Agriculture can be an intimidating industry. The Women in Agronomy group is trying to decrease its intimidation factor for female students.

The under-representation of women in agriculture has manifested itself in Iowa State’s agronomy department. In some classes, it is easy to tell that there is a gender gap in the major.

Jennifer Jensen, a junior majoring in agronomy, environmental science, and biology, and a part of Women in Agronomy, said that there is a highly noticeable gender gap in her classes.

However, the department is seeing an increase in the number of women it is recruiting. This could be due to the “I’m an Agronomist” marketing campaign. It is known around the nation and other universities even contact Iowa State to ask about it Stephanie Zumbach said.

Stephanie Zumbach is the undergraduate coordinator for the department of agronomy. This means she works with events and campus visits for prospective students. She also is the advisor for the Women in Agronomy group.

This marketing strategy is designed to help students and prospective students see themselves in agronomy, Zumbach said.

“I’m an Agronomist” uses a wide variety of students who are actively involved in student life and who will represent the department well. Zumbach said that they try hard to include an equal number of female students to male students.

Making sure there are enough women represented in “I’m an Agronomist” is a key point in recruiting new female students. The possible students can see that Iowa State’s agronomy major contains different types of students.

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