Awards & Accomplishments

The University of Minnesota President's Emerging Leaders (PEL) program held its 2012 commencement, poster session and recognition event June 20 at the Humphrey Institute. Among the 25 participants completing the year-long program were Terry Straub, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator, and Rebecca Noran, former EFANS communications manager. Julie Weisenhorn, Extension Master Gardener director, served as a project sponsor during the year for a PEL team that undertook a project to examine the redesign and marketing of Master Gardener curriculum as individual online classes offered to the public. David Moen, Extension Master Gardener program manager, was recognized with the 2012 PEL Supervisor Partnership Award.

Angela Gupta, Extension educator in natural resource management and utilization, Andrea Lorek Strauss, Extension educator in environmental science education, and Samantha Grant, Extension educator in youth development program evaluation, published an article in the June issue of Journal of Extension titled, "4-H and Forestry Afterschool Clubs: A Collaboration to Foster Stewardship Attitudes and Behaviors in Youth."

Extension Business Retention and Expansion Strategies Programs in Hugo and Lyon County won international awards of excellence at the Business Retention and Expansion International annual conference on June 21 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The city of Hugo received the award for Outstanding Single Community with a Population under 20,000 category. Lyon County received the award for Outstanding Multi-Community with a Population under 50,000 category. Extension Educators in Community Economics, Bruce Schwartau and Liz Templin, contributed to the Hugo project, and Neil Linscheid contributed to the Lyon County project. Brigid Tuck, community economics analyst/writer, conducted the analysis and wrote the final reports. Michael Darger, Extension specialist in community economics, accepted the award on their behalf at the conference.