Exemplary Service Award
Valorie McAlpin,
University of Maryland-College Park
Valorie F. McAlpin is an outstanding ADEC leader. With active interests
in the fields of distance learning and information technology, Valorie
has served on the ADEC program panel since
1994. She has written and presented several papers on issues related
to new technologies, new teaching and learning models for distance education,
digital inclusion, and the future of agricultural communications. She
is currently serves as a Co-PI for the NSF funded Advanced Internet
Satellite Extension Project with the ADEC consortium.
She is currently associate dean for Communications and Information Technology
with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University
of Maryland at College Park. Prior to this position, she served as director
of agricultural communications for the School of Agriculture at NC A&T
State University in Greensboro.
Since joining the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the
University of Maryland in 1999, she has reorganized the communications
and information technology resources into a single entity, which serves
the entire College. She also created an Office of Distance Learning
supported by a faculty advisory committee and has awarded development
funds for pilot distance education projects.
International interests include collaboration with the University of
Fort Hare in South Africa to assist in developing a distance curriculum
in agricultural economics. South African linkages also exist with the
University of Zululand and the University of the North.
Valorie is a former president of her professional association, Agricultural
Communicators is Education (ACE) where she received an Award of Excellence
for her work in information technology. She has also received awards
for Ways to Grow, a video series funded by the Kellogg Foundation, designed
to introduce small-scale farmers to alternative agricultural enterprises.
Dr. McAlpin completed her doctorate in adult education in 1997 at North
Carolina State University. Her dissertation examined the impact of selected
factors on the academic performance on on-line and face-to-face students.
With a master's degree in educational media from NC A&T State University
and a B.A. in French and English from NC Central University.
Exemplary Service Award
Randy Ross, ADEC
Ross is an enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and a descendent
of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma with family
roots on the Rosebud Indian reservation in South Dakota. He is currently
the Tribal Affairs Coordinator/Project Coordinator for ADEC. His work
at ADEC focuses on outreach to tribal
clients adapting to wireless technology, hybrid networks, and educational
effectiveness. He has travelled tirelessly throughout Indian country
on behalf of ADEC in pursuit of improved lives and community development.
Ross served as the Executive Director, Indian Center, Inc. in Lincoln,
Nebraska September 1998 through December 2000. The Indian Center is
a multi-purpose Native American community development corporation specializing
in jobs training, low income housing, youth programs, senior services,
and other health and human services programs.
Previous work experience includes several years of independent consulting;
and 10 years of federal government service. From 1986 to 1993, Ross
worked with the Epidemiology Research Division of the Aberdeen Area
Indian Health Service as a Management Analyst.
Ross has a long dedicated track record working with the Native American
community on the arts, technology, education, community economic development,
and health- related projects across the country. Ross has served for
several years as a technical assistance provider for the Administration
for Native American, a federal agency that grants federal funding for
socio-economic development.
Since 1989, Ross has served as Non-Trustee board member for the National
Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C. assigned to the Information Technology committee. Ross received
undergraduate training in business administration and small business
management; and has ten years federal government work experience serving
as a Management Analyst for the Epidemiology Research Division, Aberdeen
Area Indian Health Service. He has extensive field experience including
honorable military service. He is an accomplished speaker/presenter
on issues involving Native Americans and emerging new technologies.
In 1999, he served as a co-author for a Benton Foundation report on
Native American technology.