Letter to Selma: Selma native named new Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension leader 

Hello, Selma!  

I am Danielle Smith, newly employed at Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension (TUCE) as a Sustainable Food System Resource Specialist for West Alabama. I am from Selma and graduated from Tuskegee University with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Environmental Science.   

The Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension (TUCE) formally began with the appointment of Thomas Monroe Campbell as the first extension agent in the United States in 1906. The tradition of the leadership of Booker T. Washington and the original Integrated Research/Extension work of Dr. George Washington Carver continues the TUCE in serving the limited, underserved audiences, and seeks to bring cutting-edge approaches to 21st Century problems in Alabama. Throughout Alabama, outreach is happening, yet TUCE’s primary target areas are clientele in the Black Belt region of the State. 

The focus of TUCE’s outreach and educational services of are six program areas: (1) Global Food Security, (2) Natural Resource Conservation, Environmental Sustainability, and Climate Change, (3) Community Resource Development, (4) Family, Home, and Youth, (5) Nutrition and Wellness, and (6) Food Systems and Food Safety. 

My specialty is Postharvest technology. I will work with limited-resource farmers and in Food Safety. I provide county and local leadership for assessments and reports on the Food System in the Alabama Black Belt area. Another focus is to support the coalition of growers, markets and consumers around sustainable solutions to food insecurity. In addition, during my time with TUCE I have developed youth development programs in our service areas’ school system, teaching students about environmental science, food waste/loss and food systems. 

I am happy to include the area of Dallas County as one of my service areas. My office is located at 429 Lauderdale Street, Selma, AL 36702 in Dallas County Extension Office Building. I will be putting in different publications based on my areas of focus in the paper. If anyone would like to reach out to me, my contact information is email – dsmith1@tuskegee.edu and phone number 334-267-7689.