2001 Walter Barnard Hill Awards for Distinguished Achievement in University Public Service & Outreach

Judy Bland

Judy Bland is the county Extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) for the Tift County, Turner County, Irwin County, and Ben Hill County. She excels in the areas of nutrition, food safety, chronic disease prevention, and child and family development. In addition to her assigned cluster duties, she serves in the state’s only agent-in-training position for FACS, a testimony to her excellent reputation.

She has certified 89 professionals in foodservice management through the ServSafe® certification program of the National Restaurant Association. In turn, these professionals employ 1,300 people and serve more than 35,000 meals per day. Because of her efforts and expertise in this area, she serves on the statewide Extension FACS Food Safety Team. She developed the curriculum “Hand washing and Food Safety,” which was piloted with 1st grade students in Tift County in the Fall of 2000 to meet Georgia Quality Core Curriculum standards.

Under Bland’s leadership as chair of the Tift County Youth Leadership Committee, the Tift County Commission of Children and Youth developed a Leadership Program for high school students. From 1997 to 1999, 60 Tift County youths have enrolled in the program. One outgrowth of this program is that the youths involved worked to develop a mentoring program for children in “Project Success” a truancy program for elementary students.

Bland has personally applied for and received grants totaling $130,355 and has worked in collaborative efforts resulting in an additional $3,218,397 in grants. Her support of all programming areas in Extension was recognized through her selection as a recipient of a “D.W. Brooks Faculty Award for Excellence in Extension” in 1995.

In 2000, she was elected to represent Extension on the College’s Faculty Council and was appointed by the dean to serve as a counselor for the Equal Employment/Affirmative Action Program. She also served as state president of Epsilon Sigma Phi in 2000, the professional association for Extension. At the national level, she received the “2000 Epsilon Sigma Phi Regional Distinguished Service Award” (each regional award represents 12 states)

Furthermore, Bland has received the “Distinguished Service Award” from the Georgia Association of 4-H Agents and twice received the “William H. Booth Outstanding Agent Award for South District.” She has received nine awards in the national and regional levels from the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.