rjmwur fV ,■??*. NEWARK, Del, Of the six professionals retiring from Uni versity of Delaware Cooperative Extension this year, some came to extension by design, others by chance. But they contributed to the quality of life for Delawareans. Doris H. Crowley, who retired as coordinator of Agricultural Sci ences Communications Oct. 1, was responsible for the group that produces Outreach, the college’s annual report and Extension publi cations. A native Californian, Crowley came to Delaware as a Winterthur fellow and stayed. She began as a writer for the commu nications group in 1972. “I heard Delaware Extension was looking for a writer, and 1 jumped at the chance,” Crowley said. “It was the perfect opportuni ty to use my communication skills and to get out information that would help people.” Crowley is proud of a series she wrote and photographed on her itage skills and of the several sup plements she helped plan and write for The Delmarva Farmer. “In the mid-1980s I worked on a supplement called ‘Smart Farming for Tough Times, 1 ” Crowley said. “It contained useful and important information that would help farm ers stay in business. I found the project personally satisfying.” In 1988 Crowley was named coordinator of the communica tions group. Outreach, a monthly newspaper, was established under her leadership. Claudia H. Holden will retire Dec. 31 as state coordinator for the Expanded Food Nutrition and Education Program (EFNEP), a statewide program that delivers nutrition education to low-income families. Nationwide Insurance Pledges $2.5 Million COLUMBUS, Ohio The Nationwide Insurance Enterprise Foundation has pledged $2.5 mil lion to The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, to enhance the university’s business and agricul tural programs. Nationwide has designated $1 million for an endowed professor ship in urban and rural policies in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. The endowed chair will be named for C. William Swank, who has been executive vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation since 1968 and has worked for the organization since 1956. Nation wide was founded in 1925 by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation . Swank said it was “a humbling moment” when he learned the pro fessorship will be named in his honor. He said the professorship is needed because “the pressures of urban living present a lot of prob lems that need to be addressed zoning, rural job development, property rights, the use of fertiliz ers and pesticides, and wildlife control. Swank, 63, plans to retire with in the next two years. “We know of no other chair in America that undertakes this goal,” said D. Richard McFerson, Nationwide’s president and chief operating officer. McFerson, in announcing the $2.5 million pledge, said, “This gift is in recognition of the enor mously important role The Ohio State University plays,in the lives Extension Professionals Retire Holden came to Delaware from a small town in North Carolina to attend Delaware State University. She had planned to become a buyer in New York, but stayed in Delaware, first to teach and then to work in Extension. In 1969 Hold en was hired as a Kent County home economist, working primar ily with the EFNEP program, which was in its infancy. In 1986 she became EFNEP state coordi nator. “Helping folks help themselves has been the most gratifying part of my career,” Holden said. “I have seen the children of the fam ilies we’ve worked with in EFNEP go on to very successful lives and careers—children that came out of deteriorating conditions to become productive citizens.” Holden feels strongly about the EFNEP program expanding. “If I have one hope for the future of EFNEP, it’s that it be rec ognized for the integral part of Extension that it is,” said Holden. “EFNEP is a program through which voices are heard that other wise might go unnoticed. EFNEP offers a vast amount of informa tion and expertise to be valued and explored. It’s time that all Delaware’s citizens experience the advantages this program has to offer.” Gerald F. Vaughn, a specialist for resource economics and poli cy, will retire in December. In 1967 he joined Delaware Exten sion as coordinator of community and resource development. A native of Salisbury, Md., Vaughn earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland an<J a master’s from the University of Delaware. His of people and the economy of Ohio and the nation. We want to participate in the beginning stages of what will be important changes for the university.” E. Gordon Gee, OSU’s presi dent, said the pledge “shows the depth and breadth of Nationwide’s commitment to excellence and its desire to Join with us to ensure that future leaders in business and agri culture will possess the knowledge and skills to lead the state and nation well into the next century.” Half of the $2.5 million will go to OSU’s Max M. Fisher College of Business and half will be allo cated to the College of Food, Agri cultural, and Environmental Sci ences to promote research in agri culture. The pledge will be paid in installments during the next five years. Other pledge allocations are: •$2 million to support an undergraduate honors program and to provide scholarships for juniors and seniors in the Fisher College of Business. • $250,000 to help finance con struction of an honors lounge in the Fisher undergraduate building. Construction of the $78.4 million Fisher complex is to begin in 1995. • $250,000 for construction of a conference building for the Center for Education and Economic Development at OSU’s campus in Wooster, Ohio. The 6,000-square fool facility will be used for group functions, luncheons, training ses sions, banquets, and other events. career has been devoted to observ ing, researching and writing mate rials on economics and policy issues. These materials provide groups, government agencies and decision makers with information on public issues that affect Del marva residents. In the 19705, much of his study was on the economic development of Delaware as related to business and industry. By the 1980 s, his work took on an environmental thrust. For the past few years Vaughn has concentrated on the state’s population and economic growth as it affects the ecology. Vaughn created a public policy newsletter —Economic & Policy Outlook for Delaware Agriculture and Natural Resources —in 1991, which has addressed these issues. “Yogi Berra said ‘you can observe a lot just by watching’; that kind of sums up what I’ve done in my career,” Vaughn said with a smile, though he’s serious about his work and what will hap pen to Delaware if growth contin ues unchecked. “We have a real jewel in this state we call Delaware, yet we treat it like junk jewelry,” Vaughn said. “If I could leave a legacy, it would be the hope that people in our state will take growth management and planning seriously. I’m convinced that effective planning can be a reality if initiated by 1995. In two to three years, it will be too late.” Frank J. Webb, who retired May 1 as state weed control spe cialist, was hired as a county agri cultural agent in 1969. A Delaware native, raised on a farm near South Bowers Beach, Webb started as a Kent County agricul tural agent. He spent much of his career at the Research and Educa tion Center in Georgetown con ducting educational programs, demonstrations and field research A LESSON WELL LEARNED... LANCASTER FARMING'S CLASSIFIED ADS GET RESULTS! on agronomic crops “I look back at two projects I was involved in that contributed a lot to agriculture,” said Webb, who is farming full time. “The weed control advances for no-till crop production is one. The second is starting up a viable grain sorghum production system for farmers in southern Delaware. Sorghum is a boon to farmers who rotate with soybeans, because it’s drought resistant and the inputs are much less costly than for com.” Webb, who developed strate gies for weed control for Delaware farmers and agribusinesses, is rec ognized nationally for his educa tional programs based on his field research on weed control recom mendations. Webb earned both his bachelor’s and his master’s degrees from the University of Delaware. Thomas H. Williams will retire Dec. 31 as extension water quality specialist. He works with the agri cultural community to provide educational programs in best man agement practices that result in a safer water supply. “A career in Extension can be anything you make it,” said Williams, who hadn’t really planned to work for extension when he signed on in 1966 as a specialist in agriculture engineer ing. “But I liked the idea of work ing with people to solve prob lems.” Williams is a native Delaware an with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and a master’s in elec trical engineering from the Uni versity of Delaware. He’s proud of his work with no-tillage and con servation-tillage production sys tems in the 19705, and the follow ing decade, dead-bird disposal that helped the industry and farmers dispose of dead poultry in an envi ronmental way. construction EQUIPMENT David H. Woodward, who will retire in December as assistant director for agriculture and natural resources, didn’t start out in a career with extension either, but ag .agents had an influence on him early in life when they visited his family’s farm near Middletown. “I remember thinking at the time that an ag agent could really make a contribution helping peo ple in agriculture,” Woodward said. “I liked the idea of going around informing people of new and better ways of doing things so they could earn a better living for their families.” With a degree in animal science from the University of Delaware, Woodward worked for the Agri cultural Stabilization and Conser vation Service and was a sales rep resentative for Ralston Purina Company before embarking on a career in extension. In 1971 he became a Kent County agricultur al agent. He said being a part of the no-till program in the state was a highlight of his agent’s experi ence. In 1984, Woodward became state leader for agriculture and natural resources, and in 1988, the assistant director for agriculture and natural resources. It is his responsibility to supply program leadership and coordinate efforts with state agencies and organiza tions to provide educational pro grams to the agricultural commu nity. He is also one on the founders of the Friends of Agriculture breakfast, which monthly brings together farmers, agribusiness leaders, decision makers and oth ers to focus on agricultural issues. “I’m a doer more than a plan ner—l like making things hap pen,” said Woodward about his Extension experience. “And I like helping people help themselves.” 1 ‘BTBTBI
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers