Finalists for West Virginia University’s dean/director of Extension Service will visit the main campus beginning Monday (Jan. 19).

“We’re thrilled about bringing these four finalists to campus,” said Maryanne Reed, dean of the Reed College of Media and chair of the search committee. “Each of the candidates has both broad and deep experience in Extension and would bring a unique vision and energy to the Extension leadership role.”

Candidates will spend two days in Morgantown. They will meet with administration, faculty and staff on the main campus and travel to Jackson’s Mill for a tour and a forum with Extension constituents. Each candidate will also give a presentation on the main campus that will be webcast for the benefit of WVU Extension faculty and staff around the state.

The four candidates, and the dates of their visit, are:

Daney Jackson (Jan. 19-21)
Jackson, an international trade specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is a career Extension professional with 28 years of experience. He started as an Extension Agent at Mississippi State University and worked in district and state level administration at The Ohio State University.

Jackson served as associate director and director of Extension at Penn State University from 2003 to 2011. As director, associate dean and associate vice president at Penn State, Jackson provided strategic leadership to all programs and operations of Extension programs for more than 1,000 faculty and staff at 75 locations with annual expenditures of almost $80 million.

He has served as the USDA Extension advisor to the Afghanistan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock and has coordinated programs and projects across USDA, U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Defense.

Most recently, Jackson has represented USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service with Agricultural Trade and Development programs in Eurasia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and Ukraine. He has bachelor’s degrees (forestry and business) and a master’s degree (Extension education) from Mississippi State University and a Ph.D. (Agricultural Education) from Ohio State.

Dave Ivan (Jan. 21-22)
Ivan is the director of the Greening Michigan Institute, a program of the Michigan State University Extension Service. He has more than 15 years of progressive administrative and programmatic experience in Extension. As the state program leader for community and economic development and natural resource programs at Michigan State, he supervises a staff of approximately 70 Extension educators and specialists, whose programmatic focus includes natural resource stewardship, community food systems, government and public policy education, entrepreneurial development and community sustainability.

Ivan’s other roles with MSU Extension have included regional director, county Extension director and state specialist for community and economic development programs. His research has examined successful approaches to greater vitality in smaller and mid-sized communities and has received a national research award from the Community Development Society.

Before joining the staff at Michigan State, Ivan served as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Beef Council. Ivan received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications from Michigan State, his MBA from Penn State University, and his Ph.D. from Michigan State in community sustainability.

Steven Bonanno (Feb. 2-4)
Bonanno has served as the interim director of WVU Extension Service since July 1, 2011, managing a $50 million budget and overseeing WVU Extension’s workforce of 475 county agents, state specialists and staff. He is secretary and chair-elect of the Northeast Extension Directors Association and a member of the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy National 4-H Leadership Committee, assisting in developing national-level policy for the 4-H youth program. He also serves on the Northeast Rural Development Center Board of Directors.

Bonanno has served as the director of the WVU Extension Service’s community, economic and workforce development unit since 2005. He served as Pleasants County WVU Extension agent from 1982 to 2005, with responsibilities in agriculture, community development and 4-H. He spent 18 years in Pleasants County emergency management serving in the positions of director and deputy director of emergency services and eight years as 911 director. He served a four-year term on the Pleasants County Board of Education. Bonanno holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture education from the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design.

Beverly Coberly (Feb. 4-6)
Coberly has served as University of Missouri Extension associate vice provost and associate director since 2011. Her previous positions with Missouri Extension include director of off-campus operations, southwest region director, South Central family nutrition education program coordinator and Douglas County regional human development specialist/county program director. She has more than 35 years of experience in Extension.

In her current position, she provides leadership for cooperative extension and continuing education programs across the state. She is responsible for maintaining close ties with county, regional and state extension councils and for facilitating professional development opportunities for extension faculty.

Coberly has served as convener of the associate directors in the North Central Cooperative Extension Association. She has served as state president of the Epsilon Sigma Phi Extension association and the Missouri Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, she is a member of those groups nationally and has served as secretary for the University of Missouri Extension Association. She also has been the institutional representative for the national University Professional and Continuing Education association.

Coberly holds a bachelor’s degree in home economics education from College of the Ozarks and a master’s in clothing and textiles from Missouri. She has additional graduate work in community development and human development. She is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in architectural studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at Missouri.

For the full position description, see http://employmentservices.hr.wvu.edu/wvu_jobs/non-classified_positions/dean-of-the-wvu-extension-service-47.

The new dean/director will report to Provost Joyce McConnell. The University anticipates a start date in summer 2015.

-WVU-

ac/01/14/15

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