With USU Extension Interim Vice President Justen Smith.
USU's Extension program was founded 112 years ago. The program focuses on making local information and research more accessible.
Justen Smith recently stepped up as interim vice president of the program, and is here to tell us about why Extension is important.
Wynter Varner
Thank you for joining us today, Justen.
Justen Smith
It's my pleasure.
Wynter Varner
How did you hear about this position, and what made you feel inclined to accept it?
Justen Smith
We had Senior Vice President Ken White, who had been in the position, and he chose to step down and go back to a faculty role.
I was invited in and asked to serve in an interim role until they can fill the permanent position.
Wynter Varner
How did you feel when you got this invitation?
Justen Smith
At first, I was shocked. I mean, there's a lot of qualified people. But after that, definitely humbled and very grateful that they would have that much trust in me to take on such a large role and to take on this position.
Extension is statewide, we're in every corner of the state and everywhere in between, and so it's a big role to fill.
I was just very honored and humbled that they would ask me, and so excited for the opportunity. I've worked in Extension for 27 years, and I've served in Extension administration for nine years as a state agriculture and natural resources director. So I'm not new to administration, and I'm definitely not new to Extension.
I do have a very good pulse on the needs of Extension and our communities across the state.
There's many qualified people that could have filled this role, and I was just honored that they would choose me.
Wynter Varner
What do you think the importance of Extension programming is?
Justen Smith
Extension is part of the land-grant mission, and the land-grant university history is fascinating.
The land-grant concept started clear back during the Civil War in 1862, and was signed in to law by Abraham Lincoln. Every state and every US territory has a land-grant university or college.
With a land-grant, schools offer teaching, research, and then service or Extension. That's where we're different from other universities, we take the research and information that happens within the university and extend it to the other people we know.
I've done a lot of international work. I've worked in countries all over the world, and we're the envy of a lot of countries, because we have such a system in place, and have had a system like this in Utah for 112 years.
In Utah, Extension was officially formed in 1914 with the Smith Lever act. So we've been around a long time, and we've extended the great research and the great teaching that happens at Utah State to the citizens of Utah.
We make impacts in every county in Utah, throughout the state, in many different areas. It was traditionally agriculture, natural resources, family consumer sciences, and, of course, the 4-H Youth Program.
We still do all those, but it's definitely expanded into mental health, health and wellness, and many different areas.
Extension is great at evolving for the needs of a changing demographic, which Utah's demographic continues to change.
Wynter Varner
What aspirations do you have for your time in this position?
Justen Smith
Senior Vice President Ken White, when he was in that position, was great at building and expanding Extension larger than it ever has been.
We now have the Bastion Agriculture Center in South Jordan and the Davis Agricultural Center in Kaysville.
We've added more centers and we've added more programming than ever existed before.
I feel like I have a good springboard to really focus on our people in Extension, our Extension county faculty, our program coordinators, and our staff across the state.
So, my main focus right now is on our people, because I feel like our people are our greatest asset in Extension. Without them, we wouldn't have expanded as much as we have, and so I want to make a focus on recruitment and retention of good faculty, coordinators, and staff.
Wynter Varner
Do you have any other resources that you'd like to share today?
Justen Smith
If anyone wants to learn more about Extension, they can go to extension.usu.edu, which is just a wealth of knowledge and information.
We have a county Extension office in every county in Utah except for Daggett. So 28 County Extension offices, but Uintah county does serve Daggett county, so we have a presence in all 29.
If you go to our website, you can look up where the nearest county Extension office is at.
If you have questions on the best grass to plant in your yard, or what trees to plant, what insect you're seeing, if you have kids who want to get involved in the 4-H Youth Program, are interested in learning about food preservation or things like healthy living, definitely visit your local Extension office.
Wynter Varner
Thank you again for joining us today, Justen!
Justen Smith
It's been my pleasure, and thank you.
Wynter Varner
This has been Wynter Varner with the USU Extension Education Highlights. Thank you for tuning in.
