugar and salt and bake a pup loaf of bread, following standard protocols. Researchers then examine the quality of that bread – from the volume of the loaf to the crumb.

 

The combined results of these tests are given back to K-State wheat breeders, who use the information to help determine which lines to advance in their breeding programs. The milling and baking tests are repeated each year as lines are in the advanced stages of the program, meaning by the time a variety is released, breeders have four to five years of quality data available.

 

In addition to experimental lines, the lab tests 30 to 40 samples each year as a final evaluation before they are released by public and private wheat breeders throughout the Great Plains. The results are submitted back to the Wheat Quality Council, which compiles the results into an annual report.

 

The main funding for the lab’s operations – necessary equipment maintenance along with a full-time staff member and a team of undergraduate student workers – comes from the Kansas wheat checkoff. In turn, the lab helps support the reputation of Kansas wheat as having high-quality wheat, creating more opportunities in domestic and international markets.

 

“With those checkoff dollars, we can evaluate quality each year and work with our breeders to create those best-performing varieties for Kansas,” Li said. “In turn, when producers choose varieties with better end-use quality, it improves the overall quality and marketability of Kansas wheat.”

 

Learn more about the K-State Wheat Quality Lab at https://www.grains.k-state.edu/facilities/wheatqualitylab/.

 

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Written by Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat

Wheat Tour 2024, Day 3 Final Report

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Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]

For audio version, visit kswheat.com.

The 2024 Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour across Kansas wrapped up on May 16. During the three days of wheat scouting, tour participants traveled six routes from Manhattan to Colby to Wichita and back to Manhattan. This year’s tour hosted 70 people from 19 U.S. states in 18 vehicles while traveling across the state. Of those participants, 50 people had never been on the tour before.

 

The three-day average yield for the fields that were calculated was 46.5 bushels per acre. While an estimated 7.5 million acres of wheat were planted in the fall, the Kansas wheat crop varies in condition based on amount of moisture received. What Mother Nature has in store for the wheat crop still remains to be seen, but the tour captures a moment in time for the yield potential for fields across the state.

 

The official tour projection for total production of wheat to be harvested in Kansas is 290.4 million bushels. This number is the average of estimated predictions from tour participants who gathered information from 449 fields across the state. Based on May 1 conditions, NASS predicted the crop to be slightly lower at 267.9 million bushels, with a yield of 38 bushels per acre.

 

These fields are still two to four weeks from harvest. A lot can happen during that time to affect final yields and production.

 

Dr. Romulo Lollato, K-State Wheat and Forages Extension Specialist, reminded tour participants that the yield number is based on the potential that the crop has as of now, if things go well from now until harvest.

 

“It’s where we could get,” he said. If Kansas gets cool and wet weather during grain fill, it has the potential to reach that yield. However, there are still many things that could go wrong before that wheat makes it into the bin. He said he believes the 46.5 yield is on the high end.

 

“Variability is the name of the game this year,” Lollato said, recapping what tour participants saw this year: freeze damage, drought stress and stripe rust coming on after it was too late to spray fungicide.

 

The tour is sponsored by the Wheat Quality Council, which is a coordinated effort by breeders, producers and processors to improve wheat and flour quality. Dave Green, executive director of the WQC, said there are several goals of the tour. The first is for participants to make connections within the wheat industry. Another is to “describe the wheat as well as we can at the current point in time, not knowing what will happen over the next few weeks.” A third goal is to highlight the agriculture industry.

 

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Wheat Tour 2024, Day 2

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Guest Columnist
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Kansas Wheat

Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]

For audio version, visit kswheat.com.

On Wednesday, 69 people on the Wheat Quality Council’s 2024 winter wheat tour made their way from Colby to Wichita, Kansas, stopping in wheat fields along six different routes.

 

Wednesday’s wheat tour scouts made 216 stops at wheat fields across western, central and southern Kansas, and into northern counties in Oklahoma.

 

The calculated yield from all cars was 42.4 bushels per acre. Scouts were able to use the late season formula provided by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, which includes counting wheat heads, number of spikelets and kernels per spikelet. The yield formula doesn’t take disease, pests or weed pressure into consideration.

 

Romulo Lollato said the theme of the day was variability, even within fields. Groups saw a lot of drought stress and freeze damage, with some fields already being destroyed. Not as much stripe rust or Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus were observed on Wednesday, compared to Tuesday, likely due to drought conditions.

 

Farmers in the area reported that combines will probably start rolling by June 1 in south central Kansas, about seven to ten days earlier than average. There wasn’t as much fungicide applied in the southern areas of Kansas because the stripe rust started coming on in a later growth stage.

 

“This year is a testament to the wheat breeders and researchers and the work they’ve done,” said Derek Sawyer, who farms near McPherson. “This year, everything has been stressed across the state, but we’re still looking at a decent crop.”

 

Dennis Schoenhals from Oklahoma Wheat Commission reported that the state’s production was estimated at 96.2 million bushels this year, up from 68.6 million bushels last year, according to USDA’s NASS. USDA/NASS estimates the Oklahoma crop will yield 37 bushels per acre, compared with 28 last year. Harvested acres are estimated at 2.6 million acres. A tour of agronomists and others in the industry estimated the production slightly lower than the NASS estimate, at 89.3 million bushels and a yield of 33 bushels per acre. He said the Oklahoma wheat crop had good moisture through the end of January, but then they had an 83 day flash drought, which took the top end of the crop. He said it has had good, cool grainfill weather.

 

Wheat Tour 24 continues Thursday with six routes between Wichita and Manhattan. Follow along with the tour at #wheattour24. A final production estimate will be announced Thursday afternoon.

 

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Wheat Tour 2024, Day 1

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Guest Columnist
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Kansas Wheat

Wheat Tour 2024, Day 1
Marsha Boswell, Kansas Wheat<[email protected]>
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[email protected]
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Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]

For audio version, visit kswheat.com.

Participants on the northern routes of this year’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour saw some of the better-looking wheat that they’ve seen in years, while participants on the southern routes saw drought-stricken fields. They calculated yields based on head counts and number of spikelets in the heads; however, tour scouts saw stripe rust, wheat streak mosaic virus and freeze damage.

 

About 69 people from 19 U.S. states, traveled in 18 cars on six routes between Manhattan and Colby, Kan., Tuesday, stopping at wheat fields every 15-20 miles along the routes, as part of the Wheat Quality Council’s 66th Annual Hard Winter Wheat Evaluation Tour.

 

About half the participants had not been on the tour before. They were shown how to take yield measurements from tour alumni, using the formula provided by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). This formula is based on 2014-2023 Kansas wheat objective yield data. Farmers can calculate their own field estimates using the same formula with instructions at kswheat.com.

 

Every tour participant makes yield calculations at each stop based on three to four different area samplings per field. These individual estimates are averaged with the rest of their route mates, and eventually added to a formula that produces a final yield estimate for the areas along the routes. While yields tend to be the spotlight of the Wheat Quality Tour, the real benefit is the ability to network among the ‘grain chain.’ This tour gives Kansas farmers the chance to interact with and influence their customers around the globe, on the tour, as well as at the #wheattour24 hashtag.

 

Tuesday’s cars of wheat tour scouts made 206 stops at wheat fields across north central, central and northwest Kansas, and into southern counties in Nebraska. The calculated yield is based on what scouts saw at this point in time. A lot can happen between now and harvest. The calculated yield from all cars was 49.9 bushels per acre, which was above trendline yields and is representative of areas of the state that are not most impacted by drought conditions. Day 2 of the tour will travel through southwest and south central Kansas, areas that have missed out on any recent precipitation.

 

Statewide, based on May 1 conditions, Kansas’ 2024 winter wheat crop is forecast at 267.9 million bushels, up 66 million bushels from last year’s crop, according to NASS. Average yield is forecast at 38 bushels per acre, up 3 bushels from last year. Acreage to be harvested for grain is estimated at 7.05 million acres, up from last year’s 5.75 million acres.

 

For the week ending May 12, 2024, Kansas winter wheat condition rated 13% very poor, 22% poor, 34% fair, 28% good and 3% excellent. Kansas winter wheat jointed was 97%, ahead of 84% last year and 89% for the five-year average. Headed was 73%, well ahead of 48% last year and 43% average. Coloring was 1%.

 

In addition to Kansas reports, scouts from Nebraska and Colorado met the group in Colby to give reports from their states.

 

Royce Schaneman from Nebraska Wheat Board reported that USDA estimates the Nebraska crop at 40.8 million bushels, which is up from 36.96 million bushels last year. Yield is estimated at 48 bushels per acre.

 

A report from Colorado estimated the crop at 72 million bushels, based on a yield of 44 bushels per acre and 2.1 million acres planted. This is lower than the May 1 USDA estimate of 81.4 million bushels, based on slightly higher abandonment. Last year’s production was 74.62 million bushels.

 

These estimates are for this year’s hard winter wheat crop during this current snapshot in time.

 

Wheat Tour 24 continues Wednesday with six routes between Colby and Wichita, Kansas.

 

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