Extension Educators Receive National Awards

Extension Educators Receive National Awards

Nebraska was well represented among award winners at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents Conference in August. NACAA is the national professional organization for Extension educators and other professionals working in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, natural resources, 4-H youth development and related disciplines.

Extension Educators and their awards, presentations, and noted service to the NACAA were:

Tyler Williams — Achievement Award for his presentation on "Enhancing & Extending Hail Damage and Recovery Information for Crops in Traditional and Social Media" with co-author and Nebraska Extension Ag Section member Nathan Mueller, national winner for video presentation on Hail Know.

Aaron Nygren — Distinguished Service Award

John Porter — First Place: Communications Award for the website, GROBigRed Blog; Sustainable Agriculture Committee Chair; presentation: Reading the Farm Super Seminar; Moderator: Sustainable Ag presentations

Amy Timmerman — Communications Award National Finalist: Learning Module (Solar Eclipse Curriculum); presentation: Nebraska Extension Resistant/Invasive Team #IRPESTS with Nebraska Ag Section co-authors Sarah Sivits, Keith Jarvi, Jim Schild

Kim Clark — National Finalist: Search for Excellence in Livestock Production

Jessica Groskopf — 3rd Place National Poster - Extension Education

Robert Tigner — 3rd Place National Poster - Extension Education

Jenny Rees — Teaching and Educational Technologies Committee Chair

Randy Saner — Presentation: Sheep and Meat Goat Education Meets Needs of a New Enterprise

Gary Lesoing, Kristen Ulmer and Katie Pekarek — Presentation: Tours Provide Education in Sustainable Agriculture to Educators, Farmers and Consumers

Jack Arterburn, Jenny Nixon, Michael Rethwisch — National Finalist, Poster - Extension Research

Brandy VanDeWalle — Excellence in 4-H Programming Regional Winner, Communications Award; National Finalist: Learning Module (Solar Eclipse Curriculum); Presentation: Preparing Youth for Careers in Agriculture through State Crop Scouting Competitions

John Fech, Nicole Stoner, Sarah Browning — Regional Winner for Communications Fact Sheet

Katie Pekarek — Proceedings: An Online Stormwater Core Curriculum

Read more about the work of NACAA and Nebraska Extension's contribution to it in the Conference Proceedings.

Nebraska award winners were Clyde Ogg (middle) and Jan Hygnstrom
Clyde Ogg, center, and Jan Hygnstrom, right, receive national awards from the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators. Congratulating them is Kerry Richards, AAPSE president.

Ogg, Hygnstrom Receive National Awards

Top honors from the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators were recently presented to two members of Nebraska’s Pesticide Safety Education Program, within the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Clyde Ogg, PSEP coordinator, received the AAPSE Fellow Award, AAPSE's highest recognition, honoring service and achievements in pesticide safety education, certification, and publication. Ogg is a charter members and has been active in the professional organization since its inception in 1993. He currently leads a seven-member team that develops educational materials to enable individuals to become certified and eventually state-licensed to use restricted use pesticides in more than a dozen categories. Ogg promotes Integrated Pest Management, and has been actively involved with the Entomological Society of America for more than 25 years.

Jan Hygnstrom, PSEP project manager, received the AAPSE Professional Recognition Award. She was cited for her role in revising the soon-to-be-released private applicator self-study curriculum. The research, planning and development of its 100 topics took almost two years. The curriculum offers an alternative to the classroom setting for Nebraska’s 20,000 private applicators, of whom 5,000-7,000 need to be certified or recertified each year.
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