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FRANK B. CLEARFIELD, the
Director of the Social Sciences Institute for the Natural Resources Conservation Service,
has spent the last 16 years providing assistance on socioeconomic issues to a diversity of
agricultural and industrial groups, conducting research, developing and delivering
training materials, and formulating and implementing Federal Policy. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he received a B.A. in psychology and sociology from East Stroudsburg University (East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania), and an M.A. in sociology from the University of South Florida (Tampa, Florida). He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Kentucky in 1985. While at the University of Kentucky, he worked on agricultural Extension projects; such as farmers' use of telecommunications technologies and natural resource planning for water quality. He spent five years as a regional sociologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, providing assistance to 25 states in the Southern and Western regions of the United States. He then served as NRCS's National Sociologist in Washington, D.C. for seven years. In August 1995, he became the first Director of the Social Sciences Institute (SSI) and set up the headquarters of the SSI at North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC. The lnstitute's major tasks are to develop and transfer technology to NRCS employees and to our partners. The Institute has 10 staff members located in 7 states and in Washington, D.C. (Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Michigan and North Carolina). He has written numerous articles and professional papers, and has developed procedures to increase participation of diverse groups in U.S. Department of Agriculture programs.
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