Ag News
CAES: Celebrating achievements and welcoming new faces
Posted on Sep 24, 2025 at 13:12 PM
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) has a lot to celebrate with our students this year. From spring graduation ceremonies across all three campuses to the excitement of welcoming a new class of students this fall, the college continues to demonstrate its commitment to preparing the next generation of leaders who will shape agriculture, communities, and our state’s future.
This spring, hundreds of CAES students turned their tassels and walked across the stage, ready to begin the next chapter of their lives. The college awarded 327 bachelor’s degrees, 78 graduate degrees, including master’s and Ph.D. programs, and four certificates at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Each graduate represents not only years of hard work and dedication, but also the promise of positive change in fields ranging from crop science to agribusiness, food production to environmental stewardship. For many of these graduates, the roots of their journey began in rural Georgia, and their impact will extend far beyond campus as they return to farms, businesses, and communities across the state or take their skills into industry to foster innovation and propel agriculture forward through research.
This fall, CAES welcomed around 415 new undergraduate students, including 307 first-year students and 108 transfer students. The college also gained 180 new graduate students—82 pursuing doctoral degrees and 98 entering master’s programs. Together, this diverse and talented group of students represents the future of agriculture, bringing new ideas, fresh perspectives, and a passion for learning that will strengthen Georgia agriculture and rural communities for years to come.
Supporting students is at the very heart of CAES’s mission. For the 2025–26 academic year, the college awarded an incredible $775,000 in scholarships to help students pursue their goals. This includes $560,000 in merit-based scholarships, awarded to 278 students, and $215,000 in experiential learning scholarships, which supported 158 students in pursuing hands-on opportunities such as internships, research, and study abroad. These scholarships don’t just ease financial burdens – they open doors for students to chase big ideas and gain experiences that will shape their careers.
Those experiences often extend well beyond Georgia. This past summer, six CAES students traveled to Washington, D.C., serving as Congressional Agricultural Fellows. Living and working in the nation’s capital gave them a front-row seat to policymaking while ensuring Georgia agriculture had a voice in national conversations. These students returned with knowledge, confidence, and connections that will benefit the agricultural industry in countless ways.
Closer to home, the CAES Rural Scholars Program continues to grow, and we brought in four new rural scholars. Rural scholars receive financial support, mentoring, and leadership opportunities, but more importantly, they carry the values and strengths of Georgia’s rural communities into their studies and future careers. Whether they return to family farms, pursue agribusiness, or lead in research and policy, these students are living proof of the important role rural Georgia plays in shaping the future.
For Georgia Farm Bureau members, these updates are more than just numbers on a page – they represent the next generation of leaders who will guide Georgia agriculture forward. Whether they are returning to family farms, conducting groundbreaking research, or learning the ropes in public policy, our CAES students are deeply connected to the same values that Farm Bureau stands for: stewardship of the land, strength of community, and a commitment to feeding and sustaining Georgia. As we celebrate their accomplishments, we are reminded that the future of Georgia agriculture is bright and that future is already taking shape in the classrooms, labs, and fields of CAES.
Dean Nick Place has served as dean of the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences since Jan. 1, 2021. As dean and director, Place oversees the faculty, staff and programming for CAES with a total of nearly 3,000 employees across the state of Georgia. CAES is a national leader in all things agriculture and environment, seeking creative solutions to complex problems facing the industry today through innovative teaching, research and outreach efforts in Georgia and across the Southeast.
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