The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 49, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 13, 2011 Page: 5 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 23 x 12 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
April 13, 2011
Focus
Page 5
photos by DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer
<
m: "w* fw^msh
V> ■' ')■■<*■■■ " ' ' • '< ' ■ ' .•' ■■'•■<■•*•' .? ■•■■ ff-
• • ■ Y . -
m ♦ -»v
■K.!
jM* (T-'V §** plf
* ------- - . * *
Hr.
“>**»•
* *.
.
A
* i 1 1,1
Top: One of the gates on the Rhoden Reid Laboratory displays the old ACC as part of the original name of ACU, Abilene Christian College. Bottom Left: A curious kid eyes the camera at the Rhoden Reid
Laboratory. Many animals are so used to human contact that it becomes second nature to seek constant affection. Bottom Center: Clifford Rhoden Farm, one of ACU’s premier research facilities, sits on
over 400 acres of West Texas chaparral just seven miles outside of Abilene. Bottom Right: Sierra, one of the female therapy horses, rolls in the hay after going on a trail ride with “patients.” Sierra is one of
the many horses used as companion to assist with dating and marriage therapy treatment.
MAKE HAY
ACU’s Rhoden Farm enriches learning experiences for involved students
Passing the Super Walmart, as subdivisions begin to dwindle, Ambler becomes Texas State Highway 351 East
and shrinks to two lanes. Mesquite trees dot the grassy plains and urban life slowly gives way to rural West
Texas, with farmhouses keeping watch over grazing cattle and horses, all under the revolving arms of the
wind turbines towering above.1
After seven miles or so, four red brick pillars, remnants of some fence long gone, sit on the right as senti-
nels, marking a left turn onto a country gravel road. If you drive slowly enough, the dust clears, and you might
and trailer pass, but you’re still not there. . ‘ a,.. - ■:
. A purple and white sign marks the fi nal left turn. Its arrow points toward “The Rhoden,” as its friends know
it, otherwise called Clifford Rhoden Farm or simply Rhoden Farm. And if you drive just a little farther, one of
ACU’s premier research facilities sits on 400 acres of West Texas wilderness. Now, you’re there.
Functioning Facilities
The property contains a horse barn, facilities for goats,
a chicken coup, a warehouse for large machinery and
projects, a farmhouse, the Allen Events Center - a house
frequently used as a retreat location for ACU groups and
offices - and a working feedlot, leased out.
The Rhoden is surrounded by native pasture, im-
proved pasture, areas cultivated for small grains and
some research plots. Its residents include about 120
goats, 50 laying hens - which soon may be supplying
eggs for undergraduate research - some 25 head of
cattle, eight horses, four Anatolian shepherds and Farm
Manager Ellice Pierce, who has been living at Rhoden
since she accepted the position of farm manager in the
summer of 2008.
“I learn something new everyday," Pierce said of her
job as manager.
As a student in the Department of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences, class of 2008, Pierce remem-
bers benefitting from the resources Rhoden provides
ACU students, especially after becoming employed as
the teaching assistant for the Horses and Horseman-
ship lab, one of several that meets on the farm.
Now, as farm manager, Pierce lives at Rhoden and
takes care of the day-to-day chores of running a farm,
seeing to general maintenance and keeping all animals
fed and safe. She’s not the only one learning. Her job en-
sures ACU students have an orderly, functional facility
for undergraduate research ranging from soil experi-
mentation to legume alterations to animal husbandry.
“They’re out here all the time,” Pierce said. “They
work really hard.”
Tiffany Lutz, junior animal science major from Har-
mony, Pa., spent her summer working with goats, re-
searching whether tropical forest legumes could en-
hance a grain-based diet. Lutz also works at Rhoden,
helping with general maintenance like mowing grass
and cleaning pens. She is relieved to have found a stu-
dent worker job that’s not confined to a desk.
“I would so much rather be out in the open than be
in an office; it’s just who I am,” she said.
•A, '
Rare Opportunities
Rhoden gives undergraduate students the chance to
get their hands dirty, to really experience agricultural
and environmental sciences. And Lutz said she was
thankful for the chance to get experience for future
graduate school endeavors, calling Rhoden a valuable
resource for ACU students.
It reflects positively on ACU's program, especially con-
sidering the department’s relatively small size, she said.
Department Chair Foy Mills, professor of animal science,
said few other programs of this size offer such a hands-on
education, as ACU does. And the university’s status as a
private institution, combined with Abilene's unique, arid
environment, makes the program truly unique.
Dr. Ed Brokaw, professor of animal science, said the
opportunities offered at Rhoden would be much harder
to attain at a larger university, like Texas A&M.
“Because of our size, individual students have more
opportunity to be involved,” Brokaw said. “Sheer num-
bers prevent everybody from doing it in a big program.
Out here, we are smaller, so every student has the op-
portunity to come out and participate.”,
Those opportunities even extend to tailoring re-
search and activities to students’ specific interest dur-
ing their time at ACU, contributing to a more unique
overall experience, Brokaw said.
“Based on their interest, we also have the opportuni-
ty to be a little more flexible in terms of what we might
do in this program or that program.”
In addition to research opportunities, Lutz said she
appreciated the chance to get to know her advising pro-
fessor, Dr. Florah Mhlanga, professor of animal science,
on a more professional, yet personable, level outside
the classroom.
“I was harvesting legumes with Dr. Mhlanga, work-
ing side-by-side, bending over and pulling out plants,”
she said. “And doing that, I got to hear stories about
when she lived in Africa, how she grew up. I just really
appreciate that. It's just been really good.”
story by Laura Acuff
An Evolving History
Acquired in 1980 as a gift from the Anderson Clayton
Company, Rhoden became ACU’s primary farm in the
early 20Q0s, as more animals and equipment moved to the
property and more facilities were developed, Mills said;
Although initial plans for the property included a
more commercial purpose with academic benefits,
Mills said focus eventually shifted, by consideration of
risk and educational necessity. Now the property func-
tions primarily as an educational laboratory, with some
commercial output.
For instance, surplus goats are sent to market. Also,
in addition to paying lease, the feedlot on the property
employs several ACU students, offering them valuable
work experience in addition to a paycheck, Mills said.
Brokaw has been with the department since before
Rhoden’s acquisition, able to watch its evolving func-
tion and level of importance. He hopes the farm will
continue to serve as a resource for more and more stu-,
dents and says with incoming students’ levels of ag-
ricultural and environmental experience seeming to
lessen in recent years, the facility serves a more crucial
role than ever.
“Our students are coming from very different back-
grounds and have very different perceptions of the lev-
el of care and treatment that animals ought to have or
what animals ought to be used for,” Brokaw said.
Mills said some students, coming to college intend-
ing to become veterinarians, don’t realize they would
be required to operate on animals, and their experience
with “livestock” consists solely of family cats or dogs.
Rhoden gives those students a chance to taste the grit
and reality of agricultural and environmental sciences
in raw application.
For Lutz, the hands-on experience has been one she
suspects is largely unique to ACU.
“I don’t know that I would get this at a larger univer-
sity," Lutz said. “You wouldn’t get to work one-on-one
with the professors and, being from a smaller university,
having a small department and having this resource - just
given the opportunity of doing research - it’s really nice.”
Despite its distance from campus, Pierce said the
students who utilize the Rhoden receive hands-on re-
search experience and, beyond that, the chance to im-
merse themselves in the grittier sides of their future
careers. For some, it becomes an escape.
“Most students like to come out and get away from
town for a while,” she said.
contact Acuff at
Ika06a@acu.edu
1
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 49, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 13, 2011, newspaper, April 13, 2011; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth896681/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.