KASEP Awards Recognize Excellence

The Kentucky Association of State Extension Professionals held their annual meeting and awards program on February 25, 2014.  Recognition of outstanding professionals and programs were spotlighted through the presentation of six awards.  Four of those six awards were presented to faculty and staff from the School of Human Environmental Sciences.

• Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Extension Professor for Family Finance in the Department of Family Sciences received the 2014 Outstanding New Extension Faculty Award.  Dr. Hunter joined the Department of Family Sciences in 2010.  She serves as co-leader of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Managing in Tough Times Initiative and as administrator for the MoneyWi$e website.  During the past two years, she has presented estate planning workshops for more than 400 participants and received more than $1.3 million as a co-investigator on externally funded projects.
  
  
• Dr. Carole Gnatuk, Senior Extension Specialist in Family and Consumer Sciences Extension received the 2014 Outstanding Extension Specialist Award.  Dr. Gnatuk has served as Extension Child Development Specialist since 1999.  During her tenure, she has developed and implemented many outstanding programs including Keys to Great Parenting and Home is Where the Health Is.  Dr. Gnatuk serves in a leadership role with Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension’s Nurturing Families Initiative and has been an integral part of Kentucky Cooperative Extension work emphasizing fathering and fatherhood education.
  
  
  
  
  
• The KASEP Outstanding Program Award was presented to the Homebased Processor and Microprocessor Program led by Dr. Sandra Bastin, Chair and Extension Professor in the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, and Debbie Clouthier, Extension Associate in Family and Consumer Sciences Extension.  Team members recognized included Dr. John Strang, Department of Horticulture; Dr. Joe O’Leary, Department of Animal and Food Sciences; and Mark Reed and Shadrick Adams, Food Safety Branch, Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services.  The program provides training for farmers interested in adding value to their produce through home-based processing.  Products produced can then be sold on-farm, through certified roadside stands and at approved roadside markets.  Since the program began, 710 producers have been trained and are increasing their farm revenue through sales of value-added products.
  
  
• The KASEP Outstanding Project Award was presented to Taking Ownership of Your Diabetes, a diabetes education program under the leadership of Dr. Ingrid Adams. The program, which includes twelve individual lessons, was designed to provide Kentuckians with diabetes self-management skills.  Since implementation, Taking Ownership of Your Diabetes has provided more than 3,000 Kentuckians with a resource to learn diabetes self-management skills. Approximately 50% of program participants reported working with their health professional to manage their diabetes and 38% reported progressing to the action and maintenance stage of diabetes management.  Team members recognized in addition to Dr. Adams were Lynn Blankenship, Metcalfe County FCS Agent; Cheryl Case, former Harrison County FCS Agent; Ann Hollon, Wolfe County FCS Agent; Theresa Scott, Floyd County FCS Agent; and Tamera Thomas, Franklin County FCS Agent.