Four finalists for the position of Cooperative Extension Division dean and Nebraska Cooperative Extension Service director will interview on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's East Campus in March.
Names of the candidates and their interview schedules follow. Each public presentation is followed by a reception so attendees can meet and talk with the candidates.
Susan Williams, district director of the UNL Southeast Research and Extension Center, will interview March 6-9, with a public presentation from 3:30 to 5 p.m. p.m. March 7 at the Nebraska East Union.
Williams has been the district director of the UNL Southeast Research and Extension Center since 2001. She also served as an extension educator for both Saunders and Custer counties from 1983-2001. She holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Kansas State University and a doctorate in human sciences from UNL.
Deborah Sheely, U.S. Department of Agriculture assistant director for the Institute of Food Production and Sustainability in the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, will interview March 13-16, with a public presentation from 3:30 to 5 p.m. March 14 at the Nebraska East Union.
Sheely has worked for USDA in Washington, D.C., since 1997. She has received awards for facilitating the integration of research, education and extension. Sheely has her bachelor's degree in agriculture from the University of Missouri-Columbia and her doctorate in plant biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Duane Williams, associate director of the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Wyoming, will interview March 20-23, with a public presentation from 3:30 to 5 p.m. March 22 at the Nebraska East Union.
Williams has Cooperative Extension experience in three states – Kansas, Missouri and Wyoming. In addition to his current position at the University of Wyoming, he also has been the interim county program director for Gentry County in Missouri and the manager of the Extension Laboratory for Community Analysis and Applied Demographics at Kansas State University. Williams has both his bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural economics-regional and community development from Oklahoma State University and his doctorate in rural sociology-community, demography and human ecology from Kansas State University.
David Hardin, associate dean of the UNL Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine and director of the UNL School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, will interview March 25-28, with a public presentation from 3:30 to 5 p.m. March 26 at the Nebraska East Union.
In 2006 Hardin arrived at UNL to develop, implement and lead the Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine, a cooperative veterinary medical educational program with Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He has led research, outreach and extension programs at both the University of Missouri system and Mississippi State. Hardin received his bachelor's in agriculture, his doctorate in veterinary medicine and his residency certificate in theriogenology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Additional candidate information is available at http://www.extension.unl.edu.
Elbert Dickey, current dean of UNL Cooperative Extension Division and director of Nebraska Cooperative Extension Service, will retire from his position in July. Dickey has been a member of UNL Extension administration since 1991.