Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel

Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel is an Extension Specialist and professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is located at The Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff. She has previously worked as a regional Extension Educator and as a University Learning Center Coordinator.  As a Specialist, Burkhart-Kriesel’s focus has been to support communities by assisting them to obtain the future they desire through data-driven strategies linked to research and extension engagement. In her career, she has worked in the areas of workforce development, organizational and business planning, tourism development, and rural new resident recruitment and retention.

An example of Burkhart- Kriesel’s extension effort is showcased in the creation and expansion of the program Marketing Hometown America.  Grounded in two USDA funded research projects, a team of Great Plain's colleagues translated the research findings into an action-oriented, community engagement program whose goal was to help communities identify, showcase, and actively market their assets to potential new residents. Watch a video depicting the program's impact.  The work was recognized through a Community Development Society Innovation Award and National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals Teamwork Award in 2014, and by the National Association of Development Organizations as one of five innovative programs at their regional National Association of Development Organization’s Denver meeting in 2016. Since then, two additional states, the University of Minnesota Extension and Iowa State University Extension, are now involved in the program.