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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
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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.”
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