The Southern Extension Health Institute is designed to provide Extension agents with a unique opportunity to be an active participant in an intensive state-of-the-art training program related to health. It is designed to provide participants with an increased understanding of health systems, Extension's role in health, and tools and strategies for working with individuals, families, and communities' health issues.

Other Reports:

Health Education Program Planning Models - Bobbi Clarke
Models of Behavior Change - Bobbi Clarke
Healthy People and Healthy Communitites - Martha Johnson

Click Here to Download Full Curriculum

BO BEAULIEU is director of the Southern Rural Development Center located at Mississippi State University. He has been involved in community development research and Extension education activities for over 26 years. His work has concentrated on leadership development, public policy education, needs assessment and social capital.

BONNIE CAREW is rural health policy coordinator for Mississippi State University Extension Service where she oversees the Mississippi Rural Health Corps and directs a program for high school students interested in pursuing medical careers. Prior to joining Extension, she managed a health research program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has 15 years management experience in private industry.

BOBBI CLARKE is a professor and health specialist with the University of Tennessee Extension Service. She co-directs the UT Center for Community-Based Health Initiatives. Her expertise is in health education program planning, delivery, collaboration and evaluation across different ages. She has worked in a variety of health organizations at the county, state and national levels for more than 20 years.

GERALD DOEKSEN is a regents professor and Extension economist with Oklahoma State University. He has been a pioneer in developing and applying community service and community impact models. His models have been adopted in many states. He will equip conference attendees with health models that can be used immediately in their own states.

BARBARA GARLAND is a professor and rural health program coordinator with North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension. She has had a long career in public health practice, research and teaching. Her teaching experience includes a decade of teaching epidemiology in a medical school. Most recently, she has served as principal investigator for an eight-year, NCI sponsored community intervention study to determine if Cooperative Extension personnel could be instrumental in building successful community cancer control coalitions.

PEGGY HICKMAN is an associate professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, an associate of the University of Kentucky Center for Excellence in Rural Health, and author of numerous publications and presentations. In her teaching and applied research, she uses her background in public health, nursing, community development and health education to promote health and prevent disease/injury in rural communities.

MARTHA JOHNSON is Extension state program leader for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. She is responsible for family programs in Alabama, is co-chair for Healthy People Healthy Communities National Initiative, director of National Issues Forum Public Policy Institute in Alabama for 2000, co-chair of the workshop on accountability for Health and Family Resource Management, and is actively involved in the health SERA (Southern Extension Research Activity).

RICK MAURER is assistant director of Cooperative Extension Service for Rural and Economic Development Programs and Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. His Extension and research areas include rural, community, and economic development. He serves as coordinator for the Kentucky Economic Expansion Program (KEEP) along with BellSouth and the Cabinet for Economic Development and as a member of the executive committee of the Certified Communities Partnership Program.

TRACY CARTER is the Project Director for Covering Alabama Kids & Families, a new four-year initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is a joint endeavor of the University of Alabama's College of Human Environmental Sciences and College of Community Health Sciences designed to link eligible, uninsured children with health coverage opportunities in Alabama. She holds an MS in Human Development and Family Studies from The University of Alabama. Her primary research interests are in children's health care access with a focus on community and rural challenges/responses to health care access. Currently, she resides in Tuscaloosa with several four-legged children and is a doctoral student in Health Education and Health Promotion.

LINDA PATTERSON has been an Extension health specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service since 1993. She is a registered nurse with extensive experience in health care and health education, wellness and health consumer development. She has authored over 40 health education publications for Extension clientele, and a review of health education and behavioral models. Patterson received her bachelor's degree in nursing and her master's degree in adult health promotion from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

CAROLYN PERKINS is the health coordinator for the Cooperative Extension Program at Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas. She has over 25 years of experience with Extension, including 17 years as a 4-H club agent. She also served as an Extension Home Economist prior to assuming her role as Health Specialist/Coordinator. She is a member of the National Healthy People Healthy Communities Initiative Team, the National Leadership Council and has conducted numerous presentations on "Building Healthy Communities."

JOE SCHMIDT is a community development specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. He provides community development educational and technical services to county Extension staff and local communities and organizations. He has worked in the Extension Service for over 23 years. His specialties include strategic planning, business financial management and grant writing. Along with Neal Jones and David Lightwine, he helped establish the Mississippi Rural Health Association. He has two degrees from Mississippi State University in Agricultural Economics and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University.

VAL SCHOTT is president-elect of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) and Serves as the director of the Oklahoma Office of Rural Health. He has held positions as Legislative Liaison and HIV/STD Service Chief for the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Prior to his work at the state health department, he worked as assistant administrator of Oklahoma Medical Center, the state teaching hospital, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the City-County Health Department of Oklahoma County.

KATHLEEN TAJEU has served for eight years as community health specialist with Alabama Cooperative Extension System. In her current role, she has co-developed breast cancer education programs, partnered with other state agencies to deliver technical assistance workshops on community-based approaches to health promotion, served on the Extension Healthy People Healthy Communities National Initiative team, and contributed to the Extension National Network for Health's Evaluation Capacity-building efforts. Before coming to Alabama she held positions with Cornell Cooperative Extension, the University of Illinois' Kellogg-funded Community-based Health Programs Cluster Evaluation Team, the Department of Health Education at East Tennessee State University, and the Cayuga-Tompkins Healthy Heart Program.

JOHN WHEAT is professor at the University of Alabama, Department of Community and Rural Medicine, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He also serves as director of the Rural Medicine Scholars Program at the University of Alabama. Dr. Wheat has been published in numerous medical journals and has received certification with the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Preventive Medicine, GPM/PH and the American Board of Preventive Medicine, OEM.

Southern Rural Development Center Box 9656 Mississippi State, MS 39762 Phone: (662) 325-3207 Fax: (662) 325-8915

For more information, contact Bonnie Teater at the SRDC.