Sue Counts
State ESP Mid Career Award

Professional Achievements:
Sue began her career with Extension in 1993 as Project Coordinator for the Southern Appalachian Leadership Initiative on Cancer Project, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Cooperative Extension. She organized cancer coalitions in four counties, initiated the Beyond Breast Cancer Annual Conference, both of which are still going strong. These cancer coalitions have received national recognition for reaching women with cancer information and increasing the number of women receiving cancer screening.
Sue has initiated new educational programs in the area of Hispanic Outreach-helping to organize the "High Country Amigos" which has been selected by Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation to receive $50,000 per year for up to five years. This group has also been recognized several times. Sue works with the Hispanic women in the area of "cottage industry" development, which includes basket-making, note-card making, and growing several agricultural products.
Sue also initiated the Appalachian Regional Initiative for Sustainable Energy (ARISE) in Watauga County, working with the Industrial Extension Service and Solar Center.
Sue initiated educational programs in the area of Sustainable Tourism-helping to form the MountainKeepers, which now has a non-profit status and achieving recognition for work in the area of environmental education. This group also received a Z. Smith Reynolds grant to do a "Forces of Change" study of the county.
Other accomplishments have been: to initiate educational programs on Farmland Preservation that resulted in a county- adopted Farmland Preservation Ordinance in 1999; to conduct educational community meetings on Land Use Planning; to help organize a High Country Chapter of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and hold an annual meeting of CFSA in Boone; to initiate an innovative "farmer/businessperson" exchange which is video taped by the local Mountain Television Network and aired during the Farm City Week and featured at the Farm City Banquet; to publish quarterly Extension News and distribute the summer edition in the local weekly free newspaper which reaches over 15,000 people; to assist county Extension and Community Association to start an ECA club which serves "special" people with disabilities; to help initiate the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture; to establish a working relationship with several departments at Appalachian State University and Caldwell Community College to "better serve" the Hispanic Community and others; to serve on numerous boards; to be active in professional organization; and to promote and encourage members of staff.

Significance:
Sue's ten-year Extension career is most impressive! She began her extension career as a Project Coordinator for the Southern Appalachian Leadership Initiative on Cancer working in four counties in the Appalachian Mountains to organize cancer coalitions to educate other women about cancer. She has been innovative in her approaches and has created educational programs in the area of Hispanic Outreach, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Tourism, Farmland Preservation, Land Use Planning, Women in Agriculture, Alternative Agriculture, and an Extension and Community Association program for "people with disabilities"-all of this contributing to an Extension Program of Diversity. In addition, Sue has focused on the "engaged university" working with other schools and departments on the NCSU campus such as the School of Design and the Industrial Extension Service. Sue has also worked with several departments of the Appalachian State University and Caldwell Community College to bring quality educational programming to the citizens of Watauga County to meet their needs.