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MOMENTUM
A Web Letter from the Office of the Provost - February 2020

By Mary Jane Chew

Purdue Extension makes giant leap into its 2nd Century

"This is not your grandmother's Extension anymore," says Angela Abbott, associate director of Extension, describing a system that began more than 100 years ago.

Purdue Extension's new era began two decades ago when Martin Jischke launched his presidency with a vision of updating the role of Extension and spreading the model campus-wide through a new Office of Engagement. And as the word "engagement" implies, the mission no longer would be just "service," the one-way tradition of taking cutting-edge research from campus to the community. Now there also is two-way partnership in which community stakeholders collaborate with Purdue, identify their own priorities and work with Purdue to build action plans. Data are applied throughout while impact-based assessment is planned from the beginning.

Extension provided Engagement with a ready-made, extensive statewide network of more than 400 specialists, educators and volunteers who live in or work for Indiana counties. They know their communities firsthand and can facilitate partnerships. Meanwhile, Extension also broadened its portfolio.  In addition to its historic emphasis on agriculture, natural resources, farm youth and home economics, Extension has expanded its role in economic and community development as well as health and human sciences. It's creating programs in urban areas where more than 80 percent of Hoosiers live. 

Jason Henderson, senior associate dean of agriculture and director of Purdue Extension, said, "Our goal is to be relevant to the people of Indiana and make their lives better. We've been around for more than 100 years, and we want to be just as relevant 100 years from now."

A team approach 

The Purdue Center for Regional Development, formed four years after the Office of Engagement, has been a major partner. It was formed to help communities think beyond their borders and form common cause with others in their area. PCRD and Extension collaborate with expertise across campus. Together they work with communities to identify goals, forge plans, attract grants, access data and assess results. The goals have ranged from fostering strategic entrepreneurship and economic gardening to developing broadband infrastructure and helping businesses become digital ready.

Through the Hometown Collaboration Initiative, Extension is at work in 19 counties in partnership with Ball State University and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. They work with the community stakeholders to identify the area's strengths, analyze data and explore strategies for economic improvement. In Rush County, the outcome was a website that gives current and budding business owners the tools to develop business plans, obtain loans or funding, network, and expand. Seymour County is focused on developing a local foods system through Farmers Markets. Pulaski County is exploring tourism.

Through the Wabash Heritage Innovation Network, Extension and faculty across campus are making west-central Indiana an economic global leader in the use of the Internet of Things. Other partners include the Krannert School of Management, the College of Engineering and the Birck Nanotechnology Center. With support from a $39 million Lilly Endowment grant, Extension’s portion is focused on digital agriculture.

Quality of life is integrally connected to economic and community development. Consequently, Extension is partnering with the College of Health and Human Sciences on health-related issues. Lawrence and Jackson counties have the largest adult obesity rates in the state, so Extension and the communities developed an action plan in partnership with faculty in the Department of Health and Kinesiology. Extension is collaborating also with Michigan State University to address mental health issues for farmers, especially in these stressful financial times by delivering a program titled “Communicating with Farmers Under Stress.”

The economy of tomorrow starts with growing a ready workforce today. To that end, Extension's Indiana 4-H Youth Development programs are emphasizing STEM disciplines and life skills such as leadership and the ability to communicate, solve problems, work on teams and resolve conflicts. More than 144,000 youth are led by approximately 12,500 adult 4-H volunteers every year. Youth in its programs learn a wide range of skills from building robots or coding computers. In partnership with Purdue Polytechnic, 4-H challenges Hoosiers in sixth- to eighth-grade to solve problems using the principles of fluid mechanics. "Maker spaces" let kids learn how to build and repair things and provides access to the needed tools from metal cutters to circuit boards to computers.

Urban gardens and commercial kitchens attract city youth and meet a need in food deserts. Extension is partnering with the city of Fort Wayne, which funds a commercial kitchen in a former fire station and an urban garden adjacent to it on what is known as the Johnny Mae Farm. This season, volunteers and staff harvested more than 2,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables grown and distributed them at a Farmers Market in the area.

"The kids came to check it out and then started to hang out there. Now they are volunteering. That's the start of a 4-H club for us," Henderson said.

Indiana is one of the nation's top 10 agricultural producers, which translates into big business for a host of other industries in the state. In this arena, Purdue leads the way.

"In an era of big data, we help farmers collect data, manage, manipulate, analyze, and make decisions," Henderson said. "It's not yield by yield; it's inches by inches."

Seventeen Extension drones fly over Indiana fields to collect data and interest farmers to use such unmanned aerial devices. That information can be matched with the yield monitor on the combine. It can inform pesticide and fertilizer applications, producing results that are better for the environment as well as the bottom line.

Embracing the new

While all land-grant universities are part of Cooperative Extension System, Purdue Extension stands out with its innovation, said Abbott.

"We value our tradition but we also encourage innovation and change," she said. "And Purdue is the only university with an army of 400 volunteer citizen advocates ready to take its message to leaders at the community, state and national level."

"When faculty have ideas for collaboration with Indiana communities, Extension can provide not only support and expertise, but also contacts," Henderson said. "The more we partner, the more we share expertise and attract grants. Ultimately, our communities achieve better outcomes."

There are many doors to Extension. Faculty can knock on the door to Henderson or Abbott, Extension specialists in their college, the Office of Engagement or PRDC.

"We are here to assist," Henderson said. "Nothing is more exciting to us that finding new partners."





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