Bachelors-Level Soil Science Training at Land-Grant Institutions in the United States and Its Territories

Core Ideas Loss or gain of academic programs is important in evaluating soil science's status. Program lists that allow evaluation of changes over time do not currently exist. Guidelines for determining bachelors-level soil science programs are proposed. A baseline for land-grant institutions is provided for future comparisons. datasetdoi 10.5061/dryad.md0rs60 Concern over the status of soil science education in the United States has led to a number of publications in recent years that track trends in student enrollment and offer suggestions for attracting more students to soil science. However, there is little information about changes in the number of degree programs that prepare students for careers as soil scientists, and such changes are obviously an important measure of the status of our field. This study established criteria to identify bachelor's degree programs that prepare students for soil science careers and used websites at land-grant colleges to review the degree offerings of these schools in the United States and its territories to determine if they met the established criteria. Fifty-nine land-grant colleges were identified that offer bachelor's degree programs that prepare students for soil science careers, with a total of 61 degree programs since two of the schools had two separate bachelor's degrees that met the established criteria. This study provides guidelines for conducting similar future studies and a baseline against which they can be compared to allow us to determine whether we are gaining or losing soil science programs at the land-grant colleges over time.