At its 100th birthday, the Cooperative Extension Service reaches far beyond its rural roots. The modern program, while maintaining those roots, is also about energy and land rights, it’s about connecting rural to urban, it’s about math and science to help equip West Virginians with the best tools possible.

“The next step will be all about ideas translating into jobs,” West Virginia University President Gordon Gee said as the university celebrated that shift with a two-day symposium this week entitled ‘Century Beyond the Campus: Past, Present, and Future of Extension.’

Gee joined two other WVU presidents, a former national Extension leader and an assemblage of national leaders for the symposium, celebrating the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 establishing the U.S. Cooperative Extension System, a partnership of the Department of Agriculture, land-grant colleges, and state and local governments.

Gee joined WVU President Emeritus and current Professor of Law David C. Hardesty Jr., who served as chair of the National 4-H Council during his tenure; and former interim President C. Peter Magrath in the kickoff of the symposium on Wednesday evening as the three presidents each gave their unique perspective and insight on the role Extension Service plays in fulfilling the land-grant mission.

As society changes, higher education must evolve to meet its needs. For 100 years, Extension has been helping land-grant universities keep pace with change and finding new ways to serve citizens, Gee said.

“No state, no University is more inextricably connected,” Gee, who recently toured all the counties in the state, said. “The 55-county tour reaffirmed how much West Virginia and West Virginia University depend on one another.”

Nathan Sorber, assistant professor and coordinator of WVU’s higher education administration program in the College of Education and Human Services, moderated the C. Peter Magrath Lecture. Sorber authored The Land-Grant Colleges and the Shaping of American Higher Education.”

In the century since the Smith-Lever Act was signed, WVU Extension Service has grown and adapted to the ever-changing needs of the state. The University has led the way in creating a modern Extension Service through a number of 21st Century programs, including helping to create an online farmers market, incorporating STEM disciplines into 4-H, training firefighters around the state and informing landowners of shale gas rights.

In addition to the C. Peter Magrath Lecture, researchers from Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Maine, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Arkansas, Mississippi State University, Iowa State University, Texas Christian University and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities delivered presentations about the state of Extension Service and its future.

Rachel Tompkins, senior fellow at the Rural Schools and Community Trust and former vice provost for extension and public service at WVU, gave the keynote address Thursday.

The symposium highlighted not only how WVU has structured modern Extension Service but also how WVU Extension Service extends educational, social and economic benefits of higher education beyond the campus and into communities across the state.

WVU Extension Service is present in all 55 counties in West Virginia – “extending” faculty agents, specialists and staff and continues to evolve to accommodate each one of those counties.

The Smith-Lever Act helped to forge that bond, which is stronger than steel and which we are working to make even stronger, Gee said.

-WVU-

cn/09/26/14

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