Cory Walters
University of Nebraska—Lincoln
Lincoln, NE USA
"Everyone has weaknesses. When you think that you don’t, then you’ve exposed your true weakness."
Career Roadmap
Cory's work combines: Environment & Nature, Numbers, and Teaching / Mentoring
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Get to know your faculty and use them to gain insight into the profession and build contacts.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Agribusiness/Agricultural Business Operations
Montana State University-Bozeman
Graduate Degree
Agricultural Economics
Washington State University
Doctorate
Economics, General
Washington State University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Grew up on a grain farm in Montana growing wheat, canola, barley, and peas—was always warned by his father not to go into the agricultural industry.
2.
Worked for a summer at an aluminum plant, but he hated it—credits this experience with helping him understand how to decide what works best for him and what risks he was willing to take.
3.
Attended Montana State University, where he started as a computer science major, but quickly realized that his failing grades meant he should be doing something else.
4.
Unsure what step to take next, he took a random class in Arabic, which led to him spending time traveling Morocco, Egypt, and Syria.
5.
After meeting with faculty members, he decided to ignore his father’s advice and ultimately earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business.
6.
Says he began to get interested in economics because of its “rigorous framework designed to help you make decisions.”
7.
Decided to go back to school to receive his master’s degree in agricultural economics and his Ph.D. in economics from Washington State University.
8.
Now teaches in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, focusing on farm income risk management and policy-important areas of federal crop insurance.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Parents:
Don't go into farming.
How I responded:
My father always warned me not to go into the agricultural industry for various reasons and, to start out with, I listened to him. After exploring different subjects and not finding my fit, I went into agricultural economics because of the opportunities that the industry could offer me. My dad was thinking about the industry from a different perspective and I had to explore beyond that.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I had to borrow a lot of money and worked a lot while in school.
I tried not to let the past influence my goals, so I largely ignored the trouble this caused.