Theodore Alter, right, director of Cooperative Extension, and Vice President James Ryan visit the 1997 Pennsylvania Farm Show.

Last August at Ag Progress Days, to a packed house of government and industry representatives; College alumni, faculty, and staff; and others, Penn State President Graham Spanier unveiled a blueprint. It was not a design for a new building or innovative technology; rather it was a plan asking all University units to join forces to better serve the needs of the Commonwealth.

The President's vision is to build upon the strengths of the academic colleges and major outreach units of the University with the goal of expanding the scope and impact of the University's overall outreach program. That goal will be achieved by increasing coordination, collaboration, and communication among academic colleges and outreach units and by widely disseminating information to Pennsylvanians on how to access the University's resources. As Pennsylvania's land-grant university, Spanier explained, Penn State is in a unique position to provide broad access to the research, technology transfer, and nonformal educational resources that can help solve the growing number of problems our society faces.

As an important first phase of the plan, a partnership has been developed between two primary University outreach units, Cooperative Extension and Continuing and Distance Education. As the partnership process unfolded, internal and external constituent groups were consulted and their input solicited. Although the two organizations are now working collaboratively, Spanier stresses that Cooperative Extension will always maintain its historic mission and affiliation with the College of Agricultural Sciences.

"This new arrangement is intended to strengthen Penn State's support for Cooperative Extension by enhancing collaboration between it and the rest of the University," President Spanier explains. "The plan will create a more integrated and coordinated system that will improve Cooperative Extension's capacity to address pressing issues and needs through the involvement of a broader array of University faculty, staff, and fiscal resources."

Some significant administrative changes have been made in support of the partnership and the University's commitment to outreach. The former vice president for Continuing and Distance Education, James Ryan, has become vice president for Outreach and Cooperative Extension. In addition, Cooperative Extension now has its own director. Formerly, the dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences served as director of extension. Although the director reports to both Vice President Ryan and Robert Steele, the new dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, the position carries all administrative responsibility for Cooperative Extension's program planning, budget management, facilities management, human resource management, and government, industry, and constituent relations. In May, Theodore Alter, who served as interim dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, was named to that position. The director also serves as associate vice president for Outreach and Cooperative Extension and as an associate dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Diane Brown will continue to serve as associate director of Cooperative Extension.

Within Penn State Cooperative Extension, statewide program development leadership has been established in three areas: (1) agriculture, natural resources, and the environment; (2) children, youth, and families (including the 4-H/youth development and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education programs); and (3) economic and community development. Cooperative Extension's regional structure also has been modified from four to eight geographic regions, to provide enhanced administrative leadership for its offices in each of the state's 67 counties.

The plan also resulted in a title change and expanded responsibilities for the assistant or associate dean in each of Penn State's academic colleges who is responsible for continuing and distance education activities. The new title–assistant or associate dean for Outreach and Cooperative Extension–reflects increased responsibility for developing new programs within each college as part of the University's broadened outreach mission. Similarly, the Academic Council on Continuing and Distance Education has been renamed and its responsibilities enhanced to reflect the goals of the plan.

Another component of the plan involves creating Regional Councils for Outreach and Cooperative Extension to bring together campus and college representatives and outreach and extension specialists to enhance communication, coordination, and collaboration among key Penn State units involved in outreach and extension and to define external sources of support. These councils have been established in several areas of the state, based not only on location but also on common programming interests and areas of specialty. "This new arrangement will allow Cooperative Extension to tap into expertise throughout the University and provide an even greater resource base to the more than 8 million citizens who participate in its seminars, workshops, conferences, short courses, computer-assisted learning, learn-at-home programs, and other educational activities," Spanier explains.

An action plan has been developed that is guiding implementation of the President's initiative. Even in its preliminary stages, the plan has yielded several immediate benefits, including the following:

• A strategy to lead to and support a seamless University outreach network, characterized by programmatic coordination and administrative integration has been developed.
  
• Program collaboration opportunities among a number of outreach and extension units, colleges, and campuses are being developed.
  
• A strategy to create a University-wide information technology infrastructure to support statewide outreach programming has been devised.
  
• Communications and relationships with external stakeholders and interest groups have been renewed.
  
• Sharing of resources and program opportunities between Continuing and Distance Education and Cooperative Extension is ongoing.

"Our plan reflects a changing environment and diversity of needs of people being served by Cooperative Extension and other outreach efforts," President Spanier says. "We must respond to these changes if Penn State is to remain true to its mission of enhancing the quality of life for the people of this Commonwealth through the practical and widespread application of the University's teaching and research expertise."


–Jennifer MacIsaac