Alaska Extension director elected to national role

November 10, 2016

Fred Schlutt, the director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, has been elected chair of the national leadership and governing body of Cooperative Extension.

The Extension Committee on Organization and Policy represents directors and administrators of 76 member Extension institutions. The committee provides guidance on Extension issues.

“I’m honored to be selected,” Schlutt said.

Schlutt will assume the role Nov. 14 during the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ annual meeting in Austin, Texas. The commitment will require weekly meetings with the committee’s national office, and bimonthly audios and three face-to-face meetings with committee representatives. He will also be expected to participate in the development of the next farm bill, the federal authorizing legislation that governs an array of agricultural and food programs.

Schlutt said his main priority as chair will be to push for an increase in the formula funding Extensions and agricultural experiment stations receive from the federal government for outreach and research. A second priority will be to support programs that offer Extension activities in urban areas.

Schlutt has served as director of Extension in Alaska since 2009 but has worked for Extension for 37 years, also as an agent in Texas and Wyoming and as an administrator in Maine. He earned a doctorate from Texas A&M University in adult and Extension education.

Cooperative Extension is an educational network supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and more than 100 land-grant universities.