Nebraska Extension Mission
Helping Nebraskans enhance their lives through research-based education.
More details about Nebraska Extension’s mission and vision can be found here.
The Culture We Seek
Extension team members are valued for their individual strengths and how they are best able to utilize these to strengthen the mission and values of Extension as established by Extension and University leadership.
We continually strive to provide a positive workplace culture that improves teamwork, raises individual and team morale; increases productivity and efficiency, and enhances retention of the workforce. Extension’s culture is built upon trust and individual strengths.
Extension, as an organization, provides a basis of an overarching culture; however, for most employees working in one of 83 county offices and/or research centers, it is important that we respect and cooperate with our county partners and their culture. We acknowledge and value how this can create unique opportunities and challenges.
Excellence in Extension
Excellence in Extension was created in 2014-2015 as a tool to support Extension professionals to move forward into the 21st Century Extension journey. It is important that our clientele (Learners) discover our value, Extension professionals’ benefit, and UNL and our university system values Extension. We achieve this through Excellence, which we have identified as: Professionalism, Engagement, Exceptional Teaching/Learning, Innovation, Relevance, Meaningful, Impactful, and Research.
Detailed indicators for Excellence in Extension can be found below for the following roles in Extension:
If your role is not listed above, please take time to review at least one of the links to better understand the indicators and how they can be used in your role.
Our Purpose and Our Brand
Nebraska Extension is a nationally respected educational leader and a premier provider of research-based information. We are an organization with professionals embedded in Nebraska communities that serve to engage people with their land-grant institution to help solve complex problems around important priorities. We are a trusted resource that Nebraskans turn to, to help solve their individual, family, business, community, and regional challenges.
We represent the University and University Brand 24/7/365 in the community and at conferences. Our statements can be taken as University opinions or policies depending on the context issues. No comments are “off the record”; be careful with what you choose to say and to whom.
The Role of Research
Extension Professionals use research as the foundation for educational experiences. Extension Professionals recognize that our clientele makes many decisions based upon some degree of balance between science, economics, and values. Extension Professionals strive to deliver education that contributes to the science and economics aspects of those decisions and rely on individuals to weigh their individual values into their final decisions. Extension Professionals develop and deliver research that contributes to the economic, environmental, and/or social understanding of learner’s decisions. Extension Specialists located in campus departments or Research, Extension, and Education Centers provide a leadership role on research projects and the development of educational products. Specialists and Extension Educators often work as a team.
A major strength of Extension is its strong relationship with the College of Agricultural Sciences (CASNR) and the College of Education and Human Sciences (CEHS). Departments and Centers within these colleges have Extension Specialist faculty with joint teaching, research, and Extension appointments. These academic units provide supportive environments for students to develop their education as well as collaborative opportunities for research and extension programming. Faculty from the departments work in teams with Extension Educators to develop programming grounded in the latest science. Educators assist colleges with student recruitment efforts and connections to local community members for programs and research efforts.