Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family&Consumer Sciences

Karen DeBord

Professor Emeritus (retired 2010)

Dr. Karen DeBord retired from North Carolina Cooperative Extension at NC State University in 2010 after serving 15 years. Previous to her work in North Carolina, she was an Extension faculty member at Virginia Tech and also with the University of Missouri.

Dr. DeBord supported Extension Agents in North Carolina's 100 counties who conduct educational programs for parents, families and child care professionals. She was also the Director of Graduate Programs for a Master's Degree in Family Life and Parenting Education. She is known nationally as an expert in parenting education and is a parent and grandparent herself. She has started a new consulting business called Possibility Parenting.

Another area of study has been children's outdoor play spaces. As the lead author of the Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (POEMS), she and others in the state have wored hard to raise the quality of outdoor children's environments. See www.poemsnc.org for more information.

Email: karen_debord@ncsu.edu