Levon Esters, assistant professor of agricultural education and studies, knows baseball. Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, he has been a Cubs fan since childhood.

Rajeev Arora, associate professor of horticulture, knows squash. Growing up in the Northern part of India, he fell in love with the sport while in college.

Although their favorite sports may be completely different, both Esters and Arora share one thing — they came to Iowa State to teach in the College of Agriculture.

Mary de Baca, diversity coordinator for the College of Agriculture, said diversity is important for the university, but especially in the College of Agriculture.

“A diverse student body helps prepare ISU students for living and working in the world,” she said. “Iowa in general is not a very diverse state in terms of population.”

Esters said he became interested in teaching agriculture after having a hard time picking a major.

“I was talking to a friend majoring in agricultural business, and I thought, hey, I could do that,” he said. “I finished my degree and taught at the Chicago High School of Agricultural Science for three years before deciding that I wanted to go back and get my doctorate.”

Arora chose agriculture because he had been surrounded by it growing up in small towns in India.

“All of my grandparents were small subsistence farmers. I thought I wanted a career strictly in basic science, but agriculture drew me back,” he said. “Now I can do fundamental research that is often driven by real practical questions related to both agriculture and horticulture.”

De Baca said there are three main ways that the college promotes diversity.

De Baca said undergraduate recruitment and retention is a high priority for the minority liaison officer, Nina Grant. Grant works at recruiting underexposed minorities out of high school and acts as an extra adviser to minority undergraduates. Graduate recruiting and retention is a part of de Baca’s role as diversity coordinator.

The college also has several assistantships for minority agricultural graduate students, as well as the George Washington Carver summer internship program, which allows high school and undergraduate students to work with a professor on a research project during the summer. Around 20 percent of past interns have gone on to enroll at Iowa State.

Jenice Jim, graduate student in animal science, participated in the internship program in the summer of 2002.

“The internship really exposed me to Iowa State,” she said. “I worked mostly with Dr. Howard Tyler in the animal science department, and he really wanted me come back to do my graduate work here. Iowa State has a strong animal science department.”

Besides working with students, de Baca said she also works at building relationships with minority serving institutions, whether it be gathering and sharing research or arranging faculty research exchange visits.

The college also seeks to raise awareness through the diversity committee, composed of faculty or staff from every department. The committee recently established a faculty award for diversity and added “diversity” to criteria used in faculty performance reviews.

“I think that it’s very important to recognize minorities in agriculture and if we can start recognizing those people here in Iowa, then maybe they will get the recognition in other places as well,” said Erin Hoffman, senior in agricultural studies and a student in Esters’ agricultural education class.

Both Esters and Arora said the College of Agriculture’s national reputation and size drew them to Ames.

“I deal with nurserymen here in Ames and throughout Iowa quite a bit, and have always been amazed at how willing they are to go out of their way to help me, be it hosting a lab field trip, or supporting my research,” Arora said. “They have always treated me with respect.”