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Who Are We? | Member | Title | Location | E Mail Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Clearfield | Director | North Carolina State University | Not Available |
| Kim Berry | Sociologist | North Carolina State University | Not Available |
| Kevin Boyle | Economist | University of Wisconsin | kboyle@ssc.wisc.edu |
| Gail Dishongh | Sociologist | West Chester, PA | Not Available |
| Michael Johnson | Cultural Anthropologist | University of Arizona | mdjnrcs@ag.arizona.edu |
| Jeff Kenyon | Sociologist | University of Wisconsin | jkenyon@ssc.wisc.edu |
| Barbara Wallace | Community Planner | Grand Rapids, Michigan | bldonley@ix.netcom.com |
FRANK B. CLEARFIELD, the Director of the Social Sciences Institute for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, has spent the last 15 years providing assistance on socioeconomic issues to a diversity of agricultural and industrial groups, conducting research, developing and delivering training materials, and formulating and implementing Federal Policy. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he received a B.A. in Psychology and sociology from East Stroudsburg University (East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) and an M.A. in sociology from the University of South Florida (Tampa, Florida). He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Kentucky in 1985. While at the University of Kentucky, he worked on agricultural Extension projects; such as farmer's use of telecommunications technologies and natural resource planning for water quality. He spent 5 years as a regional sociologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, providing assistance to 25 states in the Southern and Western regions of the United States. He then served as NRCS's National Sociologist in Washington, D.C. for 6 years. Beginning in August 1995, He became the first Director of the Social Sciences Institute. The lnstitute's major tasks are to develop and transfer technology to NRCS employees and to our partners. He has written numerous articles and professional papers, and has developed procedures to increase participation of diverse groups in U.S. Department of Agriculture programs.
Kim Berry has a BA in Journalism and Communications from Howard University. She also earned an MA in Public Communications from that same university. Prior to coming with the institute Kim served as a Public Affairs Specialist and Writer/Editor for the NRCS Office of Public Affairs in Washington, DC. Her primary areas of interest are Limited Resource Farmer Outreach, Environmental Justice Research, and Urban Conservation.
Kevin Boyle is an agricultural economist with the Institute. He worked for ten years in agricultural, rural housing and rural development finance while working for the USDA Farmers Home Administration. This included substantial work with farm laborers in California's Imperial Valley (bordering Mexico), limited resource farmers in Suffolk County, New York, and large agribusiness in the Imperial Valley.
For the past four and a half years Kevin has worked as an agricultural economist covering the state of California for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. This work mainly involved improving the ways that NRCS field personnel use the social sciences (particularly economics) to improve conservation adoption.
Gail has worked for more than 17 years in the field of applied sociology as it relates to natural resource planning and implementation.
From 1979 through 1987, Gail served as Regional Sociologist in a 5 state area with the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of Interior. Her primary responsibilities included social impact assessment and public involvement in water resources planning, construction, and operation and maintenance.
Gail joined NRCS in 1988 when she became regional sociologist at the Northeast National Technical Center. In that capacity she provided direct technical assistance to 13 Northeastern and 12 Midwestern states. Assistance to field and state staff centered on the collection, analysis, and application of sociological data relating to the adoption-diffusion of conservation technologies. In 1989, she was the team leader for a two week scientific and technical exchange to China.
Gail's primary focus is technology development and transfer as these relate to such areas as community impact assessment, outreach assistance to divergent agricultural groups, the social dimension in ecosystems, the social impact of the industrialization of agriculture, and the environment and rural development.
Michael Johnson has both a BA and an MA in Anthropology from New Mexico State University. He has 10 years field experience in archaeology and anthropology and worked in private contracting and for the United States Forest Service before coming to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Mike has held project postions in both field and laboratory work and served as the Assistant Forest Archaeologist on the Cibola National Forest. He spent 6 years with NRCS as a cultural resources specialist before coming to the Social Science Institute.
Mike is interested in the application of decision support systems as they apply to everyday field decisions by agency personnel.
Jeff Kenyon has a Ph.D. from the American Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania-Philadelphia, with emphases in material culture and anthropology. Jeff was Director of Education at the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, and later headed the Museum Historic Research Center at that same institution.
Since the late 1970s Jeff has worked for the Federal Government and has administered cultural resources projects in 26 different states. His early work with radar applications on archaeological sites and the use of catchment analysis in prehistoric behavior modeling led to strong interests in spatially related data. Prior to coming to work at the Institute, Jeff was Regional Cultural Resources Specialist at the Northeast National Technical Center in Chester, Pennsylvania. Jeff will be working on GIS based tools development for NRCS field personnel and will also be responsible for setting up the Social Science Institute's World Wide Web site.
Barbara Wallace received an Bachelor of Arts in sociology and went on to attend graduate school in the field of public administration. Prior to joining the agency Wallace worked in corporate public affairs, marketing, community outreach, and community planning. She has extensive experience working in and with community and private sector organizations at the local, state, national, and international levels. Her experience includes building partnerships, organizational management, team building, strategic planning, leadership development, volunteers, public relations, media relations, legislative affairs, and training.
Wallace joined NRCS in 1991 as an RC&D coordinator. She went on to become head of the agency's constituency and media relations program in the Office of Public Affairs at National Headquarters and served as staff to The Conservation Partnership. She currently serves as a community planner with the Social Sciences Institute.
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