An ISU professor was one of six individuals in the United States to receive the National Association of Agricultural Educators Teacher Mentor Award.

Mike Retallick, associate professor of agricultural education and studies, traveled to New Orleans to receive the award at the National Association of Agricultural Educators annual convention Nov. 19.

He has advised 43 undergraduate agricultural education majors and five agricultural education graduate students, and he has supervised more than 29 student teachers.

Retallick’s work has included studying how people can learn better from hands-on experience and explored how to design learning-based experiences in educational settings.

He also helped develop Iowa State’s “Science With Practice” program, which allows students to work with faculty and staff on projects and assignments while earning money and academic credit. The program has been running for 10 years now.

Before teaching at Iowa State, Retallick worked as a high school agriculture teacher for eight years. He was also an undergraduate coordinator and academic adviser for five years before joining as faculty at Iowa State.