Schlutt to lead Cooperative Extension Service

Submitted by Debbie Carter
Phone: 907-474-5406
02/10/09

Fred Schlutt, a 30-year Extension veteran from Maine, has been hired to lead the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service

Schlutt, who works for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service, will start his new job as CES director and vice provost for extension and outreach May 1. He will direct all Extension activities in Alaska. Pete Pinney has served in the position on an interim basis since January 2007.

"I am very pleased that Dr. Schlutt has accepted this important position," said UAF provost Susan Henrichs. "His 30 years of experience in Extension, and his dedication and enthusiasm for the Extension mission will be a great asset to the university."

Schlutt has had a lifelong connection with Cooperative Extension. His parents were Extension agents and his father served as an Extension specialist for 38 years. Schlutt graduated from high school in Bryan, Texas, and attended Texas A&M University, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a doctorate in adult and Extension education.

He joined the Cooperative Extension in 1979 as a county agriculture agent in Texas and has worked as a 4-H agent in Texas and Wyoming. Currently, he is executive director of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation and the state 4-H program coordinator.

"I am excited and honored to be coming to UAF and Cooperative Extension," Schlutt said. "I look forward to working with the great staff, as Extension delivers university-based research information that makes a real difference in Alaskans’ daily lives."

His other interests include officiating athletic events. For the past 33 years, he has officiated high school and college football games and he has officiated high school and college soccer for 10 years. He coached a high school softball team that won the Eastern Maine State Championship last spring. He and his wife, Ann, have three children, LuAnn, Laura and Trey.

Pinney will continue with Cooperative Extension until the end of June to help with the transition, but has returned part-time to the College of Community and Rural Development, where he serves as associate vice chancellor of rural, community and Native education.

CONTACT: Debbie Carter, CES public information officer, at 907-474-5406 or sndsc@uaf.edu.

DC/2-10-09/098-09