Mark Blevins, Ed.D., has been appointed Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T’s new assistant administrator for agricultural and natural resources. Previously the Brunswick County Extension Director, Blevins earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural extension with a concentration in horticulture from NC State University, and went on to earn his doctorate in Extension education at NC State as well.
“I chose this career because Extension made a difference in my family,” Blevins said. “Growing up in a small, rural town in Eastern North Carolina meant that agriculture was a big part of so many things in our community. My first job was picking the watermelons that Mr. Hudson sold at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, and I served a lot of farmers at the local hardware store growing up.
“Everyone respected the Cooperative Extension agents for their expertise and engagement in the community. So when I was figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, I thought back to the times when my father would call the Extension office to figure out what to do with an overrun of tomatoes in our garden, or to find out why our watermelons weren’t growing any larger than a softball, and how to get stains out of my clothes. The educators would always take the time to share solutions with my dad, even though they had bigger clients to serve and events to conduct.”
Blevins has made small farmers’ sustainability and profitability his focus since becoming involved with Extension as an intern on the Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, a horticulture agent in Dallas (N.C.) and as Brunswick County Extension Director. Blevins learned to help growers apply scientific solutions to the issues they face.
“I found that if I focused on the issues of smaller scale producers, the fundamentals still applied to larger operations, but the reverse wasn’t always the case,” he said.
Blevins’s goal was to serve Extension in larger capacities, and he is looking forward to having so many opportunities to connect the resources of the university to the farms, families and youth of North Carolina.
“The campus-based specialists and staff that I work with are excellent researchers and educators who really care about our clients across the state,” he said. “They love to hear the stories of how the discoveries they share from our University Farm make a difference on a family farm.
“I’m looking forward to connecting with people across campus to find new research initiatives, outreach opportunities, and new possibilities for bridging our university to the people we’re called to serve.”
