Extension
The national trend in Extension is to incorporate subject matter specialists into departments as tenure-track Extension Title faculty. Specialists’ division of effort reflects their primary role as interpreter of cutting-edge research through development of programs with curricula, fact sheets, and other resources for the benefit of the state’s residents. In addition to their outreach writing and activities, Extension faculty typically teach at least one class a year and conduct applied research on their programs to measure knowledge, attitude, and behavior changes.
Extension trends in specific family science-related topical areas are described below. Extension educational resources already exist in each of these areas and are in constant use among Kentucky’s 120 counties. Updating, creating, and evaluating the impact of resources is an on-going challenge.