Meet the ECOP Chair-Elect

ECOP’s Chair-elect, Damona Doye (pictured left), is Associate Vice President of Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and a Regents Professor in Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University (OSU). An OSU faculty member since June 1986, Dr. Doye served as an Extension farm management specialist for 32 years and held the Rainbolt Chair of Agricultural Finance in the Department of Agricultural Economics. She is a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, the highest honor given by the organization in recognition of lifetime achievement. Before her AVP appointment, she received the 2017 Southern Region Excellence in Extension Award from USDA-NIFA and ECOP. The Southern Region Extension Directors appointed her to ECOP in the fall of 2021, and she has served until now on the Program Committee by taking leadership of the Broadband Program Action Team. Until taking the Chair's gavel in October 2023, Dr. Doye will serve as a voting member of the Executive Committee and as ECOP Liaison to ESCOP.




Welcome New ECOP Members

· Northeast Region – Roy Beckford, University of Vermont

Fitzroy B “Roy” Beckford spent over a decade with the University of Florida Extension as a County Extension director, managing work in the areas of agriculture, natural resources, horticultural sciences, marine and aquatic environments, 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, food systems, small farms initiatives, and environmental sustainability. During his tenure as the state Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) program leader at North Carolina A&T State University's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, he provided administrative, financial, marketing and communications leadership. Dr. Beckford began as associate dean and director of University of Vermont Extension on May 1, 2021, and brings a global perspective. He has worked in agricultural consulting around the world, including service with the government of the British Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture, as well as in Qatar and Belize. His national role is that of Executive Committee of ECOP. 

· Western Region - Jon C. Boren, New Mexico State University

Dr. Boren, Associate Dean & Director of NMSU Cooperative Extension Service, returns to ECOP voting membership. He is highly familiar with the National scene as he has represented the System in various capacities since 2012. His extraordinary commitment to the System includes, ECOP Budget & Legislative Committee Chair and Vice-chair, Co-chair of the ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee, Extension International Workgroup, Section Representative to the BAA/PBD Budget and Advocacy Committee, and ECOP Program Committee. In addition, Jon represents the Cooperative Extension System on the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees. 

USDA Regional Food Business Centers RFA - National Extension Webinar - Attention Extension Directors and Administrators (1994, 1890, 1862) and more importantly the extension practitioners from interested land-grant institutions! A national webinar for the Cooperative Extension System about funding for USDA Regional Food Business Centers will take place on Tuesday, October 18, 2:00-3:00 PM ET. The hour is intended to provide information on the AMS Regional Food Business Center RFA, share available resources, and answer questions that are most relevant to the Cooperative Extension System.
Here is the link to register: https://pages.extension.org/regional-food 

Educating Capitol Hill Staff on Adapting to Climate Change - Please share the following opportunity with congressional contacts: Join the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (NCFAR) and Resources for the Future for a webinar featuring Margaret Walls, Ph.D, Senior Fellow with Resources for the Future on Adapting to Climate Change: Wildfire, Outdoor Recreation, and Rural Communities in the American West. Registration is required here to receive connection details for Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 11:00 AM ET.