Extension Expert Wins 2025 Governor’s Award for Excellence
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Collapse ▲[View the original story by Thyrie Bland at University Human Resources News.]
Holly Jordan, director of N.C. Cooperative Extension’s Buncombe County center, is one of two NC State employees that earned the highest honor a state employee can receive: the Governor’s Award for Excellence.
The award recognizes state employees for accomplishments above and beyond their job duties. This year, 41 state employees received the award and were honored at a ceremony held Nov. 19 at the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh.
Jordan won the award in the outstanding state government service category. Jamie Pendergrass, an associate director for Scholarships and Financial Aid, won in the customer service category.
NC State will recognize the Governor’s Award winners by lighting the Belltower in their honor. Jordan and Pendergrass will each get to choose a day for the Belltower to be illuminated in their honor.
Earlier this year, Jordan and Pendergrass were among 12 employees who won NC State’s Award for Excellence. The award is the most prestigious honor bestowed upon nonfaculty employees at the university. All 12 winners were eligible to win the Governor’s Award.
Holly Jordan
Jordan won the Governor’s Award for the exemplary role that she played in helping coordinate Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Buncombe County.
“This was a team effort, and there are a lot of people out there in state government work that did a lot for Helene recovery,” Jordan said in a Governor’s Award for Excellence video. “My name just happened to be on that nomination form.”
Buncombe County, home to Asheville, suffered widespread damage to its residential, urban and agricultural areas due to Helene. Jordan guided Extension’s Buncombe County center through the crisis, ensuring agents could stay on the ground and focus on direct support for local residents and farmers.
She worked closely with neighboring Extension counties, statewide staff and federal partners to coordinate supply drops across the region. For weeks, agents delivered cleaning supplies, generators and other essential items to people struggling to rebuild.
Read More: Extension Hurricane Helene Recovery Efforts
Extension’s Buncombe center partnered with the WNC Agricultural Center to distribute over $55,000 in donated clothing and outerwear to residents affected by Helene. A separate Angel Tree program, coordinated by Extension’s local 4-H agent Jordan English, collected another $41,000 in gifts for 60 families.
Jordan led additional efforts to support area farmers as they worked to recover. With help from regional Extension agents and outside partners, the team organized hay and livestock feed deliveries by truck and helicopter — more than 10,000 bales in total. Agriculture agents also supplied 24 pallets of cover crop seed, roughly 60,000 pounds, to combat soil erosion and jump-start the restoration process.