ABILENE Melissa Clifton of Abilene has been named Texas Cooperative Extension’s horticultural agent for Taylor County. Her new position will be effective July 18 according to an announcement made by county judge George Newman and Extension district administrator Scott Durham of San Angelo.
“We are pleased to have Melissa join the progressive Extension staff in Taylor County,” Durham said. “She has worked closely with the staff’s Master Gardener and Master Naturalists programs, and has been instrumental in a number of Extension’s recent educational outreach efforts.
“As a local resident who remains active in community affairs, she knows the county’s make-up, key leaders and stakeholders. We feel she is a natural fit for promoting Extension’s horticultural endeavors in Taylor County.”
Clifton earned a bachelor of education degree in elementary education from the University of Alaska at Anchorage in 1997. She has also completed graduate-level studies at Abilene Christian University and the University of North Texas at Denton.
She has been a chemistry teacher at Abilene High School since 2004. From 1999-2004 she taught at Cross Plains High School. She also taught at Trent Elementary School for two years; spent four years as a special programs intelligence and security analyst for Lockheed Martin (formerly General Dynamics) at Fort Worth, and served in a similar capacity with the U.S. Army in Panama from 1980-1986.
Clifton received the 2004 Texas Environmental Achievement Award given by the Texas Association of Environmental Educators.
She has been president of the Big Country Master Naturalists Chapter; board member and 2006 secretary-elect of Friends of Abilene State Park Association; secretary of Big Country Master Gardeners Association; coordinator for Texas’ Adopt-A-Highway local beautification projects for Abilene and Cross Plains, and a volunteer for the Helping Hearts and Hands habitat improvement project of Cross Plains Methodist Church.
Clifton will fill the position formerly held by Janet Laminack, who is now a graduate research assistant in Extension’s horticultural department at Texas A&M University at College Station.
-30-