Extension administration is pleased to announce the upcoming leadership changes and other updates. Congratulations to Dalton, Tyrone, Susan, Rachel and Shannon!

• Dalton Dockery, currently director for Extension's Columbus County Center, will start June 30 as the new Southeast District Extension Director.
• Tyrone Fisher, currently director for Extension's Orange County Center, will start June 1 as the Interim North Central District Extension Director.
• Susan Kelly, currently the North Central District Extension Director, will start June 1 as the new Assistant Extension Director for County Operations (read more).
• Rachel Vann will begin July 1 as the new Extension and Outreach Platform Lead for the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative (read more). Rachel will devote 40% of her time to this position and will continue to serve as NC State Extension's soybean specialist.
• Shannon Wiley will start as the Interim Regional Extension Director serving the Eastern part of the state for N.C. A&T State University. Shannon is replacing Morris White, who has accepted a position with Virginia Cooperative Extension, until the position can be filled permanently.

Strategic Planning
Extension is continuing to work with Emergent Method, an external consultant, on our Extension-specific strategic plan as well as the CALS strategic plan. In addition to engaging our employees through five district meetings and one campus meeting, we received over 10,000 responses from a stakeholder email survey.

Our goal is to be solidly incorporated within the CALS strategic plan, while also charting our own unique path that addresses Extension's short- and long-term needs and aspirations in more detail.

Partnership with N.C. A&T
Barbara Board and I have started a process to update the current Extension MOU between our two institutions. The District Extension Directors, State Program Leaders, several CEDs and several Specialists will be contacted for input.

~ RichB