2003 Walter Barnard Hill Distinguished Public Service Fellow

Donald W. Bower

Since Dr. Donald Bower was recognized as a Walter B. Hill Award honoree in 1997. his continued contributions to the field of public service and outreach have earned him the reputation as one of the most creative and respected human development specialists in the country.

When Bower joined the Cooperative Extension Service (CES), there was no base in parenting education in Georgia. He helped nurture programming to meet that need, consistent with CES’s mission to provide research-based education based on local needs. CES is now a primary provider of parenting education in Georgia, and the only provider in some counties. CES faculty provide regular training, create to obtain new teaching resources, and collaborate with other organization to deliver targeted parenting education. Within the last few years, Bower has overseen the creation of a national model for assessing and credentialing parenting educators within the CES system, and been instrumental in the continued success of grant-funded parenting education in two urban counties that addresses the special needs of abusive families, foster families, and teen parents.

Bower has also overseen the growth of the Extension Occupant Safety Education Program into the primary source in Georgia for information and training in the use of child safety seats and other passenger safety equipment and behavior. By combining research in child development, parenting, injury prevention, and the CES delivery system, this initiative has helped lift Georgia from the bottom to near the top nationally in safety belt/safety seat use. This improvement has resulted in an estimated 125 children’s lives saved and 10,000 injuries prevented, and extension systems in at least fourother states have adopted Georgia’s model.

Currently, Bower is taking the lead in planning the Georgia Family Policy Initiative (GFPI) in collaboration with faculty at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The GFPI will examine pending policy decisions from a family impact perspective and provide practical recommendations from the research. As with his other programs, Bower is including individuals from across the state in various disciplines to plan this initiative. When implemented, the CES will have made Georgia one of the few states in the country to link the expertise of a land-grant university with the policymaking process.

Bower has received wide acclaim for his success in obtaining external grant funding. During his twenty-one years at UGA, he has secured $11 million in grant funding to support his Extension programming, $5 million of which he obtained since his designation as a Walter B. Hill honoree in 1997.

In addition, Bower has an exemplary record of preparing curricula, publications, and other materials for their use at the local level. He is the author of numerous journal articles, book chapters, abstracts, and other professional publications in the field of family and consumer sciences. He is masterful in project leadership, empowering the county agents through training and evaluation to achieve significant impacts with their programs. Bower also exhibits a commitment to his field through his memberships in numerous national organizations, including the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences; National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences; National Council on Family Relations; National Association for the Education of Young Children; Family Resource Coalition; and the American Society on Aging.