Ag Systems Lab - Turner Teaching Summary

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." –Socrates

“Everything you know, and everything everyone knows, is only a model. Get your model out there where it can be viewed. Invite others to challenge your assumptions and add their own." – Donella H. Meadows

Teaching Responsibilities

My current teaching appointment resides in the Department of Agriculture, Agribusiness, and Environmental Science at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK). My primary teaching duties include co-managing the undergraduate Agribusiness program, leading the undergraduate Agribusiness-Ranch Management specialization, and teaching specialized graduate courses through my formal role with the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management as well as the interdisciplinary Environmental Systems Management program. My personal teaching style is to allow students to self-direct their own learning (to the extent the course content allows), providing them with a road-map of the course and feedback along to the way to help them achieve their goals for the class. This applies whether the course is face-to-face, hybrid, or online.

In addition to traditional university classes, I teach a variety of systems thinking and system dynamics modeling workshops locally and nationally for both scientific and professional audiences.

For a description of my vision for teaching, feel free to take a look at my Teaching Philosophy Statement.

Courses Taught

Undergraduate (courses with * indicate core teaching responsibilities):

Principles of Agribusiness Management
Introduction to Agricultural Economics
Farm and Ranch Business Management
Agricultural and Food Policy
Environmental Economics
Water Resources Management and Policy*
Rangeland Resource Economics*
Strategic Agribusiness Management*
Introduction to Systems Thinking for Agriculture*
Decision Support Tools for Agriculture*

Graduate (with number of times taught):

Systems Approach to Natural Resource Problem-Solving (8x)
Agricultural and Ecological Modeling (3x)
Environmental Economics & Sustainable Development (1x)

Outreach / Extension Education

Systems Thinking Workshops or Lectureships:

Systems Thinking for Natural Resource Problem Solving Lectureship

King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management (biennially, annually contingent on grant funding sources)
Southwest Veterinary Symposium (2021)
University of Missouri, School of Veterinary Medicine (2019)
Iowa State University, Iowa Learning Farms (2019)

Workshop: Finding Leverage Points and Formulating Interventions

National agricultural producer organization (2025)

System Dynamics Modeling Workshops:

American Society of Animal Science, National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP) (2019, 2022)

Modelling Nutrient Digestion and Utilization in Farm Animals International Workshop (2022)

Argentina Agricultural Economics Association (2021)

Teaching Certifications

TAMUK's Distance Education and Instructional Technology's Certification in Distance Education

TAMUK's Distance Education and Instructional Technology's Panopto Video and Lightboard Lecture Capture Certification

Teaching Awards

TAMUK's Distance Education and Instructional Technology's Innovator of the Year Award for Teaching (2017)

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