Ledbetter takes home two honors from Texas A&M AgriLife Conference

Writer: Laura Muntean, 979-847-9211, [email protected]
Contact: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, [email protected]

COLLEGE STATION – Kay Ledbetter, communications specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Research based in Amarillo, was recognized with two prestigious Texas A&M AgriLife awards at a recent ceremony on the Texas A&M University campus.

Ledbetter was presented Texas A&M AgriLife Research Director’s Infrastructure and Information Technology Staff Award. She was also presented a Collaboration team award for her work with the Texas Panhandle Vegetable Production Research team.

Research director awards seek to recognize and reward the achievements of individuals and teams with outstanding work to support the research mission.

“If ever there was a need to justify cloning and it were possible for humans, I would suggest Kay as a prime candidate,” wrote former AgriLife Communications supervisor Kathleen Phillips. “She is an extremely talented, loyal, honest, committed co-worker who has shaped volumes of positive messages to the benefit of our agencies. These messages will endure for the overall good of the agencies for ages, thanks to the internet.”

In her position, Ledbetter writes news releases promoting and marketing the work of AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, while also fielding inquiries on a number of topics and issues related to AgriLife agencies. She also creates and updates marketing and informational pieces used by the Amarillo center and others.

While also helping guide county agents coordinate their own news releases and market their programs, Ledbetter also takes professional photos of AgriLife personnel and uses social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to market her efforts to promote AgriLife programs and people.

In the past five years, she has handled more than 700 requests from media, often succeeding in getting AgriLife Research scientists on television, in print publications and on the radio to further spread their message. She has managed to get AgriLife messages spread from smaller local markets and agricultural publications to larger national media markets, according to her nomination.

“Kay is always looking to cast AgriLife Research in a positive light,” the nomination stated. “Whether she’s reporting on a multimillion-dollar research grant to examine the future of Texas’ strawberry industry, revealing the latest discoveries involving biomass sorghum grown under water-stressed conditions or the latest in high-tunnel research for vegetable production in the High Plains, Kay is always making AgriLife Research lead the news.”