Download a PDF version of this agreement.

AG-NGINE Member Agreement

Description and Purpose

The Agriculture National Graduate Institutional Name Exchange (AG-NGINE) is a national consortium of U.S. institutions offering degrees in agriculture, natural resources and related sciences, managed by the University of Florida (UF), through an online database accessible to Member Institutions. Participating institutions agree to exchange student lists with all Member Institutions to advance AG-NGINE’s sole purpose: promoting graduate education.

Member Institution Participation Requirements

In order to participate in AG-NGINE, Member Institutions must agree to the following Member Institution Participation Requirements:  

1. Member Institution shall limit access to the AG-NGINE student database and will only permit access and use by the Member Institution Contact, designated by the Member Institution, for the following purposes: graduate recruiting for Master’s or Ph.D. programs, fellowship opportunities, funded campus visits, summer research internships, application fee waivers, research symposium invitations, new scholarships, online graduate degrees, graduate recruiting events and other academic endeavors.
2. Member Institution must annually contact eligible junior/senior undergraduate students and master’s students, provide information about AG-NGINE and encourage participation through submitting their information to the AG-NGINE database. Email communications from Member Institution related to AG-NGINE should have an “unsubscribe” option.  
3. Member Institution shall abide by all applicable federal and state laws, and the University of Florida regulations and policies on online/internet privacy and data security (http://privacy.ufl.edu/privacy-policies-and-procedures/onlineinternet-privacy-statement), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the requirements set forth in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Addendum (Addendum), incorporated by reference herein and attached hereto as Exhibit A.
4. Member Institution Contact may distribute information from the database to other faculty, staff and/or administrators within their institution to promote graduate education and in accordance with AG-NGINE procedures.
5. Member Institution shall not distribute information from the database to any person not employed by the Institution or for any purpose other than promoting graduate education. Distributing any student information outside of the Member Institution will result in immediate and permanent cancellation of the AG-NGINE Member Institution Participation Agreement and may violate state and federal law.
6. Member Institution shall designate one institutional contact from the faculty, staff or administration (Institution Contact). The Institution Contact is responsible for its Member Institution’s communication and follow up, adherence to all security and compliance measures, and marketing AG-NGINE to its junior/senior/master’s student population. The Institution Contact must consult a Member Institution Director, Associate Dean or Dean of Agriculture and receive approval/authority prior to executing the AG-NGINE Member Institution Participation Agreement. The Institution Contact will also be added to a private Microsoft Team of all AG-NGINE participating institutions. 
7. There are currently no annual fees or dues for Member Institution’s participation in AG-NGINE nor will fees be charged during the initial implementation period (2023-2025). However, AG-NGINE reserves the right to implement and charge annual fees or dues in future years.  Member Institution will be notified via its Institution Contact at least 120 days prior to fees or dues being charged.   
8. Member Institution shall adhere to the highest level of data security and industry best practices surrounding storing, accessing and purging student data information.
9. Member Institution shall limit download access of the AG-NGINE student database to the Institution Contact. All Institution Contacts will be recertified annually for continued access to AG-NGINE.
10. Member Institution must download all student data information via the AG-NGINE Team.
11. Member Institution shall download and store AG-NGINE data via secure institutional computing network servers. Downloads are strictly prohibited on personal computers, cell phones, non-secure network servers, etc.
12. Member Institution will monitor student data information obtained from AG-NGINE to ensure that student data information is only made available to faculty, staff and/or administrators within their institution to promote graduate education. AG-NGINE student data information shall not be shared with third-party individuals or organizations.
13. Member Institution shall purge all student data information received from AG-NGINE one year after that student’s bachelor’s or master's degree graduation date.
14. Member Institution participation in AG-NGINE shall continue indefinitely for the duration of AG-NGINE or until this Agreement is terminated by the Member Institution, AG-NGINE or the University of Florida, at its sole discretion, or AG-NGINE is discontinued.
15. Member Institution shall not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations, genetic information or veteran status.
16. Member Institution agrees to be fully responsible for its acts or omissions, or its agents' acts or omissions when acting within the scope of employment or agency and agrees to be liable for any damage resulting from said acts or omissions, including but not limited to a data breach.  To the extent allowed by law, Member Institution shall fully indemnify, hold harmless, and defend the University of Florida Board of Trustees and its directors, officers, employees, agents and affiliates from and against all claims arising out of Member Institution’s failure to adhere to the Requirements contained within this Agreement, including but not limited to a data breach.

To complete this agreement, download and return the completed form according to the instructions in the PDF.

The following dates make up the expected 2025 timeline for collecting student data and downloading all available data.

• Institution Sign-Up/Renew Participation Window: January 2 to May 30
• Information Session: February 5 or February 26
• AG-NGINE Open for Student Data Input: March 1 to October 1
• AG-NGINE Student Database Available for Download: October 8
• Deadline for 2024 AG-NGINE Student Database Downloads: December 12, 8:00 p.m. Eastern

Student enrollment for this AG-NGINE cycle is currently closed. It will re-open for the next cycle in the spring semester, and AG-NGINE institutions will have access to the database each fall.

Member institutions will communicate with juniors, seniors and master’s students to invite them to participate in AG-NGINE. Students will “opt-in” to participate by entering their data directly with AG-NGINE. AG-NGINE will be open for collecting student data April 1 through September 6, 2024.

Suggested Procedure

• Contact all junior and senior students in agriculture/natural resources who have a 3.0+ cumulative undergraduate GPA (institutions can use their own discretion of requesting information from students below the 3.0 GPA threshold). It is optional to also contact master’s students. A sample email is provided below. The email must include the link to AG-NGINE for the student to self-enter their information after spring semester grades have been posted. Here is a PDF of the information requested through the AG-NGINE online form.
• Send 6-8 timely email reminders during the data collection period to encourage students to respond. AG-NGINE will send the designated Institution Contact periodic updates of the number of students from your institution who have entered their information. Be sure to include an “unsubscribe” option in your follow-up communications.

Sample Message

Dear FIRST NAME LAST NAME:

Annually, the YOUR INSTITUTION AND COLLEGE NAME receives a variety of requests from institutions across the U.S. regarding our junior, senior, and master’s level students. The requests primarily take place during the fall term and involve the promotion of any or all of the following: fellowship opportunities, Ph.D. programs, funded campus visits, summer research internships, master’s programs, application fee waivers, research symposium invitations, new scholarships, online graduate degrees, graduate recruiting events, webinars and other academic endeavors.

In recognition of your academic accomplishments, we invite you to participate in AG-NGINE, a new initiative to help you be recruited for graduate programs.

AG-NGINE is the Agriculture National Graduate Institutional Name Exchange. This national consortium was formed for you to be recruited by graduate programs at colleges of agriculture and related sciences from across the country. The following website lists the invited and participating institutions under the "Member Institutions" tab: https://ag-ngine.cals.ufl.edu/members. 

Complete the online form at this link: https://forms.office.com/r/jKP8M9beeY
Curious about the questions that will be asked? Here is a full PDF of the questions.

Please note that once the 2024 AG-NGINE database is released to all participating colleges of agriculture and related sciences, your contact information cannot be retrieved as it is downloaded to each institution's graduate student recruiting database.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
YOUR TITLE
YOUR INSTITUTION

Sample Message for Students Wishing to Unsubscribe

Each AG-NGINE institution is responsible for managing their own Unsubscribes or student requests as it is not possible for AG-NGINE to manage this for the entire country. Please respond to your student requests as appropriate. This sample message, also found below, is sent to University of Florida students who sign up for AG-NGINE, change their mind and later ask to be removed from the AG-NGINE Database.

Dear FIRST NAME LAST NAME:

Thank you for contacting us about AG-NGINE. Our records indicate you registered online to opt-in and participate in the 2024 AG-NGINE Database. The 2024 AG-NGINE Database was recently compiled and released to up to 81 colleges of agriculture and related sciences on September 12, 2024. Your student information was downloaded by each institution and the uploaded to their own local institutional graduate student recruiting databases. This cannot be retrieved. The 2024 AG-NGINE database will be removed from all AG-NGINE servers on October 14, 2024, and will no longer available for download by any AG-NGINE institution per the agreed upon timeline:
https://ag-ngine.cals.ufl.edu/members 

My advice to you, since it appears that you opted-in for AG-NGINE participation and changed your mind, is to Unsubscribe from each institutional email that you receive and/or contact each institution to request removal from their local graduate recruiting databases.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
YOUR TITLE
YOUR INSTITUTION