2005 Walter Barnard Hill Awards for Distinguished Achievement in University Public Service & Outreach

John C. McKissick

Dr. John C. McKissick has been an extension economist for the past 27 years. He began his career as a special extension agent at the University in 1976 and is currently a full professor and extension economist. He also serves as director of the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development where he focuses on the development and implementation of economics and marketing programs for Georgia producers and agribusiness.

The one constant of Dr. McKissick’s career is his unwavering determination to help Georgians make a better life for themselves. He has developed and delivered unique and award-winning educational programs in agribusiness risk management as well as conducted proactive applied research in how Georgia products could be best promoted. He has also performed numerous feasibility studies on innovative best promoted. He has also performed numerous feasibility studies on innovative ways to add value to Georgia agricultural products. In 1996, he was 15 national economists and industry representatives requested by the United States Department of Agriculture to plan a national education response to a severe financial crisis of cattlemen. Early in his career he was selected to lead a national team of economists in developing an educational curriculum and training materials for the introduction of agricultural option markets in the U.S. Today the concepts Dr. McKissick developed and the books he authored are used throughout the world in explaining market risk management concepts in the multi-billion dollar agricultural options market.

Dr. McKisick has distinguished himself through his development and delivery of innovative extension programs, which include more than 630 instructional economics programs in Georgia addressing an audience exceeding 30,000. Over his career, he has prepared and presented at least one workshop in each of Georgia’s 159 counties. His ability to relate economic and financial information, as well as complex economic concepts, in comprehensible programs has resulted in numerous training request involving nearly 3,200 professionals. Dr. McKissick has also exhibited great success in obtaining grants to support his applied research and extension program with a total of more than $1.1 million since 1996.

Dr. McKissick’s impressive accomplishments have brought national recognition to both him and the outreach program at the University of Georgia. In 1986 and 1997 he received the Distinguished Extension Program Award, the highest extension award from the American Agricultural Economics Association. In addition, he received both the National Association of County Agricultural Agents’ Distinguished Service Awars and was the 2004 recipient of the Agricultural Alumni Association’s Outstanding Faculty Award. Dr. McKissick’s 8 invited book sections, 19 national invited paper presentations, 12 national selected paper or journal articles, and 22 regional invited papers, all since 1990, serve as further evidence of his national recognition an dcontribution to the publiv service program.