Extension Today

On Jan. 1, 2022, Alabama Extension at Alabama A&M University bid farewell to Dr. Celvia Stovall, who retired after 43 years of service to Extension. Stovall began her career with the Cooperative Extension System as a county agent, moving up in rank to specialist and, ultimately, administrator. She also worked as an educator, researcher and administrator in six states, including Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana and lastly Alabama, where she grew up.

Many colleagues met her through committee work with organizations such as the Association of Extension Administrators, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (Extension Committee on Organization and Policy) and the Southern Region Program Leadership Network. She also served as chair of the Journal of Extension.

Prior to her retirement, Stovall shared these sentiments on her years of service. “Over my career, I worked with some of the most amazing and dedicated professionals in the country," Stovall said. "It has been an unbelievable journey, one that I will remember and talk about for the remainder of my life.”

Please join Alabama Extension in wishing her the best in future endeavors.

Dorothy (Jean) Harper, a native of Louisville, Mississippi, is the youth director and 4-H volunteer leader for the Winston County Self Help Cooperative Youth Group, organized in 2003.

The goal of this group is to reconnect youths and families to the Earth and its natural resources. Although Harper had not lived or worked on a farm in 30 years, she readily accepted this challenge with grace. With support and encouragement from cooperative members, Alcorn State University Extension Program and local community leaders, she planned and organized various community events and activities such as:

• Youth Forestry Day.
• Arbor Day Activities.
• Kids in the Kitchen Summer Camps.
• Community Youth Garden and Farmers Market.
• College and Career Readiness Program.
• 4-H Healthy Habits Healthy Living Program.
• Mother and Daughter Night Out.

In 2006, Harper held the first Youth in Agriculture Conference with more than 100 participants. This conference has become an annual event for all middle and high school students in Winston County. Harper received the South-Central Mississippi HPI’s Youth Award in 2005 and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives’ Coop of the Year Award in 2006. On April 26, 2018, she received the Woman of the Year Award from the Winton County Chamber of Commerce.

Although she may be new to Extension, Central State University Extension (CSUE) Community and Economic Development Regional Educator Amber Twitty brings more than 30 years of direct experience to the organization.

Twitty joined CSUE in 2020 for the opportunity to use her skills to develop innovative programming for residents, businesses and communities throughout southern Ohio.

“My responsibilities include creating programming to address issues in a sustainable, measurable and impactful manner,” Twitty says. “I work with individuals, businesses, organizations and communities.”

In her role as a CSU regional community and economic development educator, Twitty has been instrumental in the following new programs: Small/Agri-Business Informational Summit, CED Office Hour Live!, Ready, Set, Grow! – Agriculture, Entre to Entrepreneurship Initiative, Record Sealing Clinics, Driver License Reinstatement Clinics, A Step-Up Workforce Development Program and The CED Community Roundtable.

Making an impact is always the goal of Twitty. “I feel good about my efforts when I get a ‘thank you’ from a client for helping them ‘level up’ with creating or growing their business, opening doors for an individual to have accessibility to a dream or a goal and helping communities gain the tools to be more resilient,” she says.

For the month of February 2022, Delaware State University Cooperative Extension celebrates Dr. Ulysses S. Washington Jr., whose pioneering spirit laid the foundation for DSU’s land-grant program and helped catalyze the 1890 Land-Grant University system we know today.

Washington was born July 16, 1920, in Dilwyn, Virginia. The second of eight children, he attended public elementary and high school in that small Buckingham County town before completing his bachelor’s degree in agriculture education at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) in 1942. As a World War II U.S. Navy veteran, Washington earned his master’s degree in agriculture education from Rutgers University in 1949.

Washington helped found the two national policy organizations governing 1890 land-grant programs at the 19 designated institutions in the country — the Association of Extension Administrators and the Association of 1890 Research Directors.

Miles Edward Groover, an Extension agent, farmer and educator, was the first Black Extension worker to be appointed in the state of Florida. Born in 1887, on a Jefferson County, Florida, plantation, Groover was the son of Plenty Groover and Ann Linton. He attended Florida Memorial College, where he received his high school certificate and later studied during several summer school sessions at various Black colleges in the south.

In 1902, Groover became a teacher and remained in the public school system until 1924, except for a few months in 1917 when he served as a wartime farm production agent. He was the Jefferson County Extension agent for 33 years and organized community farm clubs and 4-H clubs throughout the county. He served as the vice president of the National Negro County Agriculture Agent Association, the Florida Agriculture Stabilization Advisory and Conservation Committee, World War II Price Administration Rationing Board and the adviser for the Selective Service System. He retired in 1957.

Groover’s awards and honors include:

• Most Outstanding Negro Contributor in Agriculture in Florida, Florida State Fair Association.
• Achievement Award for Meritorious Service to Florida Agriculture, Florida A&M University.
• Founder and Resident's Award for Outstanding Contributions, Jefferson County Farmers Union, in which he organized in 1929.

In 1998, Groover became the first and only African American inducted into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame. He died Dec. 25, 1966, leaving a legacy and earned respect among all citizens of Jefferson County.

Wearing multiple hats can often be referred to as a juggling act; a skill only a few can master.

Skilled at balancing several tasks, Fort Valley State University associate professor Dr. Vivian Fluellen believes that teamwork is the key. Her rack of hats display 37 years of challenges and triumphs.

Officially retired June 1, 2018, Fluellen is a leader inside and outside the classroom. In addition to teaching, she served as interim program leader for FVSU’s Cooperative Extension Program, executive director for the Head Start and Early Head Start programs and director of the Family Development Center and Quality Child Care Center Complex on campus. Her leadership roles expanded when she acquired the chair of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) in 2013.

“It is a challenge wearing all of these various hats, but the people I work with make my job easier. We do it together,” Fluellen said.

A people person, Fluellen quickly realized that she wanted to pursue a career in FCS. Her leadership skills developed early as a child while actively serving in her hometown church. She further gained strong work ethics from her mother and father, an entrepreneur who sold vegetables from his vehicle.

During her tenure, the FVSU alumna accomplished several goals, including establishing the department’s reaccreditation with the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), securing more than $5 million in external funding in grants and contracts for the university and developing six online courses for the 1890 Family and Consumer Sciences-Distance Instructional Alliance (FCS-DIA) Family Financial Planning Certificate Program.

Dr. Joanne Bankston dedicated 44 years of her life to the people of Kentucky through Kentucky State University’s Cooperative Extension program.

Bankston served in various capacities within Kentucky State’s Cooperative Extension, including as coordinator of family and consumer sciences and as a state specialist for family economics management. She retired in 2020.

“She was a top professional that was recognized as one of the best in the nation,” said Dr. Marion Simon, professor and state specialist for Small Farm and Part-time Farmers.

Bankston was honored as a legend in family and consumer sciences at the annual conference and expo of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in 2016. In 2016, Bankston received the award for Excellence in Extension from the Association of Extension Administrators for her outstanding contributions to Cooperative Extension work at 1890 Historically Black Land-Grant Universities.

“Through my work in Extension, I had the flexibility of developing programs to meet the needs of audiences and clientele and to work around the state of Kentucky and across the country,” Bankston said. “I am very proud of the programs I developed and all of the people I encountered and worked with throughout my career.”

African Americans created more than 50 all-Black town settlements in Oklahoma between 1865 and 1920, surpassing any other state. By 1905, African American farmers in Oklahoma owned an estimated 1.5 million acres (about twice the area of Yosemite National Park) valued at $11 million.

Boley, Brooksville, Clearview, Ft. Coffee, Grayson, I.X.L., Langston, Lima, Redbird, Rentiesville, Summit, Taft, Tatum Tullahassee and Vernon represent the 13 surviving historically Oklahoma Black towns. A recent survey conducted by LU-CEOP identified everyday needs expressed by the respondents of these historic communities. The key issues identified were business development, infrastructure, historical identity preservation, youth development, aging population and tourism development. The survey also identified grant writing assistance, knowledge of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and strategic planning as some of the resources needed in the communities.

In fall 2021, the LU-CEOP hosted the first summit for the mayors and leaders of Oklahoma's historically Black towns. The summit's purpose was to engage with the respective leaders to build and strengthen unique interconnectivity with Langston University Extension and other land-grant programs to address their needs and prioritize the development of solutions.

LU-CEOP Program Cluster Leaders shared pertinent information relevant to impacting their unique communities. Topics included Production Agriculture, Crops and Livestock, 4-H Youth Development, Youth Development and Urban Engagement, Nutrition, Food Security, Food Safety and Aquaponics.

Darrell Martin was an excellent leader of the community who devoted his life to serving others through education and providing the tools necessary to enhance their quality of life. His death on Jan. 8, 2022, gives us pause to reflect on the rich legacy he left behind.

Martin was the community development specialist for the Center for Community and Leadership Development in Sikeston, Missouri, through LUCE. He passionately devoted his career to developing rural and underserved communities in southeastern Missouri. He spearheaded leadership, workforce development and entrepreneurship programs that improved the behavioral and socioeconomic quality of life for the communities of Haywood City, Clarkton, Wilson City, Parma, Hayti Heights and Homestown, Missouri.

Another proud accomplishment was his service as a municipal judge. Through his servant leadership, Martin helped create better communities and inspired others to effect a positive change in their lives.

Being a trailblazer in your field often can be challenging, and for North Carolina’s Black Extension workers who started their careers when segregation ruled, the challenges were many and often daunting.

For example, Carl Hodges Sr. was the third of 17 children born to a family in Hope Mills, North Carolina, in 1921. He had to travel more than 35 miles to Southern Pines for his first year of high school because there was no “Negro” high school in Cumberland County. The state soon built Armstrong High School in the county and Hodges was part of the first graduating class in 1939.

World War II interrupted his college career at North Carolina A&T University, but by 1954, Hodges had earned a degree in agricultural education from North Carolina A&T, had met and married Christine Hose and was the father of two young sons. He became an Extension agent in Williamston County and moved to the Durham County Extension office in 1959, where he was the first Black agent in the county to host a regular radio program and write a weekly article in the local newspaper.

Marquis Washington volunteers with 4-H in Tarrant County, where he serves on the advisory committee. He has chaperoned, conducted presentations and provided photography for our residential summer camp. He has also served as a judge for many countywide projects. Below, Washington describes his experiences in his own words.

“My personal experience led me to reach out to youth who aspired to become a photographer or didn't realize they could be a photographer and maybe even those who just wanted to improve their selfie skills.

I learned so much about the many programs, classes and benefits afforded to Tarrant county youth. It wasn't long before I was a judge of a 4-H photography contest and then an after-school program for photography, then eventually a photography-specific class for an in-school club. My 4-H involvement became the conduit to help the young artists develop.

I've enjoyed helping aspiring artists and photographers through 4-H programs. The many camps, classes, contests and programs that I've been privileged to participate in have genuinely been a blessing to me as an artist trying to give back to the communities that are so often the subject of many photographs.”

South Carolina State 1890 Research and Extension awarded the inaugural Ishmel Washington Excellence in Extension Award to its namesake, Ishmel Washington, retired SC State Extension director for the Low Country region. The award honors his dedication and service to improving the quality of life and standard of living for youths, families and farmers in marginalized communities for nearly 50 years.

“Being an Extension agent is not just a job; it’s an opportunity to serve,” Washington said. “It’s been a long journey, but I’ve enjoyed every bit of it.”

A dedicated change agent in the community, Washington exemplifies what it means to be a servant leader both personally and professionally by understanding the value of teamwork. According to Dr. Louis Whitesides, vice president and executive director for 1890 programs, Washington exemplifies what being an Extension agent is all about.

“Mr. Washington never embraced the title of boss or supervisor; he always wanted to be identified as a member of the team,” Whitesides stated. “He believes each member of the team has value that can help push a mission forward. He has helped thousands of people at 1890s and in the community during his time as an Extension agent, so it is bittersweet to see him retire.”

For 79 years, the Southern University Ag Center has continued the tradition of holding a livestock show for the youths of Louisiana. Making Southern University the only 1890 Land-Grant Institution to still hold this time-honored tradition.

It was established in 1943 as a poultry show by J.W. Fisher, director of the College of Agriculture, and Tom J. Jordan, state cooperative Extension agent, along with a group of statewide vocational agricultural teachers, agricultural Extension workers and community leaders.

A dairy calf project was added in the second year and the show’s name was changed to the State Poultry and Dairy Show with youth exhibitors (participants) from limited-resource families.

“Being around for 79 years, we have seen changes and trends, but our support for the youths of Louisiana is what keeps us moving forward,” said Harold Mellieon Jr., Ph.D., director of Livestock Programs at the SU Ag Center and chair of the Department of Agricultural Sciences. “It’ s great to see third or fourth generation exhibitors coming every year and having a family tradition of competing and learning with others across the state.”

In 2020, the show was held virtually due to COVID-19. This year, young farmers from throughout Louisiana will converge on the Maurice A. Edmond Livestock Arena with hopes of having their prized winning animals named champion during the Southern University Ag Center’s 79th annual Livestock and Poultry Show, held Feb. 24-26, 2022. For additional information, visit https://bit.ly/3Bodo8A.

In 1881, Tuskegee Institute was founded by Lewis Adams with the assistance of George Campbell. The gentlemen quickly realized that they would need a leader to manifest their dream of negro education in the Alabama Black Belt. They successfully recruited Booker T. Washington, an industrious young graduate of Hampton Institute in Virginia.

Upon his arrival, Booker T. Washington insisted on visiting the negro farms and families to understand their plight throughout the Alabama Black Belt. That initial buggy tripled to many more and the monthly meetings that he held with those same farmers and community members to support informal education and elevation of spirit.

These visits and meetings would lead Washington to convene the First Negro Farmers Conference in 1892. The overall goal of the conference was twofold: 1) to get firsthand accounts of the conditions of farmers in the region as to what their problems were and come up with ideas to alleviate those conditions; and 2) think through how the concepts and ideas being taught to the young people at Tuskegee Institute could be best used to educate the masses and address their current issues.

Washington personally invited roughly 75 farmers and ministers from the area to attend the first conference. Much to his surprise, the first conference drew more than 500 people from all walks of life throughout the Black Belt. This response would lead the conference to develop the moniker, the People’s Conference.

February is Black History Month. One retiree from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s (UAPB) School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences (SAFHS) is a standout worthy of recognition.

In 1965, Dr. Jacquelyn W. McCray received her bachelor’s degree in home economics education from Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal (AM&N) College (now UAPB). After a short hiatus from AM&N to pursue her graduate degrees, she returned to her original alma mater where she stayed for the duration of her career.

During her tenure, McCray held several positions in SAFHS. She served as a professor in the department of home economics, assistant administrator for 1890 programs and as dean and director of research and Extension programs, a position she held for 13 years.

Under her leadership, the school made significant strides in image enhancement, program and facility expansion, resource development and student recruitment and retention. The school emerged as the fastest growing academic unit at the university with an enrollment increase of 40 percent during her administration. She retired from SAFHS in 2008.

In 2014, Dr. Laurence B. Alexander, UAPB chancellor, asked McCray to come out of retirement to become the university’s vice chancellor for academic affairs. She obliged and held the position for four years. McCray once said, “I will do any and everything I can to serve this university. This thought comes from my love and appreciation for what UAPB has done and continues to do for its students.”

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Extension salutes Dr. Henry Brooks, its former longtime Extension administrator. In September 1980, he began what turned out to be a 34-year stint with the university during which time he amassed several major accomplishments.

Brooks established a model Rural Development Center responsible during his administration for leveraging some $2 million in the communities of the lower Eastern Shore. He initiated the EFNEP Program, which is still responsible for conducting health and nutrition classes in the community. He expanded the Small Farm Program, facilitating the aid of some 500 small farmers, horticulturalists and gardeners every year and initiated UMES Extension’s 4-H STEM program just before his retirement in 2014.

Along with the programs he has established, what most defines his career is the collaborative relationship he forged with Maryland’s 1862 Land-Grant Institution, the University of Maryland College Park.

For leading a staff of 25-plus, Brooks received Maryland’s first-ever Living History Award in the field of agriculture in 2008. In addition, he has held prominent positions on the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, the 4-H Congress Board of Directors and the National 4-H Council. He also served as a chairperson for the prestigious Association of Extension Administrators.

Today, Cooperative Extension resources are offered in every state in the United States to advance the well-being of everyone. Empowering its communities, stewarding its resources and shaping a healthy future is at the heart of the nation’s Cooperative Extension program, launched in 1914 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in partnership with land-grant universities. However, in the program’s early days, many Cooperative Extension programs and opportunities were offered to whites only.

In 1901, there were Corn Clubs for Boys in the Midwest, where farm boys under 19 would submit seeds for a corn-growing content. While boys were competing in corn-growing competitions, the USDA promoted tomato canning clubs for girls. The first club was officially organized in 1910 in South Carolina.

Meanwhile, in rural Virginia, the first boy's corn club was organized in 1909 with 100 boys participating across Dinwiddie and Chesterfield counties. In 1910, Ella G. Agnew became the first home agent in the state, working with 46 girls in Halifax and Nottoway counties to form the area's first girl's tomato canning club. To date, only white boys and girls had the opportunity to participate in these clubs. That changed in 1913 when Lizze A. Jenkins was appointed to conduct demonstration outreach with African American families and organize canning clubs in counties in southeast Virginia.

Virginia Cooperative Extension extends the resources of Virginia's two land-grant universities, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech, to solve problems facing Virginians every day.

Dr. Donte Pennington graduated from West Virginia State University (WVSU) in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and earned his doctorate in physiology and biophysics from Howard University in 2017.

He returned to Howard and worked as a tenure track professor from 2019 to 2021, focusing on clinical and pre-clinical techniques to characterize the interaction among fat depot patterns, muscle morphology, and glucose and insulin homeostasis in diabetic and obese African American adults. Pennington also established research collaborations with the DC VAMC Clinical Research Center, emphasizing muscle morphology and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health.

After returning to West Virginia to help take care of his elderly grandparents during the pandemic, he accepted his current position of assistant director of family and consumer sciences at WVSU, where he designs and implements Extension programs. He also received a research appointment as a human physiologist in which he investigates health outcomes in translational research projects. His ultimate goal is to construct Extension initiatives that help improve health literacy and disparities in the state.

Two 1890 Land-Grant University (LGU) agriculture communication professionals were selected to serve on the 14-person National Impact Database (NIDB) writing and editing team this year. Fort Valley State University’s research communications specialist, Latasha Ford, and Virginia State University’s director of marketing and communications, Michelle Olgers, spent two days in New Orleans Feb. 11 and 12 with other team members reviewing all 380 2021 impacts submitted by U.S. LGUs.

Together, they developed web stories and summary fact sheets from them, as well as a forthcoming impacts video, to demonstrate the value and collective impact of the nation’s LGU mission areas of Cooperative Extension and food and agricultural research. The team’s stories, summaries and video are used daily by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) when reporting to Congress and the USDA Office of Management and Budget.

They also use them, as does the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), the 1890 Universities Foundation and other organizations and government entities, to help share LGU impacts with the media, on social media and with important stakeholders on state and federal levels. Additionally, Extension and research faculty rely on this information to learn of impacts their peers are making in other states to discover potential collaborations that could lead to greater, multistate impacts.

Communication professionals on the NIDB writing team represented Colorado State University, FVSU, LSU AgCenter, Michigan State University, Oregon State University, Purdue, University of California, University of Connecticut, University of Maryland, University of Wyoming and VSU. The NIDB project is a joint initiative of APLU’s ECOP and ESCOP committees and USDA-NIFA.