Rich Bonanno has been named the new Vice Provost for Outreach and Engagement, effective January 1, 2023. In his vice provost position, Bonanno will work with Outreach and Engagement staff, the Engagement Operations Council, and other key community partners, faculty, and staff to support the unit’s mission and vision and to help achieve strategic goals. Prior to joining the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2016, Bonanno was an extension educator and adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts. He is the owner of Pleasant Valley Gardens, a family farm started in 1910. He currently serves as chair of the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors and is a board member of the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Committee on Legislation and Policy, and the APLU Extension Committee on Policy.
Here is a brief Q&A with Rich.
Q: What led you to outreach and engagement work at the university?
A: I started as an Extension Specialist at NC State in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. My appointment was 80% Extension and 20% research. Extension is both outreach and engagement. The difference between most O&E and Extension is that Extension is a formal part of the job. My focus area was weed management in vegetable and fruit crops. Over the years, I also added on-farm food safety. For the past 7 years, I have been the Director of NC State Extension and Associate Dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences so I have been able to see the full-time work of over 800 employees in the counties and the work of Extension faculty in CALS, CNR, and Design. In CALS, 25% of our total faculty effort is in Extension, primarily in support of our county-based employees.
Q: What is your vision for Outreach & Engagement at NC State for the upcoming year?
A: The focus of my first year is to listen and learn about what O&E looks like across the NC State campus. This includes Industry Expansion Solutions, Sea Grant, Education, and Textiles as well as the outreach and engagement of so many individual faculty that have a passion for making a difference. We will also continue with Collaboratory, the Engagement Operation Council, O&E awards, and the CINC tour.
Q: Why do you think university engagement work is important?
A: NC State is a Land-Grant University. The creation of this university was to allow the public access to education. This is true whether it is part of a degree program, through our Cooperative Extension system in every county and the EBCI, or through the many other ways that faculty and staff connect in both formal and informal programs. Our overall work in O&E across campus is to help fulfill the Land-Grant mission. This University has so much to offer and working to help connect our knowledge beyond our campus borders is critical to fulfilling our mission.
Q: What is a fun or interesting fact about yourself?
A: I do like driving farm equipment. It goes way back to about age 6 at our family operation in Massachusetts. I was too small to turn the tractor around at the end of the rows but I could drive it down the rows pulling my father and uncles behind the tractor while they operated former horse-drawn cultivators. I would sit on the fender at the end of the row while one of them turned the tractor around after each pull. Now I occasionally am asked by faculty to drive combines and help harvest plots. Last time it was 500 soybean plots in Beaufort county. Lots of fun!
Q: What is your favorite town in NC to visit?