OSU’s Doye named Southern Region Excellence in Extension award winner by APLU

Monday, December 4, 2017

For more than three decades, Damona Doye’s fingerprints have been left all over projects and programs within the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

As a Regents professor in Oklahoma State University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and OSU Cooperative Extension economist, Doye was recently selected as the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Southern Region Excellence in Extension award winner.

“Cooperative Extension is a national network of land-grant institutions that facilitates science-informed decisions and policies for farmers, agribusiness, communities, families and youth across the country,” said Rick Klemme, executive director of Cooperative Extension at the APLU. “The Cooperative Extension System, in partnership with APLU and USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, annually honors the best educational programs from our Extension colleagues on land-grant campuses and in local and regional offices. Dr. Damona Doye’s recognition as an Excellence in Extension award winner honors her standout work in farm management extension at Oklahoma State University. She was selected from many well-deserving applicants for this award.”

Doye has been instrumental in Extension’s work of adapting Quicken software to help farmers and ranchers make better financial choices and reduce stress at tax preparation time.

She also is proud of Extension’s work with the Master Cattleman program, which has shown to have enduring value and with great benefits to the participants.

“Dr. Doye is the model of a productive and effective Extension specialist. She listens carefully to needs of producers and families, she is creative in developing tools that help producers make decisions and she is diligent to deliver programs in ways that producers find useful and helpful,” said Tom Coon, vice president for OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. “For that reason, she has earned respect of other specialists, Extension educators and most importantly, producers, not only in Oklahoma, but across the national and international landscape.”

Doye has conducted training sessions with educators in several states, with her materials benefiting producers across the nation.

That is what Extension is all about – bettering the lives of Oklahomans and citizens throughout the country.

“I think Extension is very important to people in Oklahoma and across the country. We collectively help address all kinds of problems through educational opportunities that are timely, relevant and research based,” Doye said. “Through programs targeted to youth, we are helping raise good citizens and future leaders. Our programs for families address a wide range of health, nutrition, housing topics and more. In agriculture, we work with all sizes and types of producers and prospective producers to help them achieve their dreams.”

Extension helps rural communities develop strategic plans and plan for the future, and has an extensive portfolio of educational programs to help foster personal, professional and societal growth and development. For Doye, the work itself is the reward, but her recent recognition is nice, too.

“I appreciate the award for what it represents, which is the terrific encouragement, support and collaboration that I’ve had at OSU during my career. It’s a great honor to be able to represent OSU to demonstrate the strength of our system,” she said. “As I’ve also benefitted personally and professionally from regional, national and international partnerships, projects, and networks, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also say thanks for the opportunities to learn and be inspired by them.”