Dave Filson has been appointed regional director for the South Central region of Penn State Cooperative Extension and Outreach. As regional director, Filson will provide programmatic and administrative leadership for cooperative extension and coordination for University outreach programs in the region’s nine counties: Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, and Somerset.

Ted Alter, associate vice president for outreach and director of Penn State Cooperative Extension, says that Filson brings a 17-year record of dedicated and exemplary service as an extension educator, county extension director, and director of Penn State’s Juniata Valley Outreach Center to his new position. “I am very pleased that Dave has assumed this important leadership position,” Alter says.

“I’m really looking forward to forging new relationships between extension staff, extension clientele, and extension board members over a larger region,” Filson says. “The issues and questions may change, but our staff continue to be the greatest asset Penn State has to offer.”

Filson joined Penn State in 1984 as an agricultural agent in Mifflin County. In 1991–2, he was named county extension director for Mifflin and Juniata Counties. From 1998 to 2001, he also directed Penn State’s first Outreach and Cooperative Extension Center. Located in Lewistown, the center provides residents of Mifflin, Juniata, and surrounding counties with one-stop access to all of the University’s outreach efforts, including cooperative extension, continuing education, distance education, technology transfer, and other programs.

Filson received a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and a master’s degree in extension education from Penn State. He is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) and the Pennsylvania Association of County Agricultural Agents. He has won several communications awards and
received the NACAA Distinguished Service Award in 1999.

Filson is based at the south central region cooperative extension office in 215 Lubert Building, University Park. The office can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.extension.psu.edu/scregion/.