
WVU President E. Gordon Gee called Extension’s work “the helping hand of the University,” saying that over the years WVU Extension has done “an extraordinary job of keeping pace with change.” He added that WVU needs to change the award and recognition structure to recognize and reward service, because until that happens, Extension won’t reach its full potential.
Gee went on to say that because WVU Extension is not tied to any one school or college within the University, it has allowed us to be more engaged across the horizontal landscape.
Lyn Brodersen, assistant vice president for organizational development for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, agreed. She told the closing session of the symposium that she was extremely impressed by how interdisciplinary the WVU Extension Service is, adding that the system in her state still has too many silos.
The need to eliminate information silos insular management systems incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related information systems was a constant theme during the symposium. Past WVU interim president C. Peter McGrath agreed with Gee’s comment that silos are useless in universities, adding emphatically, “Don’t smash them with bombs, but we must take them down. This must be done!”
The symposium began with the annual C. Peter Magrath Lecture, which featured Gee, McGrath, and WVU President Emeritus and current Professor of Law David C. Hardesty, and was moderated by Nathan Sorber from the WVU College of Education and Human Services. The following day, researchers from Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Maine, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Arkansas, Mississippi State University, Iowa State University, Texas Christian University and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities delivered presentations about the state of Extension Service and its future.
Rachel Tompkins, senior fellow at the Rural Schools and Community Trust and former vice provost for extension and public service at WVU, gave the keynote address during Thursday’s luncheon.