July 16, 2026

In June, several members of the National Association for Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) were recognized with awards. The awards were presented at the 2026 NACDEP meeting, which was hosted by Kansas State University in Wichita, KS. Among this year’s awardees were a number of Northeast NACDEP members – please join us in congratulating them on the well-deserved honor!

• Charlie French (formerly with UNH Extension) – Distinguished Career Award (Northeast Region)
• Daniel Eades (WVU Extension) – Distinguished Service Award (National and Northeast Region)
• John Turack, Robin Perry Smith, Neal Fogle, and Harry Crissy (Penn State Extension) – Educational Technology Team Award (National and Northeast Region) for their Penn State Extension Food Systems Mapping Instrument
• Robin Perry-Smith, John Byrnes, Linda Falcone, Neal Fogle, and John Turack (Penn State Extension) – Excellence in Community Development Team Award (Northeast Region) for their “Using Blueprint Communities® to Revitalize Pennsylvania Neighborhoods” program
• David Kay (Cornell) and Charlie French (Island Institute, formerly UNH) – members of a 13-person team awarded the Excellence in Community Development Team Award (Southern Region) for their CD 101 programming.
  • Other team members include: Grace Langford (SRDC/Mississippi State); Rachael Carter (Mississippi State), Hunter Goodman (U. Arkansas); John Green (SRDC); Daniel Kahl (U. Kentucky), Stacey McCullough (U. Arkansas), Natriez Peterson (Prairie View); Kara Salazar (Purdue), Patti Schmitt (Colorado State) Sreedhar Upendram (U. Tennessee), Jamie Rae Walker (Texas A&M).*
• Michael Dougherty (WVU) – member of an 8-person team awarded the Excellence in Teamwork Award (Northeast Region) for their Land-Use Planning Community of Practice.
  • Other team members include Melissa Hamilton (U. Idaho), Kelsey Johnson (Texas A&M), Myra Moss (Ohio State), Brad Neumann (Michigan State), Jake Powell (Utah State), Rebecca Roberts (U. Wisconsin) Kara Salazar (Purdue).*
• Zachary White (WVU) – Educational Materials Individual (Northeast Region) award for his “History of Small Towns in WV: Newell and the Legacy of Fiestaware” materials.
• Zachary White (WVU) – Educational Technology – Individual Award (Northeast Regionand Runner-up for the National Award) for his Hancock County 4-H Weekend STEM Camp.

*Affiliations noted were current at the time award was given in June. Some have retired or relocated.

Tagsawards