Agriculture, food, and natural resource (AFNR) systems need leaders to catalyze positive change. Thus, Extension professionals have consistently developed innovative and impactful leadership programming. In the current study, the alumni of one such program in Michigan were surveyed to evaluate the sustained impact of the program. Program alumni…

Mitigating complex problems is increasingly essential to sustaining life on Earth. Empowering current and future generations to address these problems requires rethinking traditional education approaches. This article serves as a primer for land-based learning--defined as a pedagogical approach in which learners collaborate with community members…

Speed meetings are an innovative approach to creating partnerships among Extension experts and university health researchers. Extension educators play a pivotal role in providing community-based education, building partnerships across the state, and disseminating local research on a community level. The Extension Health Research team at Michigan…

Increasingly, farmers are looking to private sector advisors to inform their nitrogen decisions, but little is known about these important actors. We held a Sustainable Nitrogen Roundtable workshop to bring together important groups--private sector farm advisors, Extension educators, scientists, and farmers--to discuss new research and more…

As the U.S. population ages, Extension's need for associated organizational readiness increases. We conducted a needs assessment with a sample of 1,028 Extension professionals in the Extension North Central Region (NCR) to identify the current scope of aging-related community needs. Health care, chronic disease prevention and management, housing,…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions that extension educators in the North Central region of the United States hold regarding selected educational strategies pertaining to livestock waste management education. Livestock waste management education has been recognized as one of extension's major initiatives in the…

Raising evaluation capacity is not an easy task unless the evaluation competence of Extension professionals in each program area is identified. The study reported here identified whether level of knowledge and skills and needs for further training in program evaluation vary for Extension educators based on their program area. A total of 752…

Evaluation of public service programming is becoming increasingly important with current funding realities. The taxonomy of evaluation competencies compiled by Ghere et al. (2006) provided the starting place for Taxonomy for Assessing Evaluation Competencies in Extension. The Michigan State University Extension case study described here presents a…

This research study examined Michigan State University Extension educators' perceptions of the use of digital technology in their work. It used a mixed method of research which included a mailed survey and interviews of selected respondents. A census survey using Dillman's Total Design method was sent to 290 field staff of Michigan State…

The data presented in this report were selected from a 1972 study of Michigan Extension Study Group (ESG) members. Included are data descriptive of the women themselves and their situation (area and type of home, age, income, ESG experience, and especially their attitudes toward their ESG and their Extension Home Economists). Selected findings are…

From his extension experience in Wayne County, Michigan, the third most populous county in the nation, the author offers some principles to consider in enhancing staff and program effectiveness: resource assessment, staff utilization, program funding, time management, and program visibility. (MF)

The survey was designed to find out how the Extension Home Economists' lessening contact with extension study groups (ESGA) affected the clubs, the image of the home economist among club members, ideas for improving the ESGs, and to compare areas of the State. Research procedures included the use of a questionnaire and detailed instructions to…

Using the critical incident method, this study sought to describe job requirements perceived as critical by Michigan Cooperative Extension agents, identify training needs, and determine possible differences in training needs and job requirements according to employment position and tenure. The research involved collecting 444 written descriptions…

Comparisons were made of commercial farmers' and Extension agents' views of the general farm situation; the effects of government price supports on farm prices; the existing market structure and acceptable ways of bargaining for increased farm product prices; and views of the general farm organizations and how they should be organized and run.…

As a final chapter in the research to evaluate the impact of the Michigan township extension experiment, this report focuses on why and how change came about, what factors appear to be most closely related to change, and the ways in which change agents can most effectively help bring about change. In the experiment, extension agents worked…