University of Maryland Extension has eliminated several county extension director positions and reassigned persons in those positions to other tasks. Instead, a new position of Area Extension Director for Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s has been created. Dr. Chris Seubert assumed that position on July 1.
Dr. Seubert will rotate among the extension offices in La Plata, Leonardtown and Prince Frederick. Those offices will remain at their current locations.
Ben Beale (St. Mary’s County), Karol Dyson (Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties) and Herb Reed (Calvert County) will relinquish their county executive director roles. In a letter to the St. Mary County Commissioners from Acting Associate Dean and Associate Director Dan Kugler, it was explained that Beale and Reed with dedicate their time to the extension’s agriculture and natural resources programs.
In the letter dated June 25, Kugler wrote, “The change will make better use of the financial resources we receive from the county, state and federal levels.” The change had been previously reported to the three county commissioner boards.
According to Kugler, “Chris grew up on a farm in Ohio, but he has been a resident of Maryland for the last 25 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Purdue University. For much of his career, Chris worked in international agriculture and natural resource management and lived and worked in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. During the time, his work focused on food security, increasing agricultural production and managing natural resources in less developed countries.
“Several years ago, Chris broadened the focus of his career. He completed a degree in Not-for-Profit Management at the University of Maryland University College and worked for seven years as Director of Community Building for the United Way of Central Maryland. His non-profit employment and volunteer work has focused on human services and has covered many areas, including homelessness, food security, youth development, and health and nutrition.”
The University of Maryland has its roots firmly planted in the soil. It was founded in 1856 as the Maryland Agricultural College. University of Maryland Extension was formerly known as the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service. The Bay Net had been unable through internet searches to find the date when the extension movement started in Maryland.
The phone numbers of the Southern Maryland offices are:
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