Donna Carter
As part of a military family, Carter lived in Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Kentucky. However, most of her childhood was spent in Kentucky, which is where she calls home.
She attended Berea College, located in central Kentucky, obtaining a B.S. in Agriculture with a minor in Business. Founded in 1855 as the first interracial and co-educational college in the South, Berea College has a unique charter affording students from the Appalachian region "opportunities for manual labor as an assistance in self-support." Through the student labor program, Carter gained practical experience working on the College’s swine, beef and poultry farms.
After college, she worked as a Soil Conservationist managing a Water Quality Program in North Carolina for a year before being recruited to Cooperative Extension. Carter began her career in 4-H Youth Development in 1989, and today considers 4-H to be the best choice she ever made.
She obtained her M.S. in Agriculture and Extension Education at North Carolina State University and a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Duke University. Over her nearly 20 years serving as a 4-H Extension Agent, Carter has developed successful 4-H programs which emphasize life-skills development through strong volunteer support systems.
Carter is noted for her ability to create a shared vision and engage community partners in building effective 4-H programs. Since beginning her career with Utah State University Extension in 2004, she has implemented a Volunteer Training System that has been adopted by other Utah counties, introduced the 4-H Teens Reaching Youth (TRY) leadership program that is spreading throughout the state, obtained nearly $300,000 in grants supporting teen leadership and mentoring programs, helped develop and piloted the online Fair Management System which has been utilized statewide, developed innovative marketing projects including the 4-H website, alumni projects and business supporter programs, and most recently began efforts to implement a statewide 4-H livestock testing program.
Carter’s expertise in youth development has been recognized by her peers, having been selected as a Best Practices presenter during state, regional and national conferences. She has received numerous awards for her visionary leadership including the 4-H Distinguished Service Award, Utah State University’s Diversity Team Award, and most recently, the USU Taggart-Ballard Award for Excellence.