Green to receive Excellence in Extension Award
Contacts: Dr. Stephen Green, 979-845-6468, stephen.green@ag.tamu.edu
Suzanne Deatherage, 979-845-7970, suzanne.deatherage@ag.tamu.edu
AUSTIN– Dr. Stephen Green, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service child development specialist in community health, College Station, will receive the 2016 Excellence in Extension Award at the 129th Association of Public and Land-grant Universities annual meeting Nov. 13 in Austin.
The award is given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Cooperative Extension System and APLU. It is a national recognition bestowed annually on one Extension system professional for “visionary leadership, excellence in programming and positive impact on the community.”
Green, who is also AgriLife Extension assistant director for family and community health, is a 16-year employee of the agency. He will be receiving the award for his support of child care, assisting in the professional development of child care providers and enhancement of father-child relations.
He has a Ph.D. in family and child development from Virginia Tech University, a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Harding University and bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Davis.
“Dr. Green has honed his expertise and professional influence to develop outreach programs that make a direct impact on the lives of children and their caretakers,” wrote Dr. Doug Steele, AgriLife Extension director, College Station, in a letter supporting the award nomination. “Through interactive curricula and educational events to online course offerings accessed worldwide, Dr. Green has focused on boosting fathers’ involvement in their children’s literacy development, increasing adoption of best practices in early child care and improving employment opportunities for those in the child care business.”
One of the major accomplishments cited in Green’s nomination was the development of the Early Childhood Educator Online Training Program, an online course platform to help child care providers and directors obtain professional development training. The program, described in the nomination as “one of the leading online learning platforms for early childhood educators in the nation,” offers approximately 200 courses in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Since 2010, more than 850,000 child care providers and directors across the U.S. have completed this online training.
Another of Green’s accomplishments cited was his Fathers Reading Every Day, or FRED, program, described as “one of the most effective ways to involve fathers in their children’s early literacy development.” According to the nomination, since its inception in 2002, over 25,000 fathers and children have participated nationally and internationally in this award-winning family literacy program developed by Green.
The nomination also stated Green obtained more than $5.5 million in grants and contracts to develop and implement Extension outreach programs. Some organizations from which he has received funding include the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Collaborative for Children, and the Texas Association of Infant Mental Health.
Over the last two years, Green was able to secure a $1.5 million state contract to develop a series of online and face-to-face trainings about best practices in inclusive child care to improve care for children with special needs. These trainings target child care providers and directors caring for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school-aged children with special needs.
Green was also cited for his ability to develop and implement professional and academic partnerships and collaboration with individuals and organizations to benefit child care providers and families. Examples include a collaboration with North Carolina State University to write a nearly $300,000 grant proposal to enhance military father-child engagement and with the University of Texas Health Science Center Children’s Learning Institute for a federal grant proposal to develop in-classroom curricula for Department of Defense Child Development Programs.
