Please consider nominating your colleagues for an AEA EEE-TIG award! The procedure is simple and now all online.

Each year the Extension Education Evaluation TIG (EEE-TIG) presents up to five awards in recognition of outstanding contributions to the profession. These awards recognize our colleagues for professional excellence and service to Extension education evaluation. Award categories are listed below. Nominations can be accepted from members and non-members of EEE-TIG. Nominees need not be EEE-TIG members. 

Deadline: The deadline for 2026  nominations will be announced in the coming months. 

To submit, check your email for a survey link. In a survey from the TIG, you will be asked to provide:

1. Information about yourself and the nominee(s);
2. A brief description (2500 characters) in support of the nomination;
3. Supporting documentation, for example a copy of products developed by the nominee (PDF preferred); and
4. Three letters of support that speak to the nominee’s strengths (three separate PDFs preferred).

For more information, please contact Roshan K. Nayak (roshanayak@vt.edu), EEE-TIG chair.

Awards and Descriptions

Sustained Excellence in Extension Evaluation Award
This award is given for conceptual, methodological and evaluation accomplishments making outstanding contributions to Extension and evaluation.

The Mary Nell Greenwood Extension Evaluation Award
This award is given for administrative or program leadership toward outstanding organizational, policy and resource contributions to Extension evaluation.

Excellence in Extension Program Evaluation Award
This award is given for an evaluation of outstanding quality. This may be an individual or team award to professional evaluators or to those whose major responsibility is not program evaluation. Criteria for excellence in program evaluation are accuracy, feasibility, propriety and utility, with particular emphasis placed on utility in improving Extension programs, policies and/or accountability.

Excellence in Extension Evaluation Training Award
This award is given for evaluation training of outstanding quality by an individual or team. The nominees may be professional evaluator(s) or those whose major responsibility is not program evaluation. Criteria for excellence in evaluation training include creativity, enablement of trainees in evaluation practice, and the use of training to further extension evaluation.

Outstanding Leadership and Service to the Extension Evaluation Profession
This award is given for leadership and service in creating networks and gaining visibility for Extension evaluators.

2025 AWARD WINNERS

Outstanding Leadership and Service to the Extension Evaluation Profession

LaJoy Spears, Assistant Professor and Program Development and Evaluation Specialist with the Cooperative Extension Service at New Mexico State University (NMSU). Her work strengthens evaluation capacity across NMSU by guiding educators in documenting meaningful program impacts, assessing statewide needs, and designing evidence-based Extension programs that respond to diverse communities.

This award is given for leadership and service in creating networks and gaining visibility for Extension evaluators.

The Mary Nell Greenwood Extension Evaluation Award

Rama Radhakrishna, Professor and department head of Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication at Purdue University. With an extensive publication record, decades of graduate student mentorship, and multiple national teaching and evaluation awards, he has helped elevate the quality of research, instruction, and outreach across the land-grant community.

This award is given for administrative or program leadership toward outstanding organizational, policy and resource contributions to Extension evaluation. 

2024 AWARD WINNERS

Excellence in Extension Evaluation Training Award

Najat Elgeberi, Assistant Professor for Program Evaluation and Evaluation Specialist at the University of Nevada, Reno Cooperative Extension. Her work focuses on advancing community impact through program evaluation, helping Extension programs assess their effectiveness and outcomes and build their evaluation capacities through trainings and workshops offered throughout the year.
This award is given for excellence in evaluation training include creativity, enablement of trainees in evaluation practice, and the use of training to further extension evaluation.

Excellence in Extension Evaluation Training Team Award

University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources received the Excellence in Extension Evaluation Training Team Award. The team included Vikram Koundinya, Katherine Webb-Martinez, Kit Alviz, Roshan Nayak, Christina Becker, Jen Sedell, and David White.

These Excellence in Extension Evaluation Training Team Award are given for excellence in evaluation training include creativity, enablement of trainees in evaluation practice, and the use of training to further extension evaluation.

Award Categories and Past Recipients

Sustained Excellence in Extension Evaluation Award

This award is given for conceptual, methodological and evaluation accomplishments making outstanding contributions to Extension and evaluation. Previous recipients are Midge Smith and George Mayeske (1990), Richard Krueger (1991), Kay Rockwell (1992), Sara Steele (1994), Mary Marshall (1998), Claude Bennett (2000), the team of Sherry Betts, Donna Peterson, Karen Hoffman-Tepper, Dan McDonald, Lucinda Richmond, James Roebuck, Mary Marczak (2003), Nancy Ellen Kiernan (2004), Michael Duttweiler (2005), K. S. U. "Jay" Jayaratne (2006), Michael Lambur (2007), Marilyn Townsend (2008), Rama Radhakrishna (2009), Glenn Israel (2010), Sarah Baughman and Scott Cummings (2013), Ben Silliman (2015), Marc Braverman (2017), Karen Ballard (2019).

 The Mary Nell Greenwood Extension Evaluation Award

This award is given for administrative or program leadership toward outstanding organizational, policy and resource contributions to Extension evaluation. Previous recipients are: Leo Lucas (1990), John Woeste (1992), Gail Skinner-West (1995), Andrew Weber (1996), Ellen Fitzsimmons (1998), Michelle Rodgers (2000), Kevin Reilly and Marvin Van Kekerix (2002), Dale Blyth (2003), Steve Wyatt (2004), Nancy Franz (2005), Mark McCann (2007), A. Scott Reed (2008), Jewel Hairston (2009), Robert McDonald (2010), Helen Chipman, Stephanie Blake and Linda Kay Benning (2013), Jan Scholl (2014), Molly Engle (2017), Laura Perry Johnson (2018), Katherine Webb-Martinez (2023). 

Excellence in Extension Program Evaluation Award

This award is given for an evaluation of outstanding quality. This may be an individual or team award to professional evaluators or to those whose major responsibility is not program evaluation. Criteria for excellence in program evaluation are accuracy, feasibility, propriety and utility, with particular emphasis placed on utility in improving Extension programs, policies and/or accountability. Previous recipients include Michael Lambur and Judy Burtner (1994), Ken Pigg (1995), the team of Garee Earnst, Denise Ellsworth, Rubin Nieto, N.L. McCaslin and Laryssa Lackman (1996), Glenn Israel (1997), Nancy Ellen Kiernan (1998), Murari Suvedi (1998), the team of Michael Lambur, Radhika Rajgopal, Edwin Lewis, Ruby Cox, and Michael Ellerbrock (1999), and the team of Susan Barkman and Krisanna Machtmes (2000), the team of Mary Alice Gettings and Cindy Javor (2001), Renee Daugherty, Ron Powers, Sue Williams, Wendy Petersen and Christine Johnson (2002), Pennie Crinion; Bill Million; Sheri Seibold; and Charles D. Clark (2005), Mary Arnold, Robin VanWinkle, Anne Manlove, Doug Hart, Mary Dunn, Elissa Wells, & Dana Martin (2007), Mary Ehret (2008), Nancy Grudens-Schuck (2010) K.S.U. "Jay" Jayaratne (2013), Mary Arnold, Jeffrey Flesch and Joy Lile (2015), Ben Silliman, Pennie Crinion, and Thomas Archibald (2016), Karen Franck and Joseph Donaldson (2019), Kit Alviz, Tamekia Wilkins, Missy Gable, Katherine Webb-Martinez, and Melissa Womack (2022), Marc Braverman, Sandi Phibbs, Amanda Rau, and Elijah Penner (2022). 

Excellence in Extension Evaluation Training Award

This award is given for evaluation training of outstanding quality by an individual or team. The nominees may be professional evaluator(s) or those whose major responsibility is not program evaluation. Criteria for excellence in evaluation training include creativity, enablement of trainees in evaluation practice, and the use of training to further extension evaluation. Previous recipients include Kay Rockwell (1996), Satish Verma and Roger Rennekamp (1999), Richard Rohs (2000), Ellen Fitzsimmons, Ellen Taylor-Powell, Heather Boyd and Robin Shepard (2002), Lisa Guion (2003), Mary Arnold (2004), Lisa Townson (2005), Nancy Grudens-Schuck and Jean Eels (2006), Joseph Donaldson (2009), Scott Cummings (2010), Ben Silliman (2011), Sorrel Brown, Nancy Franz, Keli Tallman and Barbara Woods (2013), Scott Chazdon, Mary Emery, Lynette Flage, Debra Hansen and Lorie Higgins (2015), Kansas State University, accepted by Allison Teeter (2018), Vikram Koundinya (2021).

Outstanding Leadership and Service to the Extension Evaluation Profession

This award is given for leadership and service in creating networks and gaining visibility for Extension evaluators. Previous recipients include Claude Bennett (1988), John Michael (1998) John Richardson (1999), Milton Fujii and David Underwood (2002), Ellen Taylor-Powell (2003), Richard Rohs (2006), Roger Rennekamp (2007), Michael Newman (2008), Michael Lambur (2010), Bart Hewitt (2011), Suzanne LeMenestrel (2012), K.S U. "Jay" Jayaratne (2016), Bart Hewitt (2017), Nav Ghimire (2018), Scott Chazdon (2019).