Thomas Coon, director of Michigan State University Extension and professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, has been elected to serve on the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees.
"With more than 25 years of university-level teaching and administrative leadership, Coon will provide significant insight to the board's work to advance the 4-H Youth Development movement," says Anthony Tansimore, chairman of the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees.
As director of Michigan State University Extension, Coon leads an organization of more than 1,200 staff and faculty members that provides research-based educational programs designed to address community, family and business needs across Michigan's 83 counties. Coon also has served as associate dean for graduate and international programs in the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and as associate department chairperson and acting chairperson of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at MSU.
Coon has been recognized for his dedication to teaching and mentoring with Distinguished Faculty and Advising awards from the University of Missouri School of Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife and the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Fisheries Society in 1998.
"Dr. Coon's demonstrated ability to provide effective direction to students, academic departments and complex organizations is inspirational," says National 4-H Council President and CEO Donald T. Floyd, Jr. "We are honored to have him join the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees."
4-H is a community of more than 6.5 million young people across America learning leadership, citizenship and life skills. National 4-H Council is the national, private sector, non-profit partner of the 4-H Youth Development Program and its parent, the Cooperative Extension System of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Learn more about 4-H at www.4husa.org.