Scholarship from Northern Wisconsin: An Analysis of Efforts to Promote Scholarship in the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Extension Field-Based Staff
Utilizing results drawn from a survey of extension field-based staff from northern Wisconsin, the author examines the role of scholarship for county-level extension staff. This article argues that if the challenge of campus academicians is to become more engaged with civil society, the challenge for extension staff is the opposite: to engage and embrace scholarly work as part of their mission. Analysis of a recent survey of University of Wisconsin Northern District field staff led to the conclusion that field staff value scholarship but need to enhance their skills and opportunities in applied research, writing, and presenting. As public universities seek to re-engage their campus faculty in the larger community, they should draw on their most engaged members—field-based staff. Cooperative Extension’s faculty and staff can contribute to meeting the needs of the people of their state and beyond, not only by the specific work they do in their communities, but also by adding to the larger base of knowledge through their scholarship.