GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES EDUCATION.

SEC. 1608. GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES EDUCATION. Section 1417 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152) is amended to read as follows: 104 STAT. 3717 “SEC. 1417. GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES EDUCATION. “(a) Higher Education Teaching Programs.— The Secretary shall promote and strengthen higher education in the food and agricultural sciences by formulating and administering programs to enhance college and university teaching programs in agriculture, natural resources, forestry, veterinary medicine, home economics, and disciplines closely allied to the food and agricultural system. “(b) Grants.— The Secretary may make competitive grants (or grants without regard to any requirement for competition) to land-grant colleges and universities, to colleges and universities having significant minority enrollments and a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences, and to other colleges and universities having a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences, for a period not to exceed 5 years— “(1) to strengthen institutional capacities, including curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention, to respond to identified State, regional, national, or international educational needs in the food and agricultural sciences; “(2) to attract and support undergraduate and graduate students in order to educate the students in national need areas of the food and agricultural sciences; “(3) to facilitate cooperative initiatives between two or more eligible institutions, or between eligible institutions and units of State government or organizations in the private sector, to maximize the development and use of resources such as faculty, facilities, and equipment to improve food and agricultural sciences teaching programs; “(4) to design and implement innovative food and agricultural educational programs; “(5) to conduct undergraduate scholarship programs to meet national and international needs for training food and agricultural scientists and professionals; and “(6) to conduct graduate and postdoctoral fellowship programs to attract highly promising individuals to research or teaching careers in the food and agricultural sciences. “(c) Eligibility for Grants.— “(1) In general.— To be eligible for a grant under subsection (b), a recipient institution must have a significant demonstrable commitment to higher education teaching programs in the food and agricultural sciences and to each specific subject area for which the grant is to be used. “(2) Minority groups.— The Secretary may set aside a portion of the funds appropriated for the awarding of grants under subsection (b), and make such amounts available only for grants to eligible colleges and universities that the Secretary determines have unique capabilities for achieving the objective of full representation of minority groups in the food and agricultural sciences workforce of the United States. “(d) Evaluation of Teaching Programs.— The Secretary shall conduct programs to develop, analyze, and provide to colleges and universities data and information that are essential to the evaluation of the quality of teaching programs and to facilitate the design104 STAT. 3718 of more effective programs comprising the food and agricultural sciences higher education system of the United States. “(e) Continuing Education.— The Secretary shall conduct special programs with colleges and universities, and with organizations in the private sector, to support educational initiatives to enable food and agricultural scientists and professionals to maintain their knowledge of changing technology, the expanding knowledge base, societal issues, and other factors that impact the skills and competencies needed to maintain the expertise base available to the agricultural system of the United States. The special programs shall include grants and technical assistance. “(f) Transfers of Funds and Functions.— Funds authorized in section 22 of the Act of June 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 439, chapter 338; 7 U.S.C. 329) are transferred to and shall be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture. There are transferred to the Secretary all the functions and duties of the Secretary of Education under such Act applicable to the activities and programs for which funds are made available under section 22 of such Act. “(g) National Food and Agricultural Sciences Teaching Awards—. “(1) Establishment.— The Secretary shall establish a National Food and Agricultural Sciences Teaching Awards program to recognize and promote excellence in teaching food and agricultural sciences at a college or university. The Secretary shall make at least one cash award in each fiscal year to a nominee selected by the Secretary for excellence in teaching a food and agricultural science at a college or university. “(2) Funding.— The Secretary may transfer funds from amounts appropriated for the conduct of any agricultural research, extension, or teaching program to an account established pursuant to this section for the purpose of making the awards. The Secretary may accept gifts in accordance with Public Law 95–442 (7 U.S.C. 2269) for the purpose of making the awards. “(h) Administration.— The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2) and title XVIII of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2281 et seq.) shall not apply to a panel or board created for the purpose of reviewing applications and proposals for grants or nominations for awards submitted under this section. “(i) Authorization of Appropriations.— There are authorized to be appropriated for carrying out this section $60,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1990 through 1995. Of amounts appropriated to carry out this section for a fiscal year, not less than $10,000,000 shall be used for the national needs graduate fellowship program referred to in subsection (b)(6).”.