Since it's conception in 1997, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars program has created a community of scholars that have shaped the program and gone on to do great things.

The program began in 1994 from the work of a group of faculty, charged by the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the time, Dr. Fred Poston, to find a way to meet the needs of our students.  He indicated that some students were falling between the cracks, and we as a college needed to find a new and innovative way to engage those students and other students in a community that would produce excellence in its faculty, graduate student, and undergraduate student population.  The result of many years of planning led to the formation of the program in the Fall of 1997, and the induction of the first group of Bailey Scholars in the Spring of 1998.

Previously, the administrative staff of the program consisted of a Director and an Academic Learning Coordinator. In the reorganization process completed by January of 2006, the Bailey Community Council combined the roles of Director and Academic Learning Coordinator into one position, the Senior Director. This Senior Director reports to the Bailey Community Council and also to the Department Chair of the CARRS Department. The Senior Director is responsible for the management of the program, whereas the Bailey Community Council continues to serve as the forum for peer leadership of the program.  From its beginning, the program has had the following individuals in administrative Roles:

Senior Director

Glenn Sterner (2006 - Present)

Director

Frank Fear (1997 - 2000)
Marquita Chamblee
Rick Brandenburg ( - 2006)
Frank Fear & Glenn Sterner (2006 - Co-Interim)

Academic Learning Coordinator

Patricia Burkhardt (1997 - )
Diane Doberneck
Patty Kenney

The background story of the Bailey Scholars Program can be found in the background documents assembled here.

Past Overview of Bailey

This document provides an idea of the program as it began.  As a learning organization, we have morphed, changed, learned, and grown over the course of the program's time.  Therefore, the current structure is much different than before.

The Life of Liberty Hyde Bailey

This document answers the question, "Who is Liberty Hyde Bailey?" and "Why is this program named after him?"  An innovative man in the field of horticulture, extension, and education, it was seen fit to name a program of innovation after such an innovative icon in our institution's history.

The Road to Bailey

This background document, written by the first director, outlines the high level of thinking, criticality, and intentionality behind the scholarship of the program.

Bailey at Year Two

This document focuses on a reflection of what we have learned in the first two years of the program.

Bailey's Ethos and Ethics

This inspirational piece correctly captures the inclusive and innovative nature of this program.  The heart of Bailey still lies in these Ethos and Ethics.

Practical Ethic for Learning Conveners

This aims to describe how our courses run from the Learning Convener's perspective.  It gives an idea of how the practive of our ethos is implemented in our academic classroom work.

Weaving Bailey

In the Bailey Scholars Program, we find that consistency in our work is essential.  This document aims to explain how our work pervades in all of our work from our classroom, to our governance, to our community, and beyond.

What we Have Learned About Space

The location of the program continues to be a important.  Our scholars (students, graduate students, faculty, and staff alike) receive 24hour/7days per week access to our program space, based upon the idea of a commons area.  We are located in an academic building, and this is a privelege we treasure.  This document aims to explain how important space truly is to the formation of community; we are not only an academic program, we are something more.