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Rick D. Rudd

Professor and Community Viability Chair
  • Director, Workforce Education and Development, Center for International Research Education and Development
Rick D. Rudd
200 Litton-Reaves Hall
Blacksburg, Virginia
24061

Ph.D.  Vocational and Technical Education, Virginia Tech, May 1994

M.S.  Agricultural Education, The Ohio State University, August 1988

B.S.  Agriculture, The Ohio State University, December 1985

 

Major Awards:

  • American Association of Agricultural Education Fellow
  • USDA National Teaching Award
  • North America Colleges and Teacher of Agriculture Teaching Award of Excellence
  • Association of Leadership Educators Distinguished Leadership and Service Award
  • University of Florida Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars

Dr. Rudd is working on community viability models that can lead to regenerative communities as well as methods for planning, designing, delivering and evaluating international workforce education and development programs. He has directed and co-directed over seven-million dollars in funded scholarship efforts.  Rudd has international experience in Russia, Senegal, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, South Sudan, and Honduras.

Refereed Journal Publications

* Hogg, D., Bush, S. A., Rudd, R., & Seibel, M., (2019). Viability indicator for rural communities. Under review, Journal of Agricultural Education.

*Cletzer D., Rudd, R., Westfall-Rudd, D., Drape, T., (2016) Agricultural Education and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Three-step Approach to AET Institution Building. International Journal of Education.

*Tussing J., Rudd, R., Westfall-Rudd, D., (2016). Literature review of experiential learning in animal agriculture curriculum. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Journal.

*Leitch K., Duncan, S., O'Keefe, S., Rudd, R., Gallagher, D., (2015). Characterizing consumer emotional response to sweeteners using an emotion terminology questionnaire and facial expression analysis. Food Research International.doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2015.04.039.      

Drape, T.A., Rudd, R., Lopez, M., Radford, D., (2015). Challenges and solutions to higher education institutions in Africa. International Journal of Education.

 

Refereed Abstracts

*Woodward, L., *Shayo, A. H., *Bush, S. A., *Mack, R., & Rudd, R., (June, 2018). Refining the community viability indicator (CVI) instrument: A mixed method Approach. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.

*Lovely, S., *Bush, S.A., *Amaral, R., *Woodward, L.,* Mack, R., *Shayo, A. H., Siebel, M., & Rudd, R., (July, 2018). Community viability in a leadership living learning community. Research session presented at the Association of Leadership Educators Conference, Chicago, IL.

*Shayo, A. H., Rudd, R.D., Mattee, A. Z., Westfall-Rudd, D. M., & Archibald, T., (2017). Legal Frameworks and Women Farmers’ Land Ownership by the Sukuma of Tanzania. Poster presented at North America Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) conference West Lafayette, Indianapolis.

*Bush, S., *Hogg, D., *Bass, R., & Rudd, R., (2016). Impact of community viability grants on education North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, University of Hawaii, Manoa, HI.

* Seibel, M. & Rudd, R., (2015). Development of Peer Educators within Paraprofessional Community-Based Adult Education Models: An Experiential Learning Perspective. Adult Education Research Conference proceedings.

 

Non-Refereed Publications

*Woodward, L., *Bush, S. A., *Simpson, C., *Shayo, A. H., & Rudd, R., (Accepted). Community viability for the total Program. The Agricultural Education Magazine.

*Shayo, A. H., *Woodward, L., *Simpson, C., & Rudd, R., (Accepted). Fostering creativity and critical thinking in the agricultural education classroom. The Agricultural Education Magazine.

*Woodward, L. & Rudd, R., (2016). Service learning impacts and application in agricultural education. The Agricultural Education Magazine, 89 (1), 9-11.

 

Books

Lee, J.S., Hutter, J., Rudd, R.D. Westrum, L., & Hefner, A. P., (2017). Introduction to Livestock and Companion Animals. New York. Peason.

            

Refereed Proceedings

*Simpson, C., *Woodward, L., *Mack, R. *Shayo, A. H., *Bush, S. A., & Rudd, R. (February 2019). The influence of demographic variables on community members’ perceptions of community viability. Research Session presented at the Southern Region meeting of the American Association of Agricultural Education, Mobile, AL.

*Bush, S. A., Rudd, R. (February 2018). Examining rural community planning: A community viability indicator (CVI) model. Southern American Association for Agricultural Education Conference Proceedings, Jacksonville, FL.

*Simpson, C., *Woodward, L., & Rudd, R. (November, 2017). A conceptual framework for building problem solving capacity through social cognitive theory. Poster session at the Advancing the Human Condition Symposium, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.

*Hogg, D., *Bush, S., & Rudd, R. (2016). Viability indicator for rural communities. Presented at the Southern Rural Sociological Association Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX.

*Savran Al-Haik H., C. Friedel, K. Niewolny, B. Ozkan, R. Rudd, W. Dunaway. (2015, April) I don't know what my husband is going to say about that - What Extension can do for Women Farmers in Turkey. Presentation at AIAEE Annual Meeting, the Netherlands, Wageningen.

 

Rudd’s extension efforts include continued professional education for extension personnel, community viability and sustainable agriculture in local communities.  Rudd also is working with workforce development efforts to ensure a qualified workforce in agriculture.

  • Global extension and outreach programs
  • ALCE Senior seminar
  • Educational programs in agriculture and life sciences
  • Theory in ALCE
  • Theory in Agricultural and Community Education
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Interpersonal leadership

Dr. Rudd is the Community Viability Chair of Excellence and Professor of Agricultural and Extension Education (ALCE) at Virginia Tech. Rudd served as ALCE Department Head from August 2006 – July 2019. He served as Interim Associate Dean and Director of Virginia Cooperative Extension and Professor in 2009 – 2010.  Dr. Rudd began his career in higher education as an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida in 1994. He left UF to assume the role of Department Head at Virginia Tech in 2006. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 1994 in Vocational and Technical Education.  Dr. Rudd earned his bachelors and master’s degrees from the Ohio State University.

Rudd is currently serving as the Director for Workforce Education and Development in the Center for International Research, Education and Development at Virginia Tech. In this role, Rudd is responsible for seeking and securing international projects that utilize Virginia Tech’s expertise in workforce education and development to advance social and economic development in international settings.

Dr. Rudd's professional accomplishments include being named a fellow in the American Association for Agricultural Education, being selected as the University of Florida College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Teacher of the Year, receiving the Association of Leadership Educators Distinguished Service and Leadership award, and receiving the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Teaching Award of Merritt. Rudd was selected is a member of the University Of Florida Academy Of Distinguished Teaching Scholars.  Dr. Rudd was named a national winner of the USDA teaching award in 2006. He completed an ESCOP / ACOP (LEAD 21) leadership development program and was a Fellow in Food Systems Leadership Institute (FSLI, cohort 8).   

Dr. Rudd is working on community viability models that can lead to regenerative communities as well as methods for planning, designing, delivering and evaluating international workforce education and development programs. He has directed and co-directed over seven-million dollars in funded scholarship efforts.  Rudd has international experience in Russia, Senegal, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, South Sudan, and Honduras

His professional affiliations include the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (President 2012-2013), the Association of Leadership Educators (President 2005-2006), the American Association of Agricultural Educators, Alpha Zeta, Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Golden Key, and Sigma Xi.

Dr. Rudd has advised dozens of graduate students including 12 Ph. D. students who moved into faculty roles in the United States In addition, one of Dr. Rudd’s former Ph. D. students is a faculty member in South Sudan.