College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Bailey Scholars Program

Jennifer “Jeno” Rivera, PhD began her teaching career spending three years teaching middle school and high school Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in Page County, Virginia. She returned to graduate school to further her studies in education focusing on secondary school assessment and accountability.

Jeno began her tenure at MSU in the Department of Community Sustainability researching best practices for secondary teacher preparation. This research spring boarded her curiosities to include community education and engagement and to become a faculty fellow in the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program.

Currently, she is the Director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program and a Community Education and Engagement faculty member in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities. Her recent scholarship identifies teaching and learning components that impend or foster learning through experience. She collaborates in the development, implementation and evaluation of innovative educational programs that promote self-directed learning.

Her work appears in such journals as the International Journal on Innovations in Online Education, the Journal of Prior Learning Assessment Inside Out, and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. Her most recent publication is a chapter about T-shaped learners in Advancing talent development: Towards a T-model infused undergraduate education. When not in the Bailey Space, Jeno enjoys sewing, gardening, and playing her violin for her two dogs, cat, and six chickens.