Cooperative Extension campus-based and field staff have received numerous awards and recognitions in recent months, including ones for:

  • Michelle Eley, community and economic development specialist at N.C. A&T, served as a member of a rapid response team on Civil Disclosure on Race Relations within N.C. Cooperative Extension, which received the Excellence in Teamwork Award at the National Association of Community Development Extension Professional Conference in June.
  • Misty Blue-Terry, 4-H STEM specialist at A&T, has received the 1890 Excellence in Extension Award for 4-H Youth Development from the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. She provides statewide direction with special emphasis on educational strategies for increasing technical and soft skills needed to succeed in STEM careers for limited-resource and socially disadvantaged audiences.
  • Laura Lauffer, the local food and farm program coordinator at A&T, and the other members of the North Carolina Growing Together team received the 2017 Outstanding Subject Matter Program by a Team award from the N.C. Association of Cooperative Extension Specialists (NCACES). Lauffer, Rebecca Dunning, John Ivey, Matt Poore and Joanna Lelekacs accepted the award on behalf of the NC Growing Together team at the NCACES spring meeting at A&T.
  • The Guilford County Center of N.C. Cooperative Extension – including three A&T employees: Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent Shameca Battle, Education Program Associates Barbara Strong and Arnicia Gudger – received the County Government Partnership Award from the N.C. Association of County Commissioners. During the time covered by the award, Gudger was an EFNEP program assistant for Guilford Extension; she is now a SNAP educator with the Try Healthy Program at A&T.
  • Mary Jac Brennan, horticulture extension agent with Forsyth County Center of N.C. Cooperative Extension, who has received the Echo Award from the Winston Salem Foundation. The ECHO Awards recognize those who build strong communities by forging connections among people. Brennan also received the Achievement Award and was a finalist for the Search for Excellence in Young, Beginning, and Small Farmer/Rancher Award from the National Association of County Agriculture Agents.
  • Danelle Cutting, horticulture and local foods extension agent in Rowan County, has received the Achievement Award and was a finalist for the Search for Excellence in Young, Beginning, and Small Farmer/Rancher Award from the National Association of County Agriculture Agents.
  • Nelson Brownlee, who works in Robeson and Bladen counties, has been promoted from associate extension agent to full extension agent.
  • Walter Adams, who works in Duplin and Lenoir counties, has been promoted from agriculture and natural resources technician I to agriculture and natural resources technician II.
  • Sadie Payne, 4-H youth development Extension agent in Guilford County, has received the TC Blalock Young Agent Award from the N.C. Association of 4-H Extension Agents and the Achievement in Service Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents.
  • Sherrie Peeler, family and consumer sciences Extension agent in Jackson County, has received a Distinguished Service Award and Master FCS Volunteer Award from the N.C. Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.