Hasty Summons Leads to a Lifetime of Leadership and Service

Auburn, Nov. 10, 2003 --- For Warren McCord, the journey from an undergraduate at Florence State College majoring in biology to a Cooperative Extension administrator and one of the leading experts in community resource development began almost 40 years ago with a hasty summons from Dr. Arthur Hershey, one of McCord’s biology professors.

Having scarcely crossed the threshold of Hershey’s office, McCord was greeted with a straightforward question. “Mac,” Hershey asked, “what do you plan to do when you graduate?”

(Above: Dr. Warren McCord, right, receives a service award from Extension Interim Director Dr Gaines Smith marking 31 years of service as an assistant director and community resource development specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. In the course of his career, McCord was intimately involved in all of Extension's programming areas and is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading experts in community resource development.)

McCord barely had time to respond before Hershey was on the phone dialing Dr. Jim Lyle, head of Auburn University’s Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.

After a few prefatory remarks, Hershey passed the phone to McCord, presenting him with his second strong-willed professor of the day.

“Young man,” McCord recalled Lyle saying, “I hear you’re interested in coming to Auburn and working in the botany and plant pathology department.”

McCord protested that he had “neither the brains nor the money” to do graduate work at Auburn.  But Lyle assured him that he had an entrance examination to determine whether he had the brains and plenty of money to support him if he scored high enough on the exam.

Within weeks of acing his graduate entrance examination, McCord was on his way to the Plains with a new wife and a fully endowed graduate fellowship at Auburn University. 

A "26-year-old Ph.D"

Fifty months later, McCord left Auburn a self-described “26-year-old Ph.D”  --- an accomplishment in which his still derives immense pride today, almost 40 years later.

Little did McCord know he was firmly on his way down a path that eventually would lead to a lifetime career with Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s community development program.

After defending his dissertation in October 1968, McCord, a graduate of Florence State’s ROTC program, still had one other commitment to fulfill before he could even consider a career --- his military obligation.

“So, on Oct. 14, 1968, I put on my best clothes, drove to Anniston and reported to Fort McClellan,” McCord said.

“In the Vietnam era, everyone was expected to train as if they were going to war,” he said. After rigorous physical training, McCord was eventually assigned to teach at the Army Chemical Center School, with occasional temporary duty at Fort Dietrich, Md.

Years later, it occurred to McCord that his near spur-of-the-moment decision to take the graduate entrance exam and attend Auburn at the prompting of his Florence State biology professor not only sealed his professional destiny but very well may have saved his life.

“You really never know when you make a decision how it’s going to play out,” he said.  “I’m serious.  When I graduated from the ROTC program, I never imagined that in only a few years some of my classmates would go to Vietnam and never return.”

His First Civilian Job

After completing his military duty in 1970, McCord then began applying for positions in plant pathology.  But as he soon learned, the pickings were slim, largely because as an officer working with classified material, he was not able to publish what he had researched. 

“That’s often what happens when you’re in the military.  You do a lot of classified work that you’re not able to publish or talk about,” McCord said.  “I ended up competing for jobs with people who had just completed their graduate work and had plenty of published research under their belts.”

Eventually, McCord took a job as an environmental director of the East Alabama Regional Planning Commission in Anniston, an EPA-funded project --- one, he said, “that lent him a unique perspective into environmental problems and the human dimensions associated with it.”

A Chance Encounter in Cleburne County

It was while attending a rural development meeting in Cleburne County that McCord was led to a career working as an Extension community resource development specialist and, eventually, as an administrator.

“I heard a fellow give a really good talk on rural economic development and made a point to go up, compliment him and introduce myself,” McCord said.

The speaker was Dr. Ray Cavender, who would later become an associate and interim director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service.  Cavender encouraged McCord to apply for a regional and community development specialist position that would involve interaction with regional agencies --- a position for which McCord believed he was well-suited.

McCord landed the job and was initially involved in public policy education related to property rights and the pros and cons of land-use planning.  Later, he was partially assigned to Dr. Fred Robertson, then-vice president for Extension at Auburn University, to develop a model for providing government training at the local level --- a program funded by the Federal Education Act of 1972. 

With the task completed after 14 months, McCord received permission to return to full-time Cooperative Extension work. 

Career Milestones

Only a few years later, in 1976, McCord was appointed Alabama Extension’s assistant director for community resource development, becoming one of the nation’s youngest leaders in this field.  Over the course of his career, McCord also ended up serving in four of Extension’s programming areas.

McCord cites the formation of the Alabama Marine and Sea Grant Extension Program in 1974 as one of the milestones of his career.  The program was an effort to extend university-based research on coastal economic developmental and marine resources to residents along Alabama’s Gulf Coast.  It soon garnered a national reputation for its successful outreach efforts.

Working with Dr. Dorothy Tate, then-Extension state leader for home economics, McCord helped develop Extension offices at Forts Rucker and McClellan through an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense --- one of the first Extension programs in the nation to provide training, counseling and job information to military families.  He also managed the program for eight years.

Working with the Economic Development Institute, McCord played a key role in developing the Leadership for Economic Development and Mentoring Program, a $1.7 million program partially funded by a million-dollar grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  The program provided leadership and training in economic development to economically depressed rural Alabama counties.

From 1999 until 2002, McCord also managed the Alabama 4-H Youth Development Program, during which he oversaw the change of the 4-H Club program from an in-school, agent-delivered program to an agent-managed, community-based volunteer program similar to the Boy Scouts.

“Research has shown that having an impact on children must involve a long-term caring relationship,” McCord said.  “And you simply can’t have that working as an agent teaching a meeting once a month, six times a year at a local school.  But with an agent-managed, volunteer-delivered program, you can.  And that also frees up the agent to recruit, train and manage the program.”

Responsible for overall direction of Extension natural resources programming from 1995 to 2003, McCord played a leading role in the formation of the Alabama Urban and Community Forestry Partnership, which is operated in conjunction with the Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, the Alabama Forestry Commission, the Alabama Urban Forestry Commission and other public and private organizations.  Through this partnership, Extension provides more than $600,000 a year in grants to communities throughout the state seeking to enhance or develop their forestry resources.

McCord was also a key player in the development of the Alabama Agriculture and Forestry Leadership Development Program, known as LEADERS, which provides intensive economic and governmental policy education to young and emerging leaders of Alabama’s forestry and agriculture industries.  He wrote the program’s proposal for the initial $200,000 Kellogg Foundation grant and organized the curriculum and core design teams and advisory board.  He also provided overall leadership for the program during its first four years.

On Oct.  31, McCord retired as Extension assistant director, ending a 31-year career.  Almost 40 years have passed since that unexpected summons to a cramped professor’s office pointed him toward an Extension career, but McCord’s enthusiasm for Extension programs, especially community development work, never wavered.

“In spite of all the changes that have occurred within the past few decades, the one thing that has remained constant is Warren’s passion for what he does and his belief that Extension can make a real difference, not only in the lives of individuals but in the communities in which they live as well,” said Dr. Sam Fowler, Extension associate director, who was hired by McCord 21 years ago as a community development specialist.

“The Community Resource Development Program in Alabama really owes its very existence to Warren’s nurturing and leadership. More than anyone else, he has defined community development in Alabama and, to a great extent, the national directions for Extension community development programs.”

McCord’s passion for Extension work has not gone unnoticed.  Following his retirement, he was named Extension assistant director emeritus and professor emeritus of consumer affairs by Auburn University President William Walker.

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