COLLEGE STATION Nancy L. Granovsky, professor and Extension family economics specialist, received the Regional Distinguished International Service Award at the National Epsilon Sigma Phi annual meeting Dec. 2 in Salt Lake City. ESP is the Cooperative Extension Service’s organization that represents Extension professionals and retirees throughout the country.
“Nancy was recognized for her leadership that has led to increased international visibility for Extension through worldwide contacts and workshops with the U.S. Army, foreign universities, government officials and international corporations,” said Mike Gerst, president of the ESP Texas chapter. Nancy represents the southern region.
Her leadership abilities have taken her all over the world. She has been a keynote speaker on various family and consumer sciences topics at international conferences in Yokohama, Japan; St. Lucia; the University of Helsinki; Fribourg, Switzerland; Seoul, Korea; and National University of Asuncion, Paraguay, as well as many locations in the United States.
As point of contact for Texas A&M University System’s Agriculture Program with Interamerican Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA), Granovsky works with Extension and rural and sustainable development programs focusing on gender, she said.
“I participated in two hemispheric summits of first ladies,” she said, which were attended by “wives of heads of state from all countries in this hemisphere. These summits have been instrumental in bringing to the attention of policy makers the important development issues affecting the well-being of families in the Western Hemisphere, and thus the economic sustainability of the regions.”
The purpose of these summits and programs are vital, she said, because they work to bring people from all countries together for the good of all.
This coming together globalization was a fact of life in the late 20th century, and still will be in the 21st, she said.
“If people are not aware of the implications of globalization, I don’t think they can be as effective as possible” whether working at home or overseas. “They can’t succeed without an understanding of the issues (involved in globalization).
“Globalization is something that is not going away,” she said. “It’s one of the most major trends that exists.”
Extension has been successful in becoming globalized, she said, with programs that inspire other agencies to establish similar efforts throughout the world.
“U.S. extension education has helped transform the agricultural economy, has helped to develop both rural and urban communities and has enabled many individuals and families to achieve better life quality,”Granovsky said.
Granovsky earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics education from the University of Minnesota in 1968 and a master of science degree in family economics from Kansas State University in 1974. She did further graduate work at Kansas State University and earned a Certified Financial Planner designation from the College for Financial Planning in Denver.
Before joining the Texas Agricultural Extension Service in 1978, she was an Extension specialist/Peace Corps volunteer (1969-72), Peace Corps trainer at Universidad Catolica in Ponce, Puerto, Rico (1972), graduate research assistant at Kansas State University (1973-74) and instructor for the Department of Family Economics at Kansas State University (1974-78).
After joining TAEX as an Extension family economics specialist in 1978, she became a professor and Extension family economics specialist in 1991.
Granovsky’s projects and activities for TAEX have taken her all over the Western Hemisphere to such locations as Paraguay, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Brazil and Argentina. She has consulted for the U.S. Agency for International Development, OAS and Peace Corps in Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Paraguay and Jamaica.
Other titles and positions she has held include project co-director of the U.S. Agency for International Development/TAMU Title XII Strengthening Grant and Program; project coordinator for the home economics component of the USAID Development Title XII; and project director for Operation R.E.A.D.Y, grant funded by the Department of Army. U.S. Army Community Service and Family Support Center.
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