Agricultural Operations Coordinator Kaitlyn Fraser
Kellogg Community College has hired Kaitlyn Fraser, of Coldwater, as coordinator of the College’s new Agricultural Operations Program partnership with Michigan State University.
The new program, launching formally this fall, is designed to prepare graduates for jobs or further education in crop and soil science, farm management, operations and safety in the agricultural field. Agricultural Operations students will have the opportunity to earn an Associate in General Studies degree at KCC while simultaneously earning an Agricultural Operations Certificate through MSU, with all coursework completed entirely at KCC.
Fraser’s roles as program coordinator include recruitment, advising, course planning and other assistance. She said the program is unique in that it gives students interested in an agricultural education “an added bonus” of earning a degree in addition to a certificate valued in the industry.
Additionally, every Agriculture Operations student will be required to complete a summer internship, which Fraser said will go a long way toward helping them network and make connections in the industry while also serving as a way for students to make sure they truly enjoy the work.
“We’re giving these students a leg up on the path to a successful career in agriculture,” Fraser said. “I’m excited to be a part of the new KCC/MSU ag partnership and look forward to helping these students succeed.”
Fraser has had a long relationship with the agriculture industry in Michigan. A graduate of Quincy High School, Fraser grew up on a crop farm in Quincy, and she continues to farm commercial corn and soybeans with her husband, Taylor, and their young son, Blaine, in Coldwater. A longtime Future Farmers of America member and state FFA officer, Fraser earned her bachelor’s degree in Crop and Soil Science from MSU in 2012 and is currently working on her master’s in Crop Sciences at University of Illinois.
Fraser is also a member of the Branch County Farm Bureau and a former agronomist who teaches agriculture classes to seventh through 10th graders at the Branch Area Careers Center.
For students interested in studying Agricultural Operations, Fraser said the jobs are there for graduates.
“People still have to eat, and we still have to produce,” she said. “This includes farmers and their support staff, whose jobs are equally important. They make the industry go.”
Registration for fall classes that are part of KCC’s Agricultural Operations Program is open now. For more information, contact Fraser at kfraser@msu.edu or 269-965-3931 ext. 2092 or visit www.kellogg.edu/agriculture.
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