Institute of Applied Agriculture

There’s another doctor in the house! Chelsea Mays-Williams, IAA Senior Lecturer of Oral Communication, just graduated with a Ph.D. In Language, Literacy, and Culture from UMBC. Congratulations, DR. Mays-Williams! Chelsea G. Mays-Williams

Awards season was a success at the IAA.🥇Congratulations to all - you make us proud!

👨🏼‍🏫 Senior Lecturer Tom Mazzone won the 2026 Distinguished Lecturer Award!

🚜 IAA alum Chris Weaver won the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award!

🐎 IAA alum Becky Remsberg won the 2026 Early Career Alumni Award!

⛳️ Senior Lecturer Geoff Rinehart won the Dr. William H. Daniel Award from the Sports Field Management Association.

Let’s hear it one more time for our IAA graduates! 🎉 Huge thanks to AGNR photographer Edwin Remsburg for capturing these moments across the day.

We are still beaming from yesterday’s graduation festivities. 51 IAA students earned their Certificate in Applied Agriculture this year, and we couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of them. Being a close-knit program, we host a special brunch celebration before the convocation ceremony, where each graduate is honored individually by their academic advisor. Then they walk the stage and turn their tassels with all the other AGNR graduates! Congratulations to all, and best wishes in your future endeavors. 🎉

Congratulations to Sergio Agustin-Joya for winning the 2026 Outstanding Certificate Student Award from the AGNR Alumni Association! Sergio will graduate from the IAA tomorrow with a Certificate in Ornamental Horticulture, and in the fall he will begin his bachelors degree in Architecture here at UMD. He is already an accomplished professional, completing an internship with MNC-PPC and continuing to work as a crew leader in Prince George’s County’s Landscape Division. We are so proud of you, Sergio!

“Look what I made for you at school, Mom!” Students in our Herbaceous Plants course made hanging baskets to take home for Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all the IAA moms out there!

More big Do Good news: the IAA is a proud partner in one of the six inaugural Do Good Signature Initiatives of the University of Maryland! Lindsay Barranco and Meredith Epstein are part of a new cross-campus effort led by the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources. Food for All brings together existing programs to deepen student engagement in addressing food insecurity.

The initiative will connect students to hands-on opportunities—from internships and volunteer work to classroom experiences—focused on alleviating hunger on campus, across Prince George’s County and throughout Maryland. Students will contribute to efforts such as nutritious food production, emergency food distribution, cooking and nutrition education, and research.

Building on existing work—including a National Science Foundation-funded food-waste reduction program and student internships at the UMD Community Learning Garden, Campus Pantry and Terp Farm—Food for All aims to ensure students not only understand the root causes of food insecurity, but actively contribute to solutions.

Food for All also includes partners in the College of Arts and Humanities, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Information, School of Public Health, and Division of Student Affairs.

UMD Names Inaugural Do Good Campus Signature… | Maryland Today Six Programs Highlight the University’s Commitment to Student Leadership, Social Impact and Real-World Change

Another great Maryland Day in the books! We sent hundreds of plants (grown by IAA students) off to their new homes and saw friends new and old at our coloring table.

🌏 Every day is Earth Day at the IAA! Our students are environmental stewards from the soil microbiome to the outer atmosphere. Whether they are rehabilitating wildlife, restoring the Chesapeake Bay, nurturing gardens, enhancing agricultural sustainability, greening sports fields, or more, IAA students are making the world a better place.