UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Jan Scholl-Kennedy, associate professor emerita of agricultural and extension education and former 4-H extension specialist in the College of Agricultural Sciences, has been recognized nationally for a project she spearheaded to document the existence of research that undergirds the 4-H youth development program.
Scholl-Kennedy will receive the prestigious Joint Council of Extension Professionals’ Excellence in Extension Engagement Award for her project, titled “Establishing a Research Base to Sustain the 4-H Program.” As part of receiving the award, she will present a keynote speech at the National Extension Leadership Conference in Savannah, Georgia, in February 2026.
Scholl-Kennedy, who began the project more than two decades ago, exhaustively searched the National Agricultural Library and its archives in Beltsville, Maryland, to document and analyze 4-H research. She subsequently found a rich storehouse of studies from 1911 to the present and indexed them in an online database, which can be found on the Penn State University Libraries website.
Since its inception, this resource — which now contains more than 8,000 graduate and professional studies — has been used by more than 12,000 researchers, legislators, administrators and extension educators across the country to write literature reviews, develop projects and evaluate programs.
Emeritus Penn State librarians Amy Paster and Helen Smith, who collaborated on the project, also will be recognized at the conference. Katherine Cason, of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, and Bo Ryles, of the National 4-H Council, supported the nomination for this award.
Scholl-Kennedy and the project team previously received awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and from the Association of College and Research Libraries' Science and Technology Section in connection with this work.
Administered in Pennsylvania by Penn State Extension, 4-H is a nonformal educational youth-development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that helps young people develop knowledge and skills to become capable, caring and contributing citizens. To find your local program, visit the Pennsylvania 4-H website.