Dr. Jay Solomonson

Biography

Dr. Solomonson grew up on a 1000-acre family farm in rural, Coal Valley, Illinois. After high school, he attended Western Illinois University where he received his B.S. degree in Agriculture- Teacher Certification. He began his career at Orion High School where he taught agricultural education classes and was the FFA advisor for 17 years. During that time he earned his M.S. degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. in Agricultural Education from Iowa State University. In 2019, he accepted a position as the District 1 Program Advisor for the Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education (FCAE)- a project of the Illinois State Board of Education. He was in that position for a year prior to joining the faculty at Illinois State University. Dr. Solomonson teaches courses in Agricultural Education, Agricultural Leadership & Communications, and Agricultural Mechanization.