WELD List Serve:
Committee Chair
Frank Burris | Oregon
Frank Burris earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Biology and a Masters’ Degree in Wildlife Management from University of Alaska Fairbanks. Frank started his career in the Extension Service in Alaska in 1991 as a 4-H, Natural Resources, and Youth Development Agent, developing an award-winning program called the 4-H Yukon Fisheries Project. Since 2000, Frank has served as Watershed Management Educator with a joint appointment in the Oregon State University Extension Service and Oregon Sea Grant. He graduated from WELD in 2006, and has served as a Staff Chair, County Leader, and has recently completed an appointment as Interim Regional Administrator for the North Coastal counties of Oregon. His interests and research include leadership development, water quality, wetlands education and restoration, beach bacteria, Low Impact Development, and wildlife management education for private forest landowners. He lives in Gold Beach, Oregon, with his lovely wife, Jan, a dog, Maddy, that justifiably thinks she’s their child, and a cat named Jack the Ripper.
Committee Members Alphabetically by State
Elizabeth Sparks | Arizona
Elizabeth is a 4-H Youth Development Assistant Agent, in Pima County, Arizona. Elizabeth’s strengths include developing community partnerships, designing innovative and dynamic adventure-based programs using creative “outside of the box” problem-solving, facilitating large groups of youth, and acquiring resources. Elizabeth’s passion lies in developing experiential and innovative programs that inspire youth towards healthy living and connecting with nature. Her main programs include Tucson Village Farm, 4-H Healthy Living Ambassadors, the 4-H High Ropes Course, and 4-H Field Science. Elizabeth has a Master’s in Education and a BS in Environmental Science.
Keith Nathaniel | California
Wes Alford | Colorado
Blake Naughton | WEDA Liaison | Colorado
Nav Ghimireo | Idaho
Nav Ghimire is the Associate Director for the University of Idaho Extension. His experience includes impact evaluation, program planning, outcome reporting, and adult education. His focus is building evaluation capacity of Extension educators to increase their ability to document program impacts that meet the needs of local, state and federal stakeholders. Before coming to Idaho, Nav worked as an agriculture agent, county Extension department head, and evaluation consultant for the University of Wisconsin-Extension. Nav earned his docrate degree in agricultural education from Iowa State University, master’s degree from University of Melbourne (Australia) and his undergraduate degree from Nepal in agriculture.
Patricia McGlynn | Montana
Patricia McGlynn, Ph.D., is the Agriculture, Community Development, and Natural Resource Extension Agent in Flathead County in Montana. Flathead County is the size of Connecticut but with only 100,000 full time residents. Agriculture and tourism are the two leading industries in Montana and particularly in Flathead County, being the home of Glacier National Park, the western entrance of the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex, and Flathead Lake, the largest lake west of the Mississippi. Over 2.5 million visitors travel through the Flathead Valley on their way to Glacier National Park each year. Pat has established horticulture research as an economic driver in western Montana with variety trials for the Flathead Lake sweet cherry growers, initiating cold hardy, hybrid wine grape trials, introducing commercial hops production, and dark berry research. Pat received her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Cobleskill in Agriculture Business, her M.S. and her Ph.D. in Education from Cornell University. She is currently leading the state in agri-tourism activities in western Montana. This effort began as her WELD VII Innovative Project. As land values increase, Pat is working to find unique ways to keep acreage in production with niche crops and agri-tourism opportunities.
Christina Turner | New Mexico
Christina Turner has been employed with New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service since 2000. Throughout her career she has worked in many program areas including the Rio Arriba 4-H After School Program funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Rural Agriculture Improvement and Public Affairs Project serving as the Agriculture Agent for the Eight Northern Pueblos. In 2004 Christina moved to her current position with the Santa Fe County Extension Service serving as the 4-H Agriculture Agent. For the past seven years she has been directly responsible for management of the 4-H program in the county specializing in the areas of agriculture and natural resources. The program in the county serves over 200 traditional 4-H members and over 100 volunteer leaders. Christina’s responsibilities include everything from livestock and judging programs to shooting sports and leadership teams. Besides the traditional 4-H programs, she also continually delivers a number of special interest and school enrichment programs also focusing on agriculture and natural resources. Some of her major interests include youth water education, agriculture awareness, and community gardening. Christina and her husband Jeremy have two children, Christopher and Lauren.
Mark Heitstuman | Washington
Mark Heitstuman is currently an Associate Professor and Director of the Washington State University Asotin and Garfield County Extension Offices. He has worked for Washington State University Extension since 2000; and received his B.S. in Agricultural Education and M.S. in Vocational Technical Education from WSU. He leads a diverse Extension program focusing on Community and Economic Development, Volunteer Management (35 Master Gardener volunteers, 125 4-H leaders and over 450 4-H members) and Agriculture and Natural Resources. He is also a member of the WSU Meat Evaluation, Analysis and Technology (MEAT) Team that provides value-added livestock programming to both small and large-scale beef, sheep and swine producers.
Kim Reaman | Wyoming
Kim began her career with the University of Wyoming Extension in 2008, first as the 4-H Volunteer Development Specialist and most recently as the Federal Relations and Staff Development Coordinator. Prior to moving to Wyoming, Kim completed 18 years as a County 4-H Educator in Wisconsin and Nebraska. Kim holds a bachelor’s degree in home economics education from the University of Nebraska-Kearney and a master’s degree in extension education from the Pennsylvania State University. “Extension can be a remarkable and rewarding career” and one of Kim’s passions is helping Extension Educators navigate effective ways to balance the professional and personal responsibilities. Another passion is international immersion experiences with host families. Kim shares, “Participants learn most about themselves through cultural immersion. They learn about their compassion, their strengths and their ability to cope with uncomfortable situations. That knowledge and experience can influence decisions for the rest of their lives.” Kim has been involved in providing international experiences for teens to Mongolia, Samoa, and Ghana. In addition, she facilitates the IFYE (formerly International 4-H Youth Exchange) program for college age students, recruiting host families in Wyoming as well as young adults to travel on the 3 or 6 month exchange.