Levon T Esters

Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication

Associate Professor Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication

Phone

765.494.8439

Fax

765.496.1152

Office

Lilly Room 3-226

Address

915 W State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2054

Email

lesters@purdue.edu

Professional Certifications
Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF), 2008

Education Degree
Ph.D, Agricultural and Extension Education, Pennsylvania State University, 2003
M.S., Agricultural Education, North Carolina A&T State University, 2000
B.S., Agricultural Business, Florida A&M University,1995

Committees
Diversity Action Team in Agriculture

Research Interests
Career development theory and practice; career education; use of agriculture as a context for teaching and learning STEM; application of social cognitive career theory to diverse youth in urban life science educational contexts.

Teaching Interests
Career development theory and practice; career education

Professional Experience
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Education & Studies, Iowa State University, 2004-2009
Graduate Assistant, Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, Pennsylvania State University; Program Coordinator, Food and Agricultural Sciences Institute, 2000-2003
Agricultural Education Instructor and Coordinator of Ag-Business Career Pathway, The Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, 1998-2000

Awards & Honors

(2019) Diversity and Inclusion Award for Mentoring@PurdueTeam. APLU National Experiment Station Section.

(2019) Diversity Champion Award (Award presented to the Mentoring@Purdue Team). National Land-Grant Diversity Conference.

(2018) The 2018 Violet Haas Award. Purdue Susan Bulkeley Butler Center.

(2017) Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA) Engagement Award for the Mentoring@Purdue (M@P) Program. Purdue University, Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA).

(2017) Excellence in Research/Seed for Success Award (i.e., Acorn Award). Purdue University.

(2017) MSI Aspiring Leader. Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI), University of Pennsylvania.

(2016) Distinguished Research Award. North Central American Association for Agricultural Education (NC-AAAE) Region.

(2015) Erin Slater Mentoring Achievement Award. College Mentors for Kids, Purdue University.

(2015) Purdue Bravo Award. Purdue University.

(2012) Early Career Award. Youth Development and Agricultural Education.

Selected Publications

Knobloch, N. A., Esters, L. T., & Proctor, S. H. (in press). A follow-up study of underrepresented minority students’ perceived value of a pre-graduate program experience in Ag+STEM disciplines. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Journal.

Esters, L. T., Knobloch, N. A., & Getz, D. (in press). Recruiting underrepresented minority undergraduate students in the agricultural sciences through partnerships with 1890 land-grant institutions. Manuscript submitted to the. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Journal.

Knobloch, N. A., & Esters, L. T. (in press). A case study evaluation of a mentoring training program focused on women and underrepresented minorities in Ag+STEM programs. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Journal.

Wynkoop, R., Peters, J. L., Talbert, B. A., & Esters, L. T. (2011). Educational Technology Use and Acquisition in Secondary Agricultural Education Classrooms. American Association for Agricultural Education - North Central Region Conference.