Purdue News

November 18, 1998 Extension director charts course for future WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Cooperative Extension Service of the 21st century will be characterized by "knowledge to go" -- programs and services that are more accessible and are delivered in a variety of formats to meet our fast-paced, information-based society. "Extension will need to perceive potential problems and have a quick, well-organized response," said Purdue Extension director Henry A. "Hank" Wadsworth. "A greater proportion of the population will be able to use self-service programming; however, we still need to serve those who don't have these skills. Extension has a long heritage of working with people who are struggling to put the pieces together. We need to continue to help them while offering self-service to those who have the capabilities." Extension educators from around the state gathered at Purdue Nov. 17-19 to discuss the future of Extension and unveil a Plan of Work, a framework that will guide direction and programming into the next century. Although Wadsworth has cast his predictions for Extension's future, he will leave its implementation to new leadership. In June, Wadsworth will retire as associate dean of Purdue Agriculture and director of Purdue Extension, a position he has held since 1983. "Hank has been an invaluable asset to Indiana from the day he returned as director," said Purdue Dean of Agriculture Victor L. Lechtenberg. "County by county, he helped lay a foundation for Extension to remain a strong player in every community in this state." Plan of Work, a planning process that takes place every five years or so, charts the course for Purdue Extension at both the state and county levels. The process began last winter with community meetings in each county to identify priority issues. Based on input from the more than 5,000 people who attended these meetings, Extension specialists and county educators drafted plans that address the most important concerns statewide. Indiana's strong county-based system is essential for this type of grassroots approach to program planning. "The strongest Extension organizations are those that have strong county support," Wadsworth said. "Not all states have it. Only five states get a higher percentage of their (Extension) budget from counties than Indiana does." Purdue Extension divides programs into four areas: Agriculture and natural resources, which focuses on production agriculture, economics and environmental programs. Consumer and family sciences, which works with families of every type, providing finance and nutrition education, child development and parenting programs. Leadership and community development, which works with civic leader training and public policy. 4-H Youth, which works with 250,000 Indiana children on educational projects and out-of-school programs. Throughout his career, Wadsworth has seen how changes in society have been a catalyst for changes in Extension programming. "Indiana has less than half the number of farms that it did when I came here in 1962," he said. "The state's metro areas have grown considerably. Predominately all parents in the household are working, and we deal with the ramifications of a much more hectic lifestyle among our young people. These are things we've had to deal with in our programming. This wouldn't have been true 35 years ago." After earning bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Cornell University, Wadsworth began his career in 1962 as a member of Purdue's agricultural economics faculty. In 1973 he returned to Cornell as associate director of Extension. He was director of Extension at Oregon State University from 1976 to 1983 before taking the same post at Purdue. Source: Henry Wadsworth, (765) 494-8489; Henry_Wadsworth@acn.purdue.edu Writer: Olivia Maddox, (765) 496-3207; om@aes.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page