Estepp in Ag Education Earns APLU-USDA National Teaching Award

Christopher Estepp, U of A professor of agricultural education, has been named winner of a national teaching honor awarded by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Estepp, a member of the faculty in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences' Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology, is recipient of the 2025 Excellence in College and University Teaching in Food and Agricultural Sciences Award.

He is one of four faculty members across the country to be recognized with an APLU-USDA national teaching award.

"I am extremely honored to receive the USDA teaching award," Estepp says. "The list of prior honorees includes many extraordinary teachers from colleges of agriculture around the nation, many of whom I have been fortunate enough to know and glean knowledge from about their teaching."

Estepp works with students who are preparing to become secondary agriculture teachers. He teaches courses in Instructional and Presentation Strategies, Curriculum Development and Assessment, Issues in Agriculture, Methods of Teaching in Ag Laboratories and Philosophy of Agricultural and Extension Education, while also supervising student teachers.

He attends and facilitates professional development workshops on teaching and learning, has authored numerous articles and presentations on the subject of teaching methodology, co-authored and co-produced a podcast for high school agriculture teachers and was principal author and PI on a large USDA grant on experiential education and pedagogy to retain and engage students. He has been recognized by the NACTA Journal with outstanding journal article awards five times, as well as once by the Journal of Agricultural Education.

"Teaching is, in my mind, the most important aspect of my duties," he says. "Working with preservice agriculture teachers makes me have to be more aware of my teaching because I must model the practices I want them to learn. One of the highlights of this career is seeing my former students graduate and take over their own classrooms and develop their teaching skills."

Estepp is a 2023 graduate of LEAD21, a national leadership development program, and has earned the Educator Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture professional organization and the non-land-grant Agriculture and Renewable Resources Universities Distinguished Young Educator Award. NARRU is a division of APLU.

He has also received the college's John W. White Teaching Award, the Jack G. Justus Award for Teaching Excellence, the NACTA Teaching Scholar Award, the American Association for Agricultural Education-Southern Region Distinguished Teacher Educator award and was inducted into the U of A Teaching Academy.

"Dr. Estepp is the consummate teacher," George Wardlow, AECT Department head, says. "He has served as a high school teacher, as a university teacher educator and as a student of the research in the science and art of teaching. While early in his career, he focused on teaching the science of agriculture, his recent career focus has been on advancing the science of teaching."

In addition to his teaching role, Estepp is a Bumpers College Dean's Fellow, appointed this year by Dean Jeff Edwards. In that role, he assists the dean and others with improving and updating the Razorback AgCademy program.

The Razorback AgCademy gives high school and community college students an opportunity to enroll in college courses through Bumpers College. Students can earn college credit at reduced tuition costs while engaging in an online learning experience. Three courses, or modules, are currently offered and designed to model U of A's commitment to high quality teaching and learning and expose students to the wide range of career opportunities in the agriculture industry.

Estepp earned his bachelor's in animal science and his master's in agricultural education from Texas A&M University, and his Ph.D. in agricultural education from the University of Florida.

The USDA awards, given each year since 1992, are selected from a competitive pool of exceptional candidates nominated by their peers and administrators. Estepp will be recognized at the awards ceremony at the 2026 APLU Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, from Nov. 15-17.

Annual awards include stipends of $5,000 for the national winners and $2,000 for six regional and early-career honorees to be used for improving teaching at their respective universities.

"We are delighted to congratulate this year's honorees of the Excellence in College and University Teaching Awards for Food and Agricultural Sciences," said Wendy Fink, executive director of the Academic Programs Section at APLU. "Their steadfast dedication to teaching and mentorship profoundly influences not only the trajectory of their students, but also inspires colleagues through the academic community, nurturing a culture of ongoing growth and distinction." 

The other honorees are Michel Wattiaux of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who also received the USDA Excellence in College and University Teaching Award for Food and Agricultural Sciences, and Mellissa Crosswhite of Oklahoma State University and Toni Gist of the University of Illinois Champaign, who are recipients in the National Teaching and Student Engagement category. 

Bumpers College Associate Dean Jacquelyn Dee Mosley, also a professor of human development and family sciences in the college's School of Human Environmental Sciences, won the APLU-USDA Excellence in College and University Teaching Awards for Food and Agricultural Sciences in 2022.

Former agricultural communications associate professor Leslie Edgar won the APLU-USDA Early Career Award in 2013.

Previous regional winners of the teaching award from Bumpers College include Wardlow (2018) and former weed science professor Dick Oliver (2009).

APLU is a research, policy and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening and advancing the work of public universities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. With a membership of more than 250 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems and affiliated organizations, APLU's agenda is built on the three pillars of increasing degree completion and academic success, advancing scientific research and expanding engagement.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.