Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
4/22/03
Contacts:
Stanley R. Johnson, vice provost for extension, (515) 294-6192, vpforext@iastate.edu
Ann Lohman, ISU Extension education director for Clay County, (712) 262-2264,
alohman@iastate.edu
Robert Ramsey, ISU Extension area education director for Southwest Iowa,
(712) 769-2600, rjramsey@iastate.edu
Nancy McConnell, Northwest Iowa Area Extension Office, (712) 274-0048,
nmccon@iastate.edu
Del Marks, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515) 294-9807,
delmarks@iastate.edu
Don Nitchie Appointed Northwest Iowa Extension Director
AMES, Iowa--Don Nitchie, an extension program director at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, has been appointed to the top administrative post for Iowa State University Extension in northwest Iowa.
Nitchie will become area extension education director in Sioux City on July 1, Stanley R. Johnson, ISU vice provost for extension, announced today. As area director, Nitchie will manage more than 100 extension staff and programs in 20 northwest Iowa counties.
Nitchie has worked for the Extension Service since 1992, first in farm management and regional director posts in Colorado, and since 2002 as agriculture and rural leadership program director. Prior to joining extension, he was a vocational agriculture instructor and a director of commodity marketing and education at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and spent time in northwest Iowa conducting seminars for the Mercantile Exchange in the early 1980s.
The addition of Don Nitchie to the ISU Extension administrative team will increase our capacity to deliver customized extension programming in Northwest Iowa, Johnson said. "The work with the County Extension Councils and the networking of our area directors to organize education and technical assistance for multi-county issues and priorities is essential to our serving in each area of the state."
The new area director is an agriculture graduate of the University of Nebraska and holds a masters degree in agriculture economics from Colorado State University. He said he was attracted to the position by the national reputation of ISU Extension. Nitchie also said the quality of communities in northwest Iowa provides many opportunities to assist with economic development efforts, and the civic climate is positive and energized.
Nitchie was chosen through a search process headed by Ann Lohman, Clay County extension education director, and Robert Ramsey, ISU area extension education director in southwest Iowa. We had a strong pool of candidates. There was excellent involvement by staff and extension council members from northwest Iowa in the evaluation of applicants and in the interview process, Ramsey said.
Lohman said Nitchie will bring valuable program and administrative experience to our efforts in northwest Iowa. Extension will certainly benefit from his work in Colorado where he designed educational opportunities for emerging leaders in rural communities.
Nitchie replaces Peggy (Haafke) Martin who transferred to the ISU Extension to Families campus position of Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program/Family Nutrition Program coordinator effective March 1. She had been northwest area extension education director since 1991. Martin said she looks forward to working with Nitchie and will continue to assist with northwest Iowa administrative issues until he arrives.
The Northwest Iowa Area Extension Office is housed on the Western Iowa
Tech Community College campus in Sioux City. Nitchie said his family
will relocate to the Sioux City area in the near future.
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