2007 Development Awards
Outstanding Philanthropist: Drs. Paul & Francena Miller
Dr. Paul A. Miller, WVU’s 15th president, and his wife, Francena, established the first WVU Extension presidential scholarship to benefit West Virginia 4-H members.
The Paul A. and Francena L. Miller Presidential Scholarship will provide an eligible 4-Her a guaranteed $3,000 a year for four years. The scholarship will be awarded for the first time in spring 2008.
Miller graduated from WVU and in 1939 became an assistant county agent in Ritchie County. Miller moved to Nicholas County as an agent in 1941. Following military service in World War II, he attended graduate school at Michigan State University and earned his master’s and doctorate degrees. After service as Michigan State’s first extension rural sociologist, he became director of the Cooperative Extension service and, later, Michigan State’s first provost.
Miller’s career led him to the WVU presidency in 1962, serving until 1966, when he became the assistant secretary for education in the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He has also taught at the University of North Carolina and served as president of the Rochester Institute of Technology for nearly 11 years before returning to teaching and later retirement. He moved to Missouri in 1993 to join members of his family residing there.
Francena, originally from Ithaca, N.Y., earned her bachelor’s and master’s from Cornell and a doctorate from Penn State, where she taught until moving to WVU as the director of the Home Economics program in 1961.
She moved to the University of Connecticut in 1963 as the dean of the Home Economics program and then served as assistant director and executive director of the American Association of University Women from 1966-1968. She also served as the director of continuing education for women at Queens College in North Carolina.
Outstanding Organization
In summer 2007, The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation provided a grant to support the statewide Energy Express program, operated by WVU Extension Service.
The grant was used to help cover the funding match for living allowances given to the AmeriCorps Members in Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, and Lincoln counties.
The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life and promote philanthropy. It serves a six county region that includes Kanawha, Putnam, Clay, Fayette, Lincoln, and Boone counties.
The Foundation’s vision is to collaborate with and enrich the lives of those it serves—its contributors, beneficiaries and communities—by being the premier provider of philanthropic and charitable services for all citizens in the six county region. The Foundation was established in 1962 and it currently manages over 500 charitable funds with total assets over $150 million.
Outstanding Partner: Jefferson County 4-H Leaders Association
The Jefferson County 4-H Leaders Association led the charge for the county to secure naming rights to a suite above Mount Vernon Dining Hall, and in early 2007 signed an agreement to create the Jefferson County Suite.
The Jefferson County 4-H Leaders Association has been an active association for many decades. The association works closely with the WVU Jefferson County Extension Service and the Jefferson County 4-H Foundation to ensure a quality 4-H program is available for young people.
There are 18 committees in the association that help the local WVU Extension Service agent facilitate the county 4-H program. Each year, the association is involved in four service projects: the Camp Frame Beef Barbeque, the Camp Frame Chicken Barbeque, the Mountain Heritage Arts and Crafts Festival, and the Jefferson County Fair catalog.
Grading project books and judging county fair exhibits are only part of the leaders’ resume. They provide national 4-H week programming, an achievement awards program, a Clover Bud day camp, county roundup, a talent show, a health and field day, a Christmas holiday dinner, a summer picnic, club officers’ training school, and more.
They have given monetary donations to Camp Frame 4-H Camp, WVU Jackson’s Mill, Outspoken for 4-H Bike Ride, and a variety of 4-H scholarships. The officers of this association are elected every two years. Current officers are: President Peggy Grantham; Vice President Kathy Blue; Treasurer Mary Ella Cogle; and Secretary Stacey Gruber.
Outstanding Resource Development: Ruchi Bhandari
Ruchi Bhandari, a program specialist with the Diabetes Education program in WVU Extension Service’s Families and Health unit, has helped to raise more than $80,000 over the last two years to support the Bridging the Gap with Education: Diabetes Symposium and Workshop.
Bhandari has been with the WVU Extension Service for almost two years, working mainly on Dining with Diabetes and the Diabetes Symposium and Workshop. She has presented, along with her colleagues, papers at prestigious conferences, such as the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Diabetes Translation Conference, and National Priester Health Conference.
She was one of the team members, along with Dr. Guen Brown and Karen Newton, who won the 2005 Northeast Extension Directors’ Award of Excellence.
Prior to joining WVU Extension Service, Bhandari worked for four years with a leading environmental research institute in Washington, DC, doing public policy research and analysis on environmental, economic, and social issues. She also worked in India for four years on issues such as community development, food and nutrition security, and sustainable agriculture.
She earned her master’s in public administration from WVU and a MBA and master’s in economics from India.
Outstanding Volunteer Fund Raising: Upshur Cottage Campaign Team
The Upshur Cottage Campaign Team worked tirelessly to raise funds for the renovation of the historic cottage, and since the kickoff of the campaign in September 2005 have raised more than $125,000.
The team is led by co-chairs Brenda Casto and Linda E. Riffle. Committee members include Dr. Joseph Reed; Mavis Shiflett, who represented the Upshur County CEOS organization; and Upshur County Extension Agent Craig Presar.
The team has raised a little more than half the goal of $250,000 to revamp the historical cottage and update needed safety features—a new fire alarm and sprinkler system—as well as new bathrooms, lighting and heating.
The team members have placed newspaper articles in local media, outfitted local banks with pledge cards and posters touting the fund raising effort, called upon friends and relatives to give, and spoken at Rotary and civic organizations to boost the effort.