By Faith Peppers
University of Georgia

Debbie Purvis, a University of Georgia Extension Service agent in
Colquitt County, received the prestigious D.W. Brooks Award for
Excellence in Public Service Extension Programs Oct. 18 in
Athens, Ga.

The award includes a framed certificate and $5,000 cash.

Purvis often creates and pilots innovative programs that are now
models for Georgia and the nation. She received more than
$230,000 in grant funds to reach audiences who are eligible for
food stamps with nutrition and food safety education.

She is actively involved in UGA research through projects such as
“Smart Kids Fight BAC!,” a multistate food safety curriculum, and
the Faculty Research Grant Pilot Study, a profile and needs
assessment of the Latino migrant population.

Bilingual education

The substantial Latino population in Colquitt County is growing.
To prepare for her educational work with Latinos, Purvis attended
a study tour at the University of Veracruz, Mexico. Now, with
added bilingual staff she has trained, Purvis can offer food
service employees a state-required food handler certification
training in both Spanish and English.

She was a leader in procuring a Risk New Communities Project
Grant for “Voz de la Familia” (“Voice of the Family”). The
family-centered community outreach program is designed to help
build healthy, strong and self-sufficient families for rural
Georgia.

Working with Ellenton Clinic Farm Worker Health Services with
this funding, Purvis has provided nutrition and food safety
education related to chronic disease prevention to nearly 1,000
Latino farm workers since 2002.

Purvis has also received the Walter B. Hill Award for
Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and Outreach from UGA
and many other awards.

Other winners

Other D.W. Brooks award winners this year were Paul Bertsch,
research; Jeffrey Dorfman, teaching; Bill Hurst, extension; and
Jack Houston, international agriculture.

The Brooks teaching award was first given in 1981. Two years
later, the awards were expanded to include research, extension
and county extension programs. An award for international
agriculture was added in 1988 and is given in even-numbered years.

Before the awards ceremony, Mark Drabenstott delivered the D.W.
Brooks Lecture, “The Brave New World for Land-grant
Universities.” Drabenstott is vice president and director of the
Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank
of Kansas City.

The lecture and awards are named for the late D.W. Brooks,
founder of Gold Kist, Inc., and Cotton States Mutual Insurance
Companies. Brooks was an advisor on agriculture and trade issues
to seven U.S. presidents.

(Faith Peppers is a news editor with the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)