Ashley McFarland has been named center coordinator for the MSU Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center in Chatham. It is a new position created as the research and Extension facility begins to take shape under a newly implemented long-term plan.
The UPREC, previously the Upper Peninsula Research Center, was renamed in January to acknowledge the significant contributions made by MSU Extension to facility operations. In line with the name change, the center will focus on collaboration and integration across three programmatic systems: livestock, plants and local food systems.
McFarland hails from Iowa and has earned degrees from Central College in Pella and Iowa State University. She has spent the last five years with the University of Idaho Extension as a county Extension education and area natural resource educator.
As the new center coordinator at Chatham, McFarland will provide an important link between campus-based faculty coordinators and the implementation of programs and oversight of operations at the center and throughout the U.P. She also will work to increase visibility of the center and build relationships with stakeholders.
McFarland will start the position May 20.
For more information on UPREC, go here.