Texas Agricultural Extension Service
Supplements System Policy 02.04 and System Regulation 02.04.10
1. General
1.1. The Texas Agricultural Extension Service ("Extension Service") maintains an organizational structure designed to meet its legally defined responsibilities of "...diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture and Family and Consumer Sciences, and to encourage the application of same." The Texas A&M University System requires that the Extension Service and each of the other Component institutions, agencies and related parts which together comprise the System's entire organizational framework keep a current copy of their respective organizational charts on file. The Extension Service's organizational chart is periodically revised to show updated lines of supervision and to reflect any modifications in structural relationships within the Extension Service or its linkages in the System (See Attachment A, Extension Service Organizational Chart).
2. State Level
2.1. County Extension agents, who live and work with people in a designated county, form the basic unit of the Extension Service. These agents receive professional assistance and support from Extension specialists who are trained in subjects for which Extension has statewide educational responsibility. Extension specialists are located at 12 district headquarters and at The Texas A&M University campus so that they can respond promptly and effectively to county needs. State Extension work performed by specialists allows scientific information developed by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, United States Department of Agriculture and other research organizations to be interpreted for the public's benefit. The coordination of specialists' responses to county Extension agents and the clientele they serve is a shared responsibility of district Extension directors, TAMU department heads, project supervisors and coordinators, and Extension administrative staff members who have designated program leadership roles.
3. District Level 3.1. For each of the 12 Extension districts, a team of two district Extension directors is responsible for supervision, management and leadership of the Extension program.
3.2. To serve clientele at an optimum level, one district Extension director has background and training in agriculture and one in Family and Consumer Sciences. The district Extension director with the agricultural background supervises personnel and programs in agriculture for the entire district. The district Extension director with the Family and Consumer Sciences background supervises personnel and programs in Family and Consumer Sciences for the district. One of the district Extension directors is assigned program coordination for 4-H and one for community development.
3.3. To support programming at the county level, each district has a staff of specialists and support staff located at the district headquarters. In an effort to maximize effectiveness and efficiency, the district Extension directors coordinate the involvement of specialists with agents to support county programs in the district.
3.4. The district Extension directors work with the Resident Director for Research of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station to provide leadership for certain district programs. The two district Extension directors, the Resident Director for Research and selected specialists and scientists serve on a Center Coordinating Committee to provide leadership for joint activities and responsibilities for the Texas A&M University Research and Extension Center.
3.5. District directors are assigned duties for office and district management by the Assistant Directors for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Family and Consumer Sciences. Other specific duties may be assigned in the same manner.
4. County Level
4.1. The basic unit for planning, implementing, evaluating and reporting an Extension educational program is the county unit. State and district units support the county unit in accomplishing these purposes. The success of the Extension program depends on the county staff working as an integrated and unified team.
4.2. The county staff, no matter how small or how large, is responsible for seeing that the entire county program (community development, Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H and youth development and agriculture and natural resources) is effective. The specific assignments made to the agent in a one-agent county will vary from those made to an agent in a multi-agent county.
4.3. To enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the county Extension staff in planning, implementing and evaluating the Extension program, one county staff member is appointed county coordinator. The basic duty of the county Extension agent in this role is to provide leadership for the personnel and programs in the county unit. All duties assigned by the district Extension director may be made a part of the duties of the agent appointed to this role. The county coordinator assumes the responsibility for the coordination of program development and office management with the full understanding and appreciation of the role, job and position description of each member of the staff and with the realization that teamwork is essential in developing and executing an effective county program.
4.4. County Extension agents and Extension agents whose program responsibility encompasses more than one county will be administratively responsible to the district Extension director in their subject-matter field.