 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Assistant
Extension Professor, University of Kentucky Alison is the Extension Specialist for Rural Economic Development in Kentucky. In addition, she is the director of the Kentucky Rural Health Works Program which evaluates and assesses health care needs, accessibility, and quality in Kentucky. As an Extension Specialist, she provides technical assistance to extension agents and local leaders with development planning including providing the tools to help understand their local economy and the impact of new policy as well as measuring the effects of economic and social changes to a community. The USDA's Rural Housing Service has invested $300,000 in a local economic development initiative where she has partnered with the Appalachian Center, KECI, SBDC, and Michael Shuman to work with teams from Eastern Kentucky, where they will promote the local economic development initiative. Alison's latest projects include assessing the feasibility for biofuels in Kentucky. Particularly what are the economic impacts from investing in renewable energy, what form of renewable energy production would have the biggest impact for farmers, and what potential drawbacks should producers and rural communities consider. In addition, Alison has provided assistance to rural households on food security issues. She is working with extension agents and other extension specialists to provide programs for low-wealth families that have been hit very hard by higher food prices. In addition
to extension responsibilities, Alison also has a research appointment
where most of her work focuses on business location modeling and
entrepreneurship. Finally, she teaches one course a year, Local
Economic Development, to graduate students. |
