Marvin Ensor receives AgriLife Extension’s Superior Service Award

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu

Contact: Marvin Ensor, 325-653-4576, m-ensor@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Marvin Ensor, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agriculture and natural resources and 4-H and youth development regional program leader for the West Region, has been presented a 2014 Superior Service Award in the agency leadership category.

The Superior Service Awards recognize AgriLife Extension faculty and staff who provide outstanding performance in AgriLife Extension education or other outstanding service to the organization and to Texans. The award was presented Jan. 6 during the Texas A&M AgriLife Conference held on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station.

Ensor, who is headquartered at San Angelo, has been in his current position for 11 years, but has been with AgriLife Extension for 34 years. He is responsible for providing educational leadership and guidance to AgriLife Extension’s county staffs across the West Central District’s 23-county area and the Far West District’s 22 counties, which together comprise the agency’s West Region.

According to his nomination, Ensor is being honored for several areas of his successful multi-faceted programs aimed at helping county staffs better perform their educational duties to their respective clientele.

Measuring the success of individual county programs is one of the most difficult items for the agency to quantify, the nomination noted, but Ensor has been a pioneer in accomplishing this feat since 2009, when he spearheaded the Organizational Development Unit to develop a way to capture results and economic impact across his region.

He did a “masterful” job, according to his nomination, of balancing the individuality and uniqueness of each county program with the needs of the agency to tell a stronger story regarding successes across larger areas. This effort is now used by all regional program leaders to capture the impact of programs in each region and across the state, enabling the agency to quickly respond with accurate and valuable information regarding its impact from program efforts.

AgriLife Extension’s junior livestock program is another area in which Ensor excels, according to his nomination. Youth livestock projects draw much positive visibility and support to the agency, and Ensor recognizes the importance of proper management of these projects.

In order to help county agents and their 4-H clientele avoid some of the pitfalls of program management, Ensor was instrumental in developing 4-H Livestock 101, an intensive training all new agriculture and natural resources agents and most 4-H agents complete as part of their on-boarding experience. To date, more than 120 new agents have completed the program.

Top volunteers are the backbone of any successful 4-H program and to that end, another success directly attributed to Ensor’s leadership in his nomination is the 4-H Livestock Mentor Program currently used by county agents to identify, recruit and train individuals to serve as top volunteers. As a followup, he also developed the Mentor Action Plan that outlines agent mentor engagement. To date, more than 40 mentors have been trained in the West Region.

Applied research and result demonstrations, featuring a host of largely production agriculture-related field trials, form the foundation of AgriLife Extension’s agriculture and natural resources adult educational efforts. Recognizing the importance of this educational tool, Ensor schedules a host of trainings annually for AgriLife Extension agents in a wide array of subject matter areas. Final applied research and result demonstration results are posted on the West Region website for use by the general public and producers.

“Since 2010,” stated Ensor’s nomination, “the West Region has reported over $56 million in anticipated economic impact as a result of programs Ensor has documented. This type of impact does not happen by chance, it happens by design, and as a result of a visionary leader who sets the expectation and earns the respect of those he leads. Ensor is such a leader.”

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