Jay K. Solomonson

Jay K. Solomonson grew up on a 1000-acre family farm in rural, Coal Valley, Illinois. After high school, he attended Black Hawk College- East then transferred to Western Illinois University where he received his B.S. degree in Agriculture- Teacher Certification. He began his career at Orion High School where he taught agricultural education classes and was the FFA advisor for 17 years. He also served as the Director of Career and Technical Education for six of those years. During that time he earned his M.S. degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. in Agricultural Education from Iowa State University. In 2019, he accepted a position as the District 1 Program Advisor for the Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education (FCAE)- a project of the Illinois State Board of Education. He was in that position for a year prior to joining the faculty at Illinois State University in 2020. Dr. Solomonson teaches courses in Agricultural Education, Agricultural Leadership & Communications, and Agricultural Mechanics and Technology.

Publications

Developing Technical Agriculture Skills Through Laboratory Instruction in School-Based Agricultural Education
Developing Technical Agriculture Skills Through Laboratory Instruction in School-Based Agricultural Education
Trent Wells, Jay K. Solomonson, Mark S. Hainline. © 2024. 27 pages.
In the context of school-based agricultural education (SBAE), technical agriculture skill instruction frequently spans the full gamut of the agricultural industry. Specifically...
Organizing and Administering School-Based Agricultural Education Systems and the FFA
Organizing and Administering School-Based Agricultural Education Systems and the FFA
Jay K. Solomonson, Richie Roberts. © 2022. 18 pages.
This chapter investigates how school-based agricultural education systems and FFA programs have been structured, organized, and administered in the United States. Specifically...