The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has announced the selection of Dr. Jinhee Kim as the new associate dean and associate director of University of Maryland Extension (UME). Her appointment will begin on October 10, 2022 following the retirement of Dr. Jim Hanson.
Kim's roots with UME run deep, starting as a summer intern at Virginia’s Arlington County Extension office. She joined the University of Maryland in 2000 as an assistant professor and family finance Extension specialist within the School of Public Health, and has advanced her career over two-plus decades now serving as professor and assistant director/program leader for UME’s Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) program. Working in tandem with her talented faculty and staff, Kim has significantly increased FCS visibility across the state, securing multi-million dollar funding for new initiatives and programming related to rural mental and behavioral health, vaccine hesitancy, and digital literacy, to name a few.
Kim expertly balances science and action in her Extension work, helping to harness opportunities across the state through top-tier research, innovation, and communication. She understands Maryland’s big challenges and is a proven leader in developing partnerships, securing funding and resources, and leading her faculty, staff, and students towards success by creating pragmatic and strategic priorities. She understands and appreciates the complexity of the UME enterprise and looks forward to meeting all those involved to learn about the breadth of its diverse programs, as well as the issues and challenges of Extension.
For more information on the University of Maryland Extension, please visit extension.umd.edu.