For the first time, an ISU graduate student will represent minority students in agriculture nationally as president of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences Graduate Chapter.

Aaron T. Jeffries, graduate student in agronomy, will be the first student from Iowa State elected national president of the graduate student chapter of MANRRS. Jeffries assumed the position at the organization’s national conference in Des Moines in late March. His term will end in May of next year.

“I was very honored that they had enough faith in my leadership skills to elect me president,” Jeffries said.

Mary de Baca, adviser of the ISU MANNRS chapter and director of diversity programs for the College of Agriculture, said Iowa State has had one other student serve as undergraduate national president in 1999. The ISU chapter has a graduate or undergraduate member elected to a regional office just about every year, she said.

“There are 56 MANRRS chapters across the country,” she said. “Two national officers in the last five years is doing very well.”

De Baca said having Jeffries in this type of leadership position will be very positive for the university as well as the Iowa State MANRRS chapter.

“Anytime an ISU student is recognized as a leader, it reflects well on campus,” de Baca said. “It will cause people to say ‘Iowa State? I think I’ll go check out their Web site.'”

Jeffries said his position will bring a lot of publicity to Iowa State because he will be traveling and making presentations to many different universities, government agencies and industry venues.

There are many duties involved with being national president of this organization, Jeffries said. One of these includes serving on the national executive committee.

The executive committee is made up of the national professional president, president-elect, secretary and treasurer in addition to the national undergraduate president and the national graduate president, he said.

Jeffries said he expects to spend and average of an hour and a half on MANRRS work every day. In addition, he will travel to Indianapolis, Ind., for an officer training session in May and to Pittsburgh, Pa., in August to meet with all the regional vice presidents. He also plans to travel for two executive committee meetings and at least two other regional conferences.

“I’m going to be really busy next year,” Jeffries said.

De Baca said having Jeffries on the executive committee will be beneficial because it will allow him to keep professionals updated on student needs. It will also give Iowa State an “in” about knowing what is going on at the national level to help promote leadership activities and services for minorities in the agricultural field.

De Baca said she is confident Jeffries will do an excellent job as national president.

“He’s very congenial and very willing to take responsibility,” De Baca said. “I also think he’s a dedicated scientist, which is important in this field.”

Jeffries became involved in MANRRS in 1999 while working on his master’s degree in plant molecular genetics at Alabama A&M University. He continued his involvement at Iowa State while working on his doctorate in crop production and physiology.

“I came [to Iowa State] because it’s the best ag college in the country,” Jeffries said.