Long-time extension leader, scholar named dean, VP for land-grant engagement

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 3, 2024) — University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto and UK Provost Robert DiPaola today announced that long-time agricultural and extension services leader Laura Stephenson has been named vice president for land-grant engagement and dean of the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Martin-Gatton CAFE).

Stephenson currently serves as associate vice president for land-grant engagement and associate dean and director of extension. She joined the university and Martin-Gatton CAFE in 2018 after six years in extension and administrative positions at the University of Tennessee. Prior to that, she served in the Cooperative Extension Service at UK for more than 20 years and as a high school home economics teacher in Monticello, Kentucky.

She will succeed Nancy Cox, the current dean and inaugural vice president for land-grant engagement. Cox, who is highly regarded throughout the state for her leadership on agricultural issues, has served as dean of Martin-Gatton CAFE for more than a decade.

“Dean Stephenson knows Kentucky. She knows Kentucky agriculture and she is firmly committed to our land-grant mission as exemplified by the statewide presence and deep roots of UK’s Cooperative Extension Service,” Capilouto said. “As we seek to embed this land-grant commitment to Kentucky in everything we do as part of our mission to advance this state, Laura’s leadership, understanding of our state and her deep roots here will be essential to our work and our mission.”

“Dean Stephenson is highly regarded within the college as well as the entire agriculture community in this state and throughout the country,” DiPaola said. “She will build and expand upon the strong foundation that Dean and Vice President Cox established in leading one of the country’s premier colleges of agriculture for the last decade.”

“I am incredibly excited to assume these important leadership positions on behalf of UK and the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment,” Stephenson said. “The legacy of leadership and service created by Dean Cox and those who preceded her will guide us as we grow our footprint as a college, our presence in the state and expand our mission to do and be more for the Commonwealth we serve.”

In October, the UK Board of Trustees directed Capilouto and the campus to focus intently on working with partners to do more to advance the overall health of the state. The Advancing Kentucky Together network, which is being formed, will work with partners to expand efforts to improve health, education and address workforce needs across the state.

A critical piece of that initiative is the role of Cooperative Extension, UK’s footprint in each of the state’s 120 counties, and its continued evolution in providing a range of support to partners and communities in farming, consumer and financial issues and, increasingly, health care partnerships, among other areas.

At the same time, Martin-Gatton CAFE is undergoing a transformation of its infrastructure and footprint on the campus. The Martin-Gatton Agricultural Sciences Building, scheduled for completion in early 2026, will be the college’s central student center and primary teaching facility. It will feature expansive, open classrooms on the ground floor, alongside a cafe offering students a place to build relationships and collaborate. 

In 2022, the late University of Kentucky alum and former trustee Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton bestowed a transformational gift of $100 million to the college through The Bill Gatton Foundation.

It was the largest gift in UK’s history and believed to be the largest ever given to a college of agriculture in the country. The vision of the gift is to support scholarships, academic programming and innovation and infrastructure.

To this era of change and growth, Stephenson brings more than 35 years of land-grant experience at universities, colleges of agriculture and in classrooms.

She began her career at UK as an extension agent in Clark County and ultimately as the assistant director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Field Programs at UK.

At the University of Tennessee, she was chair of the Department for Family and Consumer Sciences and Associate Dean for Extension.

After her return to UK, Stephenson led a comprehensive reform and reorganization of Cooperative Extension Services to ensure more efficient delivery of services and communication.

In her academic career, she has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on several externally funded grants, totaling millions of dollars in research funding, around issues such as workforce training, nutrition, community building and health. She has co-authored a number of publications and journal articles on issues related to nutrition and extension.

She has been an active leader in community workshops and training and has won numerous state and national awards for her work in extension and research efforts in consumer sciences.