UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Donald Evans, associate professor of agricultural and extension education, died Friday, Jan. 14, at his home in Morris Township, Huntingdon County. He was 58.

From 1985 until 1994, Evans served as assistant dean for extension and assistant director of cooperative extension. Prior to that, Evans served as superintendent of the Juniata Valley School District and chief administrator for the Huntingdon County Area Vocational School. He returned to the agricultural and extension education department as associate professor in 1994.

"After returning to our department, Don was involved in countless international agriculture projects around the globe, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe," says Blannie Bowen, C. Lee Rumberger and Family Chair of Agriculture and head of agricultural and extension education. "He was firmly committed to extending what he termed the peace initiative to former Soviet republics through the food and agricultural sciences."

Evans began his career at Penn State in 1973 as instructor in vocational industrial education in the College of Education. In 1978, he joined the College of Agricultural Sciences as assistant professor of agricultural and extension education.

His academic interests centered on educational administration and policy, international agriculture, agricultural and extension education, strategic planning and leadership. Since 1988, he was involved with many efforts, especially International Agricultural Programming in Poland, including the Polish Extension Education Exchange, Polish Teacher Education Seminars, Polish Public Policy Seminars, Polish Student Exchange and the Polish Privatization Seminar for Ukraine and Armenia.

"In addition to organizing and facilitating most of these efforts, Dr. Evans was instrumental in securing the funding and resources so that many Penn State faculty, cooperative extension staff and students could acquire educational experiences in this region," Bowen says. "Several students from Eastern Europe came to Penn State to study with Don."

Other international extension work took Evans to Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Swaziland, France, Venezuela, Lithuania and Armenia. Recently, he coordinated a program that brought Russian visitors from Voronezh State Agricultural University and Saratov State Agricultural University to Penn State to learn about the U.S. food system, cooperative extension and agricultural education. The group also met with Pennsylvania officials and leaders and developed plans for future collaborative projects with Penn State.

In August 1997, he hosted a visit with agricultural officials from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Ukraine, to give them a close look at Pennsylvania agriculture, from family farms to the College's state-of-the-art laboratories. The delegation visited Evergreen Farms Inc., Del Grosso Foods in Tipton and the Huntingdon County fair, and traveled to Harrisburg to meet with Secretary of Agriculture Samuel E. Hayes Jr. and tour the Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Capitol.

Evans taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international agriculture, extension administration, educational leadership and extension methods. He provided pivotal leadership that led to the establishment of the Evans Family Endowment, which co-sponsors the Evans Family Lecture in the department of agricultural and extension education, a one-day series of presentations by graduate students and graduates of the College of Agricultural Sciences. The series provides cash awards for graduate research in agriculture, international agriculture, extension education and agricultural education.

He received a bachelor's degree in agricultural and biological sciences in 1963, a master's degree in agricultural education in 1967, and a doctoral degree in industrial education in 1978, all from Penn State.

He was a Grange State Lecturer, a member of Delta Theta Sigma, Epsilon Sigma Phi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Alpha Tau Alpha, Phi Delta Kappa, Iota Lambda Sigma, the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, JCI Senatorship, Pennsylvania State Grange, Huntingdon County Pomona Grange, Huntingdon County Fair Board, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and Pennsylvania School Boards Association. He also continued to serve his community as School Board Director of Juniata Valley School District and School Board Director of Huntingdon County Career Technology Center from 1985 until the time of his death.

Born Nov. 26, 1941, in Franklin, Evans was the son of Dorothy C. Fisher Snyder of State College and the late Walter L. Evans. On Feb. 20, 1966, at University Park, he married Cheryl K. Fry, who survives. He also is survived by two daughters and a grandson. He owned and operated Misty Farm in Huntingdon County.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Evans Family Lecture Series, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Development Office, 234 Agricultural Administration Building.

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EDITORS: For more information, Blannie Bowen can be reached at 814-865-1688.

Contacts: Kim Dionis KDionis@psu.edu 814-863-2703 814-865-1068 fax