Assistant​/Associate Extension Agent; Nutrition

Job Posting

Title:

Assistant/Associate Extension Agent (Nutrition)

Position Type:
Faculty

Department: LSUAG PL4 - Southeast
- Parish
- Washington (Amy Marie Varnado ))

Work Location:

0101 St. Tammany Parish Extension Office

Pay Grade:
Academic

This position serves stakeholders in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes in Southeast Louisiana. Fifty percent of the employee’s time and Extension educational efforts will be dedicated to programming and service delivery in St. Tammany Parish and 50 percent will support Extension educational efforts in St. Washington Parish. The assigned domicile office is located in Covington, LA. Together, the two parishes encompass a combined population of 323,844 residents.

The LSU AgCenter’s Healthy Communities Program is designed to reach citizens within their communities with health, wellness, and nutrition information and food buying and preparation skills with the goal of achieving increased knowledge and behavioral change leading to healthier lifestyles to impact the trend of increased obesity and related chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

The Assistant/Associate Nutrition & Community Health (NCH) Extension Agent is responsible for delivering community-based nutrition education with a focus on healthy eating, physical activity, weight management, general health and wellness, and chronic disease prevention. The agent will conduct nutrition education programs throughout the year, primarily targeting Louisiana’s adult population, with youth programming offered as time and requests allow. Most programming will include an interactive educational session and food demonstration and/or tasting to engage participants and reinforce healthy eating practices.

The agent will lead efforts in planning, implementing, conducting, evaluating, and reporting interventions that involve food, nutrition, physical activity, and general health. Additional responsibilities include participating in participant recruitment, community outreach, health expos, health fairs, and Ag Extension events. Agents are expected to highlight NCH programs in the assigned parish(es) and distribute nutrition education through in-person sessions, print media, local public media, mass media, social media, and other communication platforms.

The agent will be comfortable working with diverse audiences and delivering education to groups with various learning styles. Agents will be aware of community, city/town, parish, and regional partnerships, resources, and contacts which can help support local and parish NCH programming. The agent will organize and maintain an advisory committee composed of local government officials, volunteers, health professionals, and community residents to identify and address local nutrition-related needs.

As an AgCenter Extension employee, the agent must be committed to ongoing professional development, staying abreast of current trends in nutrition, and sharing evidence-based nutrition information related to specific program topics with the public. This position requires occasional overnight travel and availability to work evenings and weekends to meet community needs. The agent will serve under the supervision and guidance of the parish chair, regional director, NCH regional coordinator, and NCH state office staff.

The agent may be assigned other tasks by supervisors and is expected to collaborate with other Extension faculty at parish, regional, and state levels.

A baccalaureate degree in nutrition, family and consumer sciences, human sciences, vocational education or a closely related field from an accredited college or university is required. A registered dietician with community experience is preferred. Persons with only an undergraduate degree must have a minimum 2.5 overall grade-point average based on a 4-point grading system. If the applicant has pursued any graduate courses, the grade-point average of all graduate work must be at least 3.0 on a 4.0 system.

The applicant must demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills. Experience in recruiting, training and…